{"id":2019,"date":"2007-07-25T15:40:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-25T21:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/07\/task-force-explores-complexities-of-ethics-commission\/"},"modified":"2007-07-25T15:40:00","modified_gmt":"2007-07-25T21:40:00","slug":"task-force-explores-complexities-of-ethics-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/07\/task-force-explores-complexities-of-ethics-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"Task force explores complexities of ethics commission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most members of the state Task Force on Ethics Reform<\/a> seem to agree that New Mexico<\/st1:State><\/st1:place> needs an ethics commission. But they\u2019re wresting with a lot of complicated issues in trying to determine its structure.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

For example, should it have oversight of judges, or leave that to the state\u2019s Judicial Standards Commission<\/a>? Should it have oversight of the Legislature or leave that to the Interim Legislative Ethics Committee<\/a>? Should it oversee local governments? What power should it be granted?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The good news is that the members of the task force are honestly grappling with these issues and attempting to find solutions to the ethical problems that have plagued New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:State>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The newest proposal being considered by the task force \u2013 which has not yet been endorsed by the group \u2013 is to create a commission whose jurisdiction includes all elected and appointed state officials and all employees of state government, as well as contractors and lobbyists who do business with state government.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Over the course of two meetings in August, the task force plans to finalize this and all other recommendations it will make to the governor.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The proposal begins with the ethics commission approved by the House<\/a> during this year\u2019s special session, but includes several changes. The commission would serve as a central reporting system. It could then decide whether to investigate complaints of violations by lawmakers and judges or hand those complaints to the legislative committee and the Judicial Standards Commission. It would be responsible for all investigations involving the executive branch.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The commission wouldn\u2019t have disciplinary power over anyone except statewide elected officials. In the case of lawmakers or judges, it would make a recommendation to the oversight board in that branch of government if it found an ethical violation. For employees, appointed officials, lobbyists and contractors, it would make recommendations to the appropriate officials or bodies in the executive branch.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Statewide elected officials, however, report to no one but voters. For offenses that aren\u2019t criminal, such a commission wouldn\u2019t have anyone to whom it could refer ethics violations.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Norman Thayer, an attorney and the task force member chairing the subcommittee that is proposing this version of an ethics commission, said some agency or board has to be given such authority, so it might as well be the ethics commission. It wouldn\u2019t have the power to remove statewide elected officials \u2013 such impeachment authority is given only the Legislature \u2013 but it would be given the authority to suspend or take other, less-serious action.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Task force member Bill McCamley, a Do\u00f1a<\/st1:PlaceName> Ana<\/st1:PlaceName> County<\/st1:PlaceName><\/st1:place> commissioner and the only local-government member of the task force, said at Monday\u2019s meeting that the commission should oversee local governments.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of opportunities \u2013 and I mean a lot of opportunities \u2013 for very serious violations on a local level,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cthe relationships can sometimes be very incestuous.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Thayer said having the commission oversee local governments would require a number of changes in state law because the statutes it uses as its base apply only to state officials. He\u2019s not entirely right. Though most of the statutes specifically apply to state government, the procurement code applies to all governments in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:State>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Jim Noel, a task force member and director of the Judicial Standards Commission, said basing the commission\u2019s oversight on statutes would be a fundamental flaw. It would exist to oversee ethics, not statutes, and Noel suggested its work should instead be based on a state code of ethics. The Judicial Standards Commission\u2019s work is based on the Code of Judicial Conduct.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Thayer said one of the missions of the commission would be to develop such a code, but it would take years.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A massive undertaking<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Listening to the back-and-forth on this issue helped me understand the massive undertaking of creating such a commission in a state with a historical hesitancy to police its own ethics.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The biggest problem, which I\u2019ve written about before<\/a>, is resistance in the Legislature. The legislative committee that\u2019s supposed to police ethics among lawmakers is, and has been for years, neglecting that duty. On its Web page it has no posted meeting schedule and no information on past meetings. Simply put, it ain\u2019t doing a thing.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why an ethics commission shouldn\u2019t be structured so that it simply hands off complaints to the legislative committee. It should be left to the Legislature to discipline its own, but the investigation and a finding of probable cause (or not) should be the responsibility of an independent body, and the finding of probable cause should be made public. Only such public disclosure would pressure the legislative committee to act.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But if lawmakers already aren\u2019t policing their own, why would they approve creation of a commission that polices them? There\u2019s the problem. The Senate is absolutely opposed to the commission. The House approved its creation earlier this year but didn\u2019t provide any funding for it to operate, so there\u2019s apparently resistance there, too, albeit a bit more discreet.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The only hope is that public pressure will force lawmakers to accept more oversight.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

There are other problems, too: If you give the commission oversight of local governments, do you first write a code of ethics or do you rewrite a number of statutes? One would have to happen before the commission could oversee local governments.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

With those major issues to tackle, it seems to me the commission proposal shouldn\u2019t mess with the existing system for judicial oversight. The Judicial Standards Commission is already doing a good job. The judiciary is the one branch of government that has a strong mechanism in place to oversee ethics, remove or discipline violators and serve as a deterrent against future misdeeds.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Perhaps the task force should focus on the creation of a commission that oversees the executive and the legislative branches. That in itself will be tough enough to achieve. The task force could also recommend future goals of bringing local governments under its oversight and considering whether, eventually, the ethics commission should be combined with the Judicial Standards Commission.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

There is too much here to tackle at once, given that there\u2019s so much resistance to creating the commission. As was proven in this year\u2019s legislative sessions, reform comes in steps. Creation of a commission that oversees the executive and Legislature would be a leap in the right direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most members of the state Task Force on Ethics Reform seem to agree that New Mexico needs an ethics commission. But they\u2019re wresting with a lot of complicated issues in trying to determine its structure. For example, should it have oversight of judges, or leave that to the state\u2019s Judicial Standards Commission? Should it have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019","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=2019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}