DA's phone switcheroo would break law

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Talk about a classic government boondoggle.

"It doesn't make sense," said Albuquerque District Attorney Kari Brandenburg. "This is one of the craziest situations I've ever seen as district attorney."

No, it isn't a murder case gone wrong. And it doesn't have to do with drugs or DWI. All Brandenburg wants to do is save a few bucks and switch her office's phone service.

"This is a chance to save the public money," Brandenburg said. "This is a chance to give them a better, more reliable service and I'm told I can't do it."

The problem is that a state agency can't just disconnect from the state phone system without permission from the New Mexico Department of Information Technology. Darryl Ackley, secretary for the technology department, denied Brandenburg's request and recently told News 13 he has no plans to reconsider his decision.

That's because allowing Brandenburg to change to a non-state phone service is against New Mexico law.

"The intent of the statute was so that there would be an economy of scale and a centralized operation of the system," Ackley said. "So the less participation there is in the phone system the more that that effect is diminished. It's really about savings statewide as opposed to each individual agency's ability to get a phone rate of a certain value."

All state agency phones are routed through a high security bunker that houses the state network. And, according to Brandenburg, it doesn't work very well.

"It drops messages," she said. "Sometimes we don't have phone service. Sometimes it's not reliable phone services and getting our messages can be a real issue. We serve the public. When they call us we need to respond."

Just like everyone else, state agencies must pay for that phone service. In fact, the bill runs into the tens of millions of dollars a year for all state agencies. Brandenburg's office pays about $168,000 a year for phone service.

The idea for the state agency phone network originated with the legislature back in the 1960s. The only exceptions were granted to agencies where it was not technically feasible to connect to the network.

Still today, the governor's office uses the system along with the state Supreme Court and other state agencies. But the state Legislature - the body that created the phone network in the first place - does not use it.

"As a separate branch of government, we are responsible for our own operation," said Raul Burciaga, director of the Legislative Council Service. "And for that reason we are not part of the central telephone system operated by the Department of Information Technology."

Ackley said he thinks the legislature is breaking the law.

"They're the ones that oversaw the drafting of that bill," he said. "They didn't write themselves an exception into that on the basis of separation of powers."

Dozens of state agencies, some district courts and DA offices, also don't use the state phone network. Ackley said he's not aware of any enforcement tools at his disposal, so there's not much he can do about it.

And that brings the story back to Brandenburg, who faces a predicament.

"Is our biggest obligation to the public or do we comply with a statute that doesn't serve the public?" Brandenburg said. "My gut feeling is I'm going to serve the public. I will be in violation of the statute along with the legislature and other district attorneys' offices and other district courts. And so I will be in good company."