Some Miscellaneous Bill Action

I'm a political reporter, but I get tired of predictable political talking points that both sides fall into all too frequently. That's why I appreciated the debate on House Bill 644, which sets a minimum retirement age of 55 and reduces the cost-of-living adjustment for most public employees.

The bill, which was voted down on Sunday, was reconsidered by the House and eventually passed 37-32. But it was hardly a party-line vote. And you couldn't see any other frequent breaking lines such as rural vs. urban. Apparently all these representatives were thinking for themselves, and there were good arguments on both sides.

Here's some other bills that have passed today:

* HB368, sponsored by Reps. Nate Gentry and David Doyle, both R-Albuquerque, which would prevent state officials from sealing their records after they leave office. It passed unanimously This bill was inspired by the uproar early this year over Gov. Bill Richardson sealing his office's documents for eight years, as other governors have done before him. The attorney general ordered the state Archives to allow inspections of the Richardson documents, but this bill would set that into law. It goes on to the Senate.

* SB17, sponsored by Sens. Tim Keller, D-Albuquerque, and Steve Neville, R-Aztec, which would remove the governor from the State Investment Council. Under the bill, which already cleared the Senate, Gov. Susana Martinez could stay on the council for the next two years, until July 1, 2013. The House passed it 50-18. It goes now to Martinez for signature.

* SB11, sponsored by Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe. In case you thought this bill had gone to the dogs, think again. This landmark legislation, which would allow restaurants to allow dogs in outdoor eating areas, passed the House 50-17.

I was just disappointed that nobody brought a snake to the floor as Sen. Bill Sharer, R-Farmington did in the Senate last week.

UPDATE: 7:03 p.m. The bill number for SB 17 has been corrected.

Think NM Ethics Bill Makes it Out of First Committee

House Bill 604, which would ban political contributions from people who contract with state government cleared its first hurdle this morning, getting a 10-1 vote for do-pass from the House Voters and elections Committee.

The bill, sponsored by Reps. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe and Nate Gentry, R-Albuquerque now goes to the House Judiciary Committee.

A similar bill last year passed the House but collapsed and died in the weird labyrinth known as the New Mexico State Senate.

A news release from Think New Mexico says "The bill would bar registered lobbyists and major government contractors (those seeking or holding contracts worth $50,000 or more) from making political contributions to candidates for state public office. The bill would also increase transparency and accountability in election spending by requiring that anyone – including nonprofit organizations, unions, and corporations – that engages in political advocacy must report and disclose the sources of the funds used for that advocacy."

The question is even if the bill becomes law, would a court strike down the provision that require non-profits to report contributors? So far the one case in which the state tried to get non-profits to disclose was thwarted by federal courts.

Hot New State Government Job

Because of the ongoing state government crunch and the ensuing budget cuts, hiring freezes, etc., it's not very common to hear people calling to create new positions in state government -- especially people from both major political parties.

But there's one new job that's been endorsed by both Republican Heather Wilson, a former member of COngress, and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, the only Democrat running for governor:

Inspector General.

In a guest column on Heath Haussamen's blog published today (titled Restoring Ethics, Eight Ways to Clean Up Santa Fe), Wilson wrote:

New Mexico should establish by statute an Office of the Inspector General, and the inspector general should be appointed or elected for a fixed term not contiguous with the governorship and should be responsible for reviewing and testing the integrity of state and local governments. An inspector general could receive and review anonymous complaints, require the production of documents and root out waste and corruption.

While the state auditor looks at finances, an IG could look at compliance with other policies like procurement, personnel policy and regulatory compliance. The existence of multiple organizations and competing political forces can help deter corruption and root it out where it exists.

Denish also has called for an inspector general of sorts. Her recently rolled-out plan to reform government says:

Denish would consolidate all agency inspectors general and fraud and abuse staff in one Office of Government Accountability led by a Chief Performance and Accountability Officer. This person will answer to the Governor and be charged with eliminating fraud, waste and abuse in state government. By taking existing inspector general staff out of their agencies and placing them in an independent office, taxpayers will have an internal watchdog for taxpayer funds that is unbiased and not beholden to departmental personalities or loyalties.

