Stonewalled, at least for now…

“You are requesting information which we have determined does not currently exist and would, therefore, require the TRD (New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department) to create a new public record.  We are, therefore, unable to provide for inspection of the records that would include the information that you have requested.”

The above is the state’s response to what I thought would be an easily accessible bit of information that I suspect is actually available somewhere and would be of use to quite a few people — automobile manufacturers and dealerships in particular.

What I was seeking was the number of Ferrari and Rolls Royce vehicles registered in the state, by county. It was just something I was personally curious about. I was able to access this exact information easily more than 40 years ago when I was a journalist and Bureau Chief for United Press International in Santa Fe.

When we get our annual registration form or get a title to our vehicle, it clearly contains the make and model of that vehicle. That information is stored in the bowels of some computer mainframe in Santa Fe. I’m not a computer nerd, but I suspect it’s much easier today to do cross reference searches and calculate vehicle type by county than it was four decades ago.

Yet, I’m told by the state that information “does not exist.”

Imagine, if you will, that you are Subaru of North America and you want to see what sales opportunities are in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Las Cruces used to have a Subaru dealership but it disappeared many years ago and we don’t have one now. Yet when you drive our streets, the number of Subarus you see clearly indicates the popularity of the brand. We have one family just down the street from us that has three of them — all relatively new models. When our daughter visits us in her Subaru, I’m sure she would appreciate it if a dealership was available locally if she had any service needs or even wanted to buy a new one.

Yet, according to the New Mexico Motor Vehicle Department (under the Taxation and Revenue Department), Subaru of North America could not determine exactly how many of their vehicles are owned in Dona Ana County and therefore could not determine what kind of market penetration they already have and project the potential for new sales.

I’m sure I’m simplifying what factors are involved in determining what vehicle franchises are awarded in certain markets, but I am pretty sure the type of information I was seeking would be something they would look at before making a decision on a dealership.

And imagine this scenario. State Police are seeking a serial killer somewhere in Valencia County. One of the things police know is that the suspect drives a 1998 dark green Ford van — license plate unknown — that was seen at multiple crime scenes. They try to narrow their search by determining how many of those are in Valencia county, and who they’re registered to, only to be told by another agency that the information “does not exist.”

But I’m not giving up. I suspect that if a representative from a vehicle dealership called the MVD to find this information, they would probably have a more direct line to a data center that could supply that Subaru count in Las Cruces. I have a couple of friends in the new car business that I may ask to see how far they can get with my simple request.

And yes, I know that this is not the kind of hard-hitting investigative local journalism like Woodward and Bernstein did, and I know 99.9% of my readers don’t care. But in my mind, there is a principle about how easy it should be to get information from our state government — especially if it becomes something very important to a larger group of its citizens.

I’ll keep you posted. But of course, you’re free to just ignore my ramblings.