Manny Aragon Still Lobbying For Highlands

The Manny Mania continues  today with the SF Reporter's Dan Frosch reporting on the past problems of the temp tapped to replace Aragon as Highlands' President, and the AbqJournal's Martin Salazar reporting that Manny's buyout won't be financed by money the former State Senator donated to the University from his campaign account. 

Salazar reports that Highlands' regents approved a resolution to transfer the $41,283 remaining in the account to the University's foundation.

Additionally, Salazar reports that the regents approved a policy which requires contracts between $30,000 and $75,000 to be approved "by either the chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee or the regents chairman, or by another regent designated by the chairman and the president."

But with a 60 day legislative session on the horizon, there are all sorts of ways to spend just less than $30,000, and one way could be on lobbying.

Is $30,000 or even $41,283 an unheard of amount to spend on lobbying during a 60 day session? How much would it cost to employ a former state legislator as a lobbyist, somebody with close ties to current legislators and the Governor and who's familiar with the levers of power, somebody like Manny Aragon, perhaps? How much would that cost?