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.
Richard Berry’s campaign reported a mailer, sent by the GOP in the final days of the Albuquerque mayoral election, as an in-kind donation on a campaign finance report submitted Nov. 20. In early November, The Independent reported that the mailer included central messages of Mayor Richard Berry’s campaign platform, but was not reported as an in-kind donation by the Berry camp during the election period.
Republican mailer that highlights Berry platform issues
The mailer highlights questions about the city’s public financing system, which had its second trial run with this recent mayoral election.
The system was intended to take special interest groups’money out of government by providing public funds for campaigns that agree to not take outside money. It allows for a small amount of in-kind donations from outside groups.
It’s a simple concept, but in practice it bumps up against the free speech rights of outside groups, posing tricky questions about what groups can say without appearing to advocate on behalf of a candidate. Any advocacy would have to be recorded as an in-kind contribution to the candidate.
The Independent asked City Clerk Randy Autio and the executive director of Common Cause, Steve Allen,whether or not outside groups could mimic the campaign platform messages of candidates without that activity qualifying as a campaign contribution under the public financing system, as the RPNM mail piece did.
The Clerk told us that there would be no way for him to say without a formal complaint being filed during the election period, which would initiate an investigation.
Allen said that it’s unclear whether or not the mailer would be considered coordinated activity. No system is perfect, he said, and such a case would have to be examined in light of the first amendment.
As it turns out, the Republican Party did consider it coordinated activity.
“The Berry camp was aware of the mailing so that it could comply with the law and report it. I don’t have any details as to how the campaign filed its reports,” Republican Party spokesperson Janel Causey said in an email.
The Berry campaign, however, didn’t report it as an in-kind donation until the final reports were due on Nov. 20. Berry’s campaign manager, Dana Feldman, confirmed that it was the mailer pictured. We’ve asked why the campaign didn’t report the mailer in the final week of the campaign, but haven’t yet received a reply.
The cost of the mailer, had it been reported by the Berry campaign, would not have put the campaign over its limit on in-kind contributions, so would not have triggered matching funds.
The decision, by the GOP and Berry campaign, to treat the mailer as an in-kind contribution does not settle the question of whether such mail should be considered coordinated.
