Late Thursday night, Daniel "Danny" Maki, the son of lobbyist and former Richardson staffer Walter "Butch" Maki, announced his bid for PRC District 3--the district currently occupied by embattled commissioner Jerome Block, Jr.

According to the presser released by his campaign office, Danny Maki, a former staffer for US Rep. Ben Ray Luján, "began volunteering for Democratic campaigns since before he could drive or vote."

He'll make a formal announcement today at 2 pm at the Elks Lodge in Santa Fe.

Danny Maki's father, Walter "Butch" Maki, is a registered lobbyist and former aide to ex-Gov. Bill Richardson. Last July, SFR reported on a lawsuit alleging that Butch Maki's company, Dream Catcher Consulting, benefited from his former relative's embezzlement of pueblo gas funds.

Anthony Moya, Maki's former son-in-law and employee at Dream Catcher Consulting, pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement in US District Court in April 2009. Moya admitted to misusing more than $300,000 in funds belonging to Kewa Pueblo.

Dream Catcher countersued the pueblo in 2010 for breach of contract, but the case was thrown out. Moya served nine months of an 18-month sentence before helping investigators uncover a bribery case at the New Mexico Corrections Dept.

Christina Maki is now listed as "principle [sic] owner" of defense contracting firm Santa Fe Protective Services.

In 2009-10, SFPS raked in approximately $10.8 million in defense contract awards from the US government, SFR reports in a September 2010 cover story. 

Butch Maki currently owns BMA Strategies, a renewable energy and government services firm whose primary goal, according to its website, is "to bring the best deal to the table." In February of this year, the company was the subject of a newspaper story extolling Maki's efforts to bring computers and other technology to Kenya.

Danny Maki's only legal trouble, according to the New Mexico State Judiciary Case Lookup system, is a careless driving charge in 1999, for which he pleaded guilty.