Indeed it does look much nicer than Aragon's current habitat.
Showing posts with label "Manny Aragon". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "Manny Aragon". Show all posts
Monday, December 7, 2009
Manny's Castle
Jim Scarantino is having some fun at former Sen. Manny Aragon's expense in a New Mexico Watchdog video report on Aragon's ornate South Valley palace.
Here's the video itself. Note the guest appearance of an actual New Mexico watchdog.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Tower of Power
Did anyone predict otherwise?
This just in:
SANTA FE—State Cultural Affairs Department Secretary Stuart Ashman announced today that he will respect the decision of the National Hispanic Cultural Center board of directors to remove former state Sen. Manny Aragón’s name from the center’s torreón.
“The NHCC board and its naming committee have studied their clearly defined policy and made this decision based on serious deliberation,” said Ashman. “It was the board that voted to put Mr. Aragón’s name on the torreón, and it has now voted to remove it. The department will honor the board’s decision.”
The NHCC Naming Policy Committee met to discuss the Aragon-Torreón matter on March 26. The committee reviewed the board’s official naming policy as well as a series of phone and written correspondence from the public, press articles, the plea agreement in the United States v. Manny Aragón, the Oath of Office mandated by Article XX, Section 1 of the New Mexico Constitution and a list of NHCC funding bills sponsored by Aragón. After hearing the committee’s recommendation at its April 16 meeting at the NHCC in Albuquerque, the board voted 7 – 2 to remove Aragón’s name from the torreón and to leave the building unnamed at this time.
“This is an awkward and unfortunate situation for the National Hispanic Cultural Center, its board of directors and the people of New Mexico,” said Ashman. “As we follow the board’s direction, it is important that visitors to the NHCC – and all New Mexicans – never forget the many contributions that Sen. Aragón made during two decades of service to their state and to this beautiful cultural center.”
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Roundhouse Roundup: Manny's Prison
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
March 19, 2009
Will Manny Aragon’s new job be washing the Unabomber’s underwear?
The former state Senate titan — sentenced this week to 57 months in federal prison on corruption charges — agreed to report within the next 60 days to the minimum security “prison camp” in Florence, Colo., which is about 35 miles west of Pueblo, Colo.
The camp, which holds about 500 male inmates, is considered a satellite of the Administrative Maximum Facility, better known as the supermax prison in Florence, which is home to some of the country’s most notorious criminals.
Lovely neighbors: Among the current guests in the supermax are Unabomber Ted Kaczynski; terrorist Jose Padilla (an American convicted of lending support to al Qaida); Omar Abdel-Rahman, aka “The Blind Sheik,” and a couple of others convicted for their roles in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui; Terry “Oklahoma City Bomber” Nichols; Richard “The Shoe Bomber” Reid; and former FBI agent-turned-spy Robert Hanssen.
The prison next door, where Aragon will serve his time, doesn’t host as many famous people. But New Mexico’s former state treasurer, Robert Vigil, convicted in the wake of an FBI kickback investigation, is there. Vigil is scheduled for release in December, according to the Federal Prison Bureau’s Web site.
It also was the home of Eddie Davidson, the “Spam King,” who was convicted of fraud for cheating strangers in an e-mail scheme.
Last July, Davidson walked away from the prison camp. Soon afterward, he shot and killed his wife, 3-year-old daughter and himself in nearby Arapahoe County.
The Florence prison also was in the news in January after a 47-year-old prison secretary there was sentenced to six months in federal prison for having sex with an inmate assigned to clean her office.
Get a job: “As a minimum-security facility, each of the 500-plus men assigned to Florence Camp was within 10 years of his release date,” says a Web posting by inmate Michael G. Santos, who spent 18 months at the camp. “There were no convicted sex offenders at the camp, nor were there inmates who had been found to have committed acts of violence within the past several years.”
Most of the minimum-security inmates get jobs servicing the supermax and other facilities in the Florence complex, Santos said. “All capable inmates reported to regular work assignments,” Santos wrote on his Web site. “Staff members assigned those jobs according to institutional need, though savvy inmates sometimes succeeded in maneuvering their way into desirable jobs.”
Santos was of seven inmates assigned to work at the supermax laundry. “Other camp inmates were required to work in food services, landscaping, or worked for the education department as tutors,” he wrote.
Santos was sentenced to 45 years in prison on federal cocaine charges in 1987. He could be released as early as 2013. His stint at Florence began in December 2003. He writes and sells articles about prison life — aimed at new prisoners coming in — on a Web site run by his wife.
