UNM, NMSU to help pay cabinet secretary and deputy

The state’s Higher Education Department is in the process of getting a new secretary and deputy secretary. Both will be paid in part by the universities they’re leaving.

The premise is simple: University executives are paid more than cabinet secretaries, so to get the top educators to run the department, Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration has to come up with some extra cash.

Higher Education Department spokeswoman Laura Mulry said the department will be paying a portion of the salaries for new Higher Education Secretary Reed Dasenbrock and Deputy Secretary Bill Flores, but the University of New Mexico will also help pay Dasenbrock and New Mexico State University will help pay Flores.

When the transition is complete, both will work full time for the department, and spend none of their time working for the universities from which they came, she said.

Both contracts are still being worked out, so details aren’t finalized or releasable, Mulry said, adding that she hopes to release details soon. Until that happens, the situation raises questions about how much the universities will contribute and where they will get the funds.

If the money comes from legislative appropriations, are the schools and governor attempting to circumvent the Legislature by redirecting money?

Could the money come from private donors and be funneled though university foundations? If so, that could set up a scenario where a non-profit organization that keeps its donor lists private is helping pay an employee who works directly for the governor.

Though his contract isn’t yet finalized, Dasenbrock, who was formerly the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at UNM, was to have begun his new job last week. At UNM, he was making an annual salary of $245,000 – more than $85,000 above the previous secretary’s salary.

Richardson announced in April that Flores was joining his administration as the department’s deputy secretary. Since May 1, Flores has been pulling double duty at NMSU and in Santa Fe, Mulry said. He’ll continue to do that through the end of the month, when his current contract at NMSU expires.

During that time, Flores will have been paid entirely by NMSU, Mulry said. The school is paying Flores just under $221,000 this fiscal year.

That means for two months Flores will have been paid as part of a budget approved by the NMSU regents for work that is outside the purview of the university they govern.

The situation raises all sorts of legal and ethical questions that can’t be addressed until the contracts are finalized and details are made public.