Hiding

Last week the Attorney General came to an agreement with New Mexico Youth Organized not to enforce the Secretary of State's order to disclose donor information like every other lobbying organization is required by law to do (ABQ Journal - Subscription).

The office reached an agreement with attorneys for the nonprofit New Mexico Youth Organized allowing the group to hold off on filing while its attorneys fight the order in court, Attorney General's Office spokesman Phil Sisneros said Friday.

-Albuquerque Journal - Subscription

It strikes us as interesting that these groups who claim that support open and ethical elections (meaning taxpayer funded candidates) work so hard to keep their supporters hidden behind the iron curtain of a 501(c)(3). The Secretary of State and AG are simply requiring that these groups - whose primary function is electioneering - to reveal who their supporters are.

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This type of shroud is one of the main objections we have to the Albuquerque Open and Ethical Elections ordinance (taxpayer financed elections). Candidates for office fund their ambitions with taxpayer money while shrouding their associations behind a curtain of money provided at taxpayer expense. This election scheme is neither open nor ethical.
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As odd as it sounds, we don't have any problem with groups lobbying their legislators. Our system was designed to specifically allow groups of people to band together to petition their government. We generally don't agree with the types of things that NMYO, SWOP, The Center for Civic Policy, and others lobby for but we defend their right to do so. However, their non-profit status should not be a shield that allows them to protect their supporters and thus their political associations any more than lobbyists for oil companies should be allowed to withhold their benefactors.

These non-profit political organizations have a lot of questions to answer - chief among them is why are they hiding and who?

It's a Duck

There's an old saying that if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck chances are... The Albuquerque Journal reported Tuesday that after consulting with Attorney General Gary King, Secretary of State Mary Herrera has determined "[i]t appears that New Mexico Youth Organized is operating as a political committee for purposes of the (state) Campaign Reporting Act." (ABQ Journal - Subscription)

NMYO is just one of the non-profit organizations that have an affiliation with lobbyist and political consultant Eli Lee. These groups - Clearly New Mexico, 1 Sky New Mexico, Center for Civic Policy, New Mexico Youth Organized - are just a few non-profits whose only mission is political advocacy and they accomplish their goals through tax exempt donations from undisclosed donors.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

-1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

These lobbyist organizations argue that they are simply engaging in constitutionally protected freedom of association and freedom of speech. In fact, we'd agree with them. In our opinion their activities are fully protected by the Constitution. It's not the groups lobbying or their "educational" activities that are at issue here - it's their ability to operate outside New Mexico campaign reporting laws.

It's hard to understand how these organizations are allowed to operate as non-profits in the first place. They admit to mailing "educational" pieces targeting specific legislators. If your local church were to engage in similar activities their 501c(3) status would be yanked faster than you could say "amen."

More importantly, these early expenditures benefit specific candidates - favored candidates like Eric Griego, Tim Keller, and Elanor Chavez - by preparing the electoral battlefield. They attempt to shape issues and tear down the opposition. After all, there are only two reasons that people vote for a candidate - they either love one of the candidates or hate the other one.

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You may have noticed that last week our friends Hal and Bob got new sponsors. They were originally paid for by Eli Lee's Center for Civic Policy last week these same ads were sponsored by 1sky New Mexico and New Energy Economy. If there was any doubt that these organizations are acting in concert the ad's sponsor swap exposes the behind the collusion.
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There are two questions here. The first is whether or not these organizations should be allowed to continue to operate as 501c(3) non-profit organizations - a question for the IRS. The second is whether or not they should be allowed to continue to operate outside New Mexico campaign reporting law.

We'd argue that that since their primary function is lobbying either the public or the legislature they shouldn't be considered non-profit and therefore ineligible to receive tax deductible donations. Obviously, if their main function is issue advocacy - no matter what the issue is - these non-profit organizations need to abide by New Mexico law.

Bermuda in the Grassroots

Bermuda grass - it's the bane of our existence. If you've ever owned a property where some fool has planted the stuff at anytime in the history of man you'll understand that getting it out of your beautiful Bluegrass is damn near impossible. This "grass" - that should really be classified as a weed - sends out coarse tendrils right along the ground. They go through just about anything rooting themselves and creating cells of Bermuda along the way.

Each cell then sends out its own tendrils that root in more places spreading out at an unimaginable pace. It's an ugly coarse grass that hurts when you walk on it barefoot and gets denser over time choking out the grass around it. It reminds us of Aspen groves where each seemingly individual tree is connected to a single organism. Only Bermuda grass is as ugly as Aspens are beautiful and it hides in the grass that it is destroying.

You're probably wondering what grass has to do with, well... anything. There's Bermuda grass hiding among the Bluegrass of New Mexico. And just like the plant version each of the cells are connected.

What got us thinking about this was the series of ads being run on 770 KKOB by the Center for Civic Policy. You know the ones, Big Oil Bob and Healthcare Hal. The spots are a childish attempt to characterize corporations involved in producing energy and providing access to healthcare as selfish and greedy.

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Businesses operate on profit. When profit is removed from the equation there's little reason to perform a task. You wouldn't work for nothing and we know that we wouldn't. Nationalizing (or as Rep. Maxine Waters - D California says "socialize") either industry will remove the incentive for companies to run efficiently, to produce more, better, and cheaper products to compete with other private companies. Government regulation is largely responsible for both crisis's and groups like the Center for Civic Policy are largely responsible for the regulation.
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Despite immediately dismissing the spots for their idiocy of message and poor production value, we were curious about this Center for Civic Policy. It turns out they're a 501(c)(3) connected to Clearly New Mexico which is a 501(c)(4) by the name of the Center for Civic Action. Both groups are run by one Eli Il Yong Lee. Mr. Lee is also listed as a consultant for 1Sky a global warming scare group. In addition, Mr. Lee is the CEO and President of Soltari a political consulting firm for liberal candidates in small elections.

Eli Lee is in turn connected with Matt Brix Executive Director of Common Cause. Mr. Brix is a registered lobbyist for both of Lee's non-profits and listed as employed by them along with Common Cause on the Secretary of State's website.

So far, we have four apparently independent organizations with different names but similar if not identical agendas. They are all cross employed with each other and have the ability to take tax exempt donations to fund those salaries. They're professional advocates that rely on charitable donations and scare tactics for their livelihood.

More importantly, the groups are clearly involved in coordinated political activity. How could they not be when they share leadership and salaries? Plus, they create an echo chamber by making the public think that the same opinions are coming from different organizations.

Look... we don't care that they advocate for positions and candidates that we vehemently disagree with. It's their Constitutional right to lobby government and speak out on any topic they choose. We'd defend that right at all costs because we benefit from those same protections.

Our problem is the hypocrisy involved. These groups rail against "corporate special interests" while creating a multi-cell lobbying group, run by them, for them and their financial gain, and with their own set of special interests. It's disingenuous, it's hypocritical, it's deceptive and it's just like the damn Bermuda grass hiding in our yard.