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Sen. Jennings should be ashamed of himself
Heath Haussamen
Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings apparently doesn’t understand that using government resources to campaign is never appropriate.
Using government resources to campaign is never appropriate.
Using government resources to campaign is never appropriate.
Using government resources to campaign is never appropriate.
You might get annoyed at having to read that statement three times, but I’m not repeating it for you. I’m repeating it for Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, who had a staffer in his government office, which is funded by your money, send out his 2012 re-election campaign announcement on Monday.
Jennings, a Roswell Democrat, has served in the Senate since 1979, but he somehow still doesn’t get it. It’s not OK to use public money to promote your campaign. Ever.
Ever. Ever. Ever.
The e-mail came from the staffer’s @nmlegis.gov address, and was signed at the end this way:
Senator Timothy Z. Jennings
Office of the President Pro Tem
Room 105, State Capitol Building
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Phone: 986-4733
Fax: 986-4409
Government staffer. Government e-mail address. Government office. Government phone number. Government fax number. There’s no question that Jennings used public money to promote his political career.
A slippery slope the Legislature shouldn’t tolerate
I’ve had to write this column many times (here, here, here and here are examples), and I get more annoyed each time. What will it take for public officials to learn that it’s not OK to use government resources to campaign?
This is a slippery slope that, at the bottom, ends up with government employees using their public positions to push people to illegally vote to keep their bosses in office.
Yes, that’s a bit of a leap. But seriously, using public money to campaign is never OK, whether it’s for something small like sending out a news release or something that, in practicality, is much more serious. Even the little violations contribute to a culture that tolerates more serious abuses of taxpayer money.
It might help if lawmakers approved the creation of an independent ethics commission designed to educate them and other state officials on how to act ethically and punish violators. Short of that, it might help if the Legislature’s Ethics Committee got off its butt and did something, like formally telling Jennings that what he did isn’t OK.
Oh wait, that’s right. Jennings is a member of that committee. See the problem?
Jennings should be ashamed of himself. And the Legislature should quit tolerating such abuses.
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M. Weddum I am not sure what you at takinI but I would suggest you refrain from making statements that are not true in the least. Secondly not sure what anything you said has to do with Heath’s article? Are you saying we had paid staffers with us? No once again as a Liberal Democrat that loves to claim you are holding conservatives accountable you truly are exposing the hypocrisy of you and your party. Very similar to President Obama screaming about those special PAC’s while his buddies are raising money to help him? Wow Ms. Weddum, kind of reminds me of the paid staffer during the legislative session following around Rep. Espinoza and attacking her on the tax payer dollar! Wait that was you!!!!!
Meanwhile, back in Santa Fe, we can rejoice that our courageous and insightful Guv has vetoed the onerous and destructive Wirth/Jennings tax bill.
I’ve grown quite cynical about politicians in general and misdeeds like this just make it worse. NM and national politics leave a bitter taste in one’s mouth for violation of ethics rules (as waterdowned as they are) by politicians who think they are beyond the law. And it’s doubtful if anything will come of this since such practices go on all the time as some commenters alluded to. It’s time for Jennings and others like him to be voted out of office.
The number one reason people feel free to ignore rules is the lack of consequences for so doing.
Real penalties for breaking the law would discourage at least casual lawbreaking.
Don’t look to legislators like Jennings to legislate substantial penalties for their own misconduct. The pressure is going to have to come from somewhere else; like the people. And. only substantial pressure will be of any effect.
Jennings is a good poster boy for term limits and minimum educational and experience requirements for elected officials. But he has always thought rules didn’t apply to him, or he would change the law to suit him, like the indiscriminate killing of wildlife out of season. But WE-aif, from up here in Northern New Mexico, where we live under the oppressive yoke of left wing Democrats, I can tell you it is commonplace for the local precinct bosses and judges to discuss and involve candidates in the same things you mention. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if this area got as much police and public scrutiny as the Sunland Park mess, probably exactly the same kind of things would be found here as down there.
From down here in SE NM where we live under the yoke of the Republicans, I can tell you that I once saw Dan Foley and Rod Adair back in the room where the returns were being processed during a contested Republican primary, checking out the results. Again, not a big deal, but the rest of us had to wait behind the glass windows till they were announced.
This reflects the Democrat way in New Mexico what’s the big deal? Back during the first election of George W Bush, on the night of the election an attorney for the Republican party remarked to me that he was shocked that he witnessed staff in the Dona Ana County Courthouse making get out the vote phone calls from their office phones. From what I have observed, this is the norm for the Democrats in this State who have had the majority for too long and don’t think anything of abusing their position. They just take it for granted. I am not suggesting Republicans are immune from corruption, but I suspect it would take them at least a decade of total control of the political process in this State to catch up with the Democrats.
Makes you wonder what else goes on. Obviously some folks feel entitled ans not in any way accountable to the voters. Obviously many voters don’t care beyond the name and the letter behind it.