For further Information, Contact:
Paul Gessing 505-264-6090

(Albuquerque, New Mexico) In late June, the Governor’s Task Force on Ethics Reform issued recommendations that included paying salaries to legislators for their work. The panel cited the expenses legislators bear in communicating with their constituents as one major reason for the move. But, according to a new study by the Rio Grande Foundation titled “How Accessible Are Your Legislators?” our elected leaders are not using existing technology, specifically email, to reduce costs.

In a detailed study of the New Mexico Legislature’s website, the Rio Grande Foundation found that less than 70 percent of New Mexico’s legislators are accessible to their constituents via email. With only 23 out of 43 (54 percent) of Democrats in the House online and 15 of 24 (63 percent) of Senate Democrats online, the majority party lagged far behind their colleagues in the minority. Twenty-two of 27 (81 percent) of House Republicans are online while 16 of 18 (89 percent) in the Senate list email addresses.

Foundation President Paul Gessing noted that, “Given the widespread use of the internet and the inconvenience for legislator and constituent alike of legislators handling constituent requests at their places of work or at home, one would think that email would be an ideal tool. Unfortunately, New Mexico’s legislators lag far behind those in other states like Arizona and Utah where all legislators make email addresses available on the legislature’s website.”

Gessing went on to point out that “Some might argue that geographic isolation puts some of them at a disadvantage, the fact is that many rural legislators have email and some urban legislators do not.”

Gessing concluded saying, “No matter how many or how few days the legislature is in session, being a legislator in New Mexico is in many ways a year-round job. All of our elected officials should be easily accessible and responsive to email. Email is free and can save time and effort if used efficiently, therefore we don’t need any additional state spending to ensure our legislators have email access.”

The full text of this study along with a list of all New Mexico legislators (and their email addresses, if listed) is available at the Rio Grande Foundation website.