{"id":611016,"date":"2018-08-06T05:49:40","date_gmt":"2018-08-06T11:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=611016"},"modified":"2018-08-07T07:37:52","modified_gmt":"2018-08-07T13:37:52","slug":"nmpolitics-net-sues-for-release-of-spaceport-america-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/08\/nmpolitics-net-sues-for-release-of-spaceport-america-records\/","title":{"rendered":"NMPolitics.net sues for release of Spaceport America records"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_410968\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-410968\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/4.19.17-Virgin-Galactic-hangar-2-771x500.jpg\" alt=\"Virgin Galactic hangar\" width=\"771\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/4.19.17-Virgin-Galactic-hangar-2-771x500.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/4.19.17-Virgin-Galactic-hangar-2-336x218.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/4.19.17-Virgin-Galactic-hangar-2-768x498.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/4.19.17-Virgin-Galactic-hangar-2-1170x758.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/4.19.17-Virgin-Galactic-hangar-2.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Virgin Galactic&#8217;s hangar at Spaceport America.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>NMPolitics.net is going to court to try to win the release of financial documents and other records the N.M. Spaceport Authority is refusing to show the public.<\/p>\n<p>Haussamen Publications, Inc., which publishes NMPolitics.net, filed <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/8.3.18-Spaceport-lawsuit.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the lawsuit<\/a> against the state agency on Friday in the Third Judicial District Court in Las Cruces. The move comes about a week after the state attorney general&#8217;s office determined that the Spaceport Authority\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/07\/spaceport-violated-open-government-law-ags-office-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">violated the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA)<\/a>\u00a0several times in its responses to NMPolitics.net\u2019s efforts to\u00a0investigate Spaceport America\u00a0in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>NMPolitics.net editor and publisher Heath Haussamen spent months examining the economic development project. The <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/series\/spaceport-america\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">resulting journalistic series<\/a> found\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/08\/is-spaceport-america-taking-flight\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reason for optimism<\/a>\u00a0about spaceport\u2019s future but also <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/08\/transparency-problems-plague-spaceport-america\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">serious transparency issues<\/a>.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>More information<\/h3>\n<p>Read NMPolitics.net&#8217;s lawsuit <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/8.3.18-Spaceport-lawsuit.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">by clicking here<\/a>. You can also:<br \/>\n\u2022 Learn more <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/07\/spaceport-violated-open-government-law-ags-office-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">about the findings from the AG&#8217;s office<\/a>.<br \/>\n\u2022 Check out\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/series\/spaceport-america\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NMPolitics.net&#8217;s 2017 series on Spaceport America<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The information the Spaceport Authority refused to release included how much some customers are paying in rent and fees to use the facility. Without such information, fully evaluating the spaceport&#8217;s economic impact in New Mexico proved difficult, Haussamen said.<\/p>\n<p>He noted that New Mexicans spent more than $220 million on the construction of Spaceport America and said they should have access to financial information that helps them decide whether that investment is paying off.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I believe the Spaceport Authority has a legal duty to release that information,&#8221; Haussamen said. &#8220;With New Mexico&#8217;s hope of a better economic future tied to our massive investment in this project, I believe we have a duty to fight for the public&#8217;s right to these records.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In late July, Assistant Attorney General Dylan K. Lange identified <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/07\/spaceport-violated-open-government-law-ags-office-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">four IPRA violations<\/a> in the Spaceport Authority&#8217;s interactions with Haussamen:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Failing to respond to a records request in the time the law requires.<\/li>\n<li>Citing the wrong exemption to redact information from public records.<\/li>\n<li>Charging unauthorized fees for copies of public records.<\/li>\n<li>Refusing to release a list of Twitter accounts the agency had blocked from seeing or responding to its tweets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;The spaceport must be held accountable for this pattern of improper behavior,&#8221; Haussamen said.<\/p>\n<h3>Financial documents<\/h3>\n<p>Many of the documents NMPolitics.net seeks relate to the spaceport&#8217;s finances. The Spaceport Authority <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/08\/how-much-secrecy-does-spaceport-america-need\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">redacted portions of lease agreements<\/a>\u00a0with four of the spaceport&#8217;s five &#8220;permanent tenants&#8221; that blocked\u00a0the disclosure of rent and fee information, sections that indicate where at Spaceport America companies were operating, insurance information \u2013 and, in one lease, even the contact information for two company officials.<\/p>\n<p>Because IPRA didn\u2019t explicitly exempt such information from release, the Spaceport Authority looked elsewhere, ultimately citing\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/swrtc.nmsu.edu\/files\/2014\/12\/New-Mexico-Rules-of-Evidence.