He said workers from the camp traveled to the maximum-security prison by bus. “Guards from the supermax searched us, requiring us to walk through metal detectors and sometimes to strip off our clothes for a full body search.” They worked seven-hour shifts in the locked laundry room, “washing and mending clothing for the supermax prisoners who lived locked in single cells.”
Super salads: Here’s some good news for Aragon. According to Santos, “The meals at Florence Camp were better than at any of the other prisons where I had been held. Portions of the main meals were abundant, but I especially appreciated the fresh salad bar as well as a hot bar offering rice and beans. If the scheduled meal did not seem agreeable, I could always bring a pack of tuna and add it to a salad.”
It might not be like those steaks at the Bull Ring that Aragon got used to as a legislator. But it could be worse.
“Four microwave ovens were available for inmate use inside the housing unit,” Santos wrote. “A hot-water dispenser was also available for instant coffee or cooking dry soups. Many inmates preferred to purchase rice, beans, tuna, and other items from the commissary; they prepared meals in the housing units when they wanted to avoid the institutional setting of food services.”
Santos said he shared a two-man cubicle in his housing unit.
“Each of the housing units was of an identical floor plan, constructed in the shape of an X.” Each wing of the X held approximately 36 men in cubicles with either two or four beds. When I was confined there, the bed frames were made of steel with springs, and mattresses were sufficient for a comfortable rest.”
Inmates in each housing unit have six television rooms. “They were small, with seating capacity for fewer than 20. In order to lessen possibilities for confrontations with others,” Santos wrote.”
Inmates have access to a laundry, Santos said, as well as “a commissary, a chow hall, two classrooms, a small library, a recreation room for the table games, arts and crafts rooms, and a gymnasium. Outside, the camp had an excellent weight lifting area, and a running track that circled a softball and soccer field.”
Drawbacks: Aragon will have a better time if he’s not in the habit of sleeping with a blanket over his head. “At Florence, guards frequently interrupted routines with unscheduled census counts, or they might take privileges away from the entire camp if an individual broke one of the many rules,” Santos wrote.
“Having had many years of confinement behind me, those disruptions did not bother me, though newer prisoners found the controls suffocating," Santos wrote. "For example, at Florence, guards sometimes woke prisoners in the dead of night if the inmate committed the infraction of covering his head beneath the blanket.”
March 19, 2009
Will Manny Aragon’s new job be washing the Unabomber’s underwear?
The former state Senate titan — sentenced this week to 57 months in federal prison on corruption charges — agreed to report within the next 60 days to the minimum security “prison camp” in Florence, Colo., which is about 35 miles west of Pueblo, Colo.
The camp, which holds about 500 male inmates, is considered a satellite of the Administrative Maximum Facility, better known as the supermax prison in Florence, which is home to some of the country’s most notorious criminals.
Lovely neighbors: Among the current guests in the supermax are Unabomber Ted Kaczynski; terrorist Jose Padilla (an American convicted of lending support to al Qaida); Omar Abdel-Rahman, aka “The Blind Sheik,” and a couple of others convicted for their roles in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui; Terry “Oklahoma City Bomber” Nichols; Richard “The Shoe Bomber” Reid; and former FBI agent-turned-spy Robert Hanssen.
The prison next door, where Aragon will serve his time, doesn’t host as many famous people. But New Mexico’s former state treasurer, Robert Vigil, convicted in the wake of an FBI kickback investigation, is there. Vigil is scheduled for release in December, according to the Federal Prison Bureau’s Web site.
It also was the home of Eddie Davidson, the “Spam King,” who was convicted of fraud for cheating strangers in an e-mail scheme.
Last July, Davidson walked away from the prison camp. Soon afterward, he shot and killed his wife, 3-year-old daughter and himself in nearby Arapahoe County.
The Florence prison also was in the news in January after a 47-year-old prison secretary there was sentenced to six months in federal prison for having sex with an inmate assigned to clean her office.
Get a job: “As a minimum-security facility, each of the 500-plus men assigned to Florence Camp was within 10 years of his release date,” says a Web posting by inmate Michael G. Santos, who spent 18 months at the camp. “There were no convicted sex offenders at the camp, nor were there inmates who had been found to have committed acts of violence within the past several years.”
Most of the minimum-security inmates get jobs servicing the supermax and other facilities in the Florence complex, Santos said. “All capable inmates reported to regular work assignments,” Santos wrote on his Web site. “Staff members assigned those jobs according to institutional need, though savvy inmates sometimes succeeded in maneuvering their way into desirable jobs.”
