Alena

http://grantfoundation.net

Alena

http://grantfoundation.net

Alena

http://grantfoundation.net

While King chased after non-profits releasing clearly politically motivated but technically benign educational material, as does most of the other media in this very partisan state, he refused to challenge the state's unconstitutional restriction against access to public databases (MNSA 14-3-15.1), and went so far as to let correspondence about the matter between one of his employees, an assistant AG, and a reporter become subject of a hate letter from Governor Bill Richardson Spokesman Chris Gallegos to Santa Fe New Mexican city editor Howard Houghton demanding that the paper restrain its reporter from calling the law that restricts access to public records an unconstitutional barrier to a free press.

The result is that the People of New Mexico still do not have timely access to datasets detailing campaign finances, as required by another law (1-19-32 C) outside the Database Censorship Act (formally dubbed “Public Records”). Nor can New Mexico residents use public records contained in the WATERS database to create an online map showing where water is being used in the state, where new wells are being drilled and who is selling water rights to out of state or international interests. Why? Because Gary King was too busy trying to make one tiny sector of the state's primarily politically motivated press corp register as political action committees before they could distribute information about what?

About where candidates get campaign cash! While King was busy trying to raise the bar so advocacy journalists would have to register as political action committees, he refused to enforce laws that would let all of us have direct access to campaign finance activity without going through partisan media like the New Mexico Indepedent, which employs an activist also employed by SWOP, which distributed the campaign finance information at the core of the lawsuit.

NMI's ongoing coverage of the matter might be commendable, but we really should't need paid activists parading as reporters to cover, or work with partisan media that covers, activities of the activist group. If we had a truly open records system in New Mexico, where residents could exercise our constitutional and statutory rights to inspect and report on government activities, bug-tussles such as the battle between SWOP and the second-generation politician now acting as Attorney General would not be such a burden on taxpayers, and we could instead use our tax dollars to support release of public information so not only the public, but gee whiz, public officials could access public information without jumping through hoops as they do our public business.

And, for the most part, I will support Democrats put forth by the party, and that includes Hector. They represent average New Mexicans. I would rather boil in oil than support a Republican.

Perhaps King wants to muzzle nonprofits because they helped blow the whistle on King's good buddies in the legislature who took money from Phillipou's PAC? I wonder.

New Mexican, Democrats like will doom us all if you keep defending the cronyism and corruption of this decaying good old boy political tradition. Sadly, despite all of his press releases suggesting the contrary, Gary King is totally captive of that tradition. But there's hope on the horizon — clean government reform Democrats like State Auditor Hector Balderas, Senators Peter Wirth, Tim Keller and Eric Griego — just to name a few.

You are out hounding the Democrats again.