Two nonprofits say the attorney general’s plan to appeal a judge’s ruling that slapped down an attempt to force them to register as political action committees is a waste of taxpayer money.
“The Attorney General’s actions also spell trouble for all New Mexico taxpayers who are concerned about the waste of literally hundreds of thousands of additional dollars on irresponsible and pointless litigation,” George Lujan, communications director for the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP), said in a news release.
Attorney General Gary King said Sunday that his office would appeal the recent ruling. In early August, U.S. District Judge Judith C. Herrera issued a 30-page decision stating that mailers like this one sent out by New Mexico Youth Organized (NMYO) — which is a project of the Center for Civic Policy (CCP) — and SWOP two to three months before last year’s June primary don’t meet the narrow definition in federal law of political activity and thus can’t be regulated as such.
King has said the mailers cross the line between issue advocacy and political campaigning as defined by the state’s Campaign Reporting Act, alleging that they were designed to help progressive legislative candidates win elections. In addition to contending that the mailers were about an upcoming special session of the Legislature, not an election, the nonprofits have said all along that federal law trumps state law.
In her decision, the judge agreed with both points made by the nonprofits.
Citing that fact, CCP’s policy director, Matt Brix, said in today’s news release that it’s “unfortunate Attorney General Gary King – the top attorney in the state – refuses to acknowledge that the First Amendment applies the same in New Mexico as it does in the other forty-nine states. Attorney General King’s actions spell trouble for all New Mexicans who care about free speech.”
King takes issue with such an assertion.
“This case has never been about the First Amendment, despite misinformation to the contrary. We are not trying to control the content of political ads,” he said this weekend. “We believe, however, that the case has everything to do with voters having the right to know who is paying for political advertising,” he said.
By way of disclosure, I also write for the New Mexico Independent, which is owned by the Center for Independent Media in Washington. When the group was starting up its New Mexico news site last year, CCP helped it locate funding sources. In addition, one of my colleagues at NMI, Marjorie Childress, works for SWOP. Neither organization has tried to use those facts to influence anything I have written.