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a N.M. Supreme Court rule of evidence<\/a>\u00a0relating to trade secrets in court cases to justify the redactions.\u00a0Lange, in his determination letter, called that a violation of IPRA and expressed skepticism that the redactions were appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2026 we believe it unlikely that a New Mexico court would conclude that terms in a lease agreement with a public body for rental payments, user fees, and insurance coverage, without more, qualify as trade secrets exempt from disclosure under IPRA,\u201d Lange wrote.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Several state officials, including\u00a0Lt. Gov. John Sanchez, a non-voting member of the spaceport\u2019s governing board, have said the rent payments should be public. NMPolitics.net&#8217;s lawsuit asks a judge to order that the leases be released without redactions.<\/p>\n<p>During his investigation Haussamen also sought\u00a0all documents that factored into <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Spaceport-America-Economic-Impact-09-21-2016.pdf?x89751\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an analysis<\/a> from Spaceport America Chief Financial Officer Zach De Gregorio claiming that the spaceport was\u00a0having a positive economic impact in New Mexico. The spaceport said it had no documents to release.<\/p>\n<p>Haussamen believed such records existed and should have been released.\u00a0Didn\u2019t De Gregorio review the agency\u2019s budget? Documents that show payments from companies that have leases? Financial records from film companies doing shoots at the spaceport? Records from a tour bus operator? \u201cThere are no more documents,\u201d De Gregorio told Haussamen.<\/p>\n<p>Didn\u2019t De Gregorio take notes when he was interviewing business owners to gauge the spaceport\u2019s impact? Yes, Spaceport America CEO Dan Hicks told Haussamen. Shouldn\u2019t those be retained for public inspection, at least for a time, as state law intends?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDoes he keep those? No,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like, \u2018Hey, I finished the briefing. Get rid of that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lange, in the determination letter from the AG&#8217;s office, wrote that without evidence that the Spaceport Authority \u201cacted in bad faith or with the intent to evade its obligations under IPRA, we are unable to conclude that the authority\u00a0failed to provide Mr. Haussamen with responsive records in its custody at the time of his request.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, NMPolitics.net&#8217;s lawsuit seeks the release of documents that factored into De Gregorio&#8217;s analysis.<\/p>\n<h3>Twitter list<\/h3>\n<p>Haussamen\u00a0discovered in June 2017, as he was wrapping up his investigation, that the Spaceport Authority had\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/SpaceportTwitterBlock.jpg?x89751&amp;x89751\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blocked him<\/a>\u00a0from following\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Spaceport_NM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">its Twitter account<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 from seeing or responding to its tweets. He requested the complete list of Twitter accounts the agency had blocked.\u00a0Such a list is accessible in the agency\u2019s Twitter account settings and can be preserved as a screen shot, PDF or other document.<\/p>\n<p>The agency unblocked Haussamen on Twitter but refused to hand over the list, saying IPRA \u201cdoes not reference Twitter.\u201d Haussamen responded by asking the Spaceport Authority to preserve the list of blocked accounts as it existed on the date of his request &#8212; June 28, 2017 &#8212; &#8220;as I&#8217;m seeking advice on the legality of your response.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Lange determined that the Spaceport Authority broke the law by not releasing the list.\u00a0\u201cIf the Authority has blocked Twitter accounts, a list of those accounts is available to the Authority on twitter.com and is subject to public access under IPRA,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;\u2026\u00a0Accordingly, the Authority must provide Mr. Haussamen with an electronic copy of its list of blocked Twitter accounts.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>NMPolitics.net&#8217;s lawsuit asks a judge to order the release of the list.<\/p>\n<h3>Relief sought<\/h3>\n<p>In addition to release of the documents, NMPolitics.net&#8217;s lawsuit seeks the repayment of $290 that the AG&#8217;s office determined the Spaceport Authority inappropriately charged Haussamen for electronic copies of the lease agreements. The lawsuit also seeks attorney&#8217;s fees, costs, damages and any other relief.<\/p>\n<p>A court can impose a fine of up to $100 per day that records are\u00a0improperly withheld. Haussamen filed his records requests in March and June of 2017.<\/p>\n<p>NMPolitics.net is represented in the lawsuit by Las Cruces attorney C.J. McElhinney. The case has been assigned to District Judge James T. Martin.<\/p>\n<p>The N.M. Legislature and governor\u00a0approved a new exemption to IPRA earlier this year that allows the spaceport\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abqjournal.com\/1140758\/governor-approves-spaceport-privacy-20-other-bills.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">greater secrecy<\/a>\u00a0(though how much secrecy\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/02\/courts-could-end-up-deciding-how-much-secrecy-spaceport-gets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">is still unclear<\/a>). However, that new law doesn\u2019t apply retroactively to Haussamen&#8217;s 2017 records requests. For purposes of the court case, the relevant law is what was in place at the time of his requests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The news organization is trying to win the release of financial documents and other records the N.M. Spaceport Authority is refusing to show the public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":410968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[630],"tags":[141,706],"class_list":["post-611016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-about-nmpolitics-net","tag-spaceport-america","tag-transparency","series-spaceport-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611016","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\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}