{"id":4721,"date":"2009-07-09T17:02:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-09T23:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/07\/after-gops-attack-denish-unveils-ethics-proposals\/"},"modified":"2009-07-09T17:02:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-09T23:02:00","slug":"after-gops-attack-denish-unveils-ethics-proposals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/07\/after-gops-attack-denish-unveils-ethics-proposals\/","title":{"rendered":"After GOP’s attack, Denish unveils ethics proposals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ethics commission, \u2018sunshine portal\u2019 and tougher reporting requirements are all on the lieutenant governor\u2019s agenda<\/span><\/p>\n

Days after the state GOP chairman hammered her for standing by the scandal-plagued Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a>, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a> unveiled today ethics initiatives she plans to push during the 2010 legislative session.<\/p>\n

Denish, the only declared Democratic candidate for governor in next year\u2019s election, announced her support for proposals to create an independent state ethics commission and strengthen lobbyist and campaign reporting requirements. She also proposed the creation of a new \u201csunshine portal\u201d — a one-stop shop on the Internet for access to government spending data and other information.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of New Mexico deserve a state government that is as open and honest as the people of this state,\u201d Denish said in a news release announcing the proposals. \u201cI am committed to making the changes necessary to ensure that New Mexico\u2019s government and elected officials enjoy the trust of New Mexico\u2019s people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denish released a four-page memo<\/a> that lays out the details of the proposals, which would need Richardson\u2019s approval in order to be considered by lawmakers during the 30-day session.<\/p>\n

Denish wants a powerful ethics commission — one that would have subpoena power and the ability to impose fines. It would be made up of seven members appointed by all three branches of government.<\/p>\n

Her sunshine portal would include searchable databases for all sorts of information, including how state government is receiving and spending money and notices of upcoming public meetings.<\/p>\n

Denish wants to increase the frequency that lobbyists and candidates for state office must file reports next year from every six months to every three months. Within two years, she proposes to increase the requirement to every 30 days.<\/p>\n

The lieutenant governor already voluntarily makes her own campaign finance reports public every three months.<\/p>\n

A hot topic<\/span><\/p>\n

Ethics has been a hot topic lately because of a number of scandals plaguing the Richardson administration and state government. Over the weekend, the Albuquerque Journal published a commentary<\/a> in which state GOP Chairman Harvey Yates Jr. wrote that \u201cCorruption has been so prevalent in this state, and so embedded in the Democrat power structure, it is not believable to suggest that (Denish) has been unaware of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He wrote that if Denish \u201chas lacked the courage to speak vigorously against corruption, she is unfit to be governor.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to The Santa Fe New Mexican\u2019s<\/a> Kate Nash, Denish twice stated today at a news conference that she has no connection to the current scandals. She also mentioned her work to reform the state\u2019s housing authority system following that scandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, whatever may be said by the opposition party in their quest to find qualified candidates for some of their offices, let me just say this,\u201d Nash quoted Denish as saying. \u201cI have not been part of any of this, my office has not been part of any of this, regardless of what they may want to say or allege.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the chairman of Denish\u2019s campaign committee sent an e-mail to supporters decrying Yates\u2019 attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to these kind of false negative attacks, I\u2019m outraged. But I\u2019m not surprised,\u201d Ted F. Martinez wrote. \u201cWhen you are leading in the polls<\/a> and your opponents have been rejected over and over by the voters, you can expect there will be some mud coming your way. But Chairman Yates once again showed how little Republicans have to offer New Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bottom line: In New Mexico, the 2010 election is shaping up to be all about ethics. The Republican gubernatorial candidates have been talking about it (click here<\/a> and here<\/a>). And Denish is the second candidate for statewide office to release an ethics-reform plan. Democratic Lt. Gov. candidate Greg Solano<\/a> released his proposal<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ethics commission, \u2018sunshine portal\u2019 and tougher reporting requirements are all on the lieutenant governor\u2019s agenda Days after the state GOP chairman hammered her for standing by the scandal-plagued Gov. Bill Richardson, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish unveiled today ethics initiatives she plans to push during the 2010 legislative session. Denish, the only declared Democratic candidate for […]<\/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-4721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4721","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=4721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4721\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}