The City of Las Cruces

There’s still be a question about whether a controversial Las Cruces political committee should have filed a campaign finance report with the city on Oct. 22, but there’s apparently no question that it will have to do so following Tuesday’s municipal election.

Jobs for Las Cruces Political Action Committee ran two half-page ads in the Las Cruces Sun-News on Sunday – the group’s first expenditures related to the city election, one of the ads states. 

And while the ads don’t explicitly endorse any candidates in the election, one of them does raise questions about the trustworthiness of three candidates – Olga Pedroza, Gill M. Sorg and Sharon Thomas. A builder’s association to which the PAC is tied has endorsed the opponents of those three candidates. 

One of the ads takes a shot Pedroza, Sorg and Thomas for spending campaign money with out-of-town businesses instead of local businesses. 

“Do candidates Pedroza, Sorg, and Thomas really care about businesses in Las Cruces?” the ad asks. 

The PAC has come under fire recently because it raised money by telling people it would be spent on the Las Cruces election, but filed no report of contributions and expenditures by the first reporting deadline, Oct. 22. Such reports are required from any group that “raises, collects, expends or contributes money or any other things of value for the purpose of supporting or opposing a candidate in a municipal election,” according to the city’s election code. 

While acknowledging using the city election to raise money, the group’s treasurer, David Roewe, claimed last week that the group had spent no money on the local contest, and instead planned to spend its cash on county and state races next year. 

One progressive activist, Greg Lennes, filed a complaint with the city, and Clerk Esther Martinez has been considering whether the group was required to file a report. A group can be fined $50 per day for every day it’s late in filing a report. 

Martinez has yet to issue a determination. 

Regardless, there appears now to be no question that the group will have to file a finance report after the election. The ad states that “Some vocal supporters of candidates Pedroza, Sorg, and Thomas… have asked when our local PAC will spend money in this year’s campaigns. The answer is NOW.” 

The second finance report of the election cycle is due in December.