TV panel discusses NMPolitics.net’s lawsuit against Spaceport America

The Line, a weekly panel discussion on the television program New Mexico In Focus, tackled NMPolitics.net’s lawsuit against the N.M. Spaceport Authority last week.

The Spaceport Authority blocked access to some records NMPolitics.net editor and publisher Heath Haussamen sought during his 2017 journalistic investigation of Spaceport America’s economic impact in New Mexico. The lawsuit seeks the release of information about how much customers are paying in rent and fees to use the spaceport and other documents.

Spaceport officials assert that some of the information, including rent and fees, can be legally withheld in the interest of protecting trade secrets. During the TV discussion, former state Sen. Diane Snyder, R-Albuquerque, wasn’t buying that argument.

“I think that should very clearly be public information,” Snyder said. “…I was in the Legislature when we funded the spaceport and I want to know… that our investment is worthwhile.”

Attorney Sophie Martin took a more balanced view, saying the issue of what information should be released to the public is complex. But she said the Spaceport Authority made a mistake in overcharging Haussamen for records, which the state attorney general’s office recently said was illegal. And Martin praised Haussamen, saying he “does incredible reporting down in the southern part of the state — I gotta say, in his own shop, so he’s not supported by big bucks or anything like that — he is a real treasure down there.”

Tom Garrity of the Garrity Group, a public relations firm in Albuquerque, and New Mexico In Focus host Gene Grant questioned the spaceport’s decision during Haussamen’s investigation to block Haussamen from seeing or responding to the spaceport’s tweets.

“There’s no winning with that,” Grant said.

“Blocking a reporter, all it does is it makes them angry,” Garrity said.

UNM law student Zackary Quintero got the final word: “Heath, keep at it.”

You can watch the discussion here: