{"id":86770,"date":"2015-09-24T16:23:08","date_gmt":"2015-09-24T22:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=86770"},"modified":"2015-09-25T14:52:13","modified_gmt":"2015-09-25T20:52:13","slug":"keller-wants-a-correction-heres-why-im-not-issuing-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/09\/keller-wants-a-correction-heres-why-im-not-issuing-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Keller wants a correction; here&#8217;s why I&#8217;m not issuing one"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>COMMENTARY:<\/strong> After I published my column\u00a0Wednesday <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/09\/we-shouldnt-accept-conflicts-in-our-legislative-system\/\" target=\"_blank\">about legislative conflicts<\/a> &#8212; which\u00a0highlighted two situations involving State Auditor Tim Keller &#8212; I received this email from the\u00a0chief of staff in the auditor&#8217;s office,\u00a0Sunalei Stewart:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Your story is factually incorrect and very misleading. We would appreciate a correction.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to conflicts, the timeline matters as does the entity involved. Keller\u2019s statement in 2011 that Laguna Development Corp. was not a client is correct.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Blue Stone did a half day training workshop with Laguna Construction Corp. in 2010 (not related to gaming). This was the only work that was done for them.<\/li>\n<li>Keller\u2019s quote in 2011 was accurate (no Laguna Pueblo related entity was a client).<\/li>\n<li>Two years later, in 2013, the firm did some work for the Laguna Water Authority (not related to gaming).<\/li>\n<li>The firm never worked with the Laguna Pueblo Development Corp (which they communicated to you) or any entity involved in the Downs deal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Your article makes some good structural points about a citizen legislature.\u00a0 We\u2019ve only ever asked that you be fair with respect to the facts, and we don\u2019t think this piece captures what actually occurred.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;ve talked with Stewart and decided no correction is warranted. But I wanted to share Stewart&#8217;s email\u00a0to be fully transparent, and explain my reasoning for not issuing a correction so you can understand and share your thoughts.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_55852\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-55852\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Haussamen-Heath1-336x222.jpg\" alt=\"Heath Haussamen\" width=\"336\" height=\"222\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Haussamen-Heath1-336x222.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Haussamen-Heath1-768x508.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Haussamen-Heath1-771x510.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Haussamen-Heath1-1170x773.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Haussamen-Heath1.jpg 1262w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 336px) 100vw, 336px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n<p>At issue is this: While he was an unpaid state senator before becoming auditor, Keller also worked for Blue Stone Strategy Group, which advises tribal communities on things\u00a0like\u00a0economic development and governance.<\/p>\n<p>Keller has never publicly disclosed a list of clients. But as NMPolitics.net reported <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/08\/docs-may-reveal-potential-keller-conflict-on-state-fair-lease\/\" target=\"_blank\">on Aug. 24<\/a>, a document given to me by a former Blue Stone employee, which appears to be a company\u00a0client list, includes Laguna Pueblo in 2010 and Laguna Pueblo\u2019s utility agency in 2013. Until Stewart&#8217;s email on Wednesday, neither Keller nor Blue Stone had ever confirmed the Laguna entities as clients.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, here&#8217;s what Keller said in 2011 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zvxkOrvJqls\" target=\"_blank\">when asked about Laguna Pueblo<\/a>\u00a0(not Laguna Development Corp., as Stewart incorrectly claimed in his email):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThey\u2019re not a client of mine.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That&#8217;s what Keller has said all along. And he reiterated\u00a0that in an interview with me in July of this year, saying\u00a0he doesn&#8217;t mind people asking the question &#8220;because it&#8217;s also easy to answer.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s relevant because Laguna Development Corp. &#8212; a company owned by Laguna Pueblo &#8212; was the losing bidder for\u00a0a 25-year lease to operate a casino and racetrack at the state fair grounds. And as a senator Keller repeatedly criticized the Martinez Administration\u2019s awarding of that\u00a0lease to The Downs at Albuquerque, even accusing the governor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jVvO8e9PcSw\" target=\"_blank\">of pay-to-play<\/a> and calling for an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmtelegram.com\/2014\/02\/10\/keller-wants-ag-to-investigate-downs-deal\/\" target=\"_blank\">attorney general investigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The state fair grounds are located in the Senate district Keller represented. His constituents, like Laguna Pueblo, had a direct interest in The Downs deal.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I believe Keller&#8217;s criticism &#8212; when both his constituents and a Blue Stone client had an interest in the situation &#8212;\u00a0created a conflict, or at least the appearance of one. That&#8217;s not entirely his fault. As I wrote in Wednesday&#8217;s column, our legislative structure is flawed.\u00a0Unless we pay a reasonable salary, we can\u2019t expect lawmakers to always avoid conflicts between their jobs and legislative duties.<\/p>\n<p>But we can demand that they try to avoid conflicts. When they can\u2019t, we should expect them to be honest with us about it.<\/p>\n<p>When Keller\u00a0was asked in 2011 if Laguna Pueblo was\u00a0a client, the most transparent answer would have been that a Laguna-owned entity\u00a0had been\u00a0a client in the past but wasn&#8217;t anymore. Keller should have also explained\u00a0why he didn&#8217;t see that as a conflict.<\/p>\n<p>When I asked in July of this year, the most transparent answer would have been to disclose that Laguna-owned entities had been clients in 2010 and 2013 and to explain why he didn&#8217;t see that as\u00a0a conflict.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Keller kept quiet about\u00a0facts that would have helped the public judge his\u00a0juggling of his job and legislative duties.<\/p>\n<p>This is how I see things: Keller said for years that Laguna Pueblo wasn&#8217;t a client. No publicly available evidence contradicted\u00a0that claim.\u00a0Then I got my hands on the Blue Stone client list that indicated\u00a0otherwise and asked again, and Keller and Blue Stone refused to comment on whether the Laguna entities were clients.<\/p>\n<p>So\u00a0I wrote <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/08\/docs-may-reveal-potential-keller-conflict-on-state-fair-lease\/\" target=\"_blank\">an article<\/a> about a possible conflict. And then\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/09\/we-shouldnt-accept-conflicts-in-our-legislative-system\/\" target=\"_blank\">a commentary<\/a>. Now the line is, well, Laguna-owned entities were clients &#8212; but not in the same year as that one quote that&#8217;s on YouTube, so the entire argument that Keller had a conflict is flawed.<\/p>\n<p>Nice try.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>State Auditor Tim Keller&#8217;s chief of staff disputes my assertion that Keller, when he was a senator, had a conflict related to the awarding of a lease at the state fair grounds. I believe the facts are on my side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[107,1189,706],"class_list":["post-86770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-roundhouse","tag-tim-keller","tag-transparency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86770","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=86770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}