{"id":88996,"date":"2015-10-05T16:03:34","date_gmt":"2015-10-05T22:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=88996"},"modified":"2016-04-23T21:08:01","modified_gmt":"2016-04-24T03:08:01","slug":"flawed-nm-campaign-reporting-system-needs-reform-many-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/10\/flawed-nm-campaign-reporting-system-needs-reform-many-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Flawed NM campaign reporting system needs reform, many say"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_56542\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-56542 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-771x504.jpg\" alt=\"A statue outside the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.\" width=\"771\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-771x504.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-336x220.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-768x502.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-1170x764.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A statue outside the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>Update, April 22, 2016: This article has won a first-place prize for political reporting in the multi-state 2015 Top of the Rockies contest. <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/04\/nmpolitics-net-wins-regional-journalism-awards\/\" target=\"_blank\">Learn more<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Former state Rep. Brian Moore recalls a colleague\u00a0once\u00a0telling him that he was going to &#8220;borrow&#8221; the remaining money in his campaign account when he retired from the Legislature.<\/p>\n<p>And never pay it back.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s illegal in New Mexico. Moore wouldn&#8217;t name the former lawmaker, who is now dead, and said he doesn&#8217;t know if\u00a0he actually took the money when he left office. Moore\u00a0called the colleague\u00a0a friend and mentor who, &#8220;in all other respects, may have been one of the most honorable men I&#8217;ve known.&#8221;<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Moore, a Republican from Clayton, said he shared the story with NMPolitics.net as &#8220;another example of crazy practices&#8221; related to campaign finance reporting that have recently come to light.<\/p>\n<p>The most prominent example of recent problems that have eroded confidence in our state&#8217;s campaign reporting system, of course, is the criminal case against the very official\u00a0who is charged with enforcing campaign finance law. That&#8217;s\u00a0Secretary of State Dianna Duran, who is facing charges including\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/08\/nm-secretary-of-state-charged-with-fraud-embezzlement-money-laundering\/\" target=\"_blank\">fraud, embezzlement, money laundering<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/10\/duran-faces-new-felony-charge-of-identity-theft\/\" target=\"_blank\">identity theft<\/a>\u00a0for allegedly\u00a0using campaign funds to keep her personal bank account in the black.<\/p>\n<p>Many other possible violations of campaign law have recently come to light.\u00a0For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rep. Antonio &#8220;Moe&#8221; Maestas, D-Albuquerque, failed to report <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/09\/amount-rep-maestas-says-he-failed-to-report-climbs-to-more-than-11k\/\" target=\"_blank\">more than $11,000<\/a> in contributions in 2014. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sos.state.nm.us\/uploads\/FileLinks\/ca39fa62c82b4aa18c995f8740bcce9e\/2009CampaignPractices.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">State law<\/a> requires the disclosure of all contributions. Duran\u00a0has asked the attorney general <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kob.com\/article\/stories\/s3917630.shtml#.VhCVfRNVhBc\" target=\"_blank\">to investigate<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Rep. James Roger Madalena, D-Jemez Pueblo, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/09\/another-officials-campaign-finance-reports-are-under-scrutiny\/\" target=\"_blank\">spent campaign money<\/a> to help pay for a surgery, buy clothes, and aid\u00a0a &#8220;needy family&#8221; in his district. That&#8217;s all illegal. After at first saying he <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kob.com\/article\/stories\/s3913043.shtml#.VhCXChNVhBc\" target=\"_blank\">hadn&#8217;t read<\/a> the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sos.state.nm.us\/uploads\/FileLinks\/ca39fa62c82b4aa18c995f8740bcce9e\/2009CampaignPractices.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Campaign Reporting Act<\/a> and didn&#8217;t know better, Madalena, who co-sponsored the legislation in 1993 that created\u00a0the law, said he had <a href=\"http:\/\/www.abqjournal.com\/647815\/news\/lawmaker-flipflops-on-reading-law.html\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;of course&#8221;<\/a> read it. And he gave no explanation for violating it.<\/li>\n<li>The\u00a0numbers in finance reports filed by Rep. Andy Nu\u00f1ez, R-Hatch, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/09\/the-numbers-in-nunezs-campaign-finance-reports-dont-add-up\/\" target=\"_blank\">don&#8217;t add up<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Former Rep. Henry &#8220;Kiki&#8221; Saavedra, D-Albuquerque, appears to have given his son, who ran unsuccessfully to replace him in the House, a bigger\u00a0contribution <a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2015\/10\/01\/former-lawmakers-campaign-funds-scrutinized\/\" target=\"_blank\">than state law allows<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are other examples. Some of the alleged violations are worse than others, but they all further taint a state government that has been plagued by scandals in the past decade that include the\u00a0felony convictions of two state treasurers and a New Mexico Senate president.