Grading State Disclosure 2005 Logo Graphic

N e w . M e x i c o

Grade
Rank
F
37

golden bar divider

Subcategories
Grade
Rank
Campaign Disclosure Law
D-
43
Electronic Filing Program
A
16
Disclosure Content Accessibility
F
39
Online Contextual & Technical Usability
F
45

Grading Process green cube Subcategory Weighting green cube Methodology green cube Glossary

golden bar divider

The State of Disclosure in New Mexico

New Mexico earned an F again in 2007, with low rankings in all but the Electronic Filing category.

Candidates in New Mexico must report detailed information about contributors giving $250 or more, including occupation but not employer data. Large, last-minute contributions are reported before Election Day. Candidates must disclose details about expenditures, but reports do not include subvendor details. Loan disclosure is weak, and independent expenditure reporting is not expressly required under the law. Concerns about the state’s weak ethics and campaign finance laws (ranked 43rd this year) contributed to the formation of the Governor’s Task Force on Ethics Reform in 2006. Following the legislature’s failure to adopt most of the governor’s recommendations in 2007, the task force recommended a special legislative session focused on ethics reforms.

New Mexico earned an A again for its electronic filing program in 2007. Electronic filing became mandatory for all statewide and legislative candidates in 2006, though the requirement was not well received by state lawmakers, who attempted to repeal the mandate in 2007. If not for a gubernatorial veto of Senate Bill 363, the electronic filing requirement would have been eliminated.

New Mexico again received an F in the Disclosure Content Accessibility category. A new system for displaying electronic filings, including the ability to sort itemized contributions, moved the state a few places up in the rankings, but the site still has ample room for improvement. Though plans for a searchable database of campaign data were reported in Grading State Disclosure 2005, New Mexico’s disclosure site still does not offer this valuable tool. Despite the move to electronic filing in 2006, more timely access to disclosure records online has not followed. According to a March 1, 2007 Associated Press article about SB 363, “Many reports from the 2006 election year still cannot be accessed online.” 

New Mexico earned another F in the area of web site usability, dropping from 43rd to 45th in the rankings in 2007, due to a slightly weaker performance in the usability test. The Secretary of State’s web site does offer contextual information to the public, including a list of candidates, disclosure requirements and campaign finance restrictions, and both original and amended campaign reports. The site could be enhanced by providing overviews of the totals raised and spent by candidates in a given race to allow easy comparison to other campaigns, as well as overall spending in the state.

Quick Fix: Add information describing whose reports are available online, what data is included, and what time periods are covered to give site visitors a better sense of the scope of the disclosure web site.

Editor’s Pick: Itemized contributions from electronically-filed reports can be sorted online by numerous fields, including date, occupation, and amount. View image

Disclosure Agency: Secretary of State
Disclosure Web Site:
http://www.sos.state.nm.us

View past summaries of this state

View another state's summary:

Back to the Grading State Disclosure home page


First published October 16, 2007
| Last updated October 17, 2007
copyright ©
Campaign Disclosure Project. All rights reserved.