Stationery Flap Resurfaces

The issue of when it is — and is not — appropriate to use official New Mexico Legislature stationery, raised this week by former state Rep. Ben Rodefer in his primary race against fellow Democrat and incumbent Sen. John Sapien, is not a new one.

A 1996 Interim Legislative Ethics Committee advisory opinion concluded that use of the official stationery should be “limited to matters that reasonably relate to official legislative business.”

That business can reasonably include communications with constituents, other public officials and the media on policy matters, the advisory opinion says.

With that historical context, here’s the latest beef: a letter on Senate stationery sent by Sapien last week inviting Placitas residents to discuss the needs of the community and the state at a May 20 town hall meeting.

“I am proud to represent Placitas and want to hear directly from the members of the Placitas community as I strive to properly serve Senate District 9,” Sapien wrote in the letter.

Sapien told the Journal the letter was sent to residents of all political parties — Democrats, Republicans and independents — and was “nothing out of the ordinary.”

Rodefer described the meeting as a campaign event in disguise and asked the Secretary of State’s Office this week to investigate the letter. The office on Friday asked Sapien to respond to the allegations within 15 days.

Placitas became part of Senate District 9 this year in the once-per-decade task of redistricting. It had previously been in Senate District 21.

— Email: dboyd@abqjournal.com
— This article appeared on page D01 of the Albuquerque Journal