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.
Several groups have sent a letter to Albuquerque’s Charter Review Task Force to protest a proposed amendment that they say would “limit the free speech of nonprofit organizations operating in Albuquerque.”
The one-page letter, which was made public Wednesday, seeks to stop the task force from amending the city constitution to restrict activities during an election year.The proposal, suggested by task force member Chuck Gara, would require entities that communicate anything in defense of or opposed to a candidate during the four months leading up to a city election to register as a measure finance committee, the city’s version of a political action committee.
Under the proposal, an organization that communicated such information via newspaper, TV, radio, Internet, on a billboard or by direct mail or in door-to-door within 120 days of an election would trigger the requirement.
Gara’s proposal appears to be the latest salvo in an ongoing war between nonprofits and elected officials that began last summer and peaked in December, when several nonprofits sued the state of New Mexico in federal court. The suit came in response to the state’s order requiring the nonprofits to register as political committees and list their donors.
At the heart of the issue is registration as a measure finance committee, which would require nonprofits to list donors, something that federal law does not currently require them to do.
Gara’s proposal would “prevent an organization from issuing any kind of communication four months before an election,” the authors of the letter say. And they argue that it would silence groups.
“The amendment would prevent an organization from issuing any kind of communication four months before an election. For example, a domestic violence shelter could not send an email to its supporters about a matter pending before the Albuquerque City Council in June of an election year. By sending the email, the shelter would risk having all of its donors publically disclosed — a risk that could have the effect of silencing the organization.”
An assistant city attorney already has sent out a draft opinion saying that Gara’s proposal would be redundant and might just limit Albuquerque’s power to regulate organizations.
The letter is signed by representatives of six organizations: the New Mexico chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, Community Action New Action, Albuquerque Independent Business Alliance, Common Cause New Mexico, Peanut Butter & Jelly Family Services, Inc. and Council 18 of the American Federation of State County Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