Sounds like ideas worth inspecting

Richardson in CREW'S "Worst Governors" List

Here's another national list where New Mexico is right toward the top: The Citizens for Ethics & Responsibility in Washington's 11 Worst Governors List.

Of Gov. Bill Richardson, CREW writes that he:

* Used state investments to benefit political allies
* Allowed pay-to-play scandals to plague his administration
* Rewarded close associates with state positions or benefits, including providing a longtime friend and political supporter with a costly state contract
* Failed to make state government more transparent

"In compiling Worst Governors, CREW reviewed the job performances of all 50 U.S. governors before identifying the worst 11, a CREW news release said. "Though ethics laws, campaign finance rules and financial disclosure regulations vary from state to state, CREW found these governors’ proclivities for corruption, cronyism and self-enrichment outweighed their competency, integrity and commitment to transparency."

CREW in 2007 criticized and filed ethics complaints against then New Mexico U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson and Sen. Pete Domenici for their roles in the U,S. Attorney scandal, specifically for calling then U.S. Attorney David Iglesisas about the Manny Aragon investigation. (Iglesias said the calls amounted to political pressure, which Domenici and Wilson have repeatedly denied.) The group also criticized then Rep. Steve Pearce for financial dealings. Pearce denied wrongdoing.

State Republicans, including the staff of the Congress members dismissed CREW as a "partisan" organization. I wonder if they'll do that now that Richardson is in the hot seat.

Richardson is one of two Democrats on the list, the other being New York Gov. David Patterson.

Others on the list include:

• Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS);
• Gov. Donald Carcieri (R-RI);
• Gov. Jim Gibbons (R-NV);
• Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA);
• Gov. Sonny Perdue (R-GA);
• Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX);
• Gov. Mike Rounds (R-SD);
• Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC); and
• Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA).


Here's the report:

CREW's Bill Richardson Profile

UPDATE: Why 11 and not, say 10 or a dozen? CREW's Peter Bjork told me in an email, "... we examined the job performance of all 50 US governors using common criteria, and felt that these 11 qualified as the `worst.' The list is unranked, so there wasn’t any need to strive for a nice round number."

ANOTHER UPDATE: Richardson spokeswoman Alarie Ray-Garcia responds: "This report is ridiculous considering Gov. Richardson has led the way for ethics reform in New Mexico. It's also difficult to take it seriously since it relies almost exclusively on the Albuquerque Journal as its source."

House Passes Two Ethics/Transparency Bills

Within a few minutes the House passed a couple of bills aimed at making government more open and less corrupt.

Most recent one first: They passed the Whistleblower Act, SB96 by a 61-1 margin. This would protect people who report official wrongdoing from retaliation.

This bill will be sent to the governor for his signature. Though Richardson vetoed a different whistleblower bill in 2007, this year, he put it on his call and asked for such a n act in his State of the State address.

This vote came after House approval, by a 65-1 vote of the Sunshine Portal Transparency Act, SB 195. This bill would create a Web site that would include a monthly list of the revenue received by the state -- broken down by source, such as taxes, fees or fines. The portal would include tools for tracking the status of capital-outlay projects and public meetings.

The House amended the bill to not include the names of classified state employees and their salaries. However the names and salaries of exempt employees would be part of the portal.

Because it was amended the bill has to go back to the Senate for concurrence before going to the governor.

Good Government Groups Against Ethics Commission Bills

Bills that would establish a state ethics commission are being opposed — at least in their current form — by several organizations. some of which for years have advocated an ethics commission.

Senate Bill 43 is awaiting action by the full Senate. That’s also the case in the House for the similar House Bill 43.

Sarah Welsh, director of New Mexico Foundation for Open Government said in a written statement that most of the groups support “an independent, bipartisan commission to field and investigate ethics complaints against public officials, as well as to serve in an advisory capacity on all issues related to ethics in government.”

