Yeehah! We’re Number, Er, 39…
by John Weckerle
As reported by Elaine Baumgartel at KUNM.org, a report by the State Integrity Investigation (SII, a joint project of the Center for Public Integrity, Global Integrity, and Public Radio International) – assigns New Mexico a grade of D- and a rank of 39th among all states on the state’s Corruption Risk Report Card.
The study evaluated 14 categories associated with government integrity and accountability. New Mexico’s highest grade – B-minus – was awarded in the Internal Auditing and Redistricting categories, and the State received grades of F in State Insurance Commissions, Lobbying Disclosure, and Ethics Enforcement Agencies. There’s a little something for everybody: State employees will be delighted to know that their pension fund is well managed (grade of D); open government advocates will appreciate the grade of D+ in Public Access to Information; voters should be gratified by the grades of D in Executive Accountability and Legislative Accountability; and big-money campaign donors should be positively aglow over the D- in Political Financing.
To be fair, not all of New Mexico’s low grades are entirely the result of misconduct or skulduggery, and not all the news is quite as bad as it sounds. The SII article on the issue, New Mexico: The Story Behind the Score, credits the Martinez administration for some advances in open government while noting that state laws on access to information are not uniformly obeyed by various State agencies. The use of executive privilege in denying access to information remains a concern. Staffing levels at the state auditor’s office – 25 employees compared to 69 at the Livestock Board and 75 at the Commission for the Blind – remain inadequate, and the PRC is described as “dysfunctional.” As for legislative ethics, the article states: “The state House and Senate each have ethics committees that are effectively dormant; they have not met, reviewed complaints or administered sanctions in recent memory.”
While the grades are fairly dismal, it should be noted that the article does make it clear that improvements have been seen in some areas. Here’s hoping that future report cards will give New Mexico at least a grade that would allow it admission to one of the State universities.