UNM names just 10 of 36 applicants for counsel

Transparency advocates question why all names weren’t revealed

Loretta Martinez began her tenure this month as the University of New Mexico’s chief legal counsel, the culmination of a national search initiated in the spring.

But the university will not divulge information about everyone she beat out for the job.

A university spokeswoman told the Journal in August that the position had attracted 36 applicants; however, UNM released information for only 10 when the Journal subsequently sought the names and résumés for all applicants via a formal public records request.

The discrepancy is based on UNM’s internal determination of who could “fairly” be considered an applicant, according to a spokeswoman. That consists of the individuals who did on-campus interviews with the search committee “after affirmatively responding upon request that they wished to move forward in the search,” Cinnamon Blair said in a written statement.

The university did not provide information about the other 26 people included in its initial applicant tally because, Blair said, the information is “proprietary property” of the professional search firm that UNM contracted to help in the search.

But withholding that information violates the state’s transparency law and UNM’s own policy, according to the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government.

FOG Executive Director Melanie Majors said all applicant information is subject to the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act, and the use of an outside search firm does not exempt UNM from compliance.

“Something that’s created and held by a private entity but that’s created for the public is subject to state law,” she said.

The decision also appears to be at odds with the university’s own Regents’ Policy Manual.

In a Sept. 24 letter to President Garnett Stokes, Journal attorney Charles Peifer made that case, noting the manual states, “The identity, the job application, and the résumé or curriculum vitae of a candidate (for university employment) are public records and are subject to public inspection” in accordance with IPRA.

Blair defended UNM’s legal counsel search as consistent “with national norms” and said that some confidentiality yields a stronger candidate pool. She said UNM has previously offered confidentiality to applicants until the finalist stage when it has used a search firm to help fill other top jobs.

During last fall’s search for a new athletic director, the university withheld all but the names of the three finalists, even though search committee members — including UNM regents and employees — had interviewed several other candidates.

The university said then that the information on other applicants belonged to the professional firm it contracted.

Blair said releasing semifinalist résumés for legal counsel shows an effort to be more transparent.

“We believe in the importance of transparency; we also believe that confidentiality is important to building a nationally competitive pool for critical leadership positions. We will seek out best practices for competing nationally while demonstrating our very real commitment to transparent decision making,” she wrote.

UNM’s transparency has been repeatedly called into question in recent years.

New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas’ office slammed the university for what it called a “disturbing pattern of concealment and deliberate misrepresentation” in a report issued in September.

Balderas’ office did not directly answer a Journal question about whether UNM violated IPRA by withholding information on 26 of 36 legal counsel applicants.

But spokesman David Carl said public agencies always should provide as much information as possible to the public. Citing last month’s report, he said “this is especially true as it relates to UNM.”

UNM’s selective release of legal counsel applicants comes as the university tries to fill a series of other high-ranking positions.

The state’s largest university needs a new provost/ executive vice president for academic affairs and must also replace the soonto-retire David Harris, whose three titles include executive vice president for administration, chief financial officer and chief operating officer.

The university is also seeking a new director for the Division of Equity and Inclusion.

The university will employ a search firm in all three cases, and UNM has indicated it would treat applicant data for those searches similar to the chief legal counsel.

“We plan to be consistent in our process with current and future executive searches,” Blair wrote.