New Mexico Foundation for Open Government audits cities for IPRA Compliance

ALBUQUERQUE — The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government (NMFOG) today released the results of its audit to determine compliance by municipalities with public records requests. The Inspection of Public Records Act requests (IPRAs) were sent by a third party to New Mexico’s 49 largest cities. The requester sought copies of any IPRA logs kept Read More …

Transparency advocates sue Corizon Health for settlement agreements with prisoners

FOG, The Santa Fe New Mexican and the Albuquerque Journal today filed a Writ of Mandamus against Corizon Health asking the court to make public certain settlement documents between Corizon and inmates in the state’s prison system. Filed in the state district court in Santa Fe, the transparency lawsuit alleges that the documents are public Read More …

FOG conducts IPRA Audit of Counties and State Agencies

The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, NMFOG, has released the results of its audit to determine compliance by state agencies and counties with public records requests. The Inspection of Public Records Act requests (IPRAs) were sent by a third party to 122 New Mexico agencies and boards and all of the state’s 33 counties. Read More …

Sunshine Week AG Assessment

Enforcement of Sunshine Laws Under AG Balderas, During Sunshine Week FOG assesses AG responses to complaints, by Susan Boe, FOG Executive Director. After a bumpy start by his open government division, Attorney General Hector Balderas and his staff have issued almost three dozen opinion letters in the last three months in response to complaints about Read More …

Sunshine Week Legislative Recap

Recent Legislative Session Casts Shadow on Sunshine Week, Editorial by New Mexico Foundation for Open Government President Greg Williams. Closed-door budget talks and a failed effort to create a transparent ethics commission largely shaded the recent New Mexico Legislative session from sunlight, but 2016 did see two incremental victories for transparency. Sunshine Week is March Read More …

DOH makes medical marijuana producer information public

Following a lawsuit filed by freelance reporter Peter St. Cyr and NMFOG, the Department of Health has now complied with the state’s public records law and made the names of med-pot producers public. The Santa Fe Reporter discusses the lawsuit and its importance on Gene Grant’s New Mexico In Focus program “The Line.” The Albuquerque Read More …

FOG Meets With Ukrainian Delegation

FOG’s Shannon Kunkel was honored to have the opportunity to speak with visitors from Ukraine on Thursday. The visitors were in Santa Fe as part of a program offered by the Center for International Relations and the U.S. State Department. They had a range of experience and came from various cities within Ukraine, but most Read More …

Join us for our fifth-annual CLE!

Public Records and Open Meetings: Looking for Sunlight! Register for FOG’s fifth-annual Continuing Legal Education seminar for attorneys, public officials, journalists and citizens. Approval pending for 6 continuing education credits, including 1 ethics credit. Continuing Legal Education Thursday, May 5, 2016 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Albuquerque Journal 7777 Jefferson St. NE Albuquerque, NM 87109 Read More …

2015 FOG Year In Review

Your generosity and enthusiasm for transparency have helped make FOG’s 25th-anniversary year a tremendous success. FOG fights for your right to know throughout New Mexico, and we do it on an annual budget of just over $100,000, with only our full-time executive director, Susan Boe; our part-time membership director, Shannon Kunkel; and our panel of Read More …

Center for Public Integrity Gives New Mexico a D-

UPDATED: Listen to the KUNM call-in show with Gwyneth Doland analyzing New Mexico’s scorecard. A new scorecard released by The Center for Public Integrity today gave New Mexico an overall ‘D-‘ for transparency and accountability in state government. Most troubling, our state received an ‘F’ for Public Access to Information. The study illustrates the need for Read More …