Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Denish milking half-baked ethics reform package.

In the Journal, link, we read that Lt Gov Denish still believes;

"Tougher ethics laws and a more transparent government would be good ways to boost New Mexico's economy ..., improving government accountability would entice more businesses to move to the state."

When Denish rolled out her plan,
she said that although the plan had
been "a long time" in the making,
it was "a work in progress".

Yet, if you look for progress in her
plan, you will find no progress at all,
it is unchanged. link,

Her second of a kind ethics reform plan, (Greg Solano's was the first, link,)
remains the same as when she rolled it out three weeks ago.

It was pointed out immediately, that her plan lacks any additional support for the offices of the State Auditor, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of State.

It is pointless to write standards without providing enforcement;
not to mention disingenuous.

The Auditor's Office in particular, needs more funding. State Auditor Hector Balderas has said straight out that his office lacks the resources that it needs to keep the stimulus funds on their way to New Mexico, from being plundered, link.

Yet it would appear that Denish has no intention of updating her plan, or in pushing it for the very next meeting of the legislature (a Special Session) where the fate of a quarter of a billion tax dollars will be determined.

Perhaps those who argue that
her plan was a bluff, and that
Gov Bill Richardson would
keep her from being "called",
are right after all.




photos Mark Bralley

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where can we write/e-mail to candidates to demand that increased funding for the State Auditors' Office is required to obtain our vote?

Anonymous said...

Hello! Reform is not going to happen in 3 weeks. The legislative session is 6 months away. It takes a lot of work to hammer out good bills and get everyone on board. I am sure she is busy planning a strategy so her plan will not be like the failure that happened during the last session. Give her some time to iron out the proposals and make them palatable enough to pass.

ched macquigg said...

Hello,

I beg to disagree. While it may take eons to write legislation, which is no small part of the problem, it does not take eons to be candid, forthright, and honest about ones intentions with respect to transparency and accountability both.

It isn't about palatable, it is about right and wrong. There is only one way to tell the truth, and that is as best you can.

There is only one kind of ethical reform, and that is complete ethical reform.

This is not about increments and half steps, it is about picking a side; either you end corruption, or you don't.

Anonymous said...

To add to Ched's response... so you either support the auditors, or you don't.
I believe the small budget they get is not coincidence.
I also believe APS doesn't do strong inventory policies or utilize accountability of tracking expensive resources like computers, plasma TVs, etc...
What do these 2 issues have in common? Both auditing bodies overseer knows the problems are there, but don't want it to be revealed on their watch.
AKA, Richardson doesn't want more scandal to surface,and Brooks/Equivel don't want it to surface on thier watch either.