11/13/14

SDSM&T president denies being a crook



A former New Mexico US Representative, now South Dakota college president, ran a political campaign for a Southwest Republican governor reeling from the Albuquerque Police Department scandal.
After a Department of Energy report published Wednesday said Sandia National Laboratories used taxpayer dollars to influence Congress and federal officials on a contract extension, former New Mexico Representative Heather Wilson, whose consulting firm is named in the report, took issue with it. Wilson is named on the first page of the report, as follows: "Prompted by an Office of Inspector General inspection report on Concerns with Consulting Contract Administration at Various Department Sites … the NNSA's Sandia Field Office conducted a preliminary review of documentation from 2009 through 2011 regarding consultant activities between Heather Wilson, LLC (the principal of which is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives) and SNL. On March 27, 2013, the Sandia Field Office alleged that SNL impermissibly attempted to influence an extension to the Sandia Corporation contract and engaged Ms. Wilson in these activities."[Dan Mayfield, Heather Wilson refutes DOE report on her involvement in Sandia contract]
Steve Terrell writes in the Santa Fe New Mexican:
Jay McCleskey, Republican Gov. Susana Martinez’s political adviser, is probably the best known political consultant in the state. So it might not be surprising that, according to the most recent batch of campaign finance reports filed this week, he’s also the best paid consultant in New Mexico’s gubernatorial race this year. [Terrell, Governor’s adviser McCleskey is top-paid consultant in race]
The Albuquerque Journal reports that the Martinez campaign staff includes at least one member of the scrum Heather Wilson used in her failed US Senate bid. Wilson, now President of South Dakota School of Mines, wants to bury radioactive waste in South Dakota:
The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology announced Thursday a partnership with RESPEC, a local mining and energy company, to conduct experiments in the Pierre shale formation east of Rapid City to better understand how the rock formation behaves during mining. The research would examine how the formation might work for storage of energy products and disposal of waste. The waste disposal could be used for byproducts of fracking operations like flowback water or slurries from drilling, which can pick up radioactive elements that are naturally occurring in the ground, said Lance Roberts, RESPEC senior vice president. He said it could also be used for radioactive waste like from nuclear energy operations. School of Mines President Heather Wilson said the next step is to begin developing initial experiments as well as working to leverage the investment from the state to increase funding from other sources, like the federal government and private industry. [Jennifer Naylor Gesick, Rapid City Journal]
Gesick also told readers of the Rapid City Journal about the mysterious "unattended death" of a School of Mines researcher.

Qo'noS: where old white Republicans go to die.

So, South Dakotans all knew that the School of Mines and Technology was having "a tough time," right?

Even the Daily Caller panned Heather Wilson, the earth hater former New Mexico Representative for District 1:
Wilson is everything Americans despise about politicians, regardless of party. A cursory look at her career reveals profligacy, cronyism, abuse of power, lies, cover-ups and a sex scandal. She’s seldom crossed an earmark she hasn’t liked, including the infamous $398 million Bridge to Nowhere. She is a crony of the first order, landing a cushy state job with a $93,000 base salary for her husband Jay Hone.--conservative activist, Yates Walker, The Daily Caller.
Did someone connected with the lab in the former Homestake turn the screws to get her hired?
According to an October 16, 2012 Santa Fe Reporter article she has had numerous consulting contracts with defense contractors, including Sandia Labs beginning in 2009 and up to her Senate campaign in 2012. Moreover, in the past her congressional staff has included Sandia Labs personnel.--Jay Coghlan, Nuclear Watch
Hello. Who got the stimulus funds in New Mexico? Homestake Mining Co. got $10.4 million smackers.

After hiring Wilson on a one-year contract, the South Dakota Board of Regents was exposed as a corrupt political body in the ongoing Bendagate affair.

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