Heath Haussamen
Ethics reform is long overdue in Las Cruces; let’s hope the mayor, councilors, and candidates running in the November election make it a priority
In December 2009 I wrote an article about how election victories by progressives helped spark ethics reform in Albuquerque and state government, but hadn’t yet led to similar reform in Las Cruces.
Some 20 months later, Las Cruces still hasn’t tackled ethics reform.
Mayor Ken Miyagishima, who’s seeking re-election this fall, told me in 2009 that he had some ideas he planned to push. But that didn’t happen. Nor has the city council implemented reforms.
The declared mayoral candidates don’t mention ethics reform on their campaign websites. Neither do any of the declared council candidates.
In short, Las Cruces still doesn’t appear to have its eyes on ethics reform.
The need for reform
Las Cruces should focus on reform. The city doesn’t even require that election ads include a disclosure of who is paying for them. That’s a basic campaign transparency issue required at the state and federal levels, and it’s something this website requires from candidates regardless of whether the jurisdictions in which they’re running require it.
During the 2009 election, there were a couple of events that highlighted the need for reform. A Las Cruces political action committee failed to report to the city clerk that it had raised money by telling people the funds were for the Las Cruces municipal election, but the clerk found that the PAC violated no city ordinance. Lots of people expressed confusion about the wording in the ordinance that sets reporting requirements for PACs.
And residents of City Council District 6 received phone calls many described as a push poll. Who paid for those calls remains a mystery.
I mentioned progressives in my December 2009 article and at the start of this commentary because, as a group, they have been quicker to push ethics reform in New Mexico than other groups. But this shouldn’t be just a progressive issue. Efforts to ensure transparency and accountability during campaigns and ethical behavior once in office should be basic issues that transcend ideological divisions.
That’s not to say politicians of different ideologies should always agree on what reforms to implement, but the need for reform should be clear to all, and all should be debating how to make it happen. At the very least, the public should know who is spending money to influence public elections. Right now, Las Cruces doesn’t even require such basic disclosure.
Ideas exist; let’s make reform a priority
In 2009, Miyagishima shared with me his ideas for reform. Those included tougher election disclosure laws, requirements that the mayor and councilors disclose contributions from people coming before the council, campaign contribution limits, and background checks for candidates for office.
Others talked about creating an independent board or commission to review ethics and campaign-finance issues, implementing public financing of elections, making the internal auditor report to an independent committee rather than city management, and creating an online system that makes information including campaign finance reports and travel records for city officials and employees available to the public.
Miyagishima said Friday he’s still interested in reform.
“I think at the very least the public needs to know what special interests are out there and what role they’ll be playing in their government,” he told me. “I’ll mention it at the city council meeting and see what their temperature is and how quickly we can move on this.”
Ethics reform is long overdue in Las Cruces. Let’s hope the mayor, councilors, and candidates running in the November election make it a priority.