State lawmakers reported a productive meeting with officials from New Mexico State University on Monday about whether the NMSU Foundation’s donor records should be public.
In addition, a draft of a letter seeking an attorney general opinion on whether the foundation’s records are legally public documents is being circulated among the
“I think the next step is to get the letter up to the attorney general and get some clarification and see if maybe we need some legislation,” state Rep. Nate Cote said following the meeting.
Rep. Joseph Cervantes hasn’t decided whether he’ll sign the letter, but he is considering legislation that would open most state university foundation records to the public.
He said he believes some donors should be allowed to remain anonymous if restrictions are placed on them.
“It would create an appearance of impropriety to have a bidder for a project or someone buying and selling services to the university at the same time making anonymous contributions, and I think that’s worth further discussion,” Cervantes said. “I recognize that there are areas where state law is lacking. I think our university administration and regents would appreciate greater clarity and I think that’s an important role for legislators to play.”
I recently requested that lawmakers seek the attorney general opinion on whether the foundation can legally keep information about donors secret. That was in response to the regents’ announcement in May that they were using money from secret donors to boost the compensation of the president and former men’s basketball coach.
In anticipation of the request, the attorney general’s office has already begun consideration of the issue, and is also looking into whether the university violated government transparency laws in its handling of records requests and in the holding of a regents meeting that wasn’t properly noticed.
Rep. Andy Nuñez said he first saw the draft of the letter to the attorney general Monday, and there’s some disagreement about whether it should take a position on whether the foundation records should be public. Nuñez said he’ll sign the letter as long as it’s neutral because, to him, this isn’t about the compensation being given to the university president by private donors but is about “what’s legal and what’s not.”
Nuñez said he isn’t going to take a position on whether donor records should be public until after the attorney general issues his opinion.
NMSU to explain position to the public
During Monday’s meeting, the two regents who were present, Chair Laura Conniff and Vice Chair Bob Gallagher, explained to legislators how the decision to use private donations to boost the compensation came about and answered lawmakers’ questions. University President Michael Martin let the regents take the lead and didn’t say a lot during the meeting.
“The legislators had many good questions and I think received satisfactory answers to those questions,” Cervantes said. “We were given a thorough history of the president’s contract and how that came about. Some of the concerns were resolved by the explanation we were given.”
Cervantes said he hopes the university shares with the public the information it shared with lawmakers at the meeting. Gallagher said the university is in the process of drafting a letter for publication on this site and in local newspapers that will explain the situation. He expects it to be submitted this week.
Gallagher also said the proposal made by Cervantes could be “headed in the right direction,” saying prohibiting anonymous donors from bidding on university contracts or conducting other business with the university is something “we’re certainly willing to take a look at.”
However, Gallagher said if lawmakers want an attorney general opinion, they shouldn’t focus on the NMSU Foundation or educational foundations in general, but should instead ask about “all private foundations with ties to public bodies,” including any non-profits that use public facilities.
“Certainly we do not believe that the university needs to be singled out,” Gallagher said. “If you’re going to look at foundations, look at them all.”
Overall, Gallagher said he thought the meeting was “very productive” and suggested that lawmakers and university officials meet more often – within the guidelines of the Open Meetings Act, which would prevent the attendance of more than two regents at such meetings.
Cervantes said he hopes the meeting marks “the beginning of a continuing dialogue.”
In addition to Cervantes, Cote and Nuñez, the meeting was attended by Reps. Mary Helen Garcia and Joni Gutierrez and Sens. Mary Jane Garcia and Mary Kay Papen.
Update, 1:30 p.m.
Papen said the meeting was “extremely productive” and said she believes that people should be allowed to give anonymously. Opening the records to the public could overwhelm people with requests for additional giving, she said.
“I personally would like to see people be able to give the anonymous gifts, and I would like to see it clarified so they can do that,” she said. “I hope that we will be able to protect those people.”
Papen also said some constituents have asked her to sign the letter to the attorney general, and said she thinks requesting such an opinion “is probably a good thing to get the air cleared.” She had previously said she would sign the letter.