Judge orders secretive political group to publicly disclose where its money comes from

A state judge is ordering a dark money group that paid for political advertising in support of legislative candidates earlier this year to disclose the sources of its funding and its spending by September 9.

In a 14-page ruling filed last week in state court, Judge Joshua Allison agreed with the State Ethics Commission that the New Mexico Project meets the definition of “political committee” and imposed a timeline for the group to meet the demands of the state’s campaign reporting act.

“The material evidence is undisputed,” Allison wrote in the ruling. By not disclosing its donors and its spending, the New Mexico Project “frustrates the purpose of the Campaign Reporting Act: to shine light on those who seek to influence our elections by paying for advertisements that support candidates for public office.”

The New Mexico Project, founded by one-time gubernatorial candidate, Jeff Apodaca, has argued in court filings that it does not meet the definition of a political committee and therefore isn’t subject to the law’s demands. The State Ethics Commission sued the New Mexico Project in May to force the disclosure of the information, a position Allison sided with in Wednesday’s ruling.

Blair Dunn, the organization’s attorney, declined to say in an email the day after the filing whether the New Mexico Project will comply with Allison’s order or appeal the ruling.

In a press release, Jeremy Farris, executive director of the State Ethics Commission, said the judge’s ruling “underscores the importance of New Mexico’s campaign finance laws. New Mexicans have a right to know who is spending money to influence their votes. The Commission will continue to work so that the public’s right is realized.”

The New Mexico Project made a splash in the months ahead of this year’s June primary election by spending thousands of dollars on radio ads to support certain Democratic candidates but never disclosed who was paying for the advertising.

New Mexico in Depth first published this article. It is republished here with permission.

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