Journal editors rightly upset

There are two editorial opinions in the Journal this morning.

Both have to do with public records that are being hidden
from public knowledge by public servants.

In one case, link, a consultant's report on the risk an old landfill poses to groundwater, is being hidden from those who will drink the water.

"... despite an opinion from the New Mexico Attorney General's Office that says “the public has a right to know” what the report contains. And that's despite a state district judge's ruling that the report is a public document."

In the other, link, an investigation into what happened to hundreds of developmentally disabled clients discharged from state institutions, is being hidden from public knowledge. Your tax dollars paid a lawyer to argue;

“any documentation in our possession is subject to attorney-client privilege, the attorney work-product doctrine, executive privilege and the deliberative process privilege.”

The editors point out;

"(Governor) Richardson has decided any state documents are not only not public record, but handing them over would be excessively burdensome."

If you read about the NMIPRA, you will find the availability of public records is essential to public oversight over their government.

You will find out as well, that the law is feckless. Even with lawyers of your own, you cannot get public servants to obey the law.

The editors entitled this opinion;

"Governor's Investigation Accountable to No One"

So the Journal editors do get it,
why won't they do anything about it?

There is only one reason to hide the truth;

to except public servants from accountability for their
non, mis, and malfeasance.

They are hiding the truth to their advantage, not ours.

Until the NMIPRA includes criminal penalties for public servants who hide public records, they will continue to hide public records and the truth from stakeholders, and we will pay for the lawyers that are screwing us out of the truth.

They will get away with it, for as long as we allow them.

Otherwise, they will keep these cases in the courts,
at huge expense to you, until the developmentally disabled clients have all died, and the ground water has all been drunk.

Closer to home, the leadership of the APS is still hiding public records of public corruption and incompetence in leadership of their Police Department, their Finance Division, their overall lack of standards and accountability, and their litigation to except themselves from accountability to law.

Governor Richardson and state government are beyond our influence. The leadership of the APS is not.

It begins by insisting that the leadership of the APS,
tell the (ethically redacted) truth for once, and at once.

It begins by insisting that the leadership of the APS provide a time, a day, and a place where they will answer legitimate questions, candidly, forthrightly, and honestly.

And not taking no for an answer.