{"id":3377,"date":"2008-06-12T11:32:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-12T17:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/06\/bribery-statute-may-need-clarification\/"},"modified":"2008-06-12T11:32:00","modified_gmt":"2008-06-12T17:32:00","slug":"bribery-statute-may-need-clarification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/06\/bribery-statute-may-need-clarification\/","title":{"rendered":"Bribery statute may need clarification"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>State Rep. Debbie Rodella<\/a>, D-Ohkay Owingeh, gave $100 from her campaign fund three times last year to help cover funeral costs, according to a Wednesday article in the Albuquerque Journal<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

She also wants to use her campaign fund for other expenses some would find questionable: She wrote a letter to the Attorney General\u2019s Office last year asking whether it is alright to spend campaign money on phone cards, pizza parties and other expenses for voters. She wrote in her letter that her purpose in doing that \u201cwould be to garner good will from these men and women and their family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The AG\u2019s office, in a letter I found confusing<\/a>, responded last month that, while the Campaign Reporting Act appears to allow such expenditures, they might be illegal bribes under the state Election Code. The Election Code forbids a lawmaker from \u201cwillfully advancing, paying\u2026 directly or indirectly, any money or other valuable consideration\u2026 to any person\u2026 to induce such a person, if a voter, to vote or refrain from voting for or against any candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Violation is a fourth-degree felony.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The AG opinion states that any thing of value, \u201cno matter how trivial,\u201d can\u2019t be given to \u201cinfluence or induce a vote\u201d unless it is strictly campaign literature.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Phone cards are certainly not campaign literature.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But the AG opinion doesn\u2019t directly tell Rodella that she can\u2019t buy phone cards for voters to \u201cgarner good will.\u201d That\u2019s why I\u2019m confused. Does the Election Code allow that or not? The AG opinion answers only with clear-cut examples: A magnet that says \u201cVote for XX\u201d is probably OK, while a $10 bill is probably not. In between, the AG opinion seems to state, is a gray area.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

There should be no gray area. Candidates should be allowed to ask for votes, but not bribe for votes. Handing out literature or trinkets that include candidate information and a call to vote for the candidate is appropriate. Providing food at an event at which a candidate asks voters to choose him or her is appropriate. Paying for voters\u2019 funeral expenses and phone cards to \u201cgarner good will\u201d is not appropriate. When someone is running for election and giving something to a voter, seeking to \u201cgarner good will\u201d and \u201cinfluence or induce a vote\u201d are one and the same.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

If state law doesn\u2019t already make this clear, legislators need to clarify it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State Rep. Debbie Rodella, D-Ohkay Owingeh, gave $100 from her campaign fund three times last year to help cover funeral costs, according to a Wednesday article in the Albuquerque Journal. She also wants to use her campaign fund for other expenses some would find questionable: She wrote a letter to the Attorney General\u2019s Office last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3377","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=3377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3377\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}