Most ethics complaints filed against NM lawmakers resolved quietly

Yahoo

2 days ago

Aug. 4—SANTA FE — The recent internal ethics investigation into top Senate Democrat Mimi Stewart marked the first time in years that a complaint against a New Mexico lawmaker led to a public hearing.
But there have been no shortage of filed complaints.
With the exception of the complaint against Stewart, all other allegations of misconduct filed against lawmakers in the last five years — there have been a total of 17 — were quietly resolved without any details being publicly released, according to legislative records.
Some of the complaints that date back to January 2020 were dismissed following an internal investigation, while others were informally settled or withdrawn.
The recent trends have prompted some current and former legislators to say flaws in the system need fixing.
Former state Sen. Mark Moores, a Republican who stepped down last year, said New Mexico's current legislative ethics system is tainted by partisan politics.
"The system is working as intended, because the system was set up so leadership could still retain control," Moores said .
He said the system should be changed to more closely model the congressional ethics system, which features an independent, nonpartisan office that reviews allegations of misconduct against members of Congress and staffers.
The public currently lacks confidence in New Mexico's legislative ethics system, Moores added, in large part because leading legislators function as gatekeepers of sorts who determine whether complaints filed against lawmakers should move forward.
"You're never going to have a fair hearing against anyone in leadership because they appoint their cronies," he said.
Sen. Katy Duhigg, D-Albuquerque, said lawmakers have struggled to find the right balance between transparency and protecting themselves from possible politically-driven complaints.
"I think each time we see this process used, we see areas that need improvement," said Duhigg, who chairs the Senate Rules Committee.
She said she would support changes to the legislative ethics system such as simplifying the wording of ethics policies and protocols, along with mandatory mediation to try to resolve complaints involving legislators and staffers.
"I think we are on the right road, but there is room for improvement," Duhigg said.
A recent history of tie votes
The complaint against Stewart, the Senate's president pro tem since 2021, was filed by a legislative staffer in February after the veteran lawmaker allegedly shouted at her during a heated moment during this year's 60-day legislative session.
After an initial panel of lawmakers found probable cause existed to advance the complaint, a legislative ethics hearing subcommittee recommended last week the complaint against Stewart be dismissed.
But the recommendation was made via a party-line 4-3 vote, with retired state Supreme Court Justice Richard Bosson siding with the subcommittee's three Senate Democrats. The three Senate Republicans appointed to the panel voted against dismissing the complaint, while maintaining that sanctions should be imposed in the case.
The presence of a retired judge or attorney on the subcommittee was due to a 2022 rule change that was intended to allow for tie votes to be broken, said Randall Cherry, the Legislative Council Service's assistant director for legislative affairs.
Before that change was made, several internal ethics probes stalled due to tie votes, according to legislators familiar with the investigations.
Transparency issues and concerns
One of the reasons the public is left in the dark about most legislative ethics investigations is the existence of confidentiality provisions in both state law and the Legislature's anti-harassment policy.
Specifically, the policy stipulates that harassment complaints and documents related to any investigation shall be kept confidential, even under New Mexico's public records law.
The confidentiality provision was challenged in a 2022 lawsuit filed by a lobbyist who had accused then-Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto of sexual harassment. But the lawsuit was dismissed a year later.
Amanda Lavin, the legal director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, said citizen complaints are generally required to be made public under a Court of Appeals ruling.
She also said the open government group believes any disciplinary action taken by the Legislature against its own members should be public information.
But Lavin also pointed out the Legislature is not subject to New Mexico's Open Meetings Act, and state law allows legislators to hold certain types of meetings behind closed doors.
"There are a lot of things they can discuss in private and then not even have to disclose what was discussed," Lavin said.
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