Restoring ethics: Eight ways to clean up Santa Fe
Former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M.
When it comes to public corruption, New Mexico keeps turning up on the wrong lists.
Two former state treasurers and the former president pro temp of the Senate are serving time in Federal prison. The former secretary of state is under indictment. Investigations continue into whether any crimes were committed when civil service retirement funds and the state’s rainy day fund were invested with firms that got the work because of their political connections rather than their investment acumen.
Public corruption, and a reputation for tolerating public corruption, slows business investment and job creation in New Mexico. If people believe that they will be shaken down for business permits or that they have to grease palms in order to get government contracts, they will invest and grow elsewhere. Corruption wastes tax dollars and undermines the legitimacy of our government.
When misuse of office for private gain becomes “just the way we do things here,” it is very difficult to root it out. So far, the proposals to address this endemic problem have not gone far enough. Citizens should demand a comprehensive approach to promoting ethical behavior in state government and deterring, detecting and punishing public corruption.
Structural reforms
First, the next governor must establish a code of ethics and a statewide ethics program that brings ethics and values into decision making in the workplace. A code of ethics would be short, compelling and based on values rather than a long list of rules.
Values-based ethics is much more important than compliance-based behavior. When there is a strong ethical culture in an organization, employees are empowered to engage their peers and take action to resolve problems. Employees who tell the new guy, “Hey, we just don’t do things like that here,” are far more effective than external review groups and formal enforcement mechanisms.
Second, New Mexico should pass a Civil Service Protection Act. A civil service act would prohibit solicitation of contributions or political activity by elected leaders from the civil servants who work for them. It would clearly prohibit use of taxpayer resources for campaign purposes and would prohibit civil servants from running for partisan office while in a civil service position.
Such an act would also prohibit putting political employees into civil service jobs for which they are not qualified and strengthen whistleblower protections for employees who report corruption or misuse of taxpayer funds to authorities.
Third, we need an Integrity in Contracting Act that would prohibit government from awarding or denying taxpayer-funded contracts based on the political affiliations or contributions of businesses. It should be illegal for an elected official or political appointee to seek to influence who wins a state government contract. Contracts should be awarded to get the best value, the best service and the best price for the citizens of the state.
Fourth, the New Mexico Legislature needs some structural reforms. Most importantly, it must strengthen its oversight activities. We have a part-time, citizen Legislature. But the Legislature focuses almost exclusively on the budget and crafting new laws.
There is no Government Reform and Oversight Committee that constantly shines a light on problems that need to be fixed. There should be. Creating strong competing forces in different branches of government deters corruption and makes it more likely that malfeasance will be uncovered.
The Legislature also needs to change its rules on committee assignments so that the majority does not decide the assignments of the minority members. The speaker of the House has too much power to punish minority members who ask embarrassing questions. That power needs to be checked.
The majority and minority should negotiate the number of seats on each committee and the separate caucuses should assign their members to committees. A strong minority makes corruption harder to hide.
Fifth, we need real gift rules in state government. Every day when the Legislature is in session, different groups put gifts at the desks of members. Some of them are quite lavish.
Public service should not be a source of private gain – whether that is lift tickets at a ski resort or an expensive shotgun for the governor’s birthday. Allowing gifts creates the expectation that people seeking to influence the government must pick up the tab, and it creates the perception that gifts buy favorable treatment.
Sixth, New Mexico should establish by statute an Office of the Inspector General, and the inspector general should be appointed or elected for a fixed term not contiguous with the governorship and should be responsible for reviewing and testing the integrity of state and local governments. An inspector general could receive and review anonymous complaints, require the production of documents and root out waste and corruption.
While the state auditor looks at finances, an IG could look at compliance with other policies like procurement, personnel policy and regulatory compliance. The existence of multiple organizations and competing political forces can help deter corruption and root it out where it exists.
Our responsibility as citizens
Seventh, we have a responsibility as citizens. Strong civic institutions that monitor government and expose corruption, including but not limited to a free and independent press, play a vital role in promoting ethics in government.
