Las Cruces City Hall (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Election victories by progressives helped spark ethics reform in Albuquerque and state government. Now some say it’s time for progressives who control government in Las Cruces to push similar reforms.
When progressives took control of the Albuquerque City Council in the earlier part of the decade, ethics reform followed. Similarly, ethics reform gained momentum in state government when progressives rose to prominence in the Legislature and joined others in pushing the issue.
Progressives have had control of the Las Cruces City Council for about two years, and some say it’s time that ethics reform becomes a central topic of discussion here.
“I believe progressive is, at the core, about reform. It’s about modernizing government, it’s about transparency, it’s about making government accountable,” said state Sen. Eric Griego, D-Albuquerque, who has been involved in reform efforts in the Legislature and before that in Albuquerque as a city councilor.
“If you’re a progressive and you don’t have as your fundamental objective campaign and ethics reform, how do you call yourself a progressive?” Griego asked. “… This is about taking on the status quo.”
The Las Cruces City Council has certainly become more proactive about listening to input from the public since progressives took over in early 2008. But Griego and others say more structural reforms are needed.
The topic may be especially relevant in Las Cruces given the controversy that ensued in the November election over a political action committee. The city clerk has found that Jobs for Las Cruces PAC didn’t violate a city ordinance when it failed to report to the city that it had raised money by telling people it was for the Las Cruces municipal election. Still, people on both sides of the issue have expressed confusion about the wording of the city ordinance that sets reporting requirements for PACs.
In addition, residents of at least one city council district received calls during the election season that some have described as a push poll. Who paid for the polling remains a mystery.
Mayor considering reforms
Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima said he wants to ensure that, in the future, Las Crucens have the ability to know who’s paying for push polls and other campaign materials. Miyagishima said he has four ideas to address that and other ethics issues:
• Tougher election disclosure laws, including a requirement that those paying for phone calls, mailers and other materials and activities in support of or opposition to a candidate disclose publicly that they’re doing so.
• A requirement that city councilors and the mayor disclose during council meetings when someone who has contributed more than $250 to their campaigns comes before the council.
• Campaign contribution limits of somewhere between $500 and $1,000. Miyagishima said he’s flexible on the dollar amount and on whether it would apply to family members of the candidates, and he’s willing to leave such details up to the council. The city currently has no contribution limits.
• Background checks for candidates for office. Miyagishima said the city attorney is currently considering whether the city can require background checks for candidates – which would be made available for public inspection – or whether the city could only implement a voluntary system.
The last, Miyagishima said, may be the most controversial, but he said it’s also important. He said he plans to voluntarily submit to a background check in the next election cycle even if it’s not required.
“We require that of our high-level employees,” he said. “I don’t see why we can’t do it for us and lead by example.”
Several councilors reached for comment said they also think ethics reform is an important topic to discuss, but none presented concrete ideas.
Three elements of ‘comprehensive’ ethics reform
Griego said there are three fundamental areas of reform that officials in Las Cruces and elsewhere should consider:
• Some sort of independent ethics board or commission “that can really be an objective arbiter of ethics and campaign-finance issues.” Such a board, which could include members appointed by the mayor and city council, would handle complaints of violations of the city’s campaign-finance and elections ordinances.
• A revamping of the way city campaigns are funded. That could include enacting a public financing system, as Albuquerque has done, or it could include contribution limits and other measures. Another reform enacted in Albuquerque while Griego was a councilor was a ban on campaign contributions from contractors who do business with the city.
Griego said he believes Albuquerque’s voluntary public financing system leveled the playing field in the October election, but if Las Cruces doesn’t want to enact such a system, it should put in place “real strict limits on who can give and how much they can give.”
• Third, he said, local governments should have some sort of internal auditor overseen by an independent committee, or something like an inspector general. That’s because, he said, the state auditor doesn’t have the resources to properly investigate every complaint of fraud, abuse and waste.
Las Cruces has an internal audit department with two employees, but rather than being supervised by an independent committee, that department reports directly to the city manager.
Griego said reform in all three areas of government is critical.
“If Cruces wanted to be a leader in ethics and good government, they ought to consider all three elements of what I would consider comprehensive ethics reform,” he said.
‘Let’s just make it totally transparent’
Another reform Albuquerque implemented years ago was an online system for making campaign finance reports, travel records for city officials and employees and other information available to the public. Greg Lennes, a progressive activist who lives on Las Cruces’ east mesa, said the city should focus on such disclosure reforms and on creating a commission to review election-related complaints.
Lennes is not a big fan of contribution limits, but he said all contributions “should be immediately reported to an established local election commission.”
“We have to have full and timely disclosure and end the games of and manipulation by political action committees and independent expenditure committees,” Lennes said. “… If someone wants to give and accept a large campaign contribution with the relating publicity and the potential negative perception of that contribution — then let them do it.”
“Instead of trying to regulate campaign contributions in elections, let’s just make it totally transparent,” he said.
Lennes pointed to ordinances in Boulder, Colo., and Washington State as examples the City of Las Cruces might want to follow.
“True reform will bring the local elections process back to the people instead of to the special interests that manipulate the process to disguise their activities,” he said.