OPINION: Dark money is now back, stronger than ever

Last week, the Journal covered the court case brought by three progressive nonprofit organizations that sued the Albuquerque city clerk, arguing that they should not be bound by the election rules everyone else has to follow.

The Center for Civic Action, ProgressNow and Semilla Action filed the lawsuit, and they prevailed. (See Center for Civic Action et al v. City of Albuquerque Board of Ethics and Campaign Practices et. al.). The result is that “dark money” organizations will no longer have to file campaign reports during mayoral and city council elections and voters will not be able to know who is funding them nor how they are spending their money.

Why do I care? Because my race for school board may have turned out differently without disclosure rules.

Let me be clear — these are good organizations. My politics coincide with theirs more often than not. But this lawsuit is bad news for all of us, regardless of your political leanings.

These groups are 501(c)(4) organizations, often called “c4s.” Under the Internal Revenue Service code, c4 organizations must primarily engage in advocacy — lobbying for policies, for example. They can use a minority of their funds on electioneering — advocating for or against a candidate for office.

In their lawsuit, these groups claimed that because they spend just a small portion of their funds on electioneering, they should not be required to follow the “burdensome” rules of the city clerk.

Here’s the problem: For those of you who followed the Albuquerque Public Schools board elections a few weeks ago, you’ll know that we were in a big fight with New Mexico Kids CAN, another 501(c)(4) organization. Kids CAN raised $300,000 from a pro-voucher outfit called Campaign for Great Public Schools. We were able to educate voters about this outside, pro-voucher money, but only because NM Kids CAN had to report their contributions in broad daylight to the voters.

Now, c4 groups — whether Center for Civic Action, New Mexico Kids CAN or deeply conservative c4s like Securing American Greatness (a MAGA c4) — will no longer have to report their contributions and expenditures. Not only is this situation the definition of Dark Money — donors who are hidden from public view — but it puts candidates and political action committees at a competitive disadvantage. The first thing we did in my campaign was to look at my opponent’s campaign finance reports to see who was backing them and how they were spending their money. Candidates and voters deserve to know who their opponents really are. After this lawsuit, we won’t be able to do that, even though the c4s will be able to see how their opponents are raising and spending money.

There are solutions. We can start by bringing back Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth’s Senate Bill 85 in the 2025 legislative session, which sought to require the very type of campaign reporting that this lawsuit nullified.

If we do not change this situation, any c4, from the far left to the far right, can raise and spend money with impunity. The Center for Civic Action has a $1 million budget. They could spend $499,999 during the upcoming City Council runoff election in District 3, where they are already supporting Teresa Garcia. Should this occur, West Side residents would have no idea where that money came from and what it went for. Similarly, a conservative c4 could spend half-a-million dollars from insurance companies, oil and gas, etc. — and voters would not be able to know. This lawsuit is terrible for our democracy and I urge legislators to follow Wirth’s proposed legislation or propose their own legislation to eliminate this problem.