{"id":2043,"date":"2007-07-31T15:24:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-31T21:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/07\/lawmakers-to-seek-ag-opinion-on-nmsu-foundation\/"},"modified":"2007-07-31T15:24:00","modified_gmt":"2007-07-31T21:24:00","slug":"lawmakers-to-seek-ag-opinion-on-nmsu-foundation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/07\/lawmakers-to-seek-ag-opinion-on-nmsu-foundation\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers to seek AG opinion on NMSU Foundation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A number of Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> lawmakers will ask the attorney general for a legal opinion on whether the New Mexico State University Foundation<\/a> can keep information about its donors secret, and at least two are considering legislation to address the issue. <\/p>\n

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

State Sen. Mary Kay Papen<\/a> and Reps. Andy Nu\u00f1ez<\/a> and Mary Helen Garcia<\/a> will ask Attorney General Gary King<\/a> for the opinion, and Reps. Joseph Cervantes<\/a> and Nate Cote<\/a> said legislation is a possibility. Though Cervantes doesn\u2019t plan to sign the letter to the attorney general, Cote<\/st1:place> said he will probably do it.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>In addition, one regent says the university will likely publicly address concerns about the foundation in the near future.<\/p>\n

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

The legislators who will sign the letter agreed to do so after I made the request of them last week. You can read my letter to them by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI\u2019ll sign on to it,\u201d Papen said today. \u201cI think it\u2019s real important.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Nu\u00f1ez said the group is asking other legislators from Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> to sign the letter.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>I requested the letter because NMSU recently stepped into a legal gray area by using secret donations to boost the compensation for the president and former men\u2019s basketball coach. President Michael Martin<\/a> received a deferred compensation payment \u2013 which he only collects if he stays through 2012 \u2013 of $100,000, with 70 percent paid by the private sector, and a $6,000-per-month housing allowance, paid for with a contribution from the private sector, that he and his wife are using to buy a new home. Former coach Reggie Theus<\/a> received a $100,000-per-year pay increase from the private sector.<\/p>\n

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

Using gifts from secret donors to boost university employee compensation has been controversial nationwide because of concern about the potential for impropriety. Courts in a number of states have found in recent years that university foundations are state agencies for the purpose of public records laws and ordered them to release donor records. Despite that, the NMSU Foundation denied my request to release the records. You can read more about the legal questions by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Cote<\/st1:place> said the foundation should be required to release information about its donors.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe don\u2019t need anything that is going to be perceived as inappropriate or something that may come back to hurt our fine university system in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

In addition to \u201cstrongly leaning toward\u201d signing the letter, Cote<\/st1:place> said, if necessary, he\u2019ll consider legislation that will make these records public.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Cervantes may seek to open most or all records<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Cervantes said, after having a conversation with NMSU Regent Bob Gallagher today, that he isn\u2019t going to sign the letter to the attorney general but is considering proposing legislation to deal with the issue.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cBased on that conversation (with Gallagher), I am confident that the university and foundation are acting in the best interest of the university without any concern for pay-to-play,\u201d Cervantes said.<\/p>\n

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

He said his decision to not seek an attorney general opinion is \u201cbased on the assurance that Bob Gallagher will answer the questions raised by you and others,\u201d adding that, \u201cafter a long and candid discussion with Bob Gallagher, I am confident that the foundation will be fully answering any questions that may relate to the compensation for President Martin and former coach Theus.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Gallagher said he hopes to do that soon.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI believe there are some reports in the media that people may misunderstand,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe that complete details and information about these activities will be forthcoming in the coming days from the university.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Cervantes said he does believe that, \u201cgiven the relationship between the foundation and the university, the list (of donors to the foundation) should be public.\u201d But he also said some donors might justifiably insist on confidentiality, and he would \u201clike an opportunity to speak more with the university and university regents to learn more about it before I propose legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Essentially, Cervantes said, such legislation would likely make clear that donor records of state university foundations are public, but the proposal might also allow some exceptions with stringent restrictions attached.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe foundation has an important mission and should be willing to assure the public of that mission with full public confidence,\u201d Cervantes said. \u201cFull public confidence usually means full public disclosure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A number of Do\u00f1a Ana County lawmakers will ask the attorney general for a legal opinion on whether the New Mexico State University Foundation can keep information about its donors secret, and at least two are considering legislation to address the issue. State Sen. Mary Kay Papen and Reps. Andy Nu\u00f1ez and Mary Helen Garcia […]<\/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-2043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2043","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=2043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2043\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}