They’re not online anywhere else, so New Mexico In Depth is posting 2013 financial disclosure forms for Gov. Susana Martinez and hundreds of other state officials in a searchable database.
Martinez’s office has not disclosed her 2013 financial disclosure report on her website. As of Tuesday, the governor’s website appeared to contain only 2011 financial reports for board and commission members.
In 2011, Martinez ordered her appointees to state boards and commissions to file reports that detail financial information including sources of income, just as other statewide elected officials, judges, cabinet secretaries, lawmakers and candidates for public office are required to do.
In addition, the 2013 financial disclosure reports for state officials are no longer available at Secretary of State (SOS) Dianna Duran’s website. Karen Turri, that office’s public policy and ethics specialist, said the office “received a request from another branch of government that was concerned about home addresses for certain public officials.” Officials would not provide additional details, but Turri said the office has “tried to accommodate that request.”
Turri said redactions had been requested for up to 250 people.
The SOS provided redacted digital versions of the 2013 reports to NMID in response to a public records request. The reports had home mailing addresses and, in some cases, “spouse’s employer” sections blacked out, even though that information isn’t exempt from public disclosure under the state Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA).
Turri told NMID that the Secretary of State’s Office is “looking for an efficient way to electronically redact all of the files and re-post the disclosures on the website.” The state’s Financial Disclosure Act requires that the forms be made available to the public at the Secretary of State’s office, but not that they be posted online.
In the meantime, click here for our searchable database.
Bryant Furlow is a board member of the N.M. chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the chapter’s Freedom of Information Committee.