<\/p>\n<p>Among the current scandals, the allegations against Duran are especially concerning.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Her actions make it harder for us to trust government as a whole,&#8221; Barbara Alvarez of Las Cruces wrote <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/haussamen\/posts\/10100916075589461?comment_id=10100916121193071&amp;offset=0&amp;total_comments=5&amp;comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R3%22%7D\" target=\"_blank\">during a Facebook discussion<\/a>. &#8220;&#8230; This is going to hurt us as a state for a long time, whether she&#8217;s found guilty or not.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>New Mexico isn&#8217;t alone in grappling with such problems. Earlier this year the former speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives went to prison for, among other things, filing false campaign reports and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.providencejournal.com\/article\/20150706\/NEWS\/150709578\" target=\"_blank\">stealing $109,000<\/a> from his campaign account.<\/p>\n<p>In response, policymakers in Rhode Island <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rilin.state.ri.us\/pressrelease\/_layouts\/RIL.PressRelease.ListStructure\/Forms\/DisplayForm.aspx?List=c8baae31-3c10-431c-8dcd-9dbbe21ce3e9&amp;ID=10707&amp;Web=2bab1515-0dcc-4176-a2f8-8d4beebdf488\" target=\"_blank\">enacted reforms<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0include requiring candidates to file campaign bank statements with that state&#8217;s elections board so they can be compared with finance reports.<\/p>\n<p>Many say New Mexico also needs reform.<\/p>\n<h3>In full view of the public<\/h3>\n<p>New Mexico has taken significant steps toward improving campaign transparency in recent years. Reports of fundraising and spending filed by candidates, lobbyists and PACs are available to the public online in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfis.state.nm.us\/media\" target=\"_blank\">a searchable database<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That means many of the problems revealed recently\u00a0were essentially sitting out in the open.<\/p>\n<p>Even in Duran&#8217;s case, some evidence of the alleged crimes was available for the public to discover, had anyone\u00a0looked. Lobbyists and PACs reported\u00a0contributions to Duran as far back as 2010 that her campaign never reported receiving.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have made some progress. There have been some wins in the last 10 years or we wouldn&#8217;t be able to see this stuff,&#8221; said Viki Harrison, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps no one found the discrepancies until now in part because\u00a0we have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/11\/a-huge-loss-of-transparency\/\" target=\"_blank\">fewer journalists<\/a> covering politics and government these days. Perhaps, in cases like Madalena&#8217;s, problems remained undiscovered until now because he&#8217;s in a safe seat, and uncontested races tend to be less-scrutinized.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps it&#8217;s because there&#8217;s not enough\u00a0accountability within government. State law requires the secretary of state to audit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rrobserver.com\/news\/state\/article_6e0fbdff-dbb1-549e-9f9a-69145aeb5f7a.html\" target=\"_blank\">10 percent of reports<\/a>. That&#8217;s a higher percentage than is required in\u00a0many other states,\u00a0Harrison said. But she doesn&#8217;t think it&#8217;s enough.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s a lack of transparency surrounding audits of campaign reports in New Mexico, Harrison said. We don&#8217;t really know whether audits are thorough.\u00a0And violators who&#8217;ve been discovered have usually\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/archive.daily-times.com\/four_corners-news\/ci_27478791\/new-mexico-secretary-states-office-collect-few-fines\" target=\"_blank\">gone unpunished<\/a>\u00a0during Duran&#8217;s\u00a0tenure.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe an\u00a0acceptance\u00a0of shenanigans has led to people openly and sometimes even brazenly breaking the law. Recalling the lawmaker who said he planned to keep leftover campaign funds\u00a0when he retired, Moore said\u00a0the revelation came as the two were discussing the official legislative retirement system.<\/p>\n<p>The legislator &#8220;just volunteered the information&#8221; about the other\u00a0way he planned to profit when he quit, Moore said.<\/p>\n<p>Moore, who served in the House from 2001-2008 and ran unsuccessfully\u00a0for lieutenant\u00a0governor in 2010, has experience with the campaign reporting system as a candidate &#8212; who worked as his own campaign treasurer &#8212; and as a donor.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Moore&#8217;s name popped up Friday in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Notice-of-intent-to-introduce-evidence-endorsed-copy.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">a new court filing<\/a> in the Duran case. The AG&#8217;s Office says Duran deposited a check from Moore and his wife Linda into her personal account in August 2010. The $500 check had \u201cSecretary of State!\u201d written on the memo line, the court filing states. Duran has not been charged with any crime related to the check from the Moores.<\/p>\n<p>Brian Moore told NMPolitics.net\u00a0that check was intended &#8220;as a campaign donation,&#8221; as was a $1,000 donation he made to Duran in September 2010. Both contributions showed up on Duran&#8217;s 2010 finance reports (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Moore500donation.