{"id":2074,"date":"2007-08-07T16:24:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-07T22:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/08\/ethics-task-force-recommends-special-session\/"},"modified":"2007-08-07T16:24:00","modified_gmt":"2007-08-07T22:24:00","slug":"ethics-task-force-recommends-special-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/08\/ethics-task-force-recommends-special-session\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethics task force recommends special session"},"content":{"rendered":"

The governor\u2019s ethics task force<\/a> will recommend that Bill Richardson<\/a> call a special session before April 1, 2008 to deal with ethics reform.<\/p>\n

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

The time will be left to the governor and Legislature to work out.<\/p>\n

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

I\u2019m not at the meeting today, so I only have a few details of what was decided, but some of the other recommendations the task force decided on are:<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Expansion of the voluntary public campaign financing system to the offices of attorney general, secretary of state, land commissioner, treasurer and auditor in 2010, and to the offices of governor and lieutenant governor in 2014.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Campaign contribution limits equal to the federal limit of $2,300, with an exception for local governments that already have lower levels in place.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Additional employees in the Secretary of State\u2019s office to help with faster notification and publishing online of campaign finance reports.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Requiring employers to disclose lobbying contracts.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Requiring lobbyists to wear identification badges.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Forbidding ex-legislators from becoming lobbyists for a one-year period after they leave office.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Creation of an ethics commission that can investigate allegations involving all three branches but can only make recommendations to the Judicial Standards Commission and Legislature for possible action against judges and lawmakers. The commission would have power to sanction executive-branch officials and, if the official being investigated is the governor, members appointed by the governor would not be involved.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Endorsement of ethics-reform proposals made by the attorney general.<\/p>\n

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

The task force will wrap up its work at the end of the month before a legislative subcommittee is set to begin considering these and other ethics questions. I\u2019m betting legislative leaders won\u2019t want a special session \u2013 if it agrees to one at all \u2013 until after the regular session ends in February.<\/p>\n

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

I\u2019m betting the governor will want the session to be held later this year. He needs all the r\u00e9sum\u00e9 building he can get before the early presidential nominating contests begin in January.<\/p>\n

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

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a> has said she doesn\u2019t favor a special session for ethics reform, but wants to tackle that and health-care reform during the 30-day regular session next year.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said the governor \u201cwill consider the recommendation and consult with the legislative leadership\u201d before making a decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The governor\u2019s ethics task force will recommend that Bill Richardson call a special session before April 1, 2008 to deal with ethics reform. The time will be left to the governor and Legislature to work out. I\u2019m not at the meeting today, so I only have a few details of what was decided, but some […]<\/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-2074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2074","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=2074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2074\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}