Santos was of seven inmates assigned to work at the supermax laundry. “Other camp inmates were required to work in food services, landscaping, or worked for the education department as tutors,” he wrote.
Santos was sentenced to 45 years in prison on federal cocaine charges in 1987. He could be released as early as 2013. His stint at Florence began in December 2003. He writes and sells articles about prison life — aimed at new prisoners coming in — on a Web site run by his wife.
He said workers from the camp traveled to the maximum-security prison by bus. “Guards from the supermax searched us, requiring us to walk through metal detectors and sometimes to strip off our clothes for a full body search.” They worked seven-hour shifts in the locked laundry room, “washing and mending clothing for the supermax prisoners who lived locked in single cells.”
Super salads: Here’s some good news for Aragon. According to Santos, “The meals at Florence Camp were better than at any of the other prisons where I had been held. Portions of the main meals were abundant, but I especially appreciated the fresh salad bar as well as a hot bar offering rice and beans. If the scheduled meal did not seem agreeable, I could always bring a pack of tuna and add it to a salad.”
It might not be like those steaks at the Bull Ring that Aragon got used to as a legislator. But it could be worse.
“Four microwave ovens were available for inmate use inside the housing unit,” Santos wrote. “A hot-water dispenser was also available for instant coffee or cooking dry soups. Many inmates preferred to purchase rice, beans, tuna, and other items from the commissary; they prepared meals in the housing units when they wanted to avoid the institutional setting of food services.”
Santos said he shared a two-man cubicle in his housing unit.
“Each of the housing units was of an identical floor plan, constructed in the shape of an X.” Each wing of the X held approximately 36 men in cubicles with either two or four beds. When I was confined there, the bed frames were made of steel with springs, and mattresses were sufficient for a comfortable rest.”
Inmates in each housing unit have six television rooms. “They were small, with seating capacity for fewer than 20. In order to lessen possibilities for confrontations with others,” Santos wrote.”
Inmates have access to a laundry, Santos said, as well as “a commissary, a chow hall, two classrooms, a small library, a recreation room for the table games, arts and crafts rooms, and a gymnasium. Outside, the camp had an excellent weight lifting area, and a running track that circled a softball and soccer field.”
Drawbacks: Aragon will have a better time if he’s not in the habit of sleeping with a blanket over his head. “At Florence, guards frequently interrupted routines with unscheduled census counts, or they might take privileges away from the entire camp if an individual broke one of the many rules,” Santos wrote.
“Having had many years of confinement behind me, those disruptions did not bother me, though newer prisoners found the controls suffocating," Santos wrote. "For example, at Florence, guards sometimes woke prisoners in the dead of night if the inmate committed the infraction of covering his head beneath the blanket.”
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The Lessons of Manny
What lessons?
Even though the story of Manny Aragon sometimes seems to be used as a Faustian cautionary tale about the abuse of power at the state Legislature, few at the Roundhouse seem genuinely interested in making state government more transparent.
My story in Wednesday's New Mexican about Aragon's fall and its effect -- if any-- on ethics legislation is HERE.
XXXXXXX
Speaking of legislative fun and games, right before the Senate recessed, Majority Leader Michael Sanchez announced he wouldn't be doing any House bills because, he said, at least two House committees were refusing to do Senate bills.
This could blow up into a full-fledged hissing match -- or it could all blow over and fizzle out by noon. We're a little early for a complete meltdown.
Even though the story of Manny Aragon sometimes seems to be used as a Faustian cautionary tale about the abuse of power at the state Legislature, few at the Roundhouse seem genuinely interested in making state government more transparent.
My story in Wednesday's New Mexican about Aragon's fall and its effect -- if any-- on ethics legislation is HERE.
XXXXXXX
Speaking of legislative fun and games, right before the Senate recessed, Majority Leader Michael Sanchez announced he wouldn't be doing any House bills because, he said, at least two House committees were refusing to do Senate bills.
This could blow up into a full-fledged hissing match -- or it could all blow over and fizzle out by noon. We're a little early for a complete meltdown.
Manny Sentenced
From the Associated Press:
The real surprise, for those of us who covered him the Legislature, was that the rambling speech was only 20 minutes.
HEATHER CLARK
ALBUQUERQUE— Former New Mexico state Senate leader Manny Aragon was sentenced Tuesday to 5 1/2 years in prison for his role in a corruption case that stained his long career of public service.
