I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Planned policy changes announced last month to restrict employees’ contact with journalists at the Public Regulation Commission (PRC) will not be implemented in the near future, Chief of Staff Michael Rivera has told The Independent.
“It’s going to be a while,” Rivera said. “We’re currently examining policies at other agencies to see how they’re implemented before we change anything.”
PRC spokesman Gerald Garner, Jr. has been assembling policies from other state agencies, he confirmed. There is little uniformity across agencies, Garner acknowledged. Some agencies have no formal media policies — and hence, no restrictions on employee contact with reporters.
AFSCME Local 477 public employees’ union president and PRC employee Arcy Baca had objected to Rivera’s planned policy change, saying the union must be consulted before Rivera can change the terms and conditions of employment for PRC staffers.
Baca had also objected to Division of Insurance officials’ public naming of employees who had access to a scathing Division audit that had been published by The Independent. PRC Commissioner Sandy Jones had demanded at a Sept. 28 Commission public meeting that officials ‘name names’ and that the employee who disclosed the audit report to The Independent be identified and fired.
The audit report had been disclosed in response to a public records request.
The PRC’s secrecy about the audit report was a factor in the state Government Restructuring Task Force‘s decision to propose that a constitutional amendment to abolish the PRC, according to one legislative staffer.
Rivera announced the planned restrictions on employee contact with reporters at the same public meeting, which would require Rivera’s prior approval before employees speak to reporters. Employees may have to meet with reporters next to Rivera’s office so conversations could be monitored, if Rivera chose to do so, he said at the time.
Currently, PRC employees are told to inform Rivera or Garner when they speak with reporters.
But the timing of Rivera’s announcement of planned new restrictions was a coincidence, Rivera subsequently told The Independent. The restrictions are part of a larger building security assessment, Rivera said.
“We’re real concerned about who has access to offices in the building,” Rivera said. “We’re assessing the whole public access question.”
