marjorie says...
If you've been following the issue of whether or not Martin Heinrich should have registered as a lobbyist during his tenure as a paid consultant with the Coalition for Mexico Wilderness, you probably know by now that local columnist and television pundit Jim Scarantino has a bone to pick with Heinrich.
Scarantino was Chair of the Coalition during the years that Heinrich worked for the environmental group, and is now an open supporter of Darren White, Heinrich's opponent for the CD1 seat. Maybe that's why he's worked in tandem with the GOP to go after Heinrich for supposedly not registering as a lobbyist as he was required to do while he worked for the Coalition.
Heinrich says he was not required to register as a lobbyist for the Coalition, and now has a couple of prominent conservationists backing him up on that.
Arturo Sandoval, who succeeded Scarantino at the Coalition, and Jim Baca both say in an article by NMI's David Alire Garcia that Scarantino lacks credibility on conservation issues--that he was fired from the NMWA and is on the outs with the conservationist community in general. Given that Jim has taken a clear side in the campaign, and has lent himself as a voice of authority on the lobbying issue that the GOP has sought to exploit, the perspectives of Baca and Sandoval--both of whom are respected conservationists in the state--are important to consider. From the NMI:
On the substance of the charge that Heinrich could put the lobbyist flap to rest by simply turning over time sheets or tax records — a charge advanced by Scarantino — Sandoval just doesn’t buy it.
“There was never any requirement in any of these contracts that we had for him to submit time sheets to pay him. We weren’t paying him by the hour,” Sandoval says. “And I’m pretty sure I had been following the pattern that had already been set.”
Sandoval further alleges that Scarantino is guilty of raising the issue during the heat of the election campaign, but not at the time the contract was active several years ago.
“I just wonder why he wasn’t asking Martin to register as a lobbyist then, when he was signing the contracts. How come he didn’t raise it then when he was in a position to do something about it?”
Sandoval says Scarantino was fired in his subsequent position as executive director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance over “vicious and apparently unprovoked verbal attacks on the NMWA board president,” a characterization Scarantino disputes. He says he resigned.
“When he writes about conservation issues, I don’t think he has any credibility whatsoever… and I think he’s dangerous because he has the veneer of rationality,” Sandoval adds. In fact, he goes further, saying “I would question his credibility on any topic.”
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