Two Plus Two Equals…
A Hospital Project in Trouble Gets an Influential Friend
November 14, 2012
“This is not a lobbying job”, Ava Lovell, of the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center told the Albuquerque Journal, after it was announced that Martinez administration deputy chief of staff Ryan Cangiolosi had been hired by UNM. Cangiolosi beat out 18 other applicants for the job.
Martinez’s second in command, who before becoming deputy chief of staff was a key member of her gubernatorial election team, has been hired into a “newly created position” that is “intended to oversee organizational development projects for the wing of the university directing the hospital, medical research and health professional education programs.”
Lovell, apparently with a straight face, told the Journal that Cangiolosi “was hired because of his business background and not because of his work with the governor.”
Sure…
Coincidently, UNM is having the hardest time getting the New Mexico Board of Finance to approve its $146 million hospital construction project. On the face of it, this project appears to be needed by a community desperately short of hospital beds.
Approval by the Board of Finance is the final hurdle that the project must clear before construction can commence.
In September, UNM agreed to withdraw its request for approval by the Board of Finance after objections from a self-described “community group” fronted by a DW Turner executive, and the Rio Grande Foundation, on whose board Doug Turner sits, to building another public hospital.
Not coincidently, DW Turner provides services to those in the healthcare field. According to its website, DW Turner, “has provided strategic communications counsel to national healthcare and pharmaceutical associations, Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies and specialty medical groups in the areas of eye care, behavioral health, dental care, radiation oncology and long-term care.”
On October 16th, the Board of Finance, after meeting for several hours to discuss the project, voted to table approval of the hospital citing a lack of information about the project.
You may remember that the board of finance, whose members for the most part have been handpicked by Martinez, who herself oversees the board, is the same body that gave the final rubber stamp approval to the Dirty Downs deal.
Cangiolosi doesn’t start at UNM until November 19th. Plenty of time for him to “not lobby” his boss and other members of the board of finance.
Technically, Cangiolosi is prohibited by law for lobbying for at least a year after leaving the administration. But, the law doesn’t seem to apply to this administration.
______________________________________________________________
A Hospital Project in Trouble Gets an Influential Friend
November 14, 2012
“This is not a lobbying job”, Ava Lovell, of the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center told the Albuquerque Journal, after it was announced that Martinez administration deputy chief of staff Ryan Cangiolosi had been hired by UNM. Cangiolosi beat out 18 other applicants for the job.
Martinez’s second in command, who before becoming deputy chief of staff was a key member of her gubernatorial election team, has been hired into a “newly created position” that is “intended to oversee organizational development projects for the wing of the university directing the hospital, medical research and health professional education programs.”
Lovell, apparently with a straight face, told the Journal that Cangiolosi “was hired because of his business background and not because of his work with the governor.”
Sure…
Coincidently, UNM is having the hardest time getting the New Mexico Board of Finance to approve its $146 million hospital construction project. On the face of it, this project appears to be needed by a community desperately short of hospital beds.
Approval by the Board of Finance is the final hurdle that the project must clear before construction can commence.
In September, UNM agreed to withdraw its request for approval by the Board of Finance after objections from a self-described “community group” fronted by a DW Turner executive, and the Rio Grande Foundation, on whose board Doug Turner sits, to building another public hospital.
Not coincidently, DW Turner provides services to those in the healthcare field. According to its website, DW Turner, “has provided strategic communications counsel to national healthcare and pharmaceutical associations, Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies and specialty medical groups in the areas of eye care, behavioral health, dental care, radiation oncology and long-term care.”
On October 16th, the Board of Finance, after meeting for several hours to discuss the project, voted to table approval of the hospital citing a lack of information about the project.
You may remember that the board of finance, whose members for the most part have been handpicked by Martinez, who herself oversees the board, is the same body that gave the final rubber stamp approval to the Dirty Downs deal.
Cangiolosi doesn’t start at UNM until November 19th. Plenty of time for him to “not lobby” his boss and other members of the board of finance.
Technically, Cangiolosi is prohibited by law for lobbying for at least a year after leaving the administration. But, the law doesn’t seem to apply to this administration.
______________________________________________________________