Smoke and mirrors aside, we still need ethics reform

Posted 11/26/2008 10:30:00 AM

Santa Fe wants to be bad, but not so bad that it gets caught. Aragon’s conviction doesn’t change that.

One common argument many lawmakers have made against ethics reform is that the state Legislature doesn’t have ethical issues and its members don’t need additional checks on their power. When Manny Aragon admitted several weeks ago to abusing his position in the state Senate to steal millions of taxpayer dollars, he blew that argument out of the water.

So, of course, some lawmakers have come up with bogus arguments against ethics reform. Senate President Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, recently told the New Mexico Independent that what Aragon did was illegal but “doesn’t have anything to do with ethics.”

Illegal but has nothing to do with ethics? Aren’t our laws based on our ethical standards?

In the past, Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, has argued that “you can’t legislate ethics. You either have ethics or you don’t.”And Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, in complaining about pushes for ethics reform, has asked, “what did the Legislature do warrant the push for change?”

Were there any doubt at the time that the Legislature had ethical problems (there wasn’t –think Shannon Robinson, Richard Vigil and Mary Jane Garcia), Aragon’s conviction means that lawmakers can’t reasonably expect to make such statements in the future and keep a straight face.

Disingenuous proposals

As it has become more difficult to argue against ethics reform, some have instead tried to make it appear that they support ethics reform without actually supporting ethics reform. Outgoing Senate Minority Whip Leonard Lee Rawson, R-Las Cruces, told the Independent before he lost his re-election battle earlier this month that he supports the creation of an “independent” state ethics commission, but getting lawmakers and the governor to agree on the particulars has been difficult.

But Rawson hasn’t proposed an independent commission. He’s proposed one that’s controlled entirely by the Legislature that would have the authority to investigate and adjudicate allegations of misdeeds in all three branches of government. That’s probably not even constitutional.

And Sanchez has proposed a bill to limit campaign contributions that includes a loophole so big that anyone who wants to can bypass the contribution limits.

It’s called smoke and mirrors.

Here’s the truth: As Rawson pointed out to the Independent, the system did work in the case of Aragon, albeit retroactively. But that was the easy stuff. Aragon used his position as one of the most powerful lawmakers in the history of the state to appropriate capital outlay money specifically so he and a group of others could steal it by falsifying and inflating invoices on construction of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Courthouse. They stole $4.2 million.

There are bound to be Manny Aragons in a system like New Mexico’s, where back-room dealing and corruption are not only rampant, but also encouraged. Though we’ve now seen the convictions of two state treasurers, the former deputy insurance superintendent and the former Senate president, that’s still the way business is done in New Mexico.

We haven’t done a thing to substantially change that.

Most misdeeds go unpunished

Sure, felony laws are a check on the most egregious crimes in any state. But when misdeeds don’t rise to the level of felonies that will be investigated and prosecuted by the U.S. attorney or state attorney general, they tend to go unpunished.

What about Vigil, the state representative who appropriated money for the high-school program his wife used to run, money that was misused by his wife? He picked up from Sears a 42-inch plasma screen television his wife purchased for the program with that money -- a television that later vanished. Did Vigil do anything unethical? The legislative committee that should be asking that question isn’t.

And what about Rawson, who has been criticized on this site and elsewhere for using $111,000 in taxpayer money to pave a road outside his district that, instead of serving his constituents, improves access to a business he owns? That’s not ethical. What check is there to ensure that doesn’t happen?

None. Because lawmakers haven’t taken action against any member for unethical behavior since 1992, and even then they didn’t do anything until Ron Olguin was already under indictment for bribery. Their action was reactive, not proactive, and came only because Olguin had apparently crossed the line between unethical behavior and criminal activity.

Voters must demand change

The lack of prevention of misdeeds in government in New Mexico encourages misdeeds. In general, it’s only when the occasional public official strays into major criminal activity that he’s punished. It’s almost as if to say, “Shame on you for giving people a glimpse into how we really operate.”

Santa Fe wants to be bad, but not so bad that it gets caught.

We need real, systemic reforms to change the culture of corruption in New Mexico. We need better transparency, which includes more frequent reporting of campaign contributions and expenditures, easier public access to that information and open legislative conference committees. We need to reform the state procurement system to ensure greater transparency and checks on how money is spent.

We need an independent state ethics commission -- with members appointed by each branch of government -- that conducts its business in the public’s eye and has strong investigative and adjudicatory powers. It must also have the ability to develop ethical guidelines and set a new standard for public officials.

And we need to vote out public officials whose actions aren’t ethical and who refuse to allow reform of the system. The corruption won’t stop unless voters refuse to tolerate the status quo.

A prior version of this posting incorrectly identified Ron Olguin as Roy Olguin. In addition, this posting has been edited to clarify the circumstances surrounding the action the House took against Olguin.