A state judge has ruled that New Mexico Attorney General Gary King owes $100 for each day since Jan. 14 that his office has failed to comply with a public-information request by a lawyer representing three King staff attorneys in a federal gender-discrimination suit.

Albuquerque lawyer Dan Faber said the damages awarded by state District Judge Beatrice Brickhouse totaled nearly $20,000 as of Monday. Unless the judge's ruling is overturned, the total will increase each day Faber doesn't get the requested records. The maximum fine for violating the public-records law is $100 a day.

"The attorney general is supposed to enforce the Inspection of Public Records Act, not violate it," Faber said Monday.

Brickhouse also ruled that King owes Faber $10 a day for the period between Aug. 26, 2010 — the day King originally denied Faber's request — and Jan. 14. During that period, there was an order in the federal case that put all exchange of information between the two sides on hold.

That order was lifted Jan. 14 but has since been put in place again, Faber said.

King spokesman Phil Sisneros said the attorney general hadn't yet seen Brickhouse's ruling.

At issue is Faber's request for information about salaries paid to the attorney general's staff. Faber's clients in the federal suit — Lesley Lowe, Melanie Carver and Mary Smith — claim women aren't paid as much as male lawyers with similar jobs and experience.

Faber said he filed the public-information request independently from the federal suit. The judge in the federal case found Faber in contempt of court for filing the public-records request. Faber said he was ordered to pay $150 to charity. He said he doubled the amount and made a $300 donation to the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, whose mission includes seeking to uphold the state Inspection of Public Records Act.

The Attorney General's Office claimed the request appeared to circumvent the discovery process for parties to a court case obtaining information.

But Brickhouse in March said the state's public-records law "provides a statutory right independent of the federal rules of discovery."

Sisneros in March said the office was continuing to deny the public-records request because, "We're operating under the federal court order, which still has a stay for any discovery including IPRA requests."

King has denied any gender discrimination and said any pay disparity is not related to gender.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.