Campaign committee hangs in limbo.
When the March, 2006 city elections roll around, a citizen committee will monitor the campaigns to ensure the problems of the last city election
don't resurface.
At least in theory.
In reality, the creation of the Ethics and Campaign Review Committee continues to languish.
The committee is an outgrowth of an interim task force created in the wake of the March, 2004 municipal elections, in which last-minute attack ads with unidentified backers sparked calls for campaign reform.
In May, a city resolution stipulated the committee members would be nominated by each city councilor and the mayor.
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However, so far only five city councilors have submitted their individual nominees for the committee to the Mayor's office, according to acting City Clerk Tina Dominguez. "Not all the councilors have responded," Dominguez says. "Right now the mayor is trying to get the committee members appointed so they can start their work."
Indeed, Councilors Carol Robertson Lopez and Matt Ortiz have yet to submit names for the committee, according to clerk documents. Then again, neither has the mayor.
Further, Councilor Miguel Chavez says he nominated Santa Fe resident Fred Flatt to sit on the committee but neither the mayor's office nor Dominguez has a record of Chavez's request.
"I don't know why there's this confusion. I submitted Fred's name back in May," Chavez says. "I left it with the mayor's office. I guess I'll have to take it back again."
Despite the holdups, Chavez says the committee could still be effective in the upcoming election season.
"I don't think it's too late, but we have to get this done within the next 30 to 60 days," he says. "We're running out of time for the committee to have an impact."
Councilor Karen Heldmeyer, who has submitted two potentials for the committee, concurs: "I felt a strong sense of urgency about this a couple of months ago," she says. "I don't know what the holdup is. My feeling, though, is that the committee can still be effective because the most egregious things typically happen at the end of a campaign."
Still, the sooner, the better.
"It would be good to have the committee up and operating," Councilor David Pfeffer says. "I don't know why that hasn't happened."
