Will Vigil, Garcia situations be investigated?

I’ve written a lot about the controversies surrounding state Rep. Richard Vigil, D-Ribera, and Sen. Mary Jane Garcia, D-Doña Ana.

Vigil’s wife and others are facing felony charges in part for spending capital outlay money Vigil secured on an annual, invitation only party – one that took place late at night and included an expensive band – under the guise of a staff training event for the school program his wife used to run. The money was also spent on other plush items for the program, including a 42-inch plasma screen television – a TV that was picked up from Sears, according to the receipt, by Vigil, and has since vanished.

Garcia’s Las Cruces bar was recently cited for serving an intoxicated person. Weeks later – before the department that handles administration of liquor licenses had begun the process of taking action against the bar – Garcia called, in her capacity as a senator, a meeting in Las Cruces, attended by dozens of representatives of the liquor industry and a handful of legislators. Garcia and others berated state officials – including those whose department is responsible for taking action against Garcia’s bar – during the contentious meeting.

Vigil’s situation creates the appearance of possible impropriety and deserves further scrutiny to either determine that there was an ethical violation or to clear his name.

Garcia’s actions create the appearance that she was threatening, in her official position, the department that is seeking sanctions against her bar.

I’m suggesting that both should be reviewed by the legislative committee that is responsible for ensuring ethical conduct.

The state does have such an interim legislative Ethics Committee. Its membership consists of the leaders from both parties in the House and Senate. Under procedures set forth in legislative policy, charges of ethical violations by lawmakers can be investigated, in the interim, by the ethics committee, or they can be considered during a session by the Senate Ethics Committee or the House Rules of Order and Business Committee.

The committees have not found any ethical violation by any lawmaker since 1992. The ethics committee can also issue advisory opinions on ethical issues, when requested, but it hasn’t done that since 1998. The Legislature’s Web site doesn’t even indicate that there currently is a Senate Ethics Committee.

The inactivity is due, in part, to a lack of complaints. Legislative policy requires consideration of complaints filed by lawmakers or members of the public. I’m not advocating for needless complaints, but the Vigil situation, one that should be considered, has been sitting for more than a year without a probe.

Complaints should be addressed to the legislative council in writing and be sent to Legislative Council Services in Santa Fe. Complaints should “state with reasonable particularity the relevant facts upon which the charge is based and the substantive ethics rule or law which the legislator is charged with violating,” according to legislative policy.

A bipartisan group then has to decide whether the complaint raises a valid issue. If any of them thinks it does, it will be investigated. That group decides whether to let the appropriate standing committee investigate during the next session or to the ethics committee tackle the issue during the interim.

During an investigation, hearing and investigative subcommittees are set up. The investigation is initially kept secret, but the legislator against whom the complaint is filed gets to know who filed it. Only if the subcommittees find probable cause that a violation has occurred does the remainder of the process – a hearing before the full committee and a possible hearing before the member’s full house – become public.

Specifics for Garcia, Vigil

So what are the specifics on Vigil and Garcia? I’d suggest that the committee should investigate whether Vigil violated section 26-1-C(2) of the House Rules, which states that a House member shall not “grant to, or obtain a special privilege or exemption for himself or another person, which privilege or exemption is not readily available to members of the general community or class to which the beneficiary belongs.”

Spending taxpayer money on a private party thrown by your wife just might be a special privilege not available to the rest of us and might be inappropriate, if Vigil knew how the funds would be spent.

As for Garcia, I’d suggest that the committee should investigate whether she violated section 26-1-B(2) of the Senate Rules, which states that, “To avoid a potential conflict of interest… a senator shall attempt to ensure that his private employment does not impair his impartiality and independence of judgment in the exercise of official duties.”

I think the committee should consider whether both violated section 26-1-A of their respective manuals, which requires legislators to “conduct themselves in a manner that justifies the confidence placed in them by the people. The members shall not use their offices for private gain and shall at all times maintain the integrity and discharge ethically the high responsibilities of their legislative positions. Full disclosure of real or potential conflicts of interest shall be a guiding principle for determining appropriate conduct of the members.”

By the way, the ethics committee can recommend a reprimand, generally for a “single, relatively minor act of unethical conduct,” a censure for “more serious or repeated acts of unethical conduct,” or expulsion, “for very serious breaches of legal or ethical responsibilities of members that directly relate to their duties as members of the Legislature and that impugn the integrity of the Legislature, reflect adversely on the Legislature or otherwise undermine public trust in the institution of the Legislature.” It’s then up to the house of the charged member to decide, in a public hearing, whether to issue such punishment.

There you have it. Will anyone ask for such investigations? Legislative Council Service’s address is 411 State Capitol, Santa Fe, NM 87501. Its phone number is (505) 986-4600.

Maybe such investigations would find wrongdoing. Maybe they would clear the names of both lawmakers. The public, and Vigil and Garcia, deserve that these situations be resolved one way or the other.