14th Amendment Doesn't Apply in Bribery Scheme

[The Straight Story]

14th Amendment Doesn't Apply in Bribery Scheme


(CN) - A New Mexico politician's extortion scheme did not violate the equal protection rights of a contractor that walked away from the shady deal, the 10th Circuit ruled.
Former New Mexico treasurer Robert Vigil was sentenced to more than three years in prison for trying to extort a companies vying for a contract to oversee the state's securities lending program.

Aiming to keep Vigil in office, the mayor and his deputy, Ann Marie Gallegos, allegedly hatched a scheme to find work for the wife of Vigil's would-be opponent, Samantha Sais.

After receiving a bid from SECSYS, a company started by a former treasurer department, Vigil insisted that the contractor would have to give Sais a job on her terms.

"The plaintiff, SECSYS, agreed to the plan in principle but ultimately found it couldn't close the deal with Ms. Sais - she wanted 40 percent of SECSYS's gross income from the state contract; SECSYS was only willing to give her 40 percent of the net," according to the Denver-based federal appeals court's summary. "When negotiations broke down, Mr. Vigil and Ms. Gallegos allegedly went with another contractor who agreed to pay Ms. Sais what she wanted."

http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/01/30/43475.htm