New Mexico In Depth invites you to join us for an afternoon conversation in Santa Fe with leaders in the effort to make state government more ethical and accountable to New Mexicans.

When: Thursday, December 1, 1:00 – 4:00 PM

Where: Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute, 1607 Paseo De Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501

This is a Free Event. Please register here to help us plan for attendance.

What questions should we ask? Let us know here.

Agenda:

1:00 PM: Ethics “State of the State”

Jeremy Farris, executive director of New Mexico’s independent ethics commission, and Trip Jennings, executive director of New Mexico In Depth, will discuss the biggest gaps and challenges to ethics in government and how the commission is helping create ethical guardrails.

Jeremy is the first State Ethics Commission Executive Director. He previously served as General Counsel to New Mexico’s Department of Finance and Administration and practiced law at litigation firms both in Atlanta, Georgia and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jeremy clerked for the Honorable Julia S. Gibbons on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; the Honorable Judith K. Nakamura on the New Mexico Supreme Court; and the Honorable James O. Browning on the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico. He holds a law degree from Harvard Law School, a doctorate and masters degree from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and a Bachelors of Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

2:00 PM: Is it time to pay lawmakers a salary?

NM State Rep. Joy Garratt
NM Sen. Katy Duhigg
Judy Williams, past president of the League of Women Voters NM
Political Science Professor Michael Rocca, University of New Mexico

State Sen. Katy Duhigg, state Rep. Joy Garratt, Judy Williams of the League of Women Voters and Political Science Professor Michael Rocca, University of New Mexico, will explore whether New Mexico’s system of part-time, unpaid lawmakers meets the needs of a functioning 21st-century democracy.

The conversation will be moderated by Phill Casaus, editor of the Santa Fe New Mexican.

3:00 PM: Does New Mexico have sufficient laws for curbing the influence of money in politics?

Kathleen Sabo, Executive Director, New Mexico Ethics Watch

Mario Jimenez, Executive Director of Common Cause New Mexico

Political Science Professor Timothy Krebs, University of New Mexico

UNM political science professor Timothy Krebs, Mario Jimenez of Common Cause New Mexico, and Kathleen Sabo of New Mexico Ethics Watch will take up questions about the influence of money in politics, with a focus on transparency and disclosure.

The conversation will be moderated by Marjorie Childress, managing editor of New Mexico In Depth.