ABQjournal: Gift to PAC Aids Land Boss:
LAS CRUCES— A political action committee received thousands of dollars in contributions from a developer who was dealing with the state Land Office last fall, then reported giving similar amounts on the same days to the re-election campaign of Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons.
According to records on file with the secretary of state:
- On Aug. 7, developer Philip Philippou of Las Cruces gave $10,000 to the Santa Fe-based Blue & Red PAC. The same day, the PAC gave $7,500 to the Committee to Re-Elect Pat Lyons.
- On Sept. 8, Philippou gave the Blue & Red PAC a contribution of $10,500. The same day, Blue & Red gave $8,000 to Lyons' re-election campaign and spent $2,142.50 on campaign T-shirts for Lyons.
Lyons signed a potentially lucrative no-bid contract with Philippou on Dec. 26 to master-plan a 4,200-acre tract of state trust land and seek its annexation by Las Cruces.
Since Patrick Lyons can't recall or claims he doesn't know if Phillipou gave the money, maybe we should ask his campaign treasurer Senator Dianna Duran of Tularosa.
Posted by: Stephanie DuBois | Monday, April 30, 2007 at 08:35 AM