If I were a New Mexico state employee, crunched somewhere in the middle of the hierarchy (which I used to be), and I learned that my colleagues\u2019 salaries were posted online, I would be tempted to take a peek. I might scan for anyone whose salary was higher than mine but who, in my opinion, didn\u2019t deserve it. \u00a0If I found any, I might become just a bit resentful.\u00a0 Would my work suffer?\u00a0 A little, possibly.\u00a0 Would I use this information to justify small acts of defiance, like sneaking a novel into the restroom now and then? Maybe. Would I be distressed that my own salary had been put on public display?\u00a0 Absolutely.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t you?<\/p>\n
New Mexico state employees\u2019 salaries were posted online, with names, on the state\u2019s \u201cSunshine Portal,\u201d until the names were removed following a court order, prompted by a lawsuit filed by the employee union AFSCME. The court order, it is important to note, referred specifically to the Sunshine Portal. \u00a0The data base was left in place, with names deleted for classified employees.<\/p>\n
I breathed a sigh of relief.\u00a0 I was concerned not only about employee morale and potential internal dissension, but about the kind of mischief that could be done TO all those employees by nefarious use of the data \u2013 cheesy targeted marketing programs or worse.\u00a0 The Internet is a dangerous place for personal information.\u00a0 Potentially, anybody with evil intentions and sophisticated software could download the data base, then use the information, along with thousands of correctly spelled names, for\u00a0 identity theft or other scams.<\/p>\n
As it turned out, my relief was premature.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0 data base resurfaced on a private web site operated by the \u201cWatchdog\u201d affiliate of the Rio Grande Foundation, a free-market-oriented think tank.\u00a0 The Watchdog obtained the data after the lawsuit was filed but before the judge\u2019s ruling, according to\u00a0 Jim Scarantino, a reporter with the Watchdog.<\/p>\n
It had already been established that the information is public, so apparently this was not illegal.\u00a0\u00a0 Before the Sunshine Portal posting, the information had been available but was inconvenient to get \u2013 a modest cushion of protection for employees\u2019 privacy.<\/p>\n
Then the Governor\u2019s office posted the whole searchable database on another state web page \u2013 just not on the Sunshine Portal.<\/p>\n
I generally favor open government, but it\u2019s hard to see benefit to public policy from exposing the salaries of rank-and-file employees with their names. They are not like political appointees or top managers.\u00a0 Their pay is based on a classification system.\u00a0 Unless they are promoted, they get raises only when the legislature approves a raise for all of them.\u00a0 And you, the citizen, can\u2019t make much use of the information, because the job titles don\u2019t explain what any particular person actually does.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t understand why the Governor\u2019s office \u2013 or the Rio Grande Foundation, for that matter \u2013 has been so doggedly determined to expose this on the Internet. \u00a0When I asked Paul Gessing, who runs this foundation, what the purpose was, he said, \u201cWe really don\u2019t know how it\u2019s going to benefit people until it\u2019s out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
And we don\u2019t know what harm it might cause, either.\u00a0 What we do know is that, like the photos we warn teenagers not to post on Facebook, information once posted on the Net is there forever.<\/p>\n
In the quest for open and transparent government, we need to consider what really constitutes accountable disclosure.\u00a0 Not everything that can be posted should be.\u00a0 And many things aren\u2019t posted would be more beneficial to helping shape future\u00a0 policy decisions. Agency program outcomes, for example, so we can see what we are getting for our money.\u00a0 And maybe a financial audit now and then.<\/p>\n
Triple Spaced Again, \u00a9 New Mexico News Services 2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If I were a New Mexico state employee, crunched somewhere in the middle of the hierarchy (which I used to be), and I learned that my colleagues\u2019 salaries were posted online, I would be tempted to take a peek. I … Continue reading