Free Republic

How does a company bidding on a $38 million state road contract end up with confidential documents regarding the job? Taxpayers deserve an answer if New Mexico wants its public procurement process to have any credibility. It is undisputed that FNF Construction, the second-lowest bidder and the company the Richardson administration tried to give the job of rebuilding 18 miles of Interstate 10 south of Las Cruces, got the internal documents. And, according to the story in Sunday’s Journal by investigative reporter Colleen Heild, they would have succeeded except that federal officials who held the purse strings balked at the...

There is a lot of Hobbs in Marty and Johnny Cope. The wealthy couple own several businesses and a large home there. They are active in civic and political affairs. A terminal building at the airport is named after Johnny Cope. Marty Cope is the founder of an annual Christmastime fundraiser for foster children. Reared in Hobbs, Johnny Cope first registered to vote in Lea County in 1972; Marty Cope, a native, started voting there in 1998. Yet, on June 23, the Copes transferred their voter registrations to Lincoln County, allowing them to vote in a special election on a...