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.
A national pro-business group is running a new ad attacking Democratic Rep. Harry Teague on the economy. The ad cites a story from The Independent, with a graphic saying “Harry Teague: “instrumental” in passing job-killing taxes.” But that’s not what we wrote.
The ad refers to a story The Independent reported in September, 2009, which read: “U.S. Rep. Harry Teague, D-N.M., was instrumental in a deal with small refiners that helped controversial cap-and-trade legislation narrowly pass the House in June, but those refiners say they don’t support the bill in the Senate—which could have significance for Teague’s reelection.”
The ad was paid for by Americans for Job Security, a right-leaning pro-business group that says it has spent more than $60 million on issues advertising and grassroots lobbying. The group does disclose its donors, saying only that they are “businesses, business leaders and entrepreneurs.”
According to FactCheck.org profile of the group:
…In 2008, staff lawyers for the Federal Election Commission saw “reason to believe” that AJS had violated federal election law by, among other things, failing to register as a political committee and failing to disclose its donors. But in 2009 the three Republican commissioners on the FEC blocked any action, voting to dismiss the case while the three Democratic commissioners voted to pursue it. Since a majority is required for the FEC to act, the partisan 3-3 deadlock killed any enforcement action against AJS. When the Supreme Court later struck down longstanding federal laws against campaign spending by corporations and labor unions, AJS President DeMaura told the Wall Street Journal the decision was an “unequivocal victory” for those “who believe in free speech and the rights of organizations such as ours to promote our point of view.”
Since its inception AJS says it has raised nearly $60 million and run more than 90 different TV spots in 46 states and the District of Columbia. DeMaura told FactCheck.org that as of mid-August, the group had spent $6.3 million in the 2010 election cycle, but he would not say what the group expected to spend during the remainder of the election campaign.
Politico reports that the ad is a one-week buy, though does not say how much AJS is paying for the ad.
