{"id":3549,"date":"2008-08-08T17:23:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-08T23:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/08\/ag-stands-by-prior-advice-to-change-nonprofits-status\/"},"modified":"2008-08-08T17:23:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-08T23:23:00","slug":"ag-stands-by-prior-advice-to-change-nonprofits-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/08\/ag-stands-by-prior-advice-to-change-nonprofits-status\/","title":{"rendered":"AG stands by prior advice to change nonprofit’s status"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

The attorney general\u2019s office is standing by its assertion that a nonprofit\u2019s activities have crossed the line between policy lobbying and political campaigning and its prior advice that the secretary of state force the group to comply with campaign finance reporting laws.<\/p>\n

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

That statement from Attorney General Gary King<\/a> was issued this afternoon in a strongly worded news release. The release appeared to be a direct response to an article in the New Mexico Independent<\/a> in which the deputy secretary of state was quoted as saying the AG\u2019s office had told him to disregard that advice.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIf the deputy secretary of state thought we had instructed him to simply ignore our letter, then that was a misunderstanding on his part of what was said,\u201d King said in the release.<\/p>\n

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

The Independent article was headlined \u201cIgnore that letter\u201d and quoted Deputy Secretary of State Don Francisco Trujillo as saying that, after Chief Deputy Attorney General Al Lama sent the May 22 letter<\/a> telling the secretary of state to change the status of New Mexico Youth Organized (NMYO), Lama called and told him \u201cto disregard (the letter) or set it aside. I don\u2019t remember the exact terminology. The message was, \u2018We\u2019ve decided that is not our final say.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The release from King\u2019s office said he stands by Lama\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cDespite some reports to the contrary, we fully support our earlier position in a letter that the secretary of state\u2019s office needs to tell (NMYO) to immediately comply with the law,\u201d King said. \u201cDue to the spread of misinformation there seems to be some thought that my office had \u2018disavowed\u2019 our letter or told the secretary of state to \u2018ignore\u2019 our advice. That is just not true.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

AG says mailers were campaign materials<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The controversy surrounds mailers NMYO, its parent nonprofit the Center for Civic Policy<\/a> and other progressive groups sent two to three months before the June primary targeting several lawmakers. Though Lama\u2019s letter doesn\u2019t mention the mailers, today\u2019s news release state\u2019s that the AG\u2019s opinion is based at least in part on the belief that the mailers were campaign materials, not lobbying materials.<\/p>\n

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

Officials with NMYO and the Center for Civic Policy argue that the mailers were policy-based and aimed to influence lawmakers in advance of the approaching special session and had nothing to do with the election. They point to the fact that the mailers stopped two months before the election and say some lawmakers who weren\u2019t in hotly contested races were targeted along with those who lost at the hands of progressives.<\/p>\n

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

King isn\u2019t buying it.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe group claims that the mailers it sent out were not campaign materials,\u201d his news release states. \u201cThe attorney general disagrees.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an old saying that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it\u2019s probably a duck,\u201d King said in the release. \u201cAnd I think we know a duck when we see one.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The policy director for the Center for Civic Policy, Matt Brix, said in an interview that the group is \u201cdisappointed in the directive that Attorney General King\u2019s office has released, and we strongly disagree with their conclusions reached.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u2018We\u2019re doing the due diligence on this\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Despite the AG\u2019s advice, the secretary of state\u2019s office hasn\u2019t changed the status of NMYO. Officials have said the situation is still under review. Phil Sisneros, spokesman for King\u2019s office, was quoted in the Independent article as saying that, in considering what to do about NMYO, all options remain open.<\/p>\n

Lest anyone think that means King\u2019s office might back away from Lama\u2019s letter, Sisneros said in an interview that isn\u2019t going to happen.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe\u2019re pretty firm in the position,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

\n

That doesn\u2019t necessarily mean the secretary of state will follow the AG\u2019s advice. Lama\u2019s original letter states that it was preceded by an April 25 letter in which the secretary of state decided that NMYO was a lobbying organization not subject to the Campaign Practices Act.<\/p>\n

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

Sisneros said the only reason the secretary of state hasn\u2019t acted is because the AG asked that office to hold off while it considered the arguments of the Center for Civic Policy. The group sent a letter to the secretary of state outlining its position that has been forwarded to the AG.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe wanted to see what the Center for Civic Policy was saying too, why they were saying our advice was incorrect or flawed,\u201d Sisneros said. \u201cWe\u2019re doing the due diligence on this.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\n

He said there\u2019s no timeline for the completion of the AG\u2019s review of the Center for Civic Policy\u2019s arguments.<\/p>\n

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

By way of disclosure, I also write for the New Mexico Independent<\/a>, which is owned by the Center for Independent Media<\/a> in Washington<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>. When the group was starting up its New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place> 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The attorney general\u2019s office is standing by its assertion that a nonprofit\u2019s activities have crossed the line between policy lobbying and political campaigning and its prior advice that the secretary of state force the group to comply with campaign finance reporting laws. That statement from Attorney General Gary King was issued this afternoon in a […]<\/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-3549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3549","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=3549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}