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Moore1Kdonation.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>) even though one allegedly ended up in her personal account instead.<\/p>\n<p>Moore said little about the allegations against Duran. In general,\u00a0he contends that many problems coming to light now are &#8220;unintentional mistakes.&#8221; He recalled how difficult it was\u00a0to keep up with finances when he served as his own campaign treasurer. He also mentioned past\u00a0problems with the secretary of state&#8217;s reporting system &#8212; the software was difficult to use and mistakes weren&#8217;t easy to correct.<\/p>\n<p>But, especially\u00a0if the allegations against Duran are true, not all problems are mistakes.<\/p>\n<h3>Ideas for reform<\/h3>\n<p>With such problems now exposed, the drum beat for reform is growing louder. Some have called for an audit of all campaign finance reports in New Mexico. Most states require random audits of somewhere between 2 and 10 percent of reports, Harrison said.\u00a0Maryland <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elections.state.md.us\/campaign_finance\/reporting_schedule.html\" target=\"_blank\">audits every report<\/a>,\u00a0while\u00a0Nebraska audits none.<\/p>\n<p>Attorney General Hector Balderas, whose office is prosecuting Duran, recently called for mandatory fines for violations of the Campaign Reporting Act. Earlier this year, the Farmington Daily Times <a href=\"http:\/\/archive.daily-times.com\/four_corners-news\/ci_28332889\/attorney-general-hector-balderas-calls-mandatory-campaign-finance\" target=\"_blank\">reported<\/a> that Duran had waived almost a third of the fines her office had issued during the 2012 and 2014 elections. Duran had failed to collect almost all the remaining two-thirds of\u00a0fines.<\/p>\n<p>The secretary of state should hold\u00a0regular candidate trainings on compliance with campaign reporting law, Balderas said. And he proposed creation of\u00a0a system that would notify\u00a0campaigns about late reports and other developments.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps candidates should be required to hire certified public accountants to be campaign treasurers, Claudia Anderson of Farmington wrote in a discussion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nmpolitics\/posts\/898930326809359?comment_id=898933673475691&amp;offset=0&amp;total_comments=19&amp;comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R9%22%7D\" target=\"_blank\">on Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It seems everyone asks their best friend, the one who knows how to balance their checkbook. It&#8217;s far more complicated than that,&#8221; Anderson wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Susana Martinez <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/09\/denish-martinez-talk-about-prc-sos-problems\/\" target=\"_blank\">has called for<\/a>\u00a0more frequent campaign reporting and requiring the secretary of state to post its audits of finance reports online.\u00a0Harrison agreed that\u00a0posting audits of reports online is critical.<\/p>\n<p>New Mexico also needs\u00a0a state law or regulation that dictates\u00a0how audits of finance reports are to be conducted so the rules are the same regardless of who is elected secretary of state, Harrison said. In the past it&#8217;s been difficult to learn about the processes various secretaries of state have followed.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To me the whole auditing process has got to come out into the public,&#8221; Harrison said. &#8220;We have to be able to know what happens with that process.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Harrison also\u00a0wants upgrades to the state&#8217;s campaign reporting system to allow\u00a0automatic\u00a0comparisons of\u00a0contributions made by PACs and lobbyists with\u00a0those candidates report receiving. And she\u00a0wants the information the secretary of state collects on campaign donations and spending made\u00a0available to the public in a more accessible and downloadable format, so it can be easily sorted and compared.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez controls the agenda for the upcoming 30-day session of the Legislature, which begins <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmlegis.gov\/lcs\/lcsdocs\/sessionsdates.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Jan. 19<\/a>. Her staff hasn&#8217;t yet responded to an email asking\u00a0whether she will allow consideration of legislation that would reform the state&#8217;s campaign reporting system.<\/p>\n<p>Approving\u00a0reform could\u00a0be difficult. Any increased transparency that makes information about incumbents &#8220;easier to get and expose&#8221; makes it more difficult for incumbents to get re-elected, Moore said. That means lawmakers from both parties might have a political incentive to not improve\u00a0the system.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Part of the problem is the lack of campaign reporting transparency helps incumbents,&#8221; Moore\u00a0said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The criminal allegations against Secretary of State Dianna Duran and recently discovered problems with other officials&#8217; campaign finance reports further taint a state government that has been plagued by scandal in the past decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[142,1191,705,107,706],"class_list":["post-88996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crime","tag-dianna-duran","tag-money-in-politics","tag-roundhouse","tag-transparency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88996","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=88996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}