Tonight's DFA-DFNM Meetup: State Auditor Hector Balderas

Our regular monthly DFA-DFNM Meetup is set for tonight, Thursday, May 7, at 7:00 PM at the Social Hall at the First Unitarian Church at Carlisle and Comanche in Albuquerque.

We're very pleased to have State Auditor Hector Balderas as our special guest. He'll speak to the group about the responsibilities of the Auditor's office, how the office works to make government more transparent and accountable and what he's done to improve it since he was elected in 2006. He'll also discuss ethics in government, and take your questions.

State Auditor Balderas has been in the news recently regarding a legal battle with New Mexico Attorney General Gary King regarding the AG's broad subpoena of documents from the Office of the State Auditor. Many see the AG's subpoena as a fishing expedition. It requests a massive amount of documents including "copies of all electronic communications ... including e-mail, text, Fax, attachments and embedded files,” as well as certain personnel files, case logs, correspondence and fraud hot line complaints.

The New Mexico Independent reported yesterday about the latest developments:

State Auditor Hector Balderas says Attorney General Gary King may be illegally using a subpoena for documents as a way to find out what Balderas has discovered in the course of investigations involving King, the AG’s office or other agencies with which King has a conflict.

While Balderas isn’t saying exactly what his office is investigating that might involve King or King’s office, he said he believes a broad subpoena issued by King’s office for state auditor records “is being used as a backdoor” for information about the auditor’s probes that relate to the AG or his office. He called that “illegal misuse of the subpoena” and said it threatens the auditor’s ability to investigate.

“I’m very concerned that a subpoena would be used to disrupt or usurp independent, constitutional authority to protect taxpayers,” Balderas said in an interview. “The law is set up in a way that there are two, independent watchdogs.”

The Albuquerque Journal reported this morning on a closed-door hearing held yesterday in state District Court yesterday about the subpoena:

It's unknown what exactly was discussed during Wednesday's hearing, which lasted more than two hours. But in an interview in front of the courthouse, Balderas, while saying he couldn't discuss specifics, described the dispute as now down to a “narrow issue” concerning the auditor's ability to independently investigate other state agencies without interference.

Balderas said he was fighting the AG subpoena's demand that he provide information gathered in the course of ongoing special audits and examinations that were generated from the fraud hot line. Doing so could compromise the investigations, he said.

“It would mean an elected official could obstruct an investigation,” Balderas said. “It's our position that there should be no interference with that auditing function.”

Also on the agenda at tonight's Meetup will be planning our involvement in the effort organized by Howard Dean, Democracy for America and MoveOn to achieve REAL health care reform that contains a public component. We'll be discussing what we can do to get our members of Congress and other elected officials to commit to the tenets of genuine reform.

Don't miss this one. To join the group and/or RSVP, click here.