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Final finance reports filed in Las Cruces election
The final campaign finance reports of the 2009 Las Cruces municipal election were filed earlier this week. The result? The candidates spent a combined $83,000 on the election.
Of course, there’s more. The Las Cruces Sun-News has the full story. The short of it? The controversial Jobs for Las Cruces Political Action Committee didn’t file a finance report even though it spent money on newspaper ads. Calling those ads “educational,” the PAC’s treasurer wrote in a letter to the city clerk that the ordinance governing such spending is “confusing.” He asked the clerk to let him know if he needs to file a report.
In addition, the Building Industries Association of Southern New Mexico – which is tied to Jobs for Las Cruces PAC — spent small amounts of money in support of two candidates. And a realtor’s PAC gave $2,500 each to two candidates.
You can view the finance reports by clicking here.
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The municipal election codes for Las Cruces are rather outdated. We’ve only begun seeing the influx of special interest money that will be heading towards this city. With people like Danny Villanueva investing heavily into this place, residents will begin seeing how politics is played in places like L.A., New York and (reference here to Roewe) Washington (state I mean). I think perhaps the council should look into updating campaign contributions, and limit the amount of influence PACs and other groups have in our area before even more organizations begin buying or trying to buy our elected officials.
In the Sun-News article written by Steve Ramirez he leads everyone to believe that David Roewe’s Jobs for Las Cruces PAC had not put any money into the race. Of course the educational bull by Roewe about the ad’s in the Sun -News was just that “Bull”. Roewe’s PAC held onto funds that people donated for the city elections. When Tom Hutchison signed a letter asking for donations was he duped by Roewe or did he know all along that the PAC would limit their participation to the $2,000 spent on the Sun-News ads?
Didn’t the Jobs for Las Cruces ad even say something like, “Hey! Here’s how we’re spending your donated money on the local election!”? Basic common sense is that a financial report with the city clerk then needs to be filed.