AG scolds legislators in Griego case

Files sought in inquiry into former senator

SANTA FE — Special protections for legislators are meant to help them do their jobs, not evade laws, Attorney General Hector Balderas said Thursday in the ongoing row over whether the Legislature must turn over records related to former state Sen. Phil Griego.

Griego is being prosecuted by Balderas’s office for alleged crimes related to his involvement in the sale of a stateowned building in 2014, while he was in the Senate. He has pleaded not guilty.

The Legislative Council Service told state District Judge David Thomson in a filing Wednesday that documents sought by the AG are “absolutely privileged” and must be kept confidential if the Legislature’s independence and integrity are to be preserved.

The LCS, the Legislature’s administrative arm, cited the so-called Speech or Debate Clause of the state Constitution.

Balderas fired back Thursday, saying the LCS hasn’t provided any concrete example of how releasing the documents would interfere with legislative function.

“Whether found in the Speech or Debate Clause or in special license plates, any special protections for legislators exist to help them do their jobs, not to help them evade laws that apply equally to everyone,” the AG argued in a written reply.

Instead of promoting integrity, the LCS’s position undermines it, according to the attorney general.

“The evidence that Griego

possibly used LCS services to further his fraudulent scheme is grounds in support of disclosure” of the documents, he said.

The AG is asking the Legislature to turn over correspondence relating to the drafting of the legislation authorizing the property sale; the LCS’ services to legislators include bill drafting. The AG also wants documents from a Senate ethics subcommittee that looked into a complaint against Griego.

A Democrat from San Miguel County, Griego resigned abruptly in 2015. The subcommittee had been conducting a confidential investigation, and he faced the prospect of an open hearing on ethics violations and possible sanctions.

Balderas says some of the documents the LCS contends are privileged are not confidential under the law because they’re not internal communications between the subcommittee and its staff, but rather communications with third parties, including a state agency and private companies.

And he accused the LCS of a “hair-splitting, hypertechnical approach” that doesn’t serve the integrity of the Legislature or the public’s interest in seeing corruption investigated.

Griego, an 18-year veteran of the Senate, didn’t vote on the property sale legislation. But he testified for it in at least one committee and shepherded it through the legislative process. He didn’t disclose any interest in the sale, although he later received a $50,000 broker’s fee.