'There's An Appearance of Pay-to-Play'

Yes, there's an appearance of pay-to-play. There's also an appearance of rank corruption within Democratic circles, especially the people hanging around Barack Obama. Thank goodness we have transparency and openness.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's campaigns and political-action committees received at least $102,300 from brokers hired by money managers seeking to handle $11.7 billion of state trust funds, campaign-finance records show.

In addition to those donations, Richardson, a Democrat who ran for president in 2008, received at least $95,000 from the state trusts' outside money managers.

That cash included $20,000 from Quadrangle Group LLC founder Steven Rattner and $50,381 from Leo Hindery, founder of InterMedia Advisors LLC, according to New Mexico and federal campaign-finance records.

Rattner, who directs the Obama administration's auto-industry task force, and Hindery have donated $3.8 million to Democratic candidates and political-action committees, compared with $110,200 to Republicans.

"There's an appearance of pay-to-play," said Steven Robert Allen, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, a public-interest organization.

"Whether there's a quid pro quo or not, it raises questions in people's minds, and that's not good for a democracy to have those sorts of questions being raised about the most powerful elected official in our state."

Of course, Rattner has his own issues to deal with, but apparently he's protected.

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