But the confidentially requirements in the bills are too strict and fly in the face of the state’s “sunshine” laws, which “start from the presumption that government must be open by default, with any secrecy provisions carved out as narrowly as possible,”

Welsh noted that under the bills, “a private citizen who files an ethics complaint and then decides to talk about it publicly could face penalties of up to $26,000 and a year in jail. Ironically, a public official, public employee or lobbyist found to have actually committed an ethics violation in betrayal of the public trust would only receive a public reprimand from the ethics commission.”

Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, who is sponsor of the Senate bill, told me Saturday that such confidentiality requirements are necessary to protect the reputation of officials and candidates.

Said Welsh on Tuesday, “Although confidentiality for the commission’s initial investigation and deliberations might make sense, these bills require that nearly all commission meetings, the entire hearing process and almost all documents collected and generated by the commission remain outside public view forever. The only documents that would be required to be released by this commission are advisory opinions, the final reports on investigations that result in a guilty finding and an annual report.”

On Saturday, speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Jim Noel, representing Gov. Bill Richardson's office, questioned whether the confidentiality provisions in the bill were constitutional.

Besides NMFOG other groups opposing the bills include, Common Cause New Mexico, the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, American Association of Retired Persons and the League of Women Voters of New Mexico.

Three and a Half Days and Counting ...

It's crunch time in the Legislature. There's a light at the end of the tunnel. Let's hope it's not approaching at a high rate of speech.

The first item of interest is HB118, Rep. Joe Campos' bill to prohibit campaign contributions from state contractors and lobbyists. It's number 1 on the House floor agenda. Fred Nathan of Think New Mexico, the think tank that came up with a bill, just got a page to meet with Campos.

Ooops. They just passed over HB118. Not sure what's going on at this point.

XXXXXXX

Here's a plug for a new blog by private detective and political operative Mike Corwin. It's called The Everyday Detective and gives tips on how regular folks can gather information. Check it out.

Is Ethics Commission Bill Constitutional?

A representative of Governor Bill Richardson said a bill establishing a states ethics commission — unanimously endorsed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Saturday — contains a section that is unconstitutional.

Jim Noel, a state lawyer working for the governor during the session, said Senate Bill 43 would “unconstitutionally silence the voice of complainants.” Under the bill, someone filing a complaint about a state official would have to sign a confidentiality agreement that would not allow him to talk about the case until the ethics commission made a decision.

Violating the confidentiality agreement could mean a complainant could face a $25,000 civil fine and a jail sentence of one year. Noel pointed out that this means the complainant could face worse penalties than a corrupt official.

Noel is a past executive director of the state Judicial Standards Commission and is married to Richardson's former political director Amanda Cooper.

Bill sponsor Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, said the confidentiality agreement does not violate the complainant’s First Amendment rights. “He could hold a press conference right before he files the complaint,” she said.

Sen. John Ryan, R-Albuquerque, said he didn’t like a section of the bill that said the ethics commission couldn’t act on any complaint during election season — which is from the primary filing day in March of an election year until the November general election.

This might conceal wrongdoing about an elected official or candidate that voters should know before an election, Ryan said.

Lopez said the blackout period is necessary to avoid “witch hunts” during an election.

Though Ryan voted for the bill, he said he might file an amendment dealing with the “blackout” period.

The commission would consist of seven members — two appointed by the governor, four by the Legislature and one appointed by the chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The governor’s appointees would have to be two Democrats and two Republicans — except if the governor belonged to neither major party.

The bill goes to the Senate Finance Committee because it calls for a $200,000 appropriation for an executive director and other expenses.

Noel said the governor prefers House Bill 125, sponsored by Rep. Brian Egolf. However, that bill has not gotten out of the House Judiciary Committee.

UPDATE: Sen. Peter Wirth just notified me that I had the number of commission members in the current version of the bill incorrect in the original version this post. It's been corrected.

Committee Agrees on Contributions Bill

The House Voters & Elections Committee earlier today combined two bills that would prohibit campaign contributions from lobbyists, state contractors and companies seeking "targeted subsidies" like tax incentives.