We need to strengthen our freedom of information laws and open government statutes so that it is not possible for elected officials to stonewall legitimate requests for publicly releasable information. Transparency and access to information reduces corruption. Sunlight is a good disinfectant.
At a personal level, it takes courage to stand up to government officials who ask for something of value in exchange for their official actions. Some people don’t think they can afford to risk their livelihoods by resisting an implicit or explicit “quid pro quo.” But corruption only continues if we tolerate it. At a minimum, there is a duty to report possible corrupt activity to the FBI.
Finally, there is no substitute for ethical leadership. In my experience, there is no correlation between integrity and ideology. I have served with Democrats who value honor and Republicans who don’t. But there is a correlation between corruption and power. For some people, power tends to corrupt.
We have had single-party rule by Democrats in the legislature in Santa Fe for too long. It’s time to clean house.
And in the executive branch, for the last seven years we’ve had a governor who is focused on what New Mexico can do for him and not what he can do for us. That’s backwards and it needs to change. We need a governor who is a servant leader, who doesn’t expect his or her friends to get wealthy because they won an election.
We need a governor who doesn’t want a free lunch and wouldn’t take one if it was offered.
While there is no single-point solution that will establish a culture of high ethical standards in state and local government, it is well past time to change the rules of the game.
Wilson represented New Mexico in the Congress for 10 years and is a former cabinet secretary in state government.
Ms. Wilson’s 8-point plan is a fairly good recipe for long-term improvement of the ethical atmosphere in New Mexico, but there is something that she could do right now that would make a difference. I would support Heather Wilson for Secretary of State. She could run as an independent, getting the signatures would be no trouble for her, and she would trounce everybody in the race simply by running on this platform.
The office of Secretary of State is tainted, but I believe that voters would go for a candidate who was committed to be the ethical voice in Santa Fe with the political clout to make it so.
Legislative reform is long overdue, but Ms. Wilson’s partisan swipe at the Democratic legislative majority was gratuitous. Since Toney Anaya’s election in 1982, New Mexico has been served by Democratic governors for 16 years, and by Republican governors for 12 years, with not a lot of change in the political culture. At least some of the bad apples are doing time.
1. Transparent accountability to meaningful standards of conduct and competence for politicians and public servants, within their public service.
a. unequivocal standards of conduct and competence for every position in politics and public service.
b. inescapable accountability to those standards, under an impartial system powerful enough to hold even the most powerful politician or public servant accountable, even against their will.
c. full funding for oversight agencies.
d. periodic independent reviews of standards and accountability
e. transparency limited only by the spirit of the law.
f. independent redaction of public records according to the spirit of the law
g. webcasting, to a searchable archive, of all deliberative meetings in the Roundhouse
h. real whistle blower protection
Well, you have all heard my suggestions before. We do not need campaign finance reform. We need campaign reform. First, the money spent on campaigns should be capped and standardized for the office in play. If opponents have the same amount of money to spend, it becomes a contest of vision, ideas and record rather than of raising funds. Even campaign modes of communication should be limited to the written word with one posted photo. The politician may address an issue weekly which would be published in a special section in the newspapers as well as online. There would be no travel, no bumper stickers, no signage, no speeches and no debates. Each campaign would be run by a few personnel out of a small office with a small budget. We would not discuss the candidate’s personal life such that only their written words and record would be published. Opposing candidates may only publish their opponent’s voting record and actions taken while in office and contrast that with their opponent’s words as they pertain to the position of interest.
As long as our politicians have to relentlessly raise money, they will remain whores and the voting public will be subjected to meaningless Orwellian fancy pictures and mudslinging. Our campaigns are getting more and more expensive without creating a more discerning voting public.
The first step in promoting ethical behavior is accountability. There are various ways to promote accountability, but step one is NOT ignore hypocrisy. No, it’s not illegal for a new administration to replace key people, but it IS illegal to replace people in retaliation for their unwillingness to do something unethical or illegal. So until we can get beyond the hypocrisy hurdle, we can talk about ethics until we’re blue in the face but nothing will change. One last point, until the electorate starts voting for people of conscience and integrity, versus friends and parties, forget about changing the culture.
