{"id":3562,"date":"2008-08-12T17:43:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-12T23:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/08\/ag-sends-letter-to-secretary-of-state-wont-release-it\/"},"modified":"2008-08-12T17:43:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-12T23:43:00","slug":"ag-sends-letter-to-secretary-of-state-wont-release-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/08\/ag-sends-letter-to-secretary-of-state-wont-release-it\/","title":{"rendered":"AG sends letter to secretary of state, won’t release it"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The attorney general\u2019s office sent a letter today outlining its opinion on whether the secretary of state should force a nonprofit to comply with the state\u2019s campaign finance reporting law, but it won\u2019t release the letter publicly because, according to the AG\u2019s spokesman, it isn\u2019t a public record.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI can confirm that we did send a letter to the secretary of state\u2019s office today,\u201d AG spokesman Phil Sisneros said. \u201cWhat we sent to them is our legal advice.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Sisneros said the letter is exempt from the state\u2019s public records act because of attorney\/client privilege.<\/p>\n

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

The letter is the latest in an ongoing controversy about the status of New Mexico Youth Organized (NMYO). In response to mailers the group sent two to three months before the June primary targeting several lawmakers, including three who lost, the AG sent a May 22 letter<\/a> to the secretary of state advising it to change the status of NMYO, arguing that the mailers crossed the line between policy lobbying and political campaigning.<\/p>\n

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

Then New Mexico Youth Organized and the Center for Civic Policy<\/a>, its parent organization, sent a letter to the secretary of state disputing the AG\u2019s advice. Consideration of the groups\u2019 arguments led to the new letter the AG sent to the secretary of state today. The groups have threatened to sue if the secretary of state changes their status and say the mailers were aimed at influencing the coming special session, not the election.<\/p>\n

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

The AG\u2019s office made the May 22 letter public by releasing it to media organizations. Asked today why it is a public record and the new letter is not, Sisneros said the May 22 letter was \u201cnot technically\u201d formal legal advice, but was instead \u201can open communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

James Flores, spokesman for the secretary of state, has not returned a call seeking comment. The secretary of state has not yet acted on the status of NMYO.<\/p>\n

\n

Though Sisneros wouldn\u2019t release information about the contents of today\u2019s letter, he has previously said the attorney general\u2019s office is \u201cpretty firm\u201d in its position that the mailers crossed the line into political campaigning.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 8:15 p.m.<\/p>\n

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

Flores<\/st1:place> told the New Mexico Independent<\/a> that his office received the letter, is meeting with the AG\u2019s office on Friday and hopes to resolve the issue then.<\/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 sent a letter today outlining its opinion on whether the secretary of state should force a nonprofit to comply with the state\u2019s campaign finance reporting law, but it won\u2019t release the letter publicly because, according to the AG\u2019s spokesman, it isn\u2019t a public record. \u201cI can confirm that we did send […]<\/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-3562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3562","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=3562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3562\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}