August 15, 2008
Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico Tech (Editorial)
New Mexico Tech is an institution widely respected as a purveyor of science and knowledge. So it's especially sad to see it sink to peddling snake oil as a way to justify its ill-advised refusal to turn over documents in response to a request under the state's Inspection of Public Records Act.
Briefly, Kokopelli Ranch LLC asked for various pieces of correspondence and other documents involving negotiations between Tech and the Air Force to establish a “drop zone” on land directly adjacent to property owned by the ranch near Socorro.
The university refused, contending that only final executed contracts and agreements were subject to disclosure.
District Judge Kevin Sweazea disagreed and issued a writ ordering Tech to produce the records. He noted that the university's Dr. John Meason didn't argue any of the requested documents were specifically exempted by law, nor did he provide any legal basis for his assertion that only executed contracts and agreements are subject to inspection.
“In short, he provided no justification at all.”
In a commentary published Wednesday, Meason said the university's refusal was based on concerns that included federal laws governing privacy of medical records, and student educational records. But those issues were not raised in Tech's letter denying the records, or in its answer to Kokopelli's petition. The defense centered on what Tech tried to claim was the sanctity of its secret negotiations with the Air Force over the drop zone.
Meason, who heads Tech's Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center, opined that this was such a complicated legal thicket that university officials just thought it best to throw up their hands and let a judge decide what was public. (Never mind that court documents show they fought the request.)
The judge's next decision is how much taxpayer money the lawyers for the plaintiffs should get for having to go to court over this. It won't be cheap, but they are entitled under the law.
Meanwhile, the university says it won't appeal — arguably its first good decision in this case.
Moving forward, taxpayers can only hope that an institution that teaches so well could also learn a lesson or two: An occasional smokescreen might be appropriate for military exercises in the “drop zone,” but it's a nonstarter when it comes to public records at a public university.