I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Almost three months have passed since state Sen. Cisco McSorley asked Attorney General Gary King for an official opinion on how New Mexico defines political activity. Now McSorley says the AG is stalling.
Although the attorney general still hasn’t responded to McSorley’s request, King’s office says any charges of stalling are unfounded.
“The McSorley opinion is still being researched and drafted. No completion date has been set,” AG spokesman Phil Sisneros said.
McSorely, D-Albuquerque, first made the request after King refused to explain why he believes two nonprofits’ activities have crossed the line between issue advocacy and political campaigning.
Earlier this year, King advised the secretary of state that the Center for Civic Policy’s New Mexico Youth Organized and another nonprofit, SouthWest Organizing Project, had resorted to political campaigning in mailers like this one sent two to three months before the June primary, targeting several lawmakers.
The secretary of state ordered both groups to register as political committees and comply with the state’s Campaign Reporting Act by publicly reporting contributions and expenditures, just as candidates, campaigns and political action committees do.
The groups say their mailers were related to a coming special session of the Legislature, not the election, and they shouldn’t have to register.
King hasn’t shared the reasoning behind his advice beyond saying the key issue is the meaning of the phrase “political purpose” in the Campaign Reporting Act. Attorneys for NMYO, on the other hand, have laid out their legal arguments publicly.
Both sides agree the dispute has far-reaching implications for nonprofits in New Mexico, and the secretary of state and AG have agreed to withhold taking any action against the nonprofits so the dispute can be resolved in court.
In his request for an opinion from King’s office, which you can read here, McSorley didn’t mention the battle between the state agencies and the nonprofits.
But he did tell King he anticipated an “immediate response” to the request, which the AG’s office says was received on Sept. 23. McSorley asked several questions in the letter, all of them geared toward obtaining King’s interpretation of the state’s definition of “political committee” and the core issue of how King interprets “political purpose.”
Some quick responses, but a high volume of requests
Attorney General Gary King
King has often acted quickly on politically hot requests for legal opinions from lawmakers. He said in February 2007 that he wanted to respond more quickly to such requests than his predecessor to help reduce gridlock in state government.
“I think that the attorney general’s office can have a lot more impact on the policy in the state through our opinions,” King said at the time. “The more quickly we can address those issues, the less disruption there is in government.”
That comment came after King responded within days to a request for legal advice on the governor’s fund raising for his presidential campaign during the legislative session.
McSorley noted that King also acted within days, earlier this year, on a separate request that started the current nonprofit dispute — from a lawmaker who was targeted by the mailers, Sen. Shannon Robinson of Albuquerque. But, McSorley pointed out, King has already stated his desire to have this matter resolved in court.
“It appears that the strategy is to waste hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal action rather pursue this through legislative enactment,” McSorley said.
Sisneros pointed out that the AG received six requests for legal opinions in July, four in August, five in September and eight in October. He said each is thoroughly researched by an attorney, and then an opinion is written “based on mountains of research and legal analysis.”
“This matter is being acted upon, just not on your timeline,” Sisneros said.
Waiting for an answer
Meanwhile, SWOP’s director said the organization still doesn’t understand the position of the secretary of state and attorney general.
“SWOP was instructed by the secretary of state to register as a political action committee four months ago without any explanation for how our work constitutes political activity,” Robby Rodriguez, SWOP executive director, said in a prepared statement.
“We still do not know what this decision is based on so we would like to know, along with Sen. McSorley apparently, and, we suspect, the rest of the nonprofit community, how the state defines political activity when it comes to our legitimate efforts to educate the public about the job their elected officials are doing.”
Matt Brix, policy director for the Center for Civic Policy, said his organization had no comment.
NMI’s Trip Jennings contributed to this report. Editor’s note: The Center for Civic Policy helped locate funding sources for the New Mexico Independent.
