{"id":160364,"date":"2016-06-16T10:38:26","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T16:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=160364"},"modified":"2016-06-30T07:17:48","modified_gmt":"2016-06-30T13:17:48","slug":"were-suing-to-challenge-flagrant-disregard-for-transparency-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/06\/were-suing-to-challenge-flagrant-disregard-for-transparency-law\/","title":{"rendered":"We’re suing to challenge flagrant disregard for transparency law"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMENTARY:<\/strong>\u00a0The N.M. Court of Appeals has been asked to rule on whether all applications for a city manager job in New Mexico are public record. Its answer: Yes, those applications are public record<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Court of Appeals has also been asked whether a city can keep video recordings of public meetings secret if they are made on behalf of the city by a private contractor. Its answer: No, those recordings must be released to the public<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Heath

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

In the\u00a0second case, the Court set guidelines for when a government agency can keep documents held by a private contractor from the public. NMPolitics.net\u00a0believes\u00a0those guidelines clearly do not\u00a0exempt\u00a0city manager applications from release just because a private contractor has\u00a0them.<\/p>\n

And yet\u00a0the City of Las Cruces is withholding dozens of applications for its open city manager job, asserting that the public doesn\u2019t have the right to see them because the private contractor conducting the city\u2019s search, not the city, has them.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why NMPolitics.net is suing the city<\/a> and its contract search firm, The Mercer Group, alleging a violation of the state\u2019s Inspection of Public Records Act<\/a> and seeking release of the applications.<\/p>\n

We understand that some people believe\u00a0applicants for a public job like city manager deserve confidentiality. Many believe only finalists’ applications should be released.<\/p>\n

But the law is clear and has\u00a0been affirmed by the Court of Appeals. These applications are public record. If the city doesn\u2019t like that, it can lobby\u00a0the N.M. Legislature to change the law. In the meantime, the city is flagrantly disregarding transparency in a way that threatens to set a dangerous precedent if left unchecked.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next? Can a district attorney outsource an investigation into an officer-involved shooting so he or she can clear the officer of wrongdoing without showing\u00a0the public the evidence to prove the shooting\u00a0was justified?<\/p>\n

No. The city\u2019s action can\u2019t be allowed to stand.<\/p>\n

After we filed a formal records request, the city released 11 applications it had been given by The Mercer Group<\/a>, which we took as an\u00a0acknowledgement of the Court of Appeals\u2019 2009 ruling that city manager applications are public. Now the city is asserting that at least 40\u00a0additional applications aren\u2019t public simply because The Mercer Group\u00a0hasn\u2019t given them to the city<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hogwash.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sympathetic to the 11 people whose identities\u00a0our records request already revealed, and to the dozens of others whose applications our lawsuit may bring to light. The city and The Mercer Group promised them confidentiality \u2013 a promise we believe those organizations should not have made and had no authority to keep. I’m sorry those people are caught up in this situation.<\/p>\n

And I welcome a public policy discussion about whether state law should be changed to, in the future, protect the identity of applicants unless they\u2019re named finalists. I don\u2019t believe such an exemption should be created, but I recognize\u00a0that many people disagree with me.<\/p>\n

This lawsuit isn\u2019t about that public policy debate. It\u2019s about sending a message to the City of Las Cruces and all government agencies in New Mexico that they have a duty to make sure they\u2019re following sunshine law. It’s about making clear that\u00a0someone will hold them accountable when they refuse to follow the law.<\/p>\n

Fighting for government transparency is\u00a0a critical role of news organizations like NMPolitics.net. We take that right and responsibility seriously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fighting for government transparency is a critical role of news organizations like NMPolitics.net. We take that right and responsibility seriously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10,630],"tags":[278,145,3295,137,706],"class_list":["post-160364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","category-news-about-nmpolitics-net","tag-court-of-appeals","tag-las-cruces","tag-las-cruces-city-manager-search","tag-news-about-this-site","tag-transparency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160364","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=160364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160364\/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=160364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}