A plan to change campaign finance reporting over a lawsuit gets pulled.
A controversial proposal that would have altered the city’s campaign code, removing a disclosure requirement for people and groups spending money on advertisements for ballot initiatives in municipal elections, is no more.
Councilor Carmichael Dominguez, the sponsor, said Wednesday he was withdrawing the proposal.
“I don’t want us to be doing anything where we look like we’re anti-disclosure at all,” Dominguez said.
According to city code, any person or group spending more than $250 on a form of public communication in favor of or against a ballot measure must file regular campaign finance statements with the city clerk.
The Rio Grande Foundation, an Albuquerque-based, libertarianleaning think tank, filed a lawsuit against the city in federal court this summer over the disclosure requirement, arguing it infringes on constitutionally protected speech and violates nonprofit donors’ privacy. Dominguez had said his proposal was tailored to limit the city’s exposure to what he said could be a costly legal battle.
But transparency advocates slammed the proposal as a capitulation to the think tank, which had run afoul of the reporting requirements ahead of a controversial vote on a sugary-beverage tax earlier this year by virtue of an in-kind contribution worth more than the $250 threshold. The donation was for an anti-soda tax website and video.
The City Attorney’s Office instructed the group and its director, Paul J. Gessing, to file a report, which the group ultimately did, revealing that a Washington, D.C.-based group called Interstate Policy Alliance made the in-kind contribution worth $7,500.
In October, the city’s ethics and campaign review board advised the council not to pass Dominguez’s proposal.
According to online court records, U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Carmen Garza has scheduled a conference Dec. 19 to determine the date of a trial in the foundation’s case against the city.