{"id":20518,"date":"2010-08-16T08:42:57","date_gmt":"2010-08-16T14:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=20518"},"modified":"2010-08-18T16:26:00","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T22:26:00","slug":"jet-use-hurts-denish-office-supply-deal-hurts-martinez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/08\/jet-use-hurts-denish-office-supply-deal-hurts-martinez\/","title":{"rendered":"Jet use hurts Denish; office supply deal hurts Martinez"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

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

Diane Denish\u2019s<\/a> frequent use of a state jet and Susana Martinez\u2019s<\/a> purchasing of office supplies from a business owned by an employee create negative appearances that will harm their credibility with voters.<\/p>\n

Denish\u2019s use of state jet<\/h3>\n

In Denish\u2019s case, KRQE\u2019s Larry Barker reported three weeks ago<\/a> that the Democratic candidate for governor had tallied a bill for state aircraft usage of $367,236 over the past four years. There\u2019s a state regulation requiring at least three passengers on such flights for cost-efficiency \u2013 and Denish flew 39 times with fewer than three passengers.<\/p>\n

From Barker\u2019s report:<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, on Oct. 3, 2008, the lieutenant governor and her husband were the only passengers on a flight to Shiprock. Because there were fewer than three passengers on board, the $3,315 flight violated regulations. And the Denish was the only passenger on a flight to Las Cruces last year that cost taxpayers $4,845.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But General Services Secretary Art Jaramillo was quoted as saying the lieutenant governor is exempt from the regulation because she\u2019s not a member of a board or commission and the department doesn\u2019t have the authority \u201cto require her to comply with these requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, according to Barker\u2019s report, there\u2019s nothing in the regulation that exempts the lieutenant governor. Former Assistant Attorney General and State Sen. Duncan Scott was quoted as saying no elected or appointed state official is exempt.<\/p>\n

A Denish spokesman told Barker that Denish wasn\u2019t aware of the regulation. The campaign refused to make Denish available for an interview.<\/p>\n

Martinez\u2019s office supply deal<\/h3>\n

In the case of Martinez, the Republican candidate for governor, the Albuquerque Journal reported a little more than a week ago<\/a> that the Third Judicial District Attorney\u2019s Office in Las Cruces, which Martinez runs, had purchased more than $60,000 in office supplies from a company owned by one of Martinez\u2019s top aides, Janetta Hicks.<\/p>\n

There was no contract or competitive bidding process. Martinez says neither was required because no single purchase was large enough. Martinez told the Journal the deal saved taxpayers money and had approval from two state agencies. She provided documentation to NMPolitics.net to show that buying paper from Hicks\u2019 company was cheaper than other options.<\/p>\n

And though the Journal questioned in its initial article whether the deal violated state law, a follow up article<\/a> pointed out that current laws barring such arrangements weren\u2019t in place at the time of the purchases from 2003 to 2005. From the Journal:<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of changes to the Governmental Conduct Act in July 2007, it is now illegal for a state employee to knowingly sell goods to his or her employer. Another section of the law was amended to bar small and sole purchases involving employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither of those prohibitions was in effect at the time of the transactions between Hicks\u2019 company and the DA\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

Both candidates take hits<\/h3>\n

Soon after KRQE\u2019s report, Martinez said she would sell the state jet<\/a>, winning her points. Denish was damaged by the situation, and her credibility took a further hit when she tried to explain why she wouldn\u2019t sell the jet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Democrats have hammered Martinez<\/a> over the office-supply deal she had with her employee, which puts a dent in Martinez\u2019s anti-corruption campaign. Martinez has said she would do the same thing as governor \u2013 if it saved money and was transparent \u2013 further defending the arrangement by pointing out that auditors found no fault with it.<\/p>\n

Some questions remain in the situations involving Denish and Martinez, and I\u2019m currently looking into both.<\/p>\n

Newspaper hammers both candidates<\/h3>\n

The Journal has hammered both candidates in editorials.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unconscionable for New Mexico politicians and appointed officials to use sick kids and rural residents to justify keeping up their jet-setting ways,\u201d the Journal wrote in an Aug. 1 editorial<\/a>. \u201cBut that\u2019s exactly what they are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The editorial points out that Denish says, \u201cto advocate for rural New Mexico, sometimes you have to get out to rural New Mexico\u201d but states that Martinez is right to want to sell the plan because it\u2019s \u201ctoo much a symbol of government excess.\u201d<\/p>\n

Selling or mothballing the plane, the Journal writes, \u201cmight give state officials a closer look at the communities and taxpayers they purport to represent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Journal was equally harsh about Martinez in a Sunday editorial<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Martinez misses is the point,\u201d the editorial states. \u201cIt isn\u2019t whether the deal\u2026 was good for the taxpayers and legal. \u2026 The point is that it flunks the smell test.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026while $60,000 worth of copy paper and Sharpies is peanuts compared to what has gone on in Santa Fe, it smacks of the kind of insider dealing voters are sick of and that the crime-fighting Martinez vows to clean up,\u201d the editorial states. \u201cThe fact she still sees nothing wrong with the office supply arrangement, or how it looks, begs the question of whether she\u2019s up to the task of turning around New Mexico\u2019s culture of corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bottom line<\/h3>\n

The Journal\u2019s editorials accurately represent the way many voters will look at both situations.<\/p>\n

Denish has spent years working to build a reputation of being in touch with New Mexicans. But the pricey jet trips around the state \u2013 potentially in violation of state regulations and at a time when people are feeling the pain of a bad economy \u2013 will appear to many voters as government excess and make Denish look like a politician who\u2019s out of touch with people.<\/p>\n

Martinez has built her campaign on ending rampant corruption in state government. But many will view the office-supply contract as another instance of cronyism.<\/p>\n

This is politics, and appearances mean a great deal. Politicians from both parties and at all levels of government have given the public every reason in the world to view the actions of government officials in the worst possible light. Fair or not, that\u2019s what is happening in these situations.<\/p>\n

Haussamen bio<\/a> \u2502\u00a0Commentary archives<\/a> \u2502\u00a0Feed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Diane Denish\u2019s frequent use of a state jet and Susana Martinez\u2019s purchasing of office supplies from a business owned by an employee create negative appearances that will harm their credibility with voters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[108,107],"class_list":["post-20518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-2010-election","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20518","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=20518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20518\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}