As I reported earlier this week, there was one bill 118, sponsored by Rep. Joe Campos, D-Santa Rosa, , which is the brainchild of Think New Mexico, the Santa Fe-based think tank. The second bill, HB 172, sponsored by Rep. Gail Chasey, D-Albuquerque is backed by Gov. Bill Richardson.

The committee substitute removed a provision from Chasey's bill that would have prohibited contributions from corporations and a section from Campos' bill that would have required nonprofit groups that get involved in political advocacy to disclose their contributors.

The vote was 6-4.

The bill goes on the House Judiciary Committee.

Senate Passes Whistleblower Act

Once again the state Senate has passed a bill (SB96) to protect government employees from being retaliated against for reporting official wrongdoing.

Bill sponsor Sen. Sue Wilson-Beffort said that had the bill been in effect a few years ago, the ill-fated $90 million investment by the Education Retirement Fund with the Vanderbilt company -- which now is the center of a pay-to-play lawsuit filed by former ERB investment officer Frank Foy -- might have never happened.

Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque said the bill was long overdue. Federal employees have such protections, she said. State and local government employees deserve it also.

The bill passed 38-2 with Sens. Michael Sanchez and Phil Griego dissenting. Sanchez argued that the bill has a potentially large financial impact on the court system and should have gone to the Finance Committee. Griego expressed concerns about protecting people who file frivolous suits.

The bill now goes to the House, which has passed similar measures in recent years.

Gov. Bill Richardson vetoed a similar bill in 2007.

UPDATE: Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos just emailed to say one of the reasons for that 2007 veto was because the bill called for unlimited punitive damage.

But apparently that won't be a problem this year.

Gallegos said the governor is backing a House whistleblower bill, HB165 sponsored by Rep. Joe Cervantes, D-Las Cruces. The fiscal impact report says the House bill is identical to the one that passed the Senate.

Tuesday at The Roundhouse

Two bills caught my eye today

Senate Bill 183, sponsored by Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, which would establish domestic partnerships for unmarried couples, today will be the subject of a joint hearing between the Senate Public Affairs and Judiciary Committee. The Public Affairs panel, which recommended a domestic-partnership bill last year, might actually vote on the measure today.

Meanwhile, the Think New Mexico ethics bill, HB118 is scheduled to be heard by being heard by the House Voters and Elections Committee. This legislation, sponsored by Rep. Jose Campos, D-Santa Rosa, would prohibit lobbyists and government contractors from making political contributions to state candidates or to political committees.

My story about the approaching half-way mark of the session is HERE That half-way mark is Wednesday, which is the last day bills can be introduced.

PSA Memories

Gov. Bill Richardson's proposal of a ban on politicians making state-paid public service announcements and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish's subsequent decision to get the Health Department to stop her PSA on flu prevention reminded me of a column I wrote three years ago.

That piece was sparked by a parent of a girl who had appeared in a campaign ad for Land Commissioner Pat Lyons. The girl's elementary school apologized saying they thought the TV spot was going to be a PSA.

My take:

Any time an elected official gets a film crew together the real purpose is political — whether it’s for a “public service” announcement or an actual campaign commercial. Lets not kid ourselves.

And I'll stand by my observation in that column that besides office holders using PSAs to get their names and faces out there, I wish politicos would take Pink Floyd's advice and "leave those kids alone."

... while many wring their hands over “negative” ads, it’s some of the “positive” ads that give me the willies.

I know this appeal probably is useless, but I wish the politicians would leave the kids out of it. Surely there’s some brave candidates out there who would pledge to refrain from using youngsters as political props.

Do it for the children.

Denish Yanks PSAs

One day after Gov. Bill Richardson proposed a new bill prohibiting political candidates from appearing in state-paid public service announcements, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish has asked the state Health Department to stop running a recent PSA in which she advises parents how to keep their kids from getting the flu.

Denish, as most readers of this blog are surely aware, is running for governor. Her chief of staff Josh Rosen said Denish had already pledged not to do any PSAs during an election year. He said she decided to stop the PSAs to avoid any confusion.

A spokeswoman for the department said they have pulled the Denish ad. The department had planned to stop the PSAs in January anyway.

A companion ad featuring Richardson will keep airing. Richardson, of course, isn't running for anything next year.

