{"id":2050,"date":"2007-08-02T08:22:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-02T14:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/08\/newspaper-reports-on-nmsu-foundation-controversy\/"},"modified":"2007-08-02T08:22:00","modified_gmt":"2007-08-02T14:22:00","slug":"newspaper-reports-on-nmsu-foundation-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/08\/newspaper-reports-on-nmsu-foundation-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Newspaper reports on NMSU Foundation controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The New Mexico State University Foundation\u2019s<\/a> practice of keeping information about donors secret is under increased scrutiny today after the Las Cruces Sun-News<\/a> published an article on the topic.<\/a> <\/p>\n

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

Today\u2019s article by reporter Diana Alba is about the legislators who will ask the attorney general for a legal opinion on whether the foundation can keep its donor list secret. It\u2019s likely to be picked up by the Associated Press and run, in a shorter version, in other newspapers around the state.<\/p>\n

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

The Sun-News reported that Rep. Jeff Steinborn<\/a> will probably join the group of lawmakers who will sign a letter asking for the attorney general opinion, but Rep. Joni Gutierrez<\/a> and Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson<\/a> won\u2019t sign the letter. Rep. Joseph Cervantes<\/a> told the Sun-News he hasn\u2019t yet decided whether to sign the letter. I have already reported<\/a> that Sen. Mary Kay Papen<\/a> and Reps. Andy Nu\u00f1ez<\/a> and Mary Helen Garcia<\/a> would sign the letter and that Rep. Nate Cote<\/a> is leaning toward signing it.<\/p>\n

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

For the background on this issue, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

University President Michael Martin<\/a> told the newspaper money from private donors doesn\u2019t influence his decisions and argued that releasing the donor list would deter those who prefer to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n

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

Cote<\/st1:place>, in an interview with the newspaper, said he\u2019s not accusing university officials of wrongdoing, but said he doesn\u2019t want even the \u201cperception of corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIt seems to be inappropriate to us to keep donors to officials at a public university private,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re in a new age of letting the sun shine in and letting things be visible to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Gutierrez won\u2019t sign the letter to the attorney general, she told the Sun-News, because she is \u201ca big anonymous donor\u201d but is \u201canonymous because of all the right reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI just don\u2019t want people to know I\u2019m giving,\u201d she told the newspaper.<\/p>\n

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

Well, now they do.<\/p>\n

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

Steinborn told the newspaper the fact that Martin and former men\u2019s basketball coach Reggie Theus showed up to a meeting<\/a> this summer at which Las Cruces<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> city councilors approved a controversial annexation request from developer Philip Philippou is pushing him toward signing the letter. Theus waited at the meeting for several hours to speak in favor of Philippou\u2019s project. That came weeks after the university announced increases in compensation for both Theus and Martin that were being paid for by secret donors.<\/p>\n

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

As I reported in June<\/a>, Philippou says he isn\u2019t the secret donor helping boost their compensation.<\/p>\n

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

Regardless, Steinborn said the situation has concerned many. He told the newspaper that \u201ca lot of people were concerned\u201d by \u201cthe potential that university officials would be doing the bidding of a foundation donor.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Steinborn, who is chairing the government transparency subcommittee of the governor\u2019s ethics task force, said he\u2019s not alleging wrongdoing, but \u201cthere\u2019s certainly been a perception that something wrong has occurred, and sometimes in government that is the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Martin told the newspaper he attended the meeting to observe \u201can interesting process in the city in which I live\u201d and said he has been involved in the past with a planning and zoning commission in another state. He said his decision to attend had nothing to do with Philippou being a donor to the university.<\/p>\n

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

What if Fulton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is the secret donor?<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>But another statement by Martin got me thinking. The president said he doesn\u2019t know for certain who is contributing to his contract \u2013 which is between him and the university, not him and the foundation \u2013 but he can guess. He also told the newspaper about one donor to the university who asked him in the past to take a stand against a proposal to build a casino in Anthony.<\/p>\n

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

That request, he said, came from Stan Fulton, the owner of the Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino.<\/p>\n

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

Fulton, a big donor to the university, has been waging a public campaign to try to buy opposition to the Anthony proposal. Fulton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> had pledged years ago to give half ownership of his casino to NMSU upon his death. But after the Anthony proposal became public in 2004, he amended his will so that NMSU only gets that estimated $10 million each year if there are no other casinos located in an area that would include the Anthony proposal.<\/p>\n

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

Fulton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> admitted to me he was trying to buy support.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe play to win,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a battle, and we\u2019re going to look at it like a battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

What if Fulton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is contributing to the $70,000 Martin will get from the private sector if he stays through 2012 and his $6,000-per-month housing allowance? Then we would have a board of regents that has allowed a wealthy casino mogul to help pay the university president even though he has admitted to trying to influence a public process with his money.<\/p>\n

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

That would be shameful. I called last year<\/a> on Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> and former Attorney General Patricia Madrid<\/a> to return massive contributions from Fulton<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>. If Fulton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> were the donor in this case, I would request the same from the university.<\/p>\n

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

Martin wants the public to trust that he\u2019s not influenced by donors, but how can we know for certain if we don\u2019t know their identities? In the case of Fulton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, we have a donor who has openly and inappropriately asked for something in return for the million he\u2019s given to NMSU.<\/p>\n

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

Tell me he doesn\u2019t get more access and influence than the average citizen or student. Martin told the newspaper he has not taken a stance on the casino project. It\u2019s a fact, however, that some regents have answered Fulton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s call and opposed the Anthony casino.<\/p>\n

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

That\u2019s called pay-to-play, folks.<\/p>\n

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

Thanks to the Sun-News for reporting on this important issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New Mexico State University Foundation\u2019s practice of keeping information about donors secret is under increased scrutiny today after the Las Cruces Sun-News published an article on the topic. Today\u2019s article by reporter Diana Alba is about the legislators who will ask the attorney general for a legal opinion on whether the foundation can keep […]<\/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-2050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2050","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=2050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2050\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}