{"id":2080,"date":"2007-08-08T16:43:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-08T22:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/08\/foundation-gives-other-perks-to-martin-menzies\/"},"modified":"2007-08-08T16:43:00","modified_gmt":"2007-08-08T22:43:00","slug":"foundation-gives-other-perks-to-martin-menzies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/08\/foundation-gives-other-perks-to-martin-menzies\/","title":{"rendered":"Foundation gives other perks to Martin, Menzies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>An examination of President Michael Martin\u2019s<\/a> contract with New Mexico State University<\/a> reveals some perks provided by the foundation<\/a> beyond what the university announced in May, when it restructured the agreement. <\/p>\n

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

The perks were in public records and may have been known to some, but I\u2019ve never seen any media coverage that has disclosed them to the public. On Tuesday, I received copies of the contracts for Martin and the new men\u2019s basketball coach, Marvin Menzies.<\/p>\n

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

The regents announced in May<\/a> that Martin\u2019s annual salary was being increased to $335,000. In addition, he would receive a $6,000-per-month housing allowance paid for by a secret donor and a $100,000 deferred payment that he will receive if he stays at NMSU through 2012, with 70 percent of it paid by a secret donor.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>The university announced in June<\/a> that Menzies had a three-year contract with a base salary of $325,000 and up to $200,000 in incentives.<\/p>\n

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

The university also announced in May<\/a> a restructuring, just before he left, of former men\u2019s basketball coach Reggie Theus\u2019 contract to give him annual compensation of $466,000, with $100,000 coming from a secret donor. Though Theus left before the new contract was signed, I requested a copy of any draft or other document that indicates the details of the agreement, but was told by university attorney Bruce Kite that none exists, so there is no record to provide.<\/p>\n

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

I requested the documents because I wanted to disclose all the ways money is funneled to the compensation of the president and coaches from secret donors and through the non-profit NMSU Foundation.<\/p>\n

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

When he was first hired in 2004, Martin\u2019s contract included some perks provided by the foundation. He was to be provided with a deferred compensation fund equal to 10 percent of his salary each year that would be paid for by the university but invested by the foundation along with foundation funds. That was later amended to become the $100,000 deferred payment.<\/p>\n

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

The foundation, from the start, provided the university with a vehicle for Martin to drive \u201cprimarily for university purposes,\u201d and also pays the cost of insuring the vehicle. The university is responsible for maintenance and fuel.<\/p>\n

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

Martin\u2019s wife, when participating in university-related activities, obviously incurs travel costs. Under the terms of Martin\u2019s contract, the foundation pays for such expenses.<\/p>\n

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

Also paid for by the foundation, according to the agreement<\/a> between the non-profit and NMSU, is an annual grant to Martin to lobby for donations. It can be used for \u201centertainment and travel,\u201d according to the agreement, but such expenses \u201cshould be reasonable and include only those persons who are important to enhancing the goals of the university, including supporters, potential supporters, regents, administrators, faculty, staff and students, and spouses only when essential to the business at hand.\u201d The amount of the grant is not stated in the contract.<\/p>\n

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

Not paid for by the foundation, but also worth mentioning, is that the regents, according to the contract, \u201cwill reimburse president for reasonable entertainment, travel, and other expenses incurred by president in the performance of his duties as president.\u201d In addition, the regents, according to the contract, pay for \u201ca family membership at a country club of the president\u2019s choosing in Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The total paid by the foundation – $70,000 toward Martin\u2019s deferred compensation, a $6,000-per-month housing allowance, purchase of and insurance for Martin\u2019s vehicle and reimbursement of the travel expenses of Martin\u2019s wife when she\u2019s on university business. The foundation also invests Martin\u2019s deferred compensation for him.<\/p>\n

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

There are far fewer perks paid for by the foundation in Menzies\u2019 contract. He gets deferred compensation each year of $25,000, paid for by the university, and it\u2019s also invested by the foundation. In addition, his wife\u2019s travel expenses are reimbursed by the foundation as long as prior approval is received from the university athletics director.<\/p>\n

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

More intermingling of NMSU, foundation<\/span><\/p>\n

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

One of the keys to whether the foundation\u2019s records are public is whether it\u2019s truly operating as an entity that is separate from the university. A few details in these contracts may be relevant.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 If the university and foundation are separate, is an agreement between the university and an employee of the university legally binding for the foundation? For example, if the foundation is required to buy a car for Martin and insure it, is the foundation really separate and independent of the university?<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Since the university and foundation both provide Martin with reimbursement of expenses related to carrying out his duties, how does he decide which will reimburse him? Fundraising is the first duty listed on Martin\u2019s contract, so is there any difference between his duties as they relate to the university and those that relate to the foundation?<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 How many employee contracts include reimbursement of spouse travel expenses through the foundation? How much is that costing the foundation?<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 The university seems to be giving a university employee \u2013 the athletics director \u2013 discretion to spend the foundation\u2019s money on travel expenses for Menzies\u2019 wife. How can the foundation be independent when a university employee is allowed to tap into its funds?<\/p>\n

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

And a really interesting question: How much is Martin being reimbursed by the foundation and university for entertainment and other expenses? What are those expenses?<\/p>\n

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

I\u2019ll be requesting some additional documents to see if I can shed more light on this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An examination of President Michael Martin\u2019s contract with New Mexico State University reveals some perks provided by the foundation beyond what the university announced in May, when it restructured the agreement. The perks were in public records and may have been known to some, but I\u2019ve never seen any media coverage that has disclosed them […]<\/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-2080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080","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=2080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}