Political experts say 30-second spots are one of the best ways to build name recognition for a candidate -- even if the candidate isn't overtly saying "vote for me."

Read my story in today's New Mexican HERE. And check back on Saturday for more information.

Below is the ad. (Warning: The spot doesn't really start until about 17 seconds in.)

Governor Pushing New Ethics Package

Gov. Bill Richardson just announced a package of ethics reforms in the 2010 legislative session in January.


The proposals include some old ideas and new. Among them:


* An independent Ethics Commission to provide independent oversight of the executive and legislative branches and all state employees. It would receive and investigate complaints by concerned citizens and whistleblowers. The commission would also have strong powers to investigate and discipline, including the ability to fine, censure, and reprimand public officials, state employees, lobbyists, contractors and officials.


* PSA Prohibitions-Prohibit candidates from using taxpayer money or state resources, for advertisements or public service announcements, except in the case of an emergency when the announcement is directly related to the candidate’s official function.


Governor Richardson voluntarily stopped appearing in PSA’s during his successful 2006 re-election campaign.


* Campaign Contribution Prohibitions-Bans campaign contributions from corporations, state contractors, and lobbyists.


* State Contractor Disclosures-Requires potential state contractors to disclose any campaign contributions of $250 or more made during the two years prior to entering into any bid solicitations.


* Legislator to Lobbyists Rules-Bans former lawmakers from being paid to lobby the legislature for one-year after they leave office or their term expires.


* Whistleblower Protection Act-Prohibits retaliation against whistleblowers.

Roundhouse Roundup: Protect a Politician, Jail a Journalist

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
December 17, 2009

Here’s my nightmare of the week.
It’s the year 2011, and I’ve just gotten a hot tip that the new state Ethics Commission is investigating a state legislator on allegations that he’s running an illegal cockfighting pit with laundered campaign contributions from child porn publishers. I find a source who quietly slips me reams of documents the commission is looking at, documents that basically prove the case. I get a “no comment” from the accused’s lawyer and go to press with the story.

Then I end up in the same jail pod as the sleazy politician I wrote about.

That might sound far-fetched, but a bill to establish a state Ethics Commission, which recently received unanimous approval by a legislative interim committee, includes a provision intended to keep all material related to an investigation confidential.

Quoting from Section 16 of the proposed bill: “A person who discloses any confidential complaint, report, file, record or communication in violation of the State Ethics Commission Act is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment for not more than one year or both.”

Yikes!

As Jim Scarantino pointed out recently in his New Mexico Watchdog blog, this prohibition of disclosure is even more broad than the laws governing grand jury secrecy.

Steve Allen, executive director of New Mexico Common Cause — who was part of the subcommittee that drafted the bill — said part of his work was to check other states that have ethics commissions.

Allen said the secrecy in this proposal goes well beyond confidentiality provisions in other states. “Confidentiality and protecting the rights of the accused is a valid concern,” Allen said Wednesday. But this bill, he said, goes much further in protecting politicians than ethics commission laws in other states.

“I am concerned this would bar reporters from publishing or broadcasting information that might be leaked from the commission,” said Sarah Welsh, executive director for New Mexico Foundation for Open Government.

Welsh told me Wednesday that if the commission wanted to keep its investigations confidential, there are other ways of doing that. They could limit the penalties to the commission staff and/or commissioners. They could make the documents confidential and not subject to public records requests.

But, Welsh added, “I don’t like to see the shadow of secrecy extended to a whole class of documents. Those provisions are rarely repealed.”

State Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, who co-chairs the interim committee on Courts, Corrections & Justice, which endorsed this bill, said in an e-mail this week, “The commission is set up to operate in a confidential manner until it finds that an ethics violation was committed. At that time, the report goes public. … The idea is to protect respondents from unfounded allegations that could harm their livelihoods, reputations or careers and to prevent the commission from becoming a vehicle for personal vendettas.”

Wirth continued, “Although the bill does everything it can to maintain confidentiality, there is certainly an argument that a complainant, and even more so a reporter, would be protected by the First Amendment when disclosing documents or information. At the very least, there is a tension with First Amendment rights.”

