Herrera tells nonprofit to register as a PAC

Secretary of State Mary Herrera has told New Mexico Youth Organized (NMYO) to register as a political committee and comply with the state’s campaign reporting laws, but the group says it will contest that demand with legal action.

“After consultation with our legal counsel at the Office of the Attorney General, it appears that New Mexico Youth Organized is operating as a political committee,” Herrera’s letter, sent late today, states.

Eli Il Yong Lee, executive director of the Center for Civic Policy (CCP), the parent organization for NMYO, said both organizations “strongly disagree” with Herrera’s decision.

“We will purse all legal remedies at our disposal,” he said in an e-mail.

Herrera’s letter does not provide any legal argument to back up its claim that NMYO has been operating as a political committee. An after-hours e-mail to the secretary of state’s public information officer to request a copy of the letter the attorney general sent last week making the legal argument was not immediately answered.

New Mexico Youth Organized and several other nonprofits have been engaging in what they call a legislative accountability campaign that has included mailers targeting lawmakers. Attorney General Gary King sent the letter last week advising the secretary of state of his office’s belief that NMYO’s mailers cross the line between issue advocacy and political campaigning. He advised the secretary of state to force NMYO to regularly report contributions and expenditures publicly, just like candidates, campaigns and political action committees.

King says he’s interested in the issue because many nonprofits are engaging in the same type of activism as NMYO. But the arguments behind his legal opinion remain, for the time being, a secret. Because Herrera is the client, it’s up to her office to release King’s letter, but she is not required to do so, King has said, because the letter is protected by attorney/client privilege.

Attorneys for CCP and NMYO, meanwhile, have released a copy of the letter they sent to Herrera on June 6 laying out their legal argument that NMYO’s activities were proper for a nonprofit.

Herrera wrote in today’s letter that, under the Campaign Reporting Act, NMYO has until Sept. 2 to register as a political committee “and provide a written explanation of the apparent violation.” Under the act, according to the letter, the group could be fined $50 per day, for a maximum of $5,000, for the time that the group has not been in compliance.

Lee insisted in his statement that, with its mailings, the group “upheld our responsibility to make sure New Mexicans knew what actions have been taken on issues important to them by their elected officials.”

“Any effort to restrict this legal activity would muzzle New Mexico nonprofits from doing the very important job of keeping public officials accountable,” he said. “Public information is just that — public. Any attempt to hide this kind of information is not in the interests of the people of New Mexico. It is surprising that any public official would actually advocate for this irresponsible course of action.”

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 earlier this year, the Center for Civic Policy helped it locate funding sources. The Center for Civic Policy has never tried to use that fact to influence anything I have written.