{"id":27966,"date":"2011-03-31T19:25:57","date_gmt":"2011-04-01T01:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=27966"},"modified":"2011-03-31T22:24:52","modified_gmt":"2011-04-01T04:24:52","slug":"ag-says-guv%e2%80%99s-radio-ads-might-have-violated-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/03\/ag-says-guv%e2%80%99s-radio-ads-might-have-violated-law\/","title":{"rendered":"AG says guv\u2019s radio ads might have violated law"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Attorney General Gary King (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Attorney General\u2019s Office says Gov. Susana Martinez\u2019s<\/a> radio ads that lobbied the Legislature using campaign funds might have violated state law, The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a> is reporting.<\/p>\n

The letter from Deputy Attorney General Albert Lama<\/a> urges Secretary of State Dianna Duran<\/a> to reconsider her position that the campaign expenditure was legal, the newspaper reported.<\/p>\n

From the newspaper:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Although you did not seek our advice in this matter, we are concerned that your interpretation of the Campaign Reporting Act is unnecessarily broad and may open the door to use of campaign contributions contrary to the Legislature’s intent,\u2019 Lama wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Lama\u2019s letter doesn\u2019t suggest that the attorney general is going to take any further action.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Duran ruled earlier this month<\/a> that Martinez didn\u2019t violate state law by using campaign funds to lobby the legislature, saying the ads \u201cpromote the governor\u2019s issues and ideas, and that the promotion of such issues and ideas are a standard campaign activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duran\u2019s ruling followed complaints from two nonprofits about the ads \u2013 Somos Un Pueblo Unido and Common Cause.<\/p>\n

Duran was quoted by The New Mexican as saying her office had not received \u201cany correspondence or communication from the Attorney General on this matter,\u201d including the letter obtained by the newspaper.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe find it surprising and unlikely that the Attorney General would decide to create some unsolicited legal advice for our office and immediately forward it to the media before sending it to us,\u201d Duran said. \u201cThis would seem to be a violation of the ethical obligations of any attorney\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

She also noted that the letter \u201cdoes not contain any reference to case law or legal precedent. It also contains no mention of the Supreme Court\u2019s or 10th Circuit\u2019s holdings on First Amendment issues. Accordingly, our office would have any number of questions concerning the opinions expressed in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Update, 10:25 p.m.<\/h3>\n

Martinez spokesman Danny Diaz released this statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like other groups and political parties that aired ads during the session, the governor has a First Amendment right to promote ideas and issues, including her desire to ban driver\u2019s licenses for illegal immigrants. The secretary of state has ruled this was perfectly fine, which is consistent not only with common practice, but more importantly, with the opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED: The Attorney General\u2019s Office says Gov. Susana Martinez\u2019s radio ads that lobbied the Legislature using campaign funds might have violated state law, The Santa Fe New Mexican is reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[197,107],"class_list":["post-27966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2014-election","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27966\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}