Heath Haussamen / NMPolitics.net
Gov. Bill Richardson (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
The Albuquerque Journal’s Thomas J. Cole called out the governor this weekend for talking the talk when it comes to issues of open government but failing – at least at times — to walk the walk.
“The right to have an open, accessible and accountable government provides the opportunity for the people to determine if public servants are fulfilling their duty,” Gov. Bill Richardson said in 2005, according to Cole’s article.
Cole wrote about the governor, when he took office, bringing on “an unprecedented number of political appointees, many of them former members of the media, across government to serve as public-information officers.”
“Their job is to facilitate access to government but have too often served as a fire wall for Richardson, at times blocking media access to the actual decision-makers and experts in government and requiring formal requests for the most basic of government records,” the article states.
“In my case, Gilbert Gallegos, the governor’s combative press secretary, has gone a step further, recently ordering public-information officers throughout government not to speak to me. That’s a double fire wall,” he wrote.
Guess I’m not the only one having problems with the Richardson administration…