Political group The New Mexico Project continues to fight disclosure

Aug. 25 — Former gubernatorial candidate Jeff Apodaca announced that his newly formed “educational” nonprofit, The New Mexico Project, has raised nearly $1 million.

What exactly was done with those funds and where they came from remained unclear after a two-hour court hearing last week, during which attorneys for the state Ethics Commission argued that under state law, The New Mexico Project is actually a political campaign committee and should disclose its independent spending and funding sources.

“The state Ethics Commission is not interested in suppressing free speech,” state Ethics Commission Executive Director Jeremy Farris told state District Judge Josh Allison of Albuquerque. “All we want is disclosure.”

But Apodaca’s lawyer, A. Blair Dunn, said the committee had no evidence to support its claim that the group spent enough to qualify as a political or independent expenditure committee.

“They have no evidence and we’re not going to give it to them today,” Dunn said.

Since May, the commission has been trying to force Apodaca to comply with the law.

As Thursday’s hearing began, Apodaka’s lawyer threatened to subpoena the commission’s executive director. It also said that if Apodaka were subpoenaed by ethics commission lawyers, he would refuse to testify and would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, on the advice of his lawyer. Dunn argued that the commission was guilty of “malicious prosecution.” Ultimately, no one testified.

It was the first time since the commission notified Apodaca of alleged violations of state campaign finance law that the judge had been presented with the merits of the case and some of the evidence.

The group’s primary goal is to “educate moderate Latino voters about the best candidates to vote for,” the commission said in court documents. “The website consists primarily of a ‘Priority Candidates’ page, where TNMP ‘has identified key state and county races as strategic priorities where our influence can affect key outcomes and shape the state’s future political landscape.’” The page lists Democratic candidates running in the June 4 primary.

Allison is expected to rule next week on the commission’s motion for a preliminary injunction requiring Apodaca and/or his group to register as a political campaign committee and file appropriate disclosures. Dunn has filed a competing motion for a preliminary injunction against the commission.

Apodaca said after the hearing that The New Mexico Project is still accepting donations, but added, “This case hurts us.” He said his group does not endorse candidates and blamed progressive Democratic leaders in the state for “weaponizing” the independent ethics commission.

Apodaca, a former media executive, is the son of the late New Mexico Gov. Jerry Apodaca and unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2018, competing against then-Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham.

On Friday, Chief U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson entered an order requiring The New Mexico Project to pay nearly $9,000 to cover attorney ethics commission fees and costs related to Apodaca’s decision to transfer the ethics case from state to federal court in June. Johnson ordered the case returned to state court.

He has been trying to get Apodaca and the group to comply with the state’s Campaign Reporting Act since at least May 15, according to a letter sent to Apodaca citing the ethics commission for failure to report information violations.

The letter notes that on May 1, “you stated to Mr. Bob Clark that TNMP is not required to disclose its donors. That view is inaccurate. In 2019, the legislature amended the Campaign Reporting Act to shine a light on ‘dark money’ in state elections by requiring those who pay for ads and advocacy for candidates to be minimally transparent about who is funding those ads and advocacy efforts.”

The letter said Farris was prepared to ask the seven-member ethics commission for permission to pursue civil proceedings against Apodaca and TNMP.

“However, to avoid costly and potentially painful civil litigation, in lieu of further action, I am proposing the following settlement proposal,” Farris wrote. The commission will not pursue civil action seeking civil penalties and other remedies and will agree that Apodaca’s violations were “unwitting and willful, avoiding potential criminal prosecution” if he files reports on the group’s spending and contributions by May 20 and pays $1,000 per campaign law violation.

Apodaca said Thursday that he never received a copy of the letter outside the courtroom.

The commission says documents show The New Mexico Project received at least $15,000 from a single donor and spent more than $5,000, the threshold required by law to report independent expenditures.

Dunn told the judge that Apodaca and TNMP would appeal if a preliminary injunction is issued against them. Ethics Commission officials stressed during the hearing how important it is for voters and New Mexicans to get the disclosures they want before the next election, not after. The general election is Nov. 5.