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Saturday, July 05, 2008
AG Ready To Go After Corruption
By Gary King
New Mexico Attorney General
“With great power comes great responsibility.” This quote is posted on a plaque outside the office of the Attorney General of Rhode Island. I saw it there a couple of weeks ago while attending the national conference for the states' attorneys general. The admonition was given to fictional character Peter Parker by his kind Uncle Ben. I believe the idea, however, is one of importance to all public officials.
One of the proposals that my office is submitting to the upcoming legislature will make it clear that the attorney general will have primary authority to pursue enforcement of violations of the law by statewide elected officials. We are also asking that the Government Accountability Act be extended to apply to all elected officials in the state. You may ask yourself the question, “Why would the AG be interested in pursuing a matter such as violation of a traffic ordinance or the misuse of a government vehicle? Don't you have enough to do with pursuing the misappropriation of thousands or millions of dollars in government funds?”
The answer is that we spend a substantial amount of our office resources pursuing large “white collar” cases where state funds have been used for illegal or improper purposes. However, I believe that high-level public officials have a responsibility to set a high standard of ethical behavior. It is sometimes easy to believe that one is entitled to a little special treatment because of your special status. This belief can manifest itself in subtle pressure to local law enforcement agencies or administrative bodies to just “look the other way” a little bit. I believe that this subtle pressure can lead to more significant ethical breaches as time goes on. The attorney general is vested with independent law enforcement status in the Constitution and state law. This gives our office the status necessary to stand up to any kind of political pressure that may be brought to bear to prevent the administration of justice, even to the highest elected officials. Therefore, it is imperative that we pursue every case where we believe an ethical violation may have occurred, not just the cases where thousands of dollars have been squandered.
The responsibility of the office also goes beyond prosecution of criminal matters. We continue to hold training sessions around the state for local elected officials on how to comply with the state's sunshine laws to ensure adequate public access to the halls of power. We also have provided opinions and advisory letters to elected officials that give them advance advice on how to comply with our current ethics regulations. The authority we are requesting from the upcoming legislature will be an important tool in our ongoing quest to “Do the Right Thing.”
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