Public Banking Task Force nominees confirmed

The Santa Fe City Council unanimously confirmed Mayor Javier Gonzales’ appointments to a new Public Banking Task Force on Wednesday.

The seven-member task force is charged with determining the necessary procedures, timelines and requirements to establish a chartered public bank.

Gonzales appointed J. Wayne Miller, vice president of commercial real estate at Washington Federal; Randolph Hibben, a retired banker; Darla Brewer, a senior forensic auditor with the state Securities Division; Kelly Huddleston, an attorney who founded the New Mexico Consumer Protection Law Center; David Buchholtz, an Albuquerque attorney who did legal work for a local organization advocating for a public bank; Judy Cormier, who has 30 years of consumer banking compliance experience; Elaine Sullivan, a public bank advocate; retired businessman Robert Mang; and city Finance Director Adam Johnson.

The mayor’s appointments, which council members confirmed without questions or discussion, sparked some concerns from the public about impartiality.

“From what I have read, this group, as presented, appears to be more of an advocacy group than one that can, in an unbiased way, evaluate this proposal,” Santa Fe resident Berl Brechner wrote in an email to the mayor and councilors Wednesday.

“Of particular concern,” the email said, “is that three of the proposed members have direct connections to ‘We are people here!’ which in its website contains a subgroup, ‘Banking on New Mexico,’ which has been a vocal advocate for the public bank concept for Santa Fe.”