E-mail Story
Print Friendly
Send E-mail
Reprint story
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Disclosure Fight Moves To ABQ
By Jeff Jones And Colleen Heild
Copyright © 2009 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writers
An Albuquerque nonprofit that insists it wasn't playing politics when it helped send out mailers targeting a handful of state lawmakers last year has engaged in past political work that includes identifying and training potential candidates, according to a report now circulating in New Mexico political circles.
That report also said that "shaping the electoral battlefield" was among the Center for Civic Policy's core goals as of two years ago.
One of the center's affiliates is pursuing a federal lawsuit that could dramatically change how political cash is raised and spent in New Mexico.
Meanwhile, a new push is under way to regulate groups that publish anything about candidates or ballot measures before an election — this time in the city of Albuquerque. A vote on the controversial proposal could come as early as next week by the city's charter review task force.
While Center officials declined to answer questions from the Journal last week, one prominent politician is predicting that the group — or some new version of it — will try to exert its influence in this fall's Albuquerque mayoral race.
"We expect they'll be coming very shortly. It's going to be really nasty — it's the way they operate," Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez said of the center, which due to its nonprofit status can receive tax-deductible contributions and does not have to disclose its donors' identities.
Proponents of new rules say that gives the nonprofit organizations an advantage over candidates and political organizations subject to contribution caps and disclosure requirements.
Center executive director Eli Lee last week declined to provide specific answers to a list of Journal questions. Those questions sought information about the chief purposes of his nonprofit; the identities of its more-recent contributors; whether it plans to be involved in the mayor's race; and the identities of the potential candidates and campaign staffers it may have trained.
Lee in an e-mail to the Journal said he disagrees with the newspaper's coverage and would therefore decline to answer questions. In the past, he has said the group engaged in voter education and scrupulously followed IRS rules for nonprofits.
A number of other New Mexico nonprofit groups — from social service agencies to those who advocate for children — have raised alarms about disclosure proposals. But only a few nonprofits have been singled out for allegedly attempting to influence an election.
Targeted mailers
The Center for Civic Policy, formed in 2006, made headlines last year when it helped sponsor mailers critical of nine state legislators — five of whom went on to lose their re-election bids.
Lee has maintained the glossy fliers, which didn't use the words "campaign" or "candidate," were educational and not political.
State Attorney General Gary King contends otherwise, and Secretary of State Mary Herrera has ordered one arm of the center, New Mexico Youth Organized, to register as a political committee — which would force it to publicly reveal its donors and could strip the center of its 501(c)(3) tax exempt status under the IRS code.
New Mexico Youth Organized and the SouthWest Organizing Project, another nonprofit that sponsored the fliers, are suing the state. They say requiring them to register as political committees would violate their free-speech rights.
State law defines political committees as groups that are organized and operated "primarily for a political purpose." Unlike 501(c)(3) nonprofits, they are required to file public reports detailing contributions and expenditures.
King has said organizations that don't engage in significant campaign activity would not be covered.
A brief "About Us" section on the Center for Civic Policy Web site said the center "works hard to engage ordinary New Mexicans in the policy debates that affect our daily lives," adding the group aims to increase voter turnout, provide education on issues including ethics reform and health care, and "train new leaders for civic life."
Proteus Fund
A 2007 report detailing the center's work also discussed political issues. Lee is a former political consultant, and the report said the former staff of his firm, Soltari Inc., joined him at the Center for Civic Policy.
The center's core goals include "shaping the electoral battlefield, as well as developing new potential candidates and campaign staffers...," said the report, prepared for the State Strategies Fund, a now-inactive arm of a Massachusetts-based foundation called the Proteus Fund.
According to the Proteus Fund's Web site, the foundation has awarded tens of millions of dollars to "organizations committed to social justice and public interest advocacy."
The Center for Civic Policy "wants to reach beyond the 'new and unlikely voter' paradigm and aggressively educate and persuade likely voters with their policies, values and messages," the 2007 report said. "Their point is that by moving beyond 'field' and reaching likely voters, the nonprofit sector will stop ceding the terrain of likely voters to the political parties, which has proven to be less than successful."
The report added that the center's goals also included "identifying and training 20 civic leaders each year in New Mexico on how to run for elected office" and said the group as of 2007 had "identified and trained 5 potential future candidates and identified 8 potential campaign staff."
The Journal in an April 10 e-mail to Lee asked whether any of the potential candidates and campaign staffers described in the 2007 report were involved in last year's state legislative races. He did not provide a specific response.
Journal telephone messages left for the Proteus Fund were not returned.
Court battle
The Attorney General's Office in a recent court filing said New Mexico Youth Organized and the SouthWest Organizing Project had resisted providing documents to the state other than the mailers.
