New Mexico State University President Michael Martin and his wife will take advantage of a $6,000-per-month gift from a secret donor to move out of the university-owned president’s residence and into a private home.
The home is being built near Mesilla on
I’ve written a lot lately about the university stepping into controversy by using money from anonymous contributors to beef up the compensation of its president and (now former) basketball coach, so I’ll only rehash the issues here briefly:
The Board of Regents raised Martin’s annual salary in May from $294,000 to $335,000. His deferred compensation – which he only receives if he stays through 2012 – was increased from $50,000 to $100,000, and 70 percent will be paid by secret contributors. In addition, the $6,000-per-month housing allowance is being contributed by the private sector and funneled through the NMSU Foundation.
The University of New Mexico Foundation does keep its donor list secret, but UNM doesn’t use any of that money for employee compensation, except in the case of those employees who do foundation work.
Whether university foundations can keep donor lists secret has been a question across the nation, and, in many states, legal challenges have resulted in the opening of such records. The university denied my request for information about who is contributing to Martin’s compensation.
The concern is that Martin and his wife will soon be living in a home paid for by someone who might be a good citizen who wants to help the university and has no ulterior motive, but might be someone who wants something in return. Are pay-to-play politics taking hold at NMSU?
We don’t get to know. That’s the problem. Martin is a public employee, but the public doesn’t get to know about the donor who could influence his decisions. We’re left to simply trust Martin to be honest and incorruptible.
Why are Martin and his wife moving? For good reason. According to the Bulletin, the home is aging and always in need of repair, and it’s isolated.
The regents should give Martin a housing allowance so he has the option to move off campus. It’s fine that they sought a private donor to pay for it. It’s wrong that there’s no public disclosure of information about the donor. Whoever is giving the money has, at least, the gratitude of the regents for helping keep Martin in Las Cruces, and of Martin and his wife for putting them in what is likely to be a luxurious home.
If there’s nothing fishy going on, releasing information about the donor would assure the public and increase confidence in the university.
Thus far, no lawmaker has asked the attorney general for an opinion on whether the NMSU Foundation can legally keep its donor list secret. Will any step up to the plate?
A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that NMSU is the first school in the state to use private donor money to boost the compensation of high-ranking employees.