Dear LWVCNM Members,
This is a reminder to please join us in person at 6739 Academy Rd. NE or via Zoom (invitation follows description) for our monthly educational meeting tomorrow Thursday March 14th, 2024, Noon - 1pm
As the League nationwide celebrates Sunshine Week, LWVCNM is delighted to present a speaker who personally and professionally recognizes that New Mexicans have a right to as much information as possible about as to how and why state government agencies and officials are accountable to the public. We have invited a past speaker to return and share how that aspiration for public accountability is going.
After more than 40 years of persistent efforts by elected officials, advocacy organizations and the public, New Mexicans were finally given the opportunity on the 2018 general election ballot to weigh in on a constitutional amendment establishing a state ethics commission. Over 75% of the voters chose to amend the Constitution to add Article V, Section 17. Late to the game (this writer’s opinion), New Mexico became the 45th state to create an independent ethics commission.
In 2019, the Legislature unanimously enacted enabling legislation, the “State Ethics Commission Act,” which established the Commission’s structure and powers. (NMSA 1978, Sections 10-16G-1 through 10-16G-16.) The Commission is tasked with promoting compliance with the state laws that require state government to be democratic, responsive to the public’s interest and ethical: Voter Action Act, Governmental Conduct Act, Campaign Reporting Act, Financial Disclosure Act, Gift Act, Lobbyist Regulation Act, Procurement Code, State Ethics Commission Act and the New Mexico Constitution’s “Anti-Donation Clause” (Article IX, Section 14).
Jeremy D. Farris is the first State Ethics Commission Executive Director. He previously served as General Counsel to the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration and practiced law at
litigation firms both in Atlanta, Georgia and Albuquerque. Jeremy clerked for the Honorable Julia S. Gibbons on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; the Honorable Judith K. Nakamura on the New Mexico Supreme Court; and the Honorable James O. Browning on the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico.
He holds a law degree from Harvard Law School, a doctorate and master’s degree from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and a Bachelors of Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Jeremy Farris will share with the League:
· An overview of the Commission’s capability and roles – basically, what has been built
· The Commission’s successes over the last two plus years
· What goals remain in his last year and half of his first term as director
Zoom Invitation -
LWVCNM is inviting
you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: NM State Ethics Commission - Nearly 5 years In
Time: Mar 14, 2024 12:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89977330261?pwd=VktlQW9VN0pHZXlDOXdNL1BqS0R5UT09
Meeting ID: 899 7733 0261
Passcode: 219950
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Meeting ID: 899 7733 0261
Passcode: 219950
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