Rustic legislative primary is no day at beach

Honolulu typically doesn’t have anything to do with a legislative election in two rural counties of New Mexico.

But nothing is typical this spring in the Democratic primary election between state Rep. Ambrose Castellano and challenger Anita Gonzales.

Put off by Castellano’s conservative voting record, Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is campaigning for Gonzales. The governor and Gonzales will attend a fundraiser Wednesday evening on upscale Canyon Road in Santa Fe.

The setting is many miles and a world apart from House District 70, where Gonzales and Castellano are trying to win over voters in San Miguel and Torrance counties.

Even more distant are the pounding surf and skyscraper hotels along Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, a city that suddenly matters in the race between Gonzales and Castellano.

Former state Rep. Daymon Ely, D-Corrales, on Monday filed a state ethics complaint against Castellano. Ely says the representative in three years and three months has improperly spent some $30,000 in campaign donations on personal items and frills, such as a Hawaiian vacation tacked onto a government convention.

Castellano sent me a text message Tuesday saying his spending of campaign cash was above board.

“I welcome a fair and legal process but believe my campaign is in compliance with laws and regulations,” he wrote.

Castellano did not respond to my questions about particular expenditures, such as his trip to Hawaii in December 2022. Castellano attended a convention of the Council of State Governments in Honolulu.

His own campaign disclosure reports list Castellano as spending more than $3,000 at a Hilton hotel on Waikiki Beach. Gonzales’ supporters unearthed photos from social media of Castellano and two family members accompanying him in Hawaii.

The convention ran from Dec. 7-10. In that general timeframe, Castellano listed two bookings for the same Hilton hotel.

One dated Dec. 6 was for $2,096. The other listed Dec. 12 and a cost of $1,044.

Unclear was the length of the stays and whether the expenses applied only to Castellano or to other people as well. The lawmaker’s descriptions of the trip on his campaign expense report were stark: “Candidate travel, lodging and meals.”

Castellano, though, listed one separate campaign expense for food. He reported dining at Rocky Japanese Steakhouse in Honolulu. The tab was for $336.84. No mention was made in his

campaign report of how many people were in his party.

Ely’s complaint states Castellano racked up many more charges for personal purchases rather than campaign costs in violation of the law.

Ely calculated Castellano in his three-plus years in office spent $14,773 in campaign funds on meals; $8,102 on hotel rooms; and $6,234 in gasoline at locations in New Mexico and Texas.

Some of the charges appear to have no connection to campaigning.

For example, on Aug. 3, 2022, Castellano listed hotel expenses of $392.41 at the Sandia Resort & Casino. Six days later, Castellano stated he accrued $1,290.25 in hotel expenses at the same resort, which is outside his district.

More significant, Castellano at that stage was running unopposed in the general election. He had narrowly defeated Gonzales in the June primary.

In the days before and after his unopposed reelection, Castellano also accrued charges of $430.67 at Hotel Chimayo in Santa Fe and $680.09 at Hilton Santa Fe.

For now, how all those hotel stays could qualify as campaign expenditures is an open question.

The same is true of a $1,000 tab at the Bull Ring restaurant and a bill of $352.86 bill at the Ranch House Restaurant. Castellano’s expenditures at those establishments in Santa Fe occurred in August 2022, also while he had no opponent in the forthcoming election.

Yet another potential problem for Castellano is potential double-dipping, as he spent campaign funds on meals during all four of his regular legislative sessions. In those periods, he also received a daily expense allowance from taxpayers as part of his legislative compensation.

During the 30-day session this year, Castellano tapped his campaign account for $537 for food, Ely stated in his complaint. That included a $135 bill at Rio Chama Prime Steakhouse.

Castellano, like all lawmakers, received an expense allowance of $231 a day during the most recent legislative session.

In his statement to me, Castellano wrote: “I’m committed to my district and won’t let people in Albuquerque distract me from earning the vote.”

His reference was to Gonzales’ campaign manager, Neri Holguin, who lives in Albuquerque and perhaps to Ely, who hails from a suburb.

Castellano narrowly defeated Gonzales in both his winning campaigns for the House of Representatives. Those elections were sluggish because of the coronavirus pandemic and wildfires in much of House District 70.

This time, Castellano’s days in Honolulu could be problematic for him.

He voted to allow storefront lenders in New Mexico to continue charging annual interest rates of 175%, then tapped his campaign fund for a hotel on Waikiki Beach.