Richard Berry finances remain in the dark

Personal income tax returns of Mayor Chavez. (photograph by Marjorie Childress)

Last night during a debate on KOB Channel 4, Mayor Martin Chavez challenged one of his opponents, Richard “R.J.” Berry, to release his tax returns. NMI is also seeking financial information from the candidate.

Saying that he complied with media requests for the information even when it felt uncomfortable doing it, Chavez noted that Richard Romero had also agreed to release the information and questioned why Berry “refuses to release his tax returns.”

The tax returns were originally requested by a local radio station, KKOB 770 AM, which asked for the information from all three candidates in the mayoral race.

The New Mexico Independent has reviewed Chavez’ returns, and received assurances from the Romero campain that they would provide the information, but Berry has resisted NMI’s request for financial information.

For four days, NMI has asked the Berry campaign to clarify whether or not his company, R.J. Berry Enterprises, is active and generating income for him. The campaign repeatedly has said they would give us financial documents but none have been forthcoming.

As we’ve noted, the “family business” that Berry describes in his campaign literature, Cumbre Construction, is actually owned by his wife.

Richard Berry's financial disclosure (photograph by Marjorie Childress)

Cumbre Construction has received almost $50 million in government contracts since 2000, helped in large part by its participation in a federal small business development program that allows minority and women owned businesses to access no-bid federal contracts. A 2004 New Mexico Business Weekly profile of Berry’s wife, Maria, states that after she got the business going, her husband closed his company, RJ Berry Enterprises.

One of Berry’s primary campaign themes is that he should be elected Mayor due to his business acumen. He says that’s what makes him qualified above the other candidates, and that he’d run the City “more like a business.”

We think it’s reasonable for the public to see more information about Berry’s business background, especially in light of the fact that the company he touts on the stump belongs to his wife. Perhaps more importantly, he wants to be the City’s Chief Executive Officer, which is a position that wields enormous power over lucrative business opportunities for the private sector through contracts with the city.

But he has refused repeated requests for more financial information than what he gave the city in August. That information was given on a financial disclosure form, which he mentioned during the debate last night as proof of his transparency. The city’s disclosure form, which we’ve pictured here, lists the names of a handful of companies but gives no substantive information about any of them.  The City simply requires a list of every source of income that is at least five percent of a candidates income.

Personal income tax returns tell just part of the story when it comes to someone’s financial story, but for someone who derives income from five business ventures they’d tell the public a lot. Short of releasing those, however, the Berry campaign could offer simple things, like documents showing how much gross receipts tax R.J. Berry Enterprises paid last year. That information should be at his fingertips.

As to those Chavez tax returns, we’re not tax experts, but our brief review of the documents showed no smoking gun. His income includes the salary he earns from the city, which grew from just under $100,000 in 2005 to about $107,000 in 2008. He also has some income from royalties that amounts in total to about five percent of his salary. The royalties came from three companies: Caulkins Oil, XTC Energy, and Primary Oil.