Attorney General Will Appeal Nonprofits Ruling

On Saturday morning, New Mexico Attorney General Gary King told Bernalillo County Democrats, at a monthly pancake breakfast in downtown Albuquerque, that his office is preparing to appeal a recent District Court ruling exempting two nonprofit groups from New Mexico's campaign reporting laws.


During a 15 minute interview Mr. King told 770KKOB that his office is prepared to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court.





In the brief interview above, the Attorney General also told us that he does not believe his office has a conflict of interest prosecuting last weeks political corruption indictments against former Secretary of State Rebbecca Vigil-Giron and three others despite allegations being made by defense attorneys.

On Saturdya King's office issued this statement on his decision to appeal the non-profit ruling:

We will ask the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the District Court because we feel the U.S. Supreme Court has raised some important concepts that have a bearing upon States' rights to require organizations to disclose who is paying for political ads that are put forth by these same organizations," says Attorney General King. "This case has never been about the First Amendment, despite misinformation to the contrary. We are not (emphasis added) trying to control the content of political ads. We believe, however, that the case has everything to do with voters' having the right to know who is paying for political advertising.

The District Court ruling involved a lawsuit filed by New Mexico Youth Organized, known as NMYO, and SouthWest Organizing Project, or SWOP.

Earlier this month, Judge Judith C. Herrera that King and New Mexico Secretary of State Mary Herrera's threat to prosecute the non profits violated their constitutional rights.

Herrera wrote that applying state disclosure regulations to the groups falls outside guidelines set by the U.S. Supreme Court.

But, King said he disagrees with the legal reasoning used by Herrera; so, he plans to ask the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn her ruling.

HISPANOS UNIDOS TO RUN ADS AGAINST SAME DAY VOTING, PROMOTING VOTER ID

Hispanos Unidos will run two cable television ads on Comcast statewide beginning tomorrow.

Here is one of ads the group say highlights voter fraud legislation in New Mexico.



The ads endorse Voter ID, HB 591 (Dianne Hamilton, Grant, Sierra, Hidalgo) and explain the voter fraud associated with Same Day Registration, HB 52, (Jim Trujillo, Santa Fe) HB 395 (Joseph Cervantes, Dona Ana).

Victor Contreras, Chairman of Hispanos Unidos encourages New Mexicans to contact their legislators about these bills, taking a stand against increasing voter fraud in New Mexico. “We have volunteers who have uncovered profound voter fraud and voter disenfranchisement in Dona Ana County.” Contreras said, “We need to stand up with one voice to demand that our elections include all New Mexicans, and only New Mexicans.”

UPDATED:

Santa Fe-based political journalist Steve Terrell published an article reviewing the ad and profiling the group behind it here.

Terrell talked Rep. Joe Cervantesto who said allegations of fraud by the GOP are merit less.

Rep. Joe Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, who is sponsoring one of two same-day registration bills in the House, said, "the allegations of voter fraud in Doña Ana County have been made for years and are baseless." He said the charges, made by Republicans in his area, "never brought up evidence of a single fraudulent vote or voter."

AG Clears the Air on Campaigning Dispute

Attorney General Gary King today answered erroneous reports that his office was somehow backing away from its request to the Secretary of State's Office to require a non-profit group to report campaign expenditures and abide by other requirements under the Campaign Practices Act and Lobbyist Regulation Act.

"Despite some reports to the contrary, we fully support our earlier position in a letter that the Secretary of State's Office needs to tell the New Mexico Youth Organization (NMYO) to immediately comply with the law," says Attorney General King. "Due to the spread of misinformation there seems to be some thought that my office had "disavowed" our letter or told the Secretary of State to "ignore" our advice, that is just not true. Those words were used, however, by others who support theNMYO."

The AG also says, "If the Deputy Secretary of State thought we had instructed him to simply ignore our letter, then that was a misunderstanding on his part of what was said."

Following receipt of a letter from the Center for Civic Policy (CCP), the Secretary of State's Office forwarded the letter to the AG's Office. In the letter, the CCP set forth a number of claims supporting NMYO's actions and urged the Secretary of State not to grant the AGO's request. Before they made a decision to disregard or follow the AG's advice, the SOS was asked to let the AG's office closely examine the CCP's claims and report back. That is where the issue stands today.

NMYO is responsible for a number of messages distributed publicly that targeted state Legislators. The group claims that the mailers it sent out were not campaign materials. The Attorney General disagrees.

"There's an old saying that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then its probably a duck," say AG King. "And I think we know a duck when we see one."