{"id":614925,"date":"2018-08-17T12:00:50","date_gmt":"2018-08-17T18:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=614925"},"modified":"2018-08-20T18:39:30","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T00:39:30","slug":"heres-why-im-suing-spaceport-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/08\/heres-why-im-suing-spaceport-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s why I\u2019m suing Spaceport America"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Spaceport

Courtesy photo<\/p>

Virgin Galactic’s hangar at Spaceport America.<\/p><\/div>\n

COMMENTARY:\u00a0<\/strong>Your right to know what your government is doing enables you to engage in democracy and try to improve things. Laws that allow the government to keep information secret should be rare and narrowly focused.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s made clear in New Mexico\u2019s Inspection of Public Records Act<\/a>: \u201ca representative government is dependent on an informed electorate,\u201d and thus, \u201call persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of our government.\u201d<\/p>\n

So when I began investigating in early 2017<\/a> whether Spaceport America was boosting New Mexico\u2019s economy, I expected to be given the documents I requested.<\/p>\n

It was, after all, pretty standard stuff. I asked for all records that factored into an analysis claiming there was a positive impact. I expected budgets, contracts and other financial information \u2013 documents citizens routinely request, and get, from government agencies.<\/p>\n

\"Heath

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

The N.M. Spaceport Authority told me no such documents exist.<\/p>\n

I asked for leases with five spaceport customers, looking to see how much companies are paying in rent and fees. The Spaceport Authority redacted rent and fee information, among other things, from four of the leases before releasing them.<\/p>\n

When I discovered that the spaceport had blocked me from seeing or responding to its posts on Twitter, I requested the list of all blocked accounts. The agency unblocked me but refused to hand over the list.<\/p>\n

At so many points, officials prioritized their customers \u2013 companies doing business at the spaceport \u2013 over you and me, the investors who own the facility.<\/p>\n

Leases were redacted to \u201chonor the rights that New Mexican state law provides to innovators, developers and entrepreneurs who seek to move their operations to our state,\u201d the spaceport\u2019s lawyer told me. (Wait a minute. Aren\u2019t New Mexicans who invested in building the spaceport also innovative entrepreneurs?)<\/p>\n

The spaceport blocked people on Twitter to protect its branding from negative and \u201cobscene\u201d responses to tweets, the CEO said. (Um, I didn\u2019t do that. Maybe they just didn\u2019t like that I wanted financial information.)<\/p>\n

I encountered other problems. Most notably, I was charged $1 per page for digital copies of the leases, even though state law doesn\u2019t allow that. I paid the $290 so I could get the leases to you as quickly as possible. I would decide later whether to fight the cost.<\/p>\n

Well, here we are.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month my business, Haussamen Publications, Inc., which publishes NMPolitics.net<\/a>, sued the Spaceport Authority<\/a>. We\u2019re seeking the release of unredacted lease agreements, documents that factored into the economic analysis, the list of blocked Twitter accounts, and repayment of the $290, in addition to damages and attorney\u2019s fees.<\/p>\n

My investigative series on the spaceport<\/a> ultimately found reason for optimism<\/a> about the project\u2019s future \u2013 but the spaceport\u2019s transparency problems<\/a> make it difficult to trust what\u2019s happening there<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In spite of that, the Legislature isn\u2019t holding the spaceport accountable. Instead, lawmakers gave the spaceport millions of additional dollars and a new law allowing greater secrecy<\/a> this year. And while the state attorney general\u2019s office determined that the spaceport violated transparency law<\/a> in its interactions with me, the non-binding letter has no force behind it.<\/p>\n

So I sued. I\u2019ll keep fighting to get information about the spaceport to you.<\/p>\n

We all invested in the spaceport \u2013 especially voters in Do\u00f1a Ana and Sierra counties, who raised taxes to help build it. We have a right to know what we\u2019re getting in return and be involved in determining the future.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, I believe our involvement will help the spaceport succeed<\/a>. That belief in an \u201cinformed electorate\u201d is foundational to our society.<\/p>\n

Heath Haussamen<\/a>\u00a0is NMPolitics.net\u2019s editor and publisher.\u00a0Agree with his opinion? Disagree? NMPolitics.net welcomes your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all invested in the spaceport. We have a right to know what we\u2019re getting in return and be involved in determining the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":411962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[141,706],"class_list":["post-614925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-spaceport-america","tag-transparency","series-spaceport-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614925","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=614925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}