Here’s why I’m suing Spaceport America

COMMENTARY: Your right to know what your government is doing enables you to engage in democracy and try to improve things. Laws that allow the government to keep information secret should be rare and narrowly focused.

That’s made clear in New Mexico’s Inspection of Public Records Act: “a representative government is dependent on an informed electorate,” and thus, “all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of our government.”

So when I began investigating in early 2017 whether Spaceport America was boosting New Mexico’s economy, I expected to be given the documents I requested.

It was, after all, pretty standard stuff. I asked for all records that factored into an analysis claiming there was a positive impact. I expected budgets, contracts and other financial information – documents citizens routinely request, and get, from government agencies.

The N.M. Spaceport Authority told me no such documents exist.

I asked for leases with five spaceport customers, looking to see how much companies are paying in rent and fees. The Spaceport Authority redacted rent and fee information, among other things, from four of the leases before releasing them.

When I discovered that the spaceport had blocked me from seeing or responding to its posts on Twitter, I requested the list of all blocked accounts. The agency unblocked me but refused to hand over the list.

At so many points, officials prioritized their customers – companies doing business at the spaceport – over you and me, the investors who own the facility.

Leases were redacted to “honor the rights that New Mexican state law provides to innovators, developers and entrepreneurs who seek to move their operations to our state,” the spaceport’s lawyer told me. (Wait a minute. Aren’t New Mexicans who invested in building the spaceport also innovative entrepreneurs?)

The spaceport blocked people on Twitter to protect its branding from negative and “obscene” responses to tweets, the CEO said. (Um, I didn’t do that. Maybe they just didn’t like that I wanted financial information.)

I encountered other problems. Most notably, I was charged $1 per page for digital copies of the leases, even though state law doesn’t allow that. I paid the $290 so I could get the leases to you as quickly as possible. I would decide later whether to fight the cost.

Well, here we are.

Earlier this month my business, Haussamen Publications, Inc., which publishes NMPolitics.net, sued the Spaceport Authority. We’re seeking the release of unredacted lease agreements, documents that factored into the economic analysis, the list of blocked Twitter accounts, and repayment of the $290, in addition to damages and attorney’s fees.

My investigative series on the spaceport ultimately found reason for optimism about the project’s future – but the spaceport’s transparency problems make it difficult to trust what’s happening there.

In spite of that, the Legislature isn’t holding the spaceport accountable. Instead, lawmakers gave the spaceport millions of additional dollars and a new law allowing greater secrecy this year. And while the state attorney general’s office determined that the spaceport violated transparency law in its interactions with me, the non-binding letter has no force behind it.

So I sued. I’ll keep fighting to get information about the spaceport to you.

We all invested in the spaceport – especially voters in Doña Ana and Sierra counties, who raised taxes to help build it. We have a right to know what we’re getting in return and be involved in determining the future.

Ultimately, I believe our involvement will help the spaceport succeed. That belief in an “informed electorate” is foundational to our society.

Heath Haussamen is NMPolitics.net’s editor and publisher. Agree with his opinion? Disagree? NMPolitics.net welcomes your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary here.