Contact Legislators on Common Cause NM Ethics Reform Proposal

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New Mexico has had its own ethics scandal recently, with the indictment of the past two state treasurers over an extortion and kick-back scheme. Ethics and accountability in government have been core Common Cause New Mexico issues for years. As you know, clean elections are also important to us. But, before we can have a binding clean elections law at the state level, like we now have in Albuquerque, we first need ethics reform. That's why we've developed our own proposals for ethics reform legislation for the upcoming 2006 legislative session. But to be successful, we need you to contact your legislator and tell them you support reforming the ethics process during the upcoming session. Click here to find your legislator.

Here are the details of the Common Cause New Mexico ethics reform proposal:

1.  Our state needs a general ban on gifts to public officials. Gift bans in other states prohibit contributions to public officials from persons having a financial interest in their official actions (with the notable exception of campaign contributions). Currently, only persons registered as lobbyists with the Secretary of State's office have to report non-campaign gifts to public officials.  Everyone else is allowed to make non-campaign gifts, such as meals, sporting event tickets, or trips without reporting the gifts.  As we've learned from watching the Abramoff scandal, corrupt individuals do attempt to bribe lawmakers, and a gift ban is necessary to prevent even the attempt to influence a public official in this way.

2.  New Mexico needs stronger financial disclosure requirements for lobbyists. Specifically, Common Cause believes the public has a right to know who lobbyists are being paid by, how much they are being paid, and what bills they are interested in influencing during each legislative session.  Currently, lobbyists are not required to disclose this information, and thus the public does not have a clear picture of what takes place during any given legislative session.

3.  We need stronger campaign finance disclosure laws. We ought to require public officials to report campaign contributions more than one time per year, outside of campaign cycles. Contributors should be required to list their employer on campaign finance reports. They currently are not required to do so.

Call, write, or email your legislator today and tell them we need ethics reform during the upcoming session. The governor is proposing a good reform package, but our reform package would go further in the areas of lobbyist disclosure and the creation of a gift ban. And remember, you can always find the Common Cause New Mexico ethics reform proposal on our website .

Thank you for all that you do for democracy in New Mexico!

Sincerely,
Matt Brix
Executive Director, Common Cause New Mexico