Watchdog groups challenge State Investment Council settlements

An open-government group and the state press association are asking a court to overturn legal agreements that have repaid taxpayers millions of dollars from a long-running scandal because the State Investment Council failed to comply with the Open Meetings Act.

An attorney for the New Mexico Press Association and the Foundation for Open Government argues that the settlements with investment advisers, consultants and money managers were negotiated and approved by a portion of the full State Investment Council, called the Litigation Committee.

“A major purpose of this strategy was to avoid compliance with the Open Meetings Act by the SIC,” writes Daniel Yohalem, a Santa Fe attorney, who drafted the brief for the public watchdog groups. Continue>>>
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