Ethics reform must cover all levels of government

More and more, the issue on the minds of New Mexicans in Valencia County and across the state seems to be the ethical conduct of our elected officials. There’s good reason: Not only is open, transparent government fairer to the people, but it is also gets better results.

Since I joined the Legislature three years ago, we’ve made a lot of solid progress in this area, but there is still much work to be done. New Mexico remains one of only 10 states in the entire country that has no independent ethics commission where everyday citizens can report ethical violations by their public officials and have them investigated.

If we are to make real progress in this area, that’s something that has to change, and that’s why I’ll be introducing a bill this legislative session to create a strong, effective ethics commission.

In the House, we have already passed a bill that would have created a 10-member commission. Written into that bill was a guarantee that the commission would be a neutral, non-partisan body that could not be used for purely political attacks. That no party could control the board ensures fairness and equity, which are the keys to building a government the public can trust again.

Commission members and staff would be able to investigate confidential complaints that come directly from citizens, they would be able to subpoena records and witnesses and, if they find evidence of wrongdoing or corruption, they would be able to turn the case over to the appropriate law enforcement agencies to take action, providing real accountability beyond the customary slap on the wrist. The ethics commission would have broad jurisdiction over state officials, lobbyists, lobbyists’ employers and government contractors.

Stronger bill needed

If that bill had passed the Senate, it would have done many good things. However, I still do not believe it was as strong as it should have been. Specifically, the bill did not give the commission jurisdiction to hear and investigate ethical complaints at all levels of government that spend state funds, including local governments and school boards.

Many school boards spend wisely and well, but some don’t, and if we can prevent the kind of corruption and misuse of funds we’ve seen in the papers over the last year, where millions of tax-payer dollars have disappeared from school district accounts, then it is without question necessary.

When you consider that almost 50 percent of our state’s budget goes to school boards so they can fund K-12 education (almost $3 billion in 2008 alone), and that there is currently no independent oversight whatsoever on how district- and state-level administrators account for that taxpayer money once it leaves the Legislature, this is too important an area not to have some form of accountability.

Alarmingly, school boards are not even subject to New Mexico’s Accountability in Government Act. We’ve seen what this lack of oversight can lead to, and the fraud that often results hurts our students and prevents our incredibly hard-working teachers and staff from doing their important work at the highest level.

For example, consider the damage done to the students of the Jemez Mountain School District, where $3.3 million was embezzled by an entrenched employee.

According to a 2009 report by the Legislative Finance Committee that covered the West Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Aztec, Bloomfield and Bernalillo school districts, misuse of funds and fraud along these same lines is far too commonplace. The LFC study reported that in West Las Vegas, only half of the allocated money goes directly to classroom instruction, and teachers make up less than 50 percent of the staff.

Bloomfield and Aztec put over $300,000 each on credit cards with no oversight, spending money on meals for administrators, catered lunches for staff, and expensive dinners in Santa Fe. Bloomfield also spent $11,178 on iPods and accessories and put it down in their reports as school administration.

Several school districts spent hundreds of thousands on unnecessary vehicles, and Bernalillo even paid a higher-than-necessary price at an out-of-state car dealership for two of its new vehicles.

Don’t leave local governments and school boards out

With this going on across the state, there is no sound reason for ethics reform to leave these local governments and school boards outside the jurisdiction of the ethics commission. We owe it to our hard-working teachers, school employees, students and citizens to act.

That’s why the bill I’ll be introducing creates an independent ethics commission that would provide accountability from top to bottom, and I hope that I can count on your support to help make sure it passes.

Together, we can build a consensus around this key reform proposal – a consensus that will give citizens more confidence in their elected officials and elected officials a reminder that, in the end, they truly are accountable to the people they represent.

Barela is a Democratic state representative from Belen representing District 8 and a member of the Interim Legislative Ethics Committee.