The Las Cruces Sun-News has also asked the Attorney General’s Office to weigh in on whether e-mail records requests are valid under state law and whether documents that have been discussed and approved in open meetings are public records.
The questions arose last week after New Mexico State University told both the Sun-News and me that requests we made for a copy of a new agreement with the NMSU Foundation weren’t valid because they were sent via e-mail and, even if they had been valid, the document wouldn’t be released because, though it had been discussed and approved publicly by the Board of Regents, it hadn’t yet been signed by all parties.
I contend the later is a flagrant violation of the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act and that the first might be as well. I asked the attorney general last week to investigate, and his office is doing that. NMSU eventually backed down under pressure from me and the Sun-News and released the document before all parties had signed it, but the university still contends that e-mail requests aren’t valid.
The attorney general’s Web site contains a section on pending complaints of violations of the public records act and the Open Meetings Act. I checked it out today to see if my request was posted – it is, and you can check it out by clicking here – but I also found a request from Sun-News reporter Diana Alba, who wrote today’s article about the situation.
You can read her request by clicking here.