Aragon also was fined $750,000 — the bulk of which he already has forfeited to the government — and ordered to pay at least $649,000 in restitution.
Aragon, an Albuquerque Democrat who served in the Senate for 29 years, offered a rambling 20-minute speech, and then broke into tears, before being sentenced by U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson.
Once one of New Mexico’s most powerful politicians, Aragon last year pleaded guilty to three federal felony counts of conspiracy and mail fraud in a scheme to defraud the state in the construction of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Courthouse in Albuquerque.
U.S. Attorney Greg Fouratt said after Tuesday’s hearing that “the era of picking the taxpayers’ pockets is over.”
The real surprise, for those of us who covered him the Legislature, was that the rambling speech was only 20 minutes.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Sorry ... not much blogging today
I had to go down to Albuquerque this morning and had to hustle to get my story in for Saturday's paper. (It'll be worth reading, I promise.)
Looks like the webcasting vote was postponed. Just didn't have the time, thought there was plenty of time to yack about the big Senate/House basketball game, which is taking place as I type this. Maybe Saturday?
I got in in time to hear Senate President Pro-tem defend his letter asking for leniency for former Sen. Manny Aragon, who awaits sentencing for his fraud conviction. Jennings made it clear he did not send the letter on official state letterhead, though he did sign his name as "Sen. Tim Jennings." Aragon's deeds were a betrayal of the public trust, Jennings said, but he did some good things too.
Sen. Mary Jane Garcia joined in. She talked how emotional Aragon got years ago when a bill he supported to help children with cancer was vetoed.
"It takes a big man to shed real tears," she said of Aragon.
XXXXXXXXXX
Sen. Majority Leader Michael Sanchez dropped by the news room for one of his informal chats.
He said he has no problems with the weird sunset clause on the latest version of the campaign-contribution limits bill -- the law wouldn't go into effect until after the 2010 governor's race, then would expire right after the 2012 election. But, Sanchez said, he wouldn't try to stop anyone from amending the bill to get rid of that clause.
Sanchez said he doesn't think any ethics commission bill will pass this year. He said he has concerns about who would have authority over the ethics commission. Sanchez used the example of the state Organized Crime Commission back in the '80s. I'm not sure who he was talking about, but he said some decent public servants were smeared by that commission. Any old timers (older-timers than me!) out there who can fill me in, please use the comment feature here.
Sanchez also said he expects HB285, the death penalty repeal, to successfully clear the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill is scheduled to be heard by Judiciary on Monday.
XXXXXXX
Finally, please tune into Eye on New Mexico 10 am Sunday on Channel Four. I had a good discussion with Dennis and Nicole. I think the link to the video will be HERE. I'll correct it if that's wrong.
Looks like the webcasting vote was postponed. Just didn't have the time, thought there was plenty of time to yack about the big Senate/House basketball game, which is taking place as I type this. Maybe Saturday?
I got in in time to hear Senate President Pro-tem defend his letter asking for leniency for former Sen. Manny Aragon, who awaits sentencing for his fraud conviction. Jennings made it clear he did not send the letter on official state letterhead, though he did sign his name as "Sen. Tim Jennings." Aragon's deeds were a betrayal of the public trust, Jennings said, but he did some good things too.
Sen. Mary Jane Garcia joined in. She talked how emotional Aragon got years ago when a bill he supported to help children with cancer was vetoed.
"It takes a big man to shed real tears," she said of Aragon.
XXXXXXXXXX
Sen. Majority Leader Michael Sanchez dropped by the news room for one of his informal chats.
He said he has no problems with the weird sunset clause on the latest version of the campaign-contribution limits bill -- the law wouldn't go into effect until after the 2010 governor's race, then would expire right after the 2012 election. But, Sanchez said, he wouldn't try to stop anyone from amending the bill to get rid of that clause.
Sanchez said he doesn't think any ethics commission bill will pass this year. He said he has concerns about who would have authority over the ethics commission. Sanchez used the example of the state Organized Crime Commission back in the '80s. I'm not sure who he was talking about, but he said some decent public servants were smeared by that commission. Any old timers (older-timers than me!) out there who can fill me in, please use the comment feature here.
Sanchez also said he expects HB285, the death penalty repeal, to successfully clear the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill is scheduled to be heard by Judiciary on Monday.
XXXXXXX
Finally, please tune into Eye on New Mexico 10 am Sunday on Channel Four. I had a good discussion with Dennis and Nicole. I think the link to the video will be HERE. I'll correct it if that's wrong.
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