[1st-mile-nm] Gov. Martinez ignores Tech Commission

[Richard Lowenberg]

Martinez ignores tech commission
Governor tries to save money, ignores law

www.krqe.com/dpp/news/on_assignment/martinez-ignores-tech-commission

Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Katie Kim

SANTA FE (KRQE) - An independent commission that, by state law, is 
supposed to keep a close eye on the tens of millions of dollars the 
state spends each year on computer and technology projects hasn’t met 
since Gov. Susana Martinez took office more than two years ago.

In fact, Martinez hasn’t appointed even one person to the Information 
Technology Commission since being elected.

“If you don’t have an appointed commission, how can they meet?” said 
Rep. Luciano “Lucky” Varela, D-Santa Fe, who is chairman of the 
Legislative Finance Committee. “It’s so important that the department 
responsible for technology responds to someone a bit higher, which is 
the commission itself.”

But Martinez said she held off appointing the commission because she 
wanted to consolidate the state Department of Information Technology 
into the much-larger General Services Department, thereby saving the 
state money.

“If that happened, that may have done away with that advisory 
commission,” Martinez said.

The governor also said an internal group of employees from the 
information technology department – headed by the department’s secretary 
– have kept track of state IT projects, so they haven’t suffered from 
lack of oversight.

“We’ve got a lot of oversight mechanisms in place where we’re working 
to be very vigilant in terms of overseeing these projects,” said Darryl 
Ackley, information technology department secretary.

Still, examples of technology mismanagement – both new and old – are 
not hard to find.

In 2010, under former Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration, the Motor 
Vehicle Department spent $5 million to try and upgrade the agency’s 
20-year-old computer system. But the project failed and the money went 
down the drain.

Now, the department is trying again, and must spend additional millions 
to try and upgrade the computer system.

Earlier this year, the Department of Workforce Solutions rolled out a 
new system for unemployed New Mexicans to get benefits online. But 
critics said the department was not ready for the flood of callers it 
received, and many were put on hold for hours.

Overall, the state has spent more than $90 million on technology 
upgrades in the five years. The independent Information Technology 
Commission – made up of governor appointees from technology, education 
and government sectors – was created by the state Legislature in 2007 to 
keep track of and over see those projects.

“Who can function without technology anymore?” Varela said. “Nobody. So 
we need to have this external oversight that looks at all of 
government.”

Martinez has tried for the last four legislative sessions to 
consolidate the Department of Information Technology into GSD, but 
legislators never went for the idea. She also said the IT Commission, 
under Richardson, was ineffective, though critics said that’s not an 
excuse to ignore state law.

Now, Martinez said she’s finally working on appointing qualified 
members to the commission. She plans on having a full commission within 
30-to-60 days.



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Richard Lowenberg, Executive Dir.
1st-Mile Institute, 505-603-5200
Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
www.1st-mile.org  rl at 1st-mile.org
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