Adrian Pedroza

Last-minute Santolina PAC donations targeted in ethics complaint

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A former Bernalillo County commission candidate is accusing a political action committee that advertised against him of not disclosing the bulk of its funding in time to meet state guidelines. Adrián Pedroza, a community organizer who in June lost a Democratic primary bid for an open county commission seat, filed a campaign ethics complaint against New Mexico for New Mexicans PAC last week. The complaint, filed with the Secretary of State’s Office, alleges that the PAC violated state law by not properly disclosing nearly $35,000 of its funding until one month after the June 7 primary election. That money, the vast majority of which came from Western Albuquerque Land Holdings, encompassed more than half of the PAC’s $64,500 in donations during the election cycle. “It’s really about maintaining the integrity of the election and voters knowing whose contribution went to what and for what reasons,” Pedroza’s campaign manager Neri Holguin said in an interview.

Albuquerque Newsdesk

Secretive PAC drops attack mailer on eve of primary

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A new political action committee of unknown origins inserted itself into a hotly-contested Bernalillo County Commission race with a decidedly nasty mailer the day before the primary election. The mailer, from a PAC called “Committee for the Truth District #2,” aggressively attacks candidates Adrián Pedroza and Steven Michael Quezada while ending with the phrase, “MAY THE LORD GUIDE YOUR VOTE!!!”

Pedroza and Quezada are vying, along with Robert Chavez, in this week’s primary for the Democratic Party nomination for the seat currently held by Art De La Cruz, who is term-limited and cannot run again. It’s unclear who is behind “Committee for the Truth District #2.” The mailer lists John Davis as treasurer. NM Political Report is choosing to not run pictures of the mailer because of at least two demonstrably false claims written on it, which we will not publish here. When NM Political Report called the phone number that the PAC left with the business that printed the mailer, a person on the other line said, “Wrong number,” and quickly hung up.

Albuquerque Newsdesk

Bernco commissioner wants investigation into Santolina PAC donations

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A Bernalillo County commissioner wants the county attorney to investigate donations to a political action committee supporting two candidates for county commission. New Mexicans for New Mexico PAC recently drew controversy for its donors’ affiliations with the Santolina planned development, a project on Albuquerque’s westside whose developers are  asking the county to approve 80 subsidies for the next several decades. The PAC sent mailers supporting District 2 candidates Steven Michael Quezada and Robert Chavez and has repeatedly targeted Adrián Pedroza, the candidate most outspokenly critical of Santolina. The PAC also funded billboards for Quezada touting his “Breaking Bad” credits. Commissioner Debbie O’Malley, a supporter of Pedroza, wants an investigation into whether certain donations to the PAC violate county campaign finance rules.

Quick Reads

PR firm head says Duran sentencing an ‘opportunity’

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The president of a prominent New Mexico public relations firm says that the sentence of former Secretary of State Dianna Duran is an opportunity for her, public relations-wise. Judge Glenn Ellington sentenced Duran to 30 days in jail, which drew the most attention. He also, however, ordered 2,000 hours of community service and required that Duran speak to civic organizations four times a month for three years. He also ordered Duran to not only write letters to those she wronged, but also to residents of the state to be published in six papers in areas throughout the state. The public events and letters are where where Tom Garrity sees the opportunity, according to his blog.

Albuquerque Newsdesk

ABQ City Council rejects city input on Santolina

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The Albuquerque city council narrowly rejected a measure that would have called on the city to weigh in on a controversial planned development on the city’s West Side. Councilor Isaac Benton carried the bill Monday night, two weeks after the council rejected his introduction of similar legislation that would have also given the city a say on the Santolina master plan. Benton said the city had a right to influence the master plan based on the city and county adopted Planned Communities Criteria and the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Comprehensive Plan. But councilors rejected the bill on a 4-3 vote, with two members abstaining because their employers own some land where Santolina is planned to be built.

During the debate on the legislation, Benton stressed that he wasn’t asking for anything drastic. “We’re not asking for signoff approval,” he said.

News

A look at energy favorability, how New Mexicans consume news

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Tom Garrity is well-known in New Mexico. His Garrity PR releases an annual Perception Survey that looks into the perception of voters on a number of issues. New Mexico Political Report will talk to Garrity each week about his firm’s perception survey, highlighting some of the interesting findings. Two of the interesting questions Garrity spoke about this week were on the favorability of two energy industries in the state, one that has been a major player in politics and the state’s economy and the other that is a newcomer and is less established. When it comes to the oil and gas industry, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the industry has a generally favorable view among Republicans while Democrats are less enamored with the industry.