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AG violated public records act, judge says
Gary King
A district judge has ruled that Attorney General Gary King, the state official charged with enforcing the Inspection of Public Records Act, has violated that very law.
The Santa Fe New Mexican has the story:
“State District Judge Beatrice Brickhouse on March 15 ordered Attorney General Gary King to comply with a records request from a lawyer who is suing his office in a pay-discrimination case.
“The judge has yet to decide what fee to impose on King’s office for violating the statute.”
Read the entire article here.
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Pinkie:
I should start by saying that I have personal knowledge of this case which does somewhat color my judgment, but you must consider a few things that make it impossible to levy fine against Gary King the man rather than the office of the Attorney General.
First, all three women are career officials, not political appointees; they have suffered discrimination under multiple offices, rather than specifically during the tenure of Gary King.
Second, despite the fact that the public records violation is specific to AG King, the overall suit is against the office, not the man.
Third, this matter was originally brought up during the Tom Udall’s tenure as AG, who began to explore the issue of pay disparity in the last couple of months of his term, but had no time to address it. Under AG Madrid, the issue was ignored, and when AG King was asked about it by the plaintiffs, he dismissed it as unimportant. That’s when they sued the office.
This all leads to a question: Does anyone know how pay is determined for career employees at this level? That would certainly give a better explanation of how this happened in the first place. That women are paid less than men in this country is hardly news, but it strikes me as kind of stupid to do it to lawyers… not to mention how imbecilic the AG is being in dismissing the matter to begin with; after all, as a Democrat, he absolutely requires the votes of women. This is what is popularly referred to as “political suicide”.
“The judge has yet to decide what fee to impose on King’s office for violating the statute.”
This is a huge problem in itself. There should be no fee imposed on the office…IE the taxpayers. It is King the person who may be violating the law, not the the citizens of NM. King should be removed from office if found guilty and held personally accountable for reparations.
We will continue the culture of corruption as long as the taxpayers are held accountable for the illegal actions of our elected office holders. Unless a verdict is applied directly to King and not the office, nothing will change.
Except of course the records get released.
PS – If this is already the case that the offender is held accountable then someone please post such information, but I doubt that will be the case. (fingers crossed)