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Well then, who does have records about the layoffs?
The Roundhouse in Santa Fe (Photo by cjc4454/flickr.com)
The state finance and personnel departments, like the governor’s office, say they have no information about the 59 political appointees who are losing their jobs Friday.
After Gov. Bill Richardson’s office claimed in December that it had no records about the political appointees who are losing their jobs — except e-mails from reporters asking questions about the terminations — I filed the a records request with the State Personnel Office seeking the information from that department. On Dec. 21, I received this response:
“The State Personnel Office and its Rules and Regulations govern all positions in the executive branch of state government which are not exempt by law, known as the classified service,” Board Administrator Sheila Zamora wrote in an e-mail. “Therefore, the State Personnel Office would not have any information regarding exempt positions. I will forward your request to the Department of Finance and Administration.”
The finance department had until the end of Tuesday to respond. It did respond – at 11:19 p.m. Tuesday night.
“At this time DFA has no records responsive to your request. It is our understanding that this request is closed. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me,” Nicole Gillespie, the department’s records custodian, wrote in an e-mail.
Heath Haussamen
If the governor’s office, personnel office and finance department have no information about who is losing their jobs on Friday, who does? I’ve asked that question of all three departments in an e-mail. I’ll let you know if I get a response.
Of course, many journalists (including me) and the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government have expressed skepticism about the claim that the governor’s office has no documentation about who’s being laid off.
“It’s hard to imagine they didn’t write this down somewhere,” FOG’s executive director, Sarah Welsh, told The Santa Fe New Mexican last month. “Did they memorize the 59 names and then call them?”
I asked for “any information available (such as, but not limited to, a list) about which 59 exempt employees are having their positions eliminated on Jan. 8, which departments they work in and what salaries they were being paid before their positions were eliminated.”
The claim by these three offices is that they have no documentation about the layoffs. No lists. No plans drafted by cabinet secretaries who were considering who would lose jobs. No letters, e-mails or faxes to those losing their jobs. No salary information about those losing their jobs.
And they’re claiming that they have not communicated in any way that creates a record (memo, e-mail, voice mail, fax, etc.) with any other state department about the employees who are losing their jobs.
Right…
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The people that have been laid off certainly know – but I”m told everything WAS word of mouth … so what happens if they show up for work on Monday? I know a couple of them and they say they’re gone, but it still seems – and someone mentioned this earlier – that only men and women that actually had some skills were given the verbal heave-oh and most of them are on the lower end of the scale of that list that was put out in November or December … and the salaries don’t add up to the eight million figure … but it seems that perception prevails these days, not facts.
Big Bill Shuffle
When you read this one has to wonder if the Governor is trying to hide something; if so how many people are involved and are laws being broken. I would send a request to the Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish politely but pointedly ask her if there are records and where they are, and why are they not being made available to the public, since she is such a proponent of transparent government.
If you are given the run around by her, then so much for her claims to be for open government. I think you will probably get the same song from her and that is Shuffle Off to Buffalo.
This is the kind of thing that makes my stomach turn when I think of the lack of integrity our state government. I cannot believe that Richardson will not divulge these records, or at least make some sort of effort to show that he actually laid people off. Does he really believe that he can get away with this?
He probably does think he can, he is a pretty arrogant guy.
Thanks for shedding light on this Heath. You seem to be the only journalist concerned as we should all be about this serious issue.
I am simply SHOCKED that anyone would conclude that the Administration is not telling the truth about anything … but I’m easily confused … perhaps I’m really SHOCKED that anyone would conclude that the Administration tells the truth about anything. From the names leaked so far, the only ones that seem to have lost their jobs are people that actually had expertise and DID something the State needed, except perhaps for the former Secretary of State who’d been stashed in the WorkForce Solutions (what an appropriate place to put her).
Take the list of exempt employees that’d been released a month or so ago and call it on Monday … well, that may not work because of those that weren’t laid off never show up for work anyway … man, that’s a drag, ain’t it?
How about all public records of exempt employees as of Jan.1, 2010, and then all public records of exempt employees as of Jan. 11, 2010? Who pays them, anyway? Or maybe there aren’t any layoffs in the first place?