Sarah Welsh

On Wednesday night, NMI hosted our third Independent Forum event with Sen. Dede Feldman, Rep. Dennis Roch and Sarah Welsh of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government. We had a lively discussion that ranged from taxes to webcasting. You can watch it below. And don’t forget to join us next Wednesday, Feb. 10 from [...]

On Tuesday Sen. Tim Keller (D-Albuquerque) introduced a motion to revive a transparency bill that was unanimously passed by the Legislature last year only to be pocket-vetoed by Governor Bill Richardson. The bill, which would have forced state agencies to share Medicaid spending and other financial data with the Legislative Finance Committee, unanimously passed last year.

According to an analysis released this week by the Foundation for Open Government, the current proposals for an independent state ethics commission would make virtually all of the meetings and documents of that commission confidential. But is it worth establishing an independent ethics commission if the panel’s work is secret?

The New Mexico House of Representatives on Friday voted unanimously to allow video webcasting from the floor and streaming audio from committee meetings as early as next week. And the Legislative Council Service will begin posting lawmakers’ votes on the Web within 24 hours of each vote.

The governor’s office has until Thursday to formally respond to my request that it release information about the 59 political appointees Gov. Bill Richardson plans to lay off next month, but it’s beginning to sound like the information may not be released.
Jeremy Jojola of KOB-TV in Albuquerque reported Monday evening on an interesting e-mail exchange [...]

The New Mexico Independent, the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government and KNME’s New Mexico In Focus have teamed up to present a free seminar on the Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) and how to obtain government information. And we have a few spaces left, so sign up now!