But does that mean a reporter would have to go to court to argue his First Amendment rights — praying that the judge will agree?

That sounds like a tension most of us could live without.

Hopefully our wise Legislature will see clear not to pass a bill that has foreseeable constitutional violations.

More hazy history: Political blogger Joe Monahan pointed out to me that an item last week in this column about the few New Mexico lieutenant governors who have gone on become governor had one glaring omission.

The state’s very first “lite guv,” Ezequiel C. de Baca, was elected governor in 1916 while sitting as lieutenant governor. But shortly after he was elected and took office, C de Baca died and — as I wrote last week — his lieutenant governor Washington Lindsey became governor.

Monahan’s right. I checked it out in the state Blue Book.

As previously reported, the other two lieutenant governors who became governor were Andrew Hockenhull, who became governor in 1933 when Gov. Arthur Seligman died, and Tom Bollack, who replaced Gov. Ed Mechem after Mechem resigned so Bollack could appoint him to the U.S. Senate.

Here's a copy of the proposed ethics bill:

ETHICSCOMMBILL 2009

Roundhouse Roundup: Yes Virginia, There IS an Ethics Committee

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
December 10, 2009

As lawmakers continue the debate on whether to establish an independent ethics commission to investigate possible bad behavior, one can only hope that the state doesn't use an existing state ethics panel as a model.

I'm talking about the Interim Legislative Ethics Committee, which has been around since 1993.

In a story in Wednesday's paper about the alleged altercation between Reps. Patty Lundstrom, D-Gallup, and Sandra Jeff, D-Crownpoint, I mistakenly said the committee hadn't met in more than 10 years. That's inaccurate. But not by much.

It is accurate to say that the committee has never taken action against any legislator. In fact, the last time the Legislature itself took action against one of its own was in 1992 in the case of Rep. Ron Olguin, D-Albuquerque. The Legislature voted to censure him. A jury later found him guilty of accepting a bribe.

According to the state Legislature's Web site, the committee has opined — or declined to opine — on a few ethical questions brought to it by legislators. Listed on the Web site are a total of 11 advisory opinions and letters. That's 11 since 1994.

In fairness, these don't include cases of possible misconduct considered by the committee. And it's not public information how many cases there have been — if indeed there have been any at all. If ILEC decides to dismiss a case, it is kept secret. Obviously if the committee has looked at alleged misconduct through the years, all of them have been dismissed.

I would wager that there have been very few such cases before that committee at least since I've been covering the Capitol. There are 16 lawmakers on this committee. That's a lot of people to keep a secret.

So what do they do? According to ILEC documents posted on the Web site, many of the questions raised deal with when it's appropriate and not appropriate to use Legislature letterheads, etc. One, answering a question by former Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson, R-Las Cruces, dealt with when it's appropriate to use the state seal.

No, there's no mention in the committee's response of the decorative piece hanging in former Sen. Manny Aragon's bedroom.

Bipartisan love: The roads froze over in Santa Fe this week. Now I'm worried about Hell.

First there was an item on the Rio Grande Foundation's blog, Errors of Enchantment, that praised — yes praised — Gov. Bill Richardson. The conservative think tank likes the governor's recent idea for a committee to look at ways to cut waste in government. "We at the Rio Grande Foundation applaud Gov. Richardson for his willingness to look beyond tax hikes in closing New Mexico's massive budget deficits," foundation director Paul Gessing wrote. "The naming of this commission is a good first step."

Then Internet reporter Heath Haussamen got a surprise on his Facebook page this week. In response to a post about State Auditor Hector Balderas, conservative Republican blogger Mario Burgos wrote, "I've got to admit I was a pretty vocal critic when Hector was being considered for the position since he lacked an accounting background, but I've been impressed with his commitment and performance to date," Burgos wrote. "I may be partisan, but I'm more than willing to put politics aside when someone is doing a great job. Keep it up Mr. Auditor."

Haussamen also quotes House Minority Whip Keith Gardner, R-Roswell, also praising Balderas' job as auditor.

