Common Cause: Tired of scandal? Approve reforms

Following the recent outrage expressed by some legislative leaders at the many scandals plaguing New Mexico, Common Cause is making a renewed push for ethics reform.

“The leadership of the Legislative Finance Committee recently stated that they’re tired of all the scandals in New Mexico and that there’s a need for additional oversight of state institutions,” Steven Robert Allen, Common Cause executive director, said in a news release. “We couldn’t agree more, and look forward to working — in a serious and concerted manner — with legislative leadership to address these concerns.”

“In particular,” the release states, “New Mexico is still one of only a few states with no independent ethics commission to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by public officials. Likewise, New Mexico needs to take big money out of the political equation entirely by expanding public campaign financing to offices such as governor and attorney general.”

More from the release:

“An independent bipartisan ethics commission is the single best way to provide reliable objective oversight of state agencies. Likewise, private campaign contributions could very well be viewed as a hidden tax, a cost of doing business with the state that’s ultimately passed on to the consumer — that is, the citizens of New Mexico. We need public campaign financing in our state, because taxpayers are essentially already funding campaigns. With private financing, the business or individual making the contribution gets the access, while the cost of the contribution is passed on to the taxpayer. It’s that simple.”

“Actually, government corruption itself should be considered a hidden tax on citizens because it leads to the needless squandering of public funds,” Allen said. “For this reason, New Mexico needs to continue along the path to genuine reform that started during this legislative session.”