SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez’s schedule was updated online Thursday after going months without any new entries.
The change came after the Santa Fe New Mexican reported that the schedule listed on her website hadn’t been updated by her staff since March.
The schedule offers insight into what groups meet with the governor and how she spends her time. It now shows she traveled to Taiwan in June. Meetings with Japanese trade officials followed in July along with events related to a recent meeting of governors from around the U.S.
A maintenance issue was to blame for the problem, Martinez’s office said.
“The public facing calendar was accidentally disabled and was not reflecting the regular updates that had been made by our staff,” spokesman Ben Cloutier said in an email to The Associated Press. “The issue has been resolved and the previously unavailable portions of the calendar are now visible on the website.”
The Martinez administration initially began publishing weekly schedules in 2013 following requests from the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government and news organizations.
The Associated Press had sued Martinez in an effort to get public records related to her travels and work schedule, among other things. That case was eventually settled and was among the complaints filed by media and watchdog groups against Martinez, who had promoted herself as an advocate of a transparent government.
The itineraries posted early on usually included public appearances, meetings and other events that could help the public better understand what issues Martinez was focused on, who she was considering for appointments or who was lobbying her on particular matters.
However, the amount of detail disclosed in the calendars had declined.
Before Thursday’s update, the most recent week published was March 12. It did not mention any events. The preceding week only listed a budget-signing ceremony in Albuquerque.
And for a time, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported that the governor’s office stopped updating her calendars altogether.
In September, the Albuquerque Journal reported that the office had fallen behind by about three months. At that time, her office said it was an oversight and that the calendar would be updated more regularly in the future.
There’s no requirement for the governor to post her calendars, but many government leaders elsewhere do so. That includes numerous governors, from Delaware and Pennsylvania to Nebraska and Wyoming.
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