Hazy history: A little mea culpa here. Recently in a story about Lt. Gov. Diane Denish's candidacy for governor, I left out the name of one of the state's lieutenant governors who went on to become governor. That would be Andrew Hockenhull, who became governor in 1933 when Gov. Arthur Seligman died.

So that makes three, the others being Washington Lindsey, who became governor in 1917 when the state's second governor, Ezequiel C. de Baca, died a month after taking office, and Tom Bollack, who became governor in November 1962 and served less than two months after Gov. Edwin Mechem resigned and was appointed by Bollack to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat.

None of the three ever won election as governor, so the point stands that the lieutenant governor's post is not a traditional stepping stone to the New Mexico governor's office.

A Couple of Stories

Not much political blogging on my part during Thanksgiving week. Maybe some were thankful for that.

But here's a couple of stories I did late last week.

First there's the progress on the latest bill that would establish a state ethics commission. It cleared a legislative interim committee on a unanimous, bi-partisan vote. Now the big question is whether the Legislature will want to fund a new agency, albeit a small agency, in this time of budget shortfalls.

I posted the draft bill on this blog last week. Scroll down or CLICK HERE.

And I did a little analysis of the "political balancing act" that Lt. Gov. Diane Denish has to do in her run for governor -- showing her independence from the current administration without appearing disloyal as well as stressing her experience in state government leadership at the same time having to explain that she was out of the loop whenever stories about scandals in state government arise.

Interim Committee Agrees on Ethics Commission Bill

The Legislature's interim committee on Courts, Corrections & Justice on Tuesday unanimously endorsed a bill that would create an 11-member ethics commission appointed by the Legislature and the governor.

On first glance it appears the Ethics Commission would be set up similar to the Judicial Standards Commission. The body would have the power to subpoena witnesses in ethics complaints regarding state officials or employees and determine whether complaints are valid.

If the complaint involved allegations of criminal violations, the information would be turned over to the state attorney general or a district attorney. Other complaints deemed valid would go to the Legislature if the complaint pertains to a lawmaker or elected state official.

Like Judicial Standards, all meetings pertaining to specific investigations are held behind closed doors and there's even criminal penalties for those who leak documents.

In past legislative sessions, bills to create ethics commissions have stalled. We'll see how far this one gets.


ETHICSCOMMBILL 2009

Workers to PRC: Can the Flunkies

I spent a good part of the afternoon over at the Public Regulation Commission going through the recent employee surveys on ethics, which were released today though a few of them were redacted.

The PRC got an earful. The most frequent complaint was about hiring practice -- that, in the words of one employee, "political flunkies" are hired for jobs for which they aren't qualified.

Some said fear of retribution kept most employees from reporting ethical violations. “This place is never confidential,” wrote one employee. “Too many management ‘Big Mouths’ in a political cesspool.”

Another worker turned to the bard. “Just what Shakespeare said. ‘Reputation, reputation, reputation. O, I have lost my reputation. I have lost the immortal part of myself and what remains is degrading.’ ”

Actually in Othello, the final word in that quote was “bestial,” not "degrading." But I think the meaning is clear.

Here's our story in Wednesday's paper. CLICK HERE

UPDATE: Hey, you can see my pretty face, hard at work looking at the PRC ethics surveys, about halfway through through this clip from Channel 4. (Gee, thanks, Gaddi ....)

King Wants Ethics Reform in 2010 Session

Attorney General Gary King will be pushing for ethics reform in the next regular session of the Legislature.

A news release from King's office says the AG will once again push for a bill to create a state Ethics Commission. He also wants a whistleblower protection bill, an "anti-Pay-to-Play" contractor disclosure bill; and legislation to expand of the definition of "lobbying" to include matters being considered by the Executive Branch of state government.

Any bill other than financial bills in a 30-day session must be put on the governor's call. Gov. Bill Richardson, who has endorsed ethics bills in the past, hasn't said whether these will be on the call.

King plans to present his proposed legislation Thursday to the the Courts, Corrections and Justice Commitee, which is meeting in Las Cruces.