Governor Says He’ll Name Ethics Task Force

LAS CRUCES (AP) – Governor Richardson plans to appoint a task force to develop recommendations aimed at toughening state laws on ethics and campaign finance.

The governor made the announcement today when he appeared before members of Common Cause at a meeting in Las Cruces.

He said the panel will be chaired by the dean of the University of New Mexico Law School, Suellyn Scarnecchia, and by former Republican Governor Garrey Carruthers, who now is dean of the College of Business Administration and Economics at New Mexico State University.

Richardson says New Mexico’s ethics laws are too weak, and he wants to enact what he calls “the toughest possible ethics and campaign-finance laws.” The committee’s recommendations would go to the Legislature in 2007.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-04-20-06 1924EDT