Though there’s more to do, lawmakers who pushed ethics and transparency measures this year say the successes were significant
Campaign contribution limits. Webcasting. Open conference committees. Additional campaign reporting.
By any measure, the legislative session that just ended was the most successful in recent memory for ethics-reform advocates who have been pushing for years to fundamentally change the way state government does business.
While cautioning that there is a lot more to be done, several lawmakers who were instrumental in pushing for reform cited a number of reasons for this year’s successes, including the election last year of new lawmakers more interested in reform, the climate for change created by political scandals at the state and federal level, a more engaged media and the webcasting done by Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, the New Mexico Independent, KUNM-FM and others.
Making legislative proceedings available on the Internet appears to be a core reason that ethics reform wasn’t ignored this year. Arnold-Jones, without permission, began webcasting her committee meetings at the start of the session, daring leaders to stop her. Other lawmakers and news organizations jumped on board, and NMI in particular used webcasting to bring a great deal of public attention to the discussions (or lack thereof) of ethics-reform bills by the Senate Rules Committee.
“The momentum from the public for ethics reform was just too great for its opponents to resist this year,” said Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque and the sponsor of Senate Bill 116, the contribution-limits bill signed into law on Thursday. “The webcasting debate set the stage for the main event: the debate over campaign contribution limits and the huge impact that money has on the electoral process, and also what lies in its wake… government contracts.”
Many say the contribution-limits bill was the most significant reform approved this year. In fact, Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, called it “one of the most important reform measures passed in the (eight) years I’ve been in the Legislature.” The bill places caps on contributions for the first time in the state’s history and makes New Mexico the 46th state to enact some type of limits.
Other significant reforms
But the other reforms are also significant, lawmakers said. In signing Senate Bill 128, sponsored by Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, on Thursday, the governor ensured that candidates for office have to file reports of expenditures and contributions twice a year in off-election years. Currently, the law requires that annually.
While the webcasting resolutions approved in the House and Senate don’t go as far as some reform-backers want — the official Senate webcast includes video from one camera at the back of the room and the House webcast is audio-only — this session was the first time the public could at least listen to legislative proceedings for free from anywhere, as long as they had Internet access.
Among the reforms the Legislature approved this year, Cervantes’ House Bill 393, which would open conference committees and many other legislative meetings to the public, is the only bill that hasn’t yet been finalized. That’s because it’s sitting on the desk of a governor who has pledged to sign such a bill in the past but now says he isn’t certain he will.
Cervantes and several others interviewed said they hope the governor signs the bill. Pointing out that legislators who aren’t appointed to conference committees are currently excluded from them along with the public and media, Cervantes said the bill would fundamentally change the legislative process.
“I think that, ultimately, we will end up with a better government by increasing the participation of all legislators, rather than maintaining a small circle of insiders who control the information and, ultimately, the legislation and money,” Cervantes said.
Reasons for the success
Though Arnold-Jones started the webcasting revolution that was instrumental in this year’s ethics-reform success, the Albuquerque Republican said it’s the media that deserves most of the credit.
“You, the media, were titans for access and transparency at all levels,” Arnold-Jones said. “The media really paid attention to the details this session. The way capital outlay is moved around, the policy decisions on bonding, etc., have all been done in relative secret (in the past) because we did not have an engaged media.”
Arnold-Jones characterized the successes on reform this year as “small steps.” She’s not sure how much of an effect her webcasting had, but said “the forward momentum to change the way we do business was gratifying.”
As one of the new freshmen who helped changed the debate in the Senate, Wirth said this was “a breakthrough session that will be remembered for opening the legislative process and enacting legislation to reign in campaign spending.”
Wirth, who spent years in the House before being elected to the Senate last year, said one key to that success was the bipartisan work on the reform bills. He noted that the contribution-limits bill signed by the governor was the product of compromise among four bills sponsored by three Democrats and two Republicans.
Sen. Mark Boitano, R-Albuquerque and the sponsor of the webcasting resolution the Senate approved, said the bipartisan cooperation came because many lawmakers — in both chambers and of both parties — ran on “good government” platforms last year that included greater transparency. He said that campaigning was driven by voters, who are “hungry for more transparency in government and communication from their elected officials.”
Cervantes agreed.
“The session comes following a national campaign where the emphasis was on greater transparency in government,” he said. “The Obama administration clearly ran counter to the Bush administration’s every effort to keep things secretive and out of the press and away from the public.”
More to do
But there’s more to do, many said. Arnold-Jones will be looking for improvements to the contribution-limits law in the future. She also hopes the Legislature expands official webcasting to include audio and video of floor sessions and committee meetings, in addition to archiving.
Feldman said the Legislature is “making incremental progress” that she hopes will continue with the approval of another biggie — an independent state ethics commission — next year.
Cervantes said the state needs a whistleblower-protection law and to make local-government officials subject to the ethical and legal requirements of the state’s Governmental Conduct Act. Bills that would have accomplished both, sponsored by Cervantes, reached the Senate floor this session but died without being heard.
Cervantes said he hopes the Legislature remains open to ethics reform in the future.
“Ultimately, the issue is whether the public can be entrusted with its government,” he said. “If we trust the public with its government, then the public should be entitled to transparency and information. Those who stand in the way of greater transparency and information base that on a lack of confidence and trust in the public’s judgment, and I fundamentally reject that.”