Sunday Morning: "Eye on New Mexico" Ethics Debate

Tune in this Sunday, January 20, at 10 AM on KOB-TV 4 to the local current events show "Eye on New Mexico" to see Common Cause New Mexico's executive director Steven Robert Allen discuss the crucial ethics reforms being considered during this year's legislative session. In an occasionally heated debate with political blogger Mario Burgos and co-hosts Dennis Domrzalski and Nicole Brady, Allen argued strongly for the need to pass bills to create:

1. voluntary public campaign financing for statewide executive offices such as governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and treasurer;
2. campaign contribution limits (New Mexico is one of only a handful of states with no such limits); and
3. an independent ethics commission to investigate complaints against public officials.

These bills are the major recommendations of the 2007 Ethics Reform Task Force, a bipartisan group charged with designing new ethics policies in the wake of a series of governmental corruption scandals and allegations in New Mexico.

If you can't watch the program live, you can download or subscribe to podcasts of all "Eye on New Mexico" shows at their website. To stay current on the ethics and campaign reform issue, visit the website of Common Cause New Mexico. Our previous posts on the 2008 NM Legislative Session can be found in our archive.