New Mexico In Depth (https://nmindepth.com/series/people-power-and-democracy/page/3/)
This project is a reporting partnership between New Mexico In Depth, KUNM, NMPBS and the New Mexico News Port that attempts to pull back the curtain on how the New Mexico Legislature works and, in some cases, doesn’t. This project is supported by The Thornburg Foundation. Click here to read NMID’s 2016 Legislative Session Special edition.
Oh, the irony. It’s Sunshine Week, the annual reminder of the merits of open government and the dangers of secrecy. And here New Mexico is, channeling the subterranean netherworld in the Harry Potter novel The Chamber of Secrets.
| New Mexico has the widest gap in the country between the laws on the books and the way those laws are actually enforced. This week produced a twist on that storyline: a New Mexico Attorney General intent on enforcing the law but blocked by the New Mexico Legislature.
Lobbyists may end up reporting far less of their spending on lawmakers under a bill lauded for improving the state’s campaign finance system. House Bill 105, signed into law by Gov. Susana Martinez on Monday, aims to make it easier for the public to access information about campaign contributions and lobbyists’ reporting. But the bill also ends a requirement that lobbyists report cumulative spending on lawmakers, and increases the limit for reporting from $75 to $100 per event.
| In New Mexico money from taxes on gasoline and diesel (along with a few other things) goes into a road fund that pays for road maintenance. But the gas tax hasn’t been raised since 1993. And that means less money for road maintenance because of inflation, and because many people are driving more fuel-efficient cars or simply driving less.
| Gov. Susana Martinez signed a bill (HB 105) she said will make the campaign finance system more accurate and transparent, and make it easier for the public to access the information.
| AG Hector Balderas has charged former state Sen. Phil Griego with fraud, bribery, solicitation, tampering with records and “violating the ethical principles of public service.” He’s also charged with defrauding other brokers out of what should have been their share of a commission. A judge will decide if there is enough evidence to bring the case to trial.
| What could New Mexico politicians learn from MBA students at UNM’s Anderson School of Management? New Mexico in Focus visited a graduate-level business ethics class where some students are working on a project to design a good-government training for elected officials.
In the end, said Susan Boe, the executive director for the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, it comes down to economics. People may care about transparency and ethics, but their pocketbooks come first.
Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, and Majority Whip Michael Padilla, D-Albuquerque, are the 26th and 27th lawmakers to respond to NMID’s request for information. Other legislative leaders who have made their allocations public are House Speaker Don Tripp and House Minority Leader Brian Egolf.
New Mexicans, Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, wants you to file ethics complaints. Suspect a state lawmaker is corrupt? No need for an independent state ethics commission. File a complaint — a letter is all it takes — with the Interim Legislative Ethics committee. Lopez thinks the current system works fine.