{"id":2208,"date":"2007-09-07T14:20:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-07T20:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/09\/martin-has-spent-225k-from-university-expense-account-some-of-it-on-out-of-state-trips-to-see-donors\/"},"modified":"2007-09-07T14:20:00","modified_gmt":"2007-09-07T20:20:00","slug":"martin-has-spent-225k-from-university-expense-account-some-of-it-on-out-of-state-trips-to-see-donors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/09\/martin-has-spent-225k-from-university-expense-account-some-of-it-on-out-of-state-trips-to-see-donors\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin has spent $225K from university expense account, some of it on out-of-state trips to see donors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Since becoming president of New Mexico State University<\/a> in July 2004, Michael Martin<\/a> has spent more than $225,000, some of it on out-of-state trips to visit donors, from a fund designated for entertainment, travel and other expenses. <\/p>\n

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

That included two trips to Orange County<\/st1:city>, Calif.<\/st1:state> and one to Jackson Hole<\/st1:city>, Wyo.<\/st1:state> to meet with donors; meals with university regents and other community leaders; travel to Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> for legislative events and around the nation for conferences; and official events held at NMSU, according to university records provided in response to a formal request.<\/p>\n

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

The money comes from a public fund the Board of Regents approved in Martin\u2019s contract to be used for \u201creasonable entertainment, travel, and other expenses incurred by the president in the performance of his duties as president.\u201d Such funds have been provided to university presidents for years.<\/p>\n

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

The fund is separate from one provided by the NMSU Foundation<\/a>, the non-profit whose mission is to raise money for the university. That fund is to be used for \u201centertainment and travel\u201d for \u201cenhancing the goals of the university,\u201d according to the university\u2019s agreement with the foundation.<\/p>\n

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

The fact that the foundation has its own fund for the president raises a question about why NMSU, not the foundation, paid for the trips to visit donors, given the fact that the university and foundation assert that they are two separate organizations. Martin refused to answer that or any other questions for this article, responding in an e-mail this way:<\/p>\n

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

\u201cInteresting questions,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI\u2019ll answer them in next week\u2019s (Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>) Bulletin.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Martin wrote in a subsequent e-mail that until I want to \u201clearn how universities work\u201d he will ignore my questions and request that other university administrators do the same.<\/p>\n

\n

Keeping NMSU, foundation business separate?<\/span><\/p>\n

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

As courts in other states have considered in recent years whether such educational foundations can legally keep their donor records secret, one factor has been whether the foundation and university were operating as truly separate organizations that kept their business separate.<\/p>\n

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

For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005, Martin spent $81,830.90 from the expense account provided by the regents. The next year, he spent $61,712.25, and for the fiscal year that ended June 30 of this year, he spent $83,431.89.<\/p>\n

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

That included an overnight trip in July 2006 to Orange<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> by Martin and Regent Bob Gallagher, according to university records. The flight on NMSU\u2019s plane cost the university $5,361.39, according to university records. A handwritten note on the Flight Department expense form states that the trip was made to \u201cmeet w\/donor.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

And in August 2004, Martin flew to Jackson Hole and Orange<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> on NMSU\u2019s plane to meet with donors. The cost of the flights isn\u2019t included on the form that documents the trips, but a note on the form indicates that NMSU paid for the flights. It also indicates that the university reimbursed Martin $19 for dinner, $14 for lunch and $9 for parking in Wyoming<\/st1:state>, and $11 for parking in California<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.<\/p>\n

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

That form indicates that the foundation paid for Martin\u2019s hotel in Wyoming<\/st1:state> and that he stayed at a donors\u2019 home in California<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n

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

The university records reveal that Martin is also using the foundation fund for a number of expenses. Though NMSU asserts that foundation records aren\u2019t public, and the foundation did not respond to my request to view records from Martin\u2019s foundation expense account, the president frequently used his foundation credit card for expenses later reimbursed by the university, creating a public record for at least some foundation activity.<\/p>\n

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

For example, the university, out of Martin\u2019s expense account, reimbursed the foundation for expenses totaling more than $10,000 in June 2005. In June 2006, the total was about $9,000.<\/p>\n

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

Sometimes costs are split between the university and foundation. An Oct. 23, 2006 dinner with officials from El Paso Electric at the Double Eagle Restaurant in Mesilla cost $399.90. A handwritten note on a copy of the receipt indicates that the foundation was to pay $156 of the cost.<\/p>\n

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

Included in the documents are records of some payments by the foundation to Wells Fargo for Martin\u2019s use of his foundation credit card. In August 2006, for example, Martin charged a little more than $1,000 to his foundation credit card. In November of that year, he charged almost $2,900 to it.<\/p>\n

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

Open Meetings Act questions<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Documents provided in response to my records request also raise questions about compliance with the New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> Open Meetings Act<\/a>. Martin paid $73.04 for lunch at The Mix in Las Cruces<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> with Regents Gallagher, Steve Anaya, Laura Conniff and former Regent Sherry Kamali on Nov. 27, 2006, according to one document. And on April 7, 2005, Martin and his wife, Anaya, Conniff and her husband, Gallagher, Kamali, former Regent Steve Lewis, former student body President Austin Fulmer and Regents chief of staff Pat Williams and her husband ran up a tab of $387.48 on food and alcohol at Picacho Hills Country Club.<\/p>\n

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

Of that cost, $208 was paid by the university, and $179.48 was paid by the foundation.<\/p>\n

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

The Open Meetings Act requires that any \u201cformation of public policy\u201d and votes be conducted in public meetings that are properly noticed so the public has opportunity to attend.<\/p>\n

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

The act does not forbid a quorum of members of the five-person board from meeting in social settings, but it does not allow them to in any way discuss business in such settings. In the past, the attorney general\u2019s office has recommended that governments send out notices of potential quorums when such gatherings may occur to keep the public informed. Members of most governing bodies in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> are generally hesitant about gathering as a quorum in social settings to avoid potential violations.<\/p>\n

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

A notice of a potential quorum does not allow governing bodies to discuss public business in such settings, but is intended to avoid even the appearance that board members are meeting in secret.<\/p>\n

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

The university did not send out a notice about either event. In addition to Martin refusing to answer questions about the events, university Attorney Bruce Kite did not respond to a request for comment on questions including whether the regents discussed public business at the events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since becoming president of New Mexico State University in July 2004, Michael Martin has spent more than $225,000, some of it on out-of-state trips to visit donors, from a fund designated for entertainment, travel and other expenses. That included two trips to Orange County, Calif. and one to Jackson Hole, Wyo. to meet with donors; […]<\/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-2208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2208","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=2208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}