The AG's office in that filing said more discovery documents "would be crucial to deciding the factual question of whether plaintiffs are organized or operated 'primarily for a political purpose' and therefore properly subject to regulation under (state law) as a 'political committee.'"
Attorney John Boyd said last week the Attorney General's Office hasn't asked for other documents.
"They had the opportunity to seek discovery, and they didn't. The idea that the NMYO or SWOP have been in any way evasive in this case is completely bogus."
Legislation aimed at requiring financial disclosure from nonprofits that stray into the political arena was introduced in the last session but died in committee. Opponents said it was punitive and too broad.
Supporters of such a law, who included two top legislative leaders, contended nonprofits could become conduits for unregulated campaign money.
In response to a Journal request, the center last year voluntarily disclosed its major donors from July 2006 to June 2007, excluding the names of individual donors. The disclosure showed most of its funding came from charitable organizations such as the McCune Foundation and the Santa Fe Community Foundation.
At the time, Lee said this fiscal year's budget would top $1 million.
The center did not provide a specific response to an April 10 Journal request seeking a list of its donors since July 2007.
City fight looms
Albuquerque's City Charter Review Task Force is set to consider a proposal to amend the charter to require disclosure of contributions and expenditures by anyone or any entity that publishes anything about a candidate or ballot measure up to 120 days before an election.
"It was not directed at nonprofits," said task force member Chuck Gara, who drafted the initial language for the proposal. "If you really want transparency in government, you've got to know who's supporting whom and how it's being paid for."
If approved by the task force, that and other proposed amendments would head to the City Council, which would ultimately decide which ones to place on the October election ballot.
Matt Brix, of the Center for Civic Policy, labeled the task force proposal "bizarre" in a discussion aired by KUNM-FM radio last week. He added, "I think we're moving onto very dangerous ground."
Reporting of donors to nonprofits could lead to their harassment, depending on the cause they contributed to, he said. Or they could be hounded for donations by other groups, Brix added.
Supporters of additional disclosure say it is even more important given recent legislative approval of the state's first-ever limits on campaign contributions on other groups.
The combination of new limits in the traditional campaign finance system and no limits on nonprofits that don't have to disclose donors is now "of great concern," said state Republican Party chair Harvey Yates Jr.
He said that, under the new contribution law, a state political party cannot contribute more than $5,000 to a legislative candidate's race in any one election — a figure that Yates said would not even cover the cost of a poll.
Meanwhile, he said, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that crossed the line into politics could spend unlimited amounts without revealing its backers.
"I feel they are on the way to diminishing the (political) parties — and using the nonprofits in their stead," Yates said.
"What is left are channels to corruption that are not transparent."
A Journal reporter in an April 10 e-mail posed the following questions to Center for Civic Policy executive director Eli Lee:
1. What is the relationship between the Proteus Fund (including the State Strategies Fund) and the Center for Civic Policy? If the Proteus Fund/State Strategies Fund have provided funding to your organization, how much did they give, and when?
2. The 2007 report lists your 2008 annual budget at $1.3 million. What is your organization's 2009 budget?
3. The 2007 report says your organization "Developed the Policy Study Group, a socially responsible legislative caucus comprising 11 members of the New Mexico House of Representatives." What are/were the goals of that study group, does it still exist, and which specific lawmakers are its past and/or current members?
4. The 2007 report says your organization "identified and trained 5 potential future candidates and identified 8 potential campaign staff." I am requesting the names of all potential political candidates and campaign staffers your organization has identified and trained since its 2006 inception, including those mentioned in the 2007 report.
5. Were any of the potential candidates and campaign staffers your group identified and trained involved in any 2008 state legislative races? If so, who?
6. In an August 2008 Journal story, you were quoted as saying that, "I do not believe our actions have been political at all." The 2007 report says one of your group's goals is to identify and train civic leaders on how to run for office and also says that your group aims to "persuade likely voters ... ." Do you see those two functions as political in nature, and why?
7. Your group voluntarily provided a list of 2006/2007 donors to the Journal. I am now requesting a list of your donors since July 2007.
8. Does your organization plan to have any involvement in the upcoming Albuquerque mayoral race? If so, what involvement will your group have?
On April 14, the Journal reporter e-mailed two additional questions to Lee:
1. Is your group organized and operated "primarily for a political purpose?" If not, what are your group's primary purposes?
2. According to court documents and the AG's office, your organization is refusing to provide discovery documents beyond the mailers themselves. Your response to this?
CCP's response
Later in the day on April 14, Lee e-mailed the Journal this statement:
"Based on our past experiences, the Center for Civic Policy does not believe that the Albuquerque Journal is able to maintain a clear division between its editorial policies and its news journalism. Therefore, we are refraining from making a comment on this story."
Lee in the e-mail added, "We will also circulate this email to other media outlets and blogs so it is abundantly clear what our position is."
You also can send comments via our comment form
|
|
