The Associated Press

Fri, Jan 9, 2009 (7:57 p.m.)

The New Mexico attorney general's office is investigating the state's administration of a voter education project following an audit that uncovered problems with the way more than $6 million in federal dollars was spent on the effort.

Phil Sisneros, a spokesman for Attorney General Gary King, confirmed the investigation Friday but provided no additional details.

The inspector general's office of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission last year found numerous problems with New Mexico's handling of federal money received under the Help America Vote Act.

Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, who left office at the end of 2006 because of term limits, administered the three-year project. She declined to comment Friday evening.

The state paid A. Gutierrez & Associates, an Albuquerque advertising firm, nearly $6.3 million for television, radio and newspaper ads and other voter education work from 2004 through 2006, the federal audit said.

Armando Gutierrez has produced advertising for many Democratic campaigns, including Spanish language ads for President Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election.

Records substantiated only about $2.6 million of the company's costs, according to the audit, and the payments by the state exceeded a contracted ceiling by about $323,000.

"The invoices submitted to the office of the secretary of state by Gutierrez did not reflect actual costs incurred in the performance of the contract because Gutierrez submitted only plans and budgets as a basis for payment," the audit said.

That conflicted with the terms of Gutierrez's contract, which required him to submit receipts to the secretary of state and certify that he had incurred the costs that were billed, the audit said.

Sisneros said the attorney general's office was first consulted in April 2007 when the auditors were reviewing the finances.

Vigil-Giron has been working for the state Department of Workforce Solutions since October.