Sept. 24 – A political organization that the State Ethics Commission said operated as a “dark money” group has agreed to reveal its donors and spending as part of a settlement with the commission.
The New Mexico Project, a fundraising organization led by businessman and former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jeff Apodaca, also agreed to register as a political committee with the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office, which happened Monday.
The group, which Apodaca founded last year as a social welfare organization to support “pro-moderate” and “pro-business” Democratic legislative candidates in the June 4 primary, has until Oct. 2 to file “all required reports on its expenditures and contributions,” the agreement said.
Attorney A. Blair Dunn, who represents the group and Apodaca, said Tuesday that the settlement came after consultants hired by Apodaca to oversee campaign activities provided new information over the weekend that undermined one of the key arguments in their case.
Dunn declined to identify the consultants, saying their identities would be revealed in campaign finance reports next week. He had argued, among other things, that The New Mexico Project had not met the threshold for registration as a political committee and disclosure of donors.
“His advisors had told him and me several times and certified us that we had not crossed the $1,000 threshold [in a non-statewide election] on one of these candidates that they had supported,” he said. “We finally got the accounting from the consultants on Sunday night, and all the races were over $1,000. … So we thought, ‘We’re not going to fight this.'”
The Campaign Reporting Act requires that anyone who makes an independent expenditure must file a report with the Secretary of State’s office within three days if the expenditure “alone or together with all independent expenditures made by the same person during the election cycle” exceeds $1,000.
Dunn said he and Apodaca, the son of former Gov. Jerry Apodaca, were “as furious as can be” when they saw the accounting.
“Jeff has been very focused on doing everything according to the law,” he said.
“Jeff had told them, ‘Stay within the law. Stay within the law. Stay within the law,'” Dunn added. “And lo and behold, we got to the point where they finally added it all up and said, ‘Oh, well, we actually spent more than we thought.'”
Although Dunn still maintains that the commission targeted Apodaca to suppress his moderate ideology and violated his right to a fair trial, he says they decided to throw in the towel.
“We could have continued to fight this, but we’re more interested in making sure that everything is done right, and since we don’t have the best foot to stand on to make the constitutional arguments, we went ahead and got Jeff to play by the rules,” he said. “We’ll fight these First Amendment and due process issues another day in another case, I’m sure.”
In a “My View” article published last month in The New Mexican, Apodaca alleged that the commission “is being driven by ultra-liberal progressive leaders within” the Democratic Party and “has been weaponized.”
As part of the settlement, The New Mexico Project must also pay a $1,000 fine for violating the Campaign Reporting Act, plus $3,000 “relating to [its] unreasonable transfer” of the case to a federal court “and subsequent remand to a state court.” The group agreed to “direct that all counterclaims and third-party claims be dismissed” and “direct that all remaining motions be dismissed as moot.”
Jeremy Farris, the commission’s executive director, said in a statement that the agency remains committed to ensuring New Mexico’s campaign finance laws are followed.
“The Commission’s commitment to disclosure and the rule of law is independent of and unrelated to the content and position of political speech,” he said. “This settlement with The New Mexico Project and Mr. Apodaca underscores the importance of transparency in New Mexico’s political process. The Commission will continue to work to protect the public’s right to know who is funding efforts to influence New Mexico’s elections.”
Apodaca said in a statement that the New Mexico Project has “never” been a political action committee that raised money for Black Pete.
“We are a 501(c)(4) organization dedicated to advocating for First Amendment rights, with a focus on amplifying the voice of Latinos and ensuring that our voices matter,” he said. “It is critical that our community, which is overwhelmingly moderate and conservative, is heard.”
Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.
