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| Gonzales and Keller |
In addition to lowering the number of individual $5 donations required for a mayoral candidate to qualify for the financing, reformers are urging the city to adopt a more robust system to have those donations checked for accuracy and integrity.
Both the Keller and Gonzales campaigns accuse one another of gaming the system, the Gonzales camp by forging signatures of donors and Keller's campaign by a union head giving $5 donations on behalf of some members.
The solution? Activate an office every four years in the office of the city Inspector General to check the great majority of the $5 donations and accompanying signatures for authenticity. That takes the task away from the campaigns and the city clerk--a political appointee--whose required checks of signatures and donations are cursory at best.
Reformers earlier proposed here lowering the number of donations required by the mayoral hopefuls to qualify for over $600,000 in public financing. They pointed out only six candidates (including Keller this year) have done so since 2009. That means candidates with well-oiled machines are the ones able to access public funds, the opposite of what was hoped for when taxpayer campaign funding began.
Currently 3,779 individual donations of $5 each are required but who knows how much cheating has been going on? Checks for authenticity largely depend on the campaigns. To end future imbroglios an office under the Inspector General could check donations and signatures as they come in and raise red flags when appropriate. They could make voter contacts to ensure donations are on the up and up.
The added expense to ensure that the public money is spent as intended would be minimal. The office could also inspect city council public donations every two years. Just establishing a separate check system would inhibit forgery and other issues with the donations as campaigns would know they were being closely monitored.
The worry that easing the required donations for mayor could lead to a flood of candidates is also unfounded. A requirement of over 2,000 is still a high hurdle.
GOING FORWARD
A City Hearing Officer Tuesday will make the first determination on whether the decision by City Clerk Ethan Watson to disqualify Gonzales from public financing should stand. If he agrees, Gonzales is expected to appeal to a district court judge who could reinstate the sheriff's public funds, or not.
The Keller campaign has asked the Inspector General to investigate the donor forgeries and he will make a report by Aug. 16.
We can't be sure that all 3,779 Gonzales donations are valid because no one--not the Keller camp or anyone else--has thoroughly checked each donation. Absent that check a judge could apply a broad standard to avoid infringing on the rights of those who did legitimately donate.
As for the forgeries being unintentional mistakes, affidavits from the Keller campaign and an investigative news report show otherwise. The Gonzales counter complaint against Keller that a union head fronted donations doesn't stand up as much. The newspaper checked with several firefighters at the meeting where the alleged offense occurred and who the Gonzales camp says had donations made in their names. They all said they had given the $5 themselves.
Public financing has been partially destroyed by the US Supreme Court allowing outside committees to collect unlimited amounts of money to support their favored mayoral candidates. It's worth preserving but public confidence can fade. An ABQ system riddled with opportunity for cheating is not one that can or should stand the test of time.
THE FALLOUT
It isn't only Sheriff Gonzales taking a public pasting over his campaign's mismanagement. His twenty something campaign manager, Megan McMillan, granddaughter of the late NM GOP icon Colin McMillan, and Michelle Martinez, an executive assistant to the Sheriff, could be in precarious positions if the District Attorney decides to pursue charges over the forgeries. Keller's campaign accuses them of being responsible for the bulk of the 149 forgeries they uncovered and that the forgeries are fourth degree felonies. McMillan's first campaign management outing was with the successful City Council campaign of Republican Brook Bassan.
Gonzales' chief consultant, Republican Jay McCleskey, a controversial political figure who was Gov. Martinez's guru, has already been blasted by R's for signing on to the Dem sheriff's campaign. Now, while watching the campaign come apart over the donor controversy, he is in for more hits. "Jay is the only guy who could take a sheriff and make him a criminal," jabbed one of McCleskey's Republican rivals. If that's all the hurt McCleskey suffers from this messy mishap, he'll be most fortunate.
THE BOTTOM LINES
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| Judge Zamora |
Gov. Lujan Grisham has appointed Briana H. Zamora of the New Mexico Court of Appeals to the state Supreme Court, closing the vacancy left by the Honorable Justice Barbara J. Vigil, who retired. “Judge Zamora is an experienced jurist of the highest caliber with the kind of incredible work ethic mandatory for those who would serve on our state’s highest court,” said MLG.
Zamora, 47, is the daughter of former ABQ Dem State Sen. Bernadette Sanchez.
Talk about getting away from it all. President Biden has named former NM Dem US Senator Tom Udall ambassador to New Zealand. That nation's tourism site says it's the place to make "new friends in small towns with big doses of laid-back charm."
Udall will stay busy there warming up the nation's leaders to Washington. It's not the Sec. of Interior post he lobbied Biden for but certainly a nice, soft landing for the 73 year old. Just make sure someone sends some green chile to Wellington.
This is the home of New Mexico politics.
(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2021