Complaint alleges council campaign finance fraud
An attorney filed an ethics complaint on Monday alleging that Albuquerque City Council candidate Javier Benavidez used fraudulent tactics to qualify for public campaign financing.
The 115-page complaint, filed by attorney Pat Rogers, asks the city Board of Ethics to require Benavidez to return about $38,000 he received in public funding and ban him from the Oct. 3 ballot.
Benavidez denied the allegations and fired back that he was targeted for his progressive political views by Rogers, who served as a Republican National Committeeman from 2008 to 2016.
“I think (Rogers) was itching to come after me when he saw my name on the ballot,” said Benavidez, a self-described “progressive champion” who is affiliated with social advocacy groups including the Southwest Organizing Project, or SWOP.
“This is a cooked-up distraction from somebody that has an ax to grind with our campaign,” Benavidez said of Rogers. “I am a candidate who definitely threatens the status quo.”
Benavidez also said he is confident that the process he used to qualify for public financing will stand up to scrutiny by the Board of Ethics.
Rogers denied that he targeted Benavidez because of his political views. “I would be in favor of proceedings ... against anyone who defrauds the taxpayer on this public funding,” he said.
Benavidez is one of five City Council candidates who qualified in May for public campaign financing. To qualify, candidates must collect $5 contributions from 1 percent of the registered voters in their districts.
A candidate in District 1 in far northwest Albuquerque, Benavidez was required to collect $5 donations from at least 381 voters, City Clerk Natalie Howard said.
Benavidez collected a total of 455 donations, of which 399 were accepted as valid by the Clerk’s Office, qualifying him to receive $38,131 in public funding, she said.
The complaint alleges that Benavidez and others in his campaign did not require some voters to donate $5 as required.
Benavidez and others “convinced voters to sign required forms attesting that the voter contributed the $5 donation, by falsely asserting that the campaign or Mr. Benavidez could lawfully contribute the $5 for the voter,” the complaint alleges.
A statement filed with the complaint by Carlos McMahon, a private investigator, said that investigators gathered affidavits from listed donors who said that they had either not contributed $5, or contributed less than $5.
Christina Garcia, a District 1 voter who signed one of the affidavits included in the complaint, said Monday that her sister-in-law solicited a $5 donation from her, but agreed to loan her the money at the time. Garcia said she has since repaid the $5 loan.
Benavidez rejected the allegation that he or his representatives had not required voters to pay $5 as required.
“I am not worried about us not having met the threshold, or not having qualified by the law,” Benavidez said. “I’m certain that we hit the threshold and that we qualified.”