Governor, Legislator Support Bill To Keep Some Records Private

A bill under consideration in the New Mexico Legislature would keep some information about Spaceport America out of the public eye, and it has the backing of the Republican Governor and one of the state Senate's top Democratic leaders.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government says that Spaceport officials have shown a disturbing pattern of not making records public that should be available. Governor Martinez (R) and Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen (D) say that confidentiality is necessary to keep up in a national space race.

The Spaceport has been controversial ... called by some a boondoggle ... since construction began in 2006. Peter St. Cyr, the executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, told the paper that "taxpayers are stakeholders and have a right to know what’s going on in a facility they paid to build.” Voters in Dona Ana and Sierra counties approved the spending of $220 million to build the facility. Spaceport America has redacted some lease payments when responding to public records requests, according to the report.

Martinez says the “Commercial Aerospace Protection Act" is intended to protect proprietary information from being revealed during contract negotiations. Her chief of staff said the Governor supports making all information available to the public once those contracts are finalized.

A similar bill was introduced last year in the state Senate, but it died in committee.

The Spaceport will be the home of Virgin Galactic should they succeed in offering commercial suborbital flights in the future.

(Image from file)

FMI: Original report