Pat Rogers
The N.M. Foundation for Open Government plans to meet with Pat Rogers to discuss his membership on the group’s board of directors.
“We are in the process of scheduling a meeting with Pat to discuss the issue,” FOG Executive Director Gwyneth Doland (a former NMPolitics.net reporter) told me today. “Pat has asked to be screened from internal NMFOG communications until we meet.”
Rogers is one of 24 members of FOG’s board of directors.
I recently argued in a commentary that, for the sake of FOG’s integrity, Rogers’ tenure on the board must end. That’s because, I wrote, his recent actions “helped create the appearance that the Martinez administration’s controversial contract with the Downs at Albuquerque was an insider deal.”
From that column:
“This is what the Downs deal looks like: A company that gave lots of money to Republican Gov. Susana Martinez’s 2010 campaign won a state contract after hiring a GOP insider (Rogers) who was communicating privately about the contract, before it was awarded, with people close to Martinez.”
Coverage of Rogers’ interaction with people close to Martinez has continued. Today, the Santa Fe Reporter published two articles that you can read here and here.
Rogers, as I wrote in my column, “ is an excellent sunshine lawyer who is a past president of the N.M. Foundation for Open Government (FOG), a current board member, and a 2004 recipient of the organization’s Dixon Award for fighting for open government.” He’s also the Republican National committeeman for New Mexico and a former general counsel for the state GOP.
For disclosure, this site is an annual donor to FOG.