OK, here’s mine (excuse me because I have said it before). Commissions don’t work, they are just places for the professional politicians to put their cronies and make deals with each other and will not serve the public interest. Since La Politica runs this state, guess what kind of “commission” you would get out of the RoundHouse? Make it illegal for anyone (company, or individuals) to contribute anything (money, GIK, etc.) to any politician where they have or seek to have a contract, job, influence, etc. with the politician or whatever the politician is in charge of doing. Place term limits on ALL public elected officials, local, county, state. 2 terms max. Require the AG, by law, to pursue corruption, FIA violations, and other political crimes and form an elected citizens’ panel to make that happen, it doesn’t now.
I’d love to hear people’s proposals…
There is an opportunity here, to craft a-partisan governmental reform, and an opportunity to put it on the record and the next meeting of the Governmental Restructuring Committee; less than a month away.
It would be a shame to ignore that opportunity to spend our time instead, engaged in partisan bigotry and name calling.
With Heath’s permission; perhaps this thread could be a place to lay proposals on the table for civil discussion.
Let’s see if between us, we can craft reform that moves New Mexico from most corrupt status, to least.
Morrow- lets review her statement:
Finally, there is no substitute for ethical leadership. In my experience, there is no correlation between integrity and ideology. I have served with Democrats who value honor and Republicans who don’t. But there is a correlation between corruption and power.
This is not disingenuous. I do not think there was anything implied about Republican majority being the cure for the Roundhouse. Unfortunate indeed that so many like Manny Aragon went through the very bright light of the legal system here.
What has been said of the former U,S. Attorney; and his claim that he was fired without cause in “Injustice” does little to clear up this problem. Didn’t Clinton clean house on over 100 U.S. Attorneys whom he didn’t particularly like?
Nothing illegal in that, despite the former attorney’s book. Whether one likes it or not, this state’s crooks have included more Democrats entrenched in the crony club. Does not imply a Republican majority would do better. But Heather is entitled to an opinion.
Stunning how so many are quick to jump on the “bash Heather” bandwagon. Take a look at the first few sentences of this article and seriously think about who is the real problem in this state.
This is about the message, not about the messenger.
Are these eight ways any more or less credible based on who first spoke them?
Try to keep your eyes on the ball; which do you want more, ethical reform or an opportunity to bash someone?
Ad hominem attacks do not advance any legitimate argument, which the exception of personal credibility perhaps, which isn’t central to any of the eight concepts.
Nine:
If a U.S. Attorney doesn’t use his position to help your campaign, complain to Karl Rove and have him removed from office for political reasons.
Regardless of political affiliation, I don’t like hypocrisy. In today’s Albuquerque Journal (as in this blog in the recent past), we’re informed that Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has identified both our Governor and Heather Wilson (the writer of this article) as being among the worst public officials in the country. Ms Wilson’s sin was attempting to influence a former U.S. Attorney General (remember Mr. Iglesia? ) to file charges prematurely against Democrats in an effort to boost her political standing during a very difficult poltical campaign. Her mentor–Senator Domenici, was directly involved in that fiasco if you recall. I guess what I’m suggesting is that if I’m going to be lectured about ethics, it would be nice if the person doing the lecturing is the epitome of ethical behavior, not a hypochrite.
Your list of reforms is a good one. It would be a good list for the U.S. Congress as well. But I notice the absence of any recommendation for campaign finance reform. This is the real problem, especially on the federal level. You know as well as anyone that the primary job of an elected official, especially in the U.S. House, is to raise money for re-election. Most of the money raised is given with implicit strings attached — strings that can be pulled when needed. I think the current impasse over financial industry regulation displays that quite well.
You could have left out a few of your final sentences. The implicit assertion that a Republican majority in the New Mexico Legislature would cure the state’s ills is disingenuous. We tried that with Congress and look at the mess it produced. The changes in process that the first part of your article recommends would go far in keeping legislators of all parties — and the bureaucrats who stay put no matter who wins elections — in line.
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