Harrison H. Schmitt
The chairperson of the N.M. Senate Rules Committee, Democrat Linda Lopez, repeatedly has made false and erroneous statements about the reason for my withdrawal as secretary-designate for the Energy Department.
The simple truth is that I agreed to background investigations by both the Rules Committee and the Department of Public Safety. I only said “no” to releasing Ms. Lopez’s handpicked private eyes from liability for the misuse of personal and family information. I did not say “no” to the committee having full access to that information.
The issue was not whether background checks should be conducted. Of course they should be. The issue between Lopez and Governor Martinez and me was whether private eyes would be held accountable for actions unrelated to the confirmation process.
Without the threat of liability, the private eyes hired by Lopez do not have legal incentives to protect a nominee’s personal information.
I fully explained to Lopez the reasons for not signing the private eye liability waiver early on February 7, with a representative of the governor present. In response, she said, “I will not make a decision now but will let you know.” Lopez had nearly three days to discuss this issue further with the governor and me before her press release of February 9.
Instead, she avoided additional discussion with me and spun out a political spectacle of press releases and TV and radio sound bites.
A fact of public life
Lopez writes, “I sympathize with Schmitt and all conferees’ discomfort when it comes to the background check process…” By this backhanded statement, she puts her own opinion in the mouths of cabinet nominees.
Mandatory background checks are not a “discomfort;” they are a fact of public life. These checks protect people in all walks of life; they protect our children from predators and our nation from subversion.
New Mexicans, however, should ask who vets Lopez’s vetters? What prevents misuse of background information gathered or created by them? Has a neutral party investigated the private eyes? Do their political allegiances flow more to one party rather than to another?
For example, the incorporators of the private eye company employed by Lopez seem to have made numerous large contributions to Democrats, but none to Republicans. Are these gumshoes unbiased, and is it fair to require that nominees release them from future liability?
No question exists that the backgrounds of appointees to high public office should be fully investigated. Governor Martinez offered Lopez and the Rules Committee access to the full background checks conducted on me by the Department of Public Safety.
Strangely, Lopez refused this offer. This displays Lopez’s clear disregard of the competence of the Department of Public Safety and the judgment of the newly elected governor. In addition, Lopez knows that for over five decades of professional life, I have been and continue to be subject to extensive, in-depth background checks, including polygraphs, by multiple federal agencies.
NM’s broken economy must be fixed
I accepted Governor Martinez’s request to serve as secretary of the Energy Department to help promote her economic and employment goals for New Mexico. In spite of recent job-killing and environmentally unnecessary regulation, natural resources remain our greatest economic asset.
New Mexico’s broken economy must be fixed and its visual and recreational natural resources preserved. New Mexicans want common sense solutions to these problems from
their elected and appointed officials.
Schmitt is a former Apollo astronaut and U.S. senator.