Heath Haussamen / NMPolitics.net
Spaceport America CEO Dan Hicks, whose agency has finally responded in court to NMPolitics.net’s lawsuit.
The N.M. Spaceport Authority has finally hired an attorney and responded to NMPolitics.net’s lawsuit alleging violations of the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act.
Las Cruces attorney Blaine Mynatt entered his appearance in court as the state agency’s attorney on Oct. 18. That was two days after NMPolitics.net published a commentary in which I shared that our attorney had filed a motion asking a judge to rule in our favor because the Spaceport Authority had failed, for more than 60 days, to respond to our lawsuit despite being required to do so.
And on Oct. 19, the Spaceport Authority finally responded in court to our lawsuit, denying the allegations that it had improperly withheld documents in violation of state law.
“Defendant complied with the statutory requirements in good faith,” the agency’s response to our lawsuit states. “… Defendant acted reasonably in response to the records requests.”
Haussamen Publications, Inc., which publishes NMPolitics.net, filed the lawsuit on Aug. 3. The dispute about what documents the public is entitled to see stems from records requests NMPolitics.net filed during our 2017 investigation of Spaceport America’s status.
The Spaceport Authority redacted portions of lease agreements with four of the spaceport’s tenants in early 2017, blocking the disclosure of rent and fee information, among other things. Our lawsuit seeks the release of unredacted lease agreements.
We requested all documents that factored into an analysis from Spaceport America Chief Financial Officer Zach De Gregorio that claimed the spaceport was having a positive economic impact in New Mexico. The spaceport has maintained it had no documents to release. We contend otherwise.
And our lawsuit seeks the list of accounts that were blocked from seeing or responding to the spaceport’s tweets. That’s because, in June 2017, I discovered that the spaceport had blocked me from following its Twitter account. I requested the list of blocked accounts on June 28, 2017. When the agency denied that request, I warned it to preserve the list as it existed at the date and time of my request, as that would be the list the agency would have to release should it eventually be ordered to hand it over.
In July, the state Attorney General’s Office found four violations of the Inspection of Public Records Act in the Spaceport Authority’s interactions with me.
Without mentioning the lawsuit, but instead referencing that non-binding attorney general opinion, the Spaceport Authority released additional information to NMPolitics.net on Oct. 10, including leases with fewer redactions and a screenshot of the agency’s Twitter blocked account list — a list that appears to have been scrubbed, because it includes no blocked accounts, even though mine, at least, was on that list at the date and time of my request.
Some redactions remain in the leases. The Twitter list that includes no accounts isn’t the list I requested. And I still want documents that support the economic analysis.
In addition to the release of that information, our lawsuit seeks attorney’s fees and damages.
Because the Spaceport Authority has now responded in court to NMPolitics.net’s lawsuit, our attorney has withdrawn our recent filing that requested, absent a response from the spaceport, that District Judge Manuel I. Arrieta set a hearing, rule in our favor and award damages and attorney’s fees.
The case will now proceed in court.