{"id":111775,"date":"2015-12-29T12:10:32","date_gmt":"2015-12-29T19:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=111775"},"modified":"2016-01-18T15:45:34","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T22:45:34","slug":"martinezs-actions-prove-the-need-for-an-ethics-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/12\/martinezs-actions-prove-the-need-for-an-ethics-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"Martinez\u2019s actions prove the need for an ethics commission"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMENTARY:<\/strong> Gov. Susana Martinez\u2019s recent abuse of power demonstrates the need for an independent commission to set standards for ethical conduct in state government and investigate complaints.<\/p>\n

\"Heath<\/a>

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

Martinez can be heard on several law enforcement recordings<\/a> inappropriately pressuring\u00a0police to drop an investigation into a noise complaint after her Christmas party earlier this month. She has admitted to drinking 1-1.5 cocktails but says she wasn\u2019t intoxicated.<\/p>\n

The governor has apologized for her actions. That\u2019s a step up from some past officials\u2019 lack of repentance after being caught abusing law enforcement. I recently wrote a column accepting the governor\u2019s apology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not enough. New Mexico policymakers have refused for a decade, in spite of constant revelations about corruption and misbehaving, to create a commission focused on raising the bar in our ethically challenged state.<\/p>\n

Forty-two other states have ethics commissions<\/a>. New Mexico has an independent group watching our judicial branch<\/a>, and it\u2019s made a real difference. But our executive and legislative branches remain unchecked. The Legislature has a committee to investigate complaints against lawmakers, but that body has a pitiful record of policing its own. The executive branch lacks any real oversight for misdeeds that don\u2019t rise to the level of criminal activity.<\/p>\n

Martinez has rejected arguments for creating an ethics commission. \u201cCorruption is a crime, not an ethical dilemma,\u201d she said during her 2011 State of the State Address<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are all sorts of shenanigans that aren\u2019t and maybe shouldn\u2019t be prosecuted as crimes. Martinez\u2019s plan for cleaning up state government is sorely lacking when it comes to addressing such issues.<\/p>\n

Over the years a seemingly endless stream of elected officials and government employees \u2013 Republicans and Democrats alike \u2013 have come under media scrutiny for misbehaving. A few examples:<\/p>\n

A legislator worked as a contractor<\/a> for a company whose project he helped fund with public money. The former state land commissioner had the office\u2019s government-funded attorney defend him<\/a> against a speeding ticket. The former Senate president pro tem inappropriately used government resources to campaign for re-election<\/a>. A lawmaker used public money to fund a college club sport team he worked with<\/a> instead of projects for his constituents. Another legislator appropriated public money to an education program run by his wife, who spent the money on a private, invitation-only party<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In these situations and too many others, public money vanished into a black hole instead of benefiting the public.<\/p>\n

And too many of these offenders have gone unpunished. So their actions have instead been absorbed into our culture of government as permissible conduct.<\/p>\n

House Democrats are pushing creation of an ethics commission in the upcoming legislative session<\/a> that begins Jan. 19. Martinez will decide whether to allow consideration of ethics-reform proposals in the 30-day session, which is focused on the budget.<\/p>\n

A handful of Democrats announced their ethics proposals two days before Thanksgiving \u2013 which isn\u2019t the most effective way to launch a media blitz. Rather than actually enacting reform, I fear some of them are focused on being able to say they pushed reform when trying to retake the House from Republicans in next year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

For a decade, some Democrats in the Legislature have joined many Republicans in rejecting ethics commission legislation.<\/p>\n

Regardless, House Democrats are currently a step ahead of Martinez, who hasn\u2019t indicated she sees the need for an ethics commission. Perhaps having to apologize to the people of New Mexico for her recent transgression will help the governor see the light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov. Susana Martinez\u2019s recent abuse of power demonstrates the need for an independent commission to set standards for ethical conduct in state government and investigate complaints.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[3250,109,107,208],"class_list":["post-111775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-2016-legislative-session","tag-ethics-reform","tag-roundhouse","tag-susana-martinez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}