Transparency takes hit with Martinez’s actions

Gov. signs bill allowing spaceport secrets, vetoes bill to close lobbyist loophole

Transparency took a beating Friday as Gov. Susana Martinez signed a bill to ensure secrecy for certain business dealings at Spaceport America and vetoed another bill meant to fix a loophole that open government advocates say allows untold thousands of dollars of lobbyist expenses to go unreported.

In her veto message for Senate Bill 67, Martinez said she has “fought hard to make state government transparent.”

But she added that she couldn’t support the bill on lobbyists reports sponsored by Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque, and Rep. Jim Smith, R-Albuquerque.

Three years ago, the Legislature passed a lobbyist “reform” bill that included a section that received little, if any, discussion. It ended a requirement that lobbyists report cumulative spending on lawmakers for individual expenditures under $100. That means lobbyists could buy a lawmaker a $99 dinner multiple times but never report it.

New Mexico Common Cause Director Viki Harrison said during the Legislature’s recent session that this loophole is part of a bigger problem that has resulted in not enough information on lobbyists’ spending being reported.

Martinez, in her veto message, said, “The categories of spending enumerated in the bill are vague and achieve little in informing the public. Furthermore this bill is a mere carve-out for legislators because lobbyists are still not required to disclose on whom they are spending the money. Legislators ought to hold themselves accountable by providing full disclosure of all benefits received by lobbyists.”

Martinez also signed SB 98, pushed by Spaceport America and sponsored by Sens. Bill Burt, R-Alamogordo, Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, and Rep. Rebecca Dow, R-Truth or Consequences.

Leadership of the state-owned aerospace facility argued during the session that keeping information confidential is necessary to draw major investors to the venture near Truth or Consequences.

At a cost of more than $200 million — some of which residents in Doña Ana and Sierra counties are still paying off — some lawmakers have derided the spaceport as a boondoggle.

But boosters say it is on the cusp of drawing big business to the state.

Advocates for government transparency argued that was all the more reason to oppose the measure, contending the bill could prevent the public from understanding how the state’s big investment is managed.

Spending by the Spaceport Authority, the governmental agency that manages the site, would not be exempt.

Under this bill, however, the facility could exempt from the state’s public records law business information related to its aerospace customers if there is factual evidence that disclosure would cause substantive harm to the company.

That last part was forged as part of a compromise with the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government and was key to the group eventually dropping its opposition.

However, both sides may still disagree about how broadly the exemptions can be interpreted.