When Bill Richardson first became Governor of New Mexico, he put a referendum on the ballot allowing him to access the Permanent Land Grant fund. Then worth over 1 billion dollars. He was going to take the case to court using taxpayer dollars after the vote showed a difference of 187 votes, until he found out the measure passed.

Later He was able to find money in the budget to make appointments for over 1000 political contributors, buy New Personal Jets, a fleet of Vehicles, and finance his run for the 2008 presidency.