Super PACs muscle into local elections
Outside groups gain power, volume in attempts to impose their messages in politics
Mailers hit voters in Las Cruces, N.M., before this week’s election with some ominous messages about two-term Democratic Mayor Ken Miyagishima.
“Lipstick on a pig? The true story of Las Cruces Mayor Miyagishima DOESN’T want you to know,” one said, pointing to poverty rates in the city. Another, circulated days before Tuesday’s election, claimed to expose the mayor’s “dirty secret,” citing a police report in 1993 about a domestic disturbance involving his then-wife, although no charges were filed in the 22-year-old case.
The attacks didn’t come from his rivals for the job but from Goal WestPAC, a super PAC bankrolled largely by out-of-town business owners trying to oust Miyagishima over his support of a sales tax.
“It was an assault,” said Miyagishima of the group’s mailers and fliers. “I know that politics can get brutal, but I’ve never seen it this bad.”
Miyagishima prevailed in the three-way race Tuesday night, but Goal WestPAC’s effort to shape the election in this city of a little more than 100,000 in southern New Mexico underscores the growing role of super PACs and other outside groups in local and state elections. Super PACs and politically active non-profit groups, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts in candidate elections, are becoming increasingly important players in American politics. Independent groups have spent more than $35 million on federal races this year, nearly seven times what such organizations had spent at this point in the 2012 campaign, a tally by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics shows.
Their influence is spreading in down-ballot contests, too.
In Virginia, for instance, a gun control group tied to former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg pumped more than $2 million into two state Senate races in the hopes of flipping the chamber to Democrats. One candidate supported by Bloomberg ’s group, Jeremy McPike, prevailed to capture an open Democratic seat, but Republicans retained their 21-19 majority in the chamber.
In New Jersey, a super PAC heavily funded by unions spent nearly $4 million in state legislative races and helped Democrats knock off at least three Republican incumbents to help the party claim its biggest majority in the state Assembly in more than 30 years. Independent money accounted for nearly 42% of general election spending in New Jersey this year, up from 19% in 2013, according to state election regulators.
There’s no central repository of activity by super PACs and other outside groups active in local and state elections. “What we’ve seen anecdotally is that super PACs coming into state and local elections can have an enormous impact,” said Edwin Bender of the National Institute on Money in State Politics.
“They raise issues at the last minute that candidates can’t respond to,” he said. “They are hijacking the campaigns and community discussions.”
In New Mexico, the focus of the Goal WestPAC is “the economic and business climate” in the state, said Mark Murphy, the PAC’s chairman and president of Strata Production, an oil-and-gas exploration company in Roswell, N.M., about 180 miles northeast of Las Cruces. Murphy and his company donated $35,000 to the super PAC, records show.
PAC officials decided to target Miyagishima and city politicians over what Murphy called a “history of overregulation and taxation,” including support for a 2013 gross receipts tax.
Goal West has raised $125,000 this year, campaign-finance records show. By contrast, Miyagishima has raised and spent about $50,000 on his race.
Although he and other top donors don’t live in Las Cruces, Murphy rejects the idea that outof-town interests sought undue influence in city elections. “We have family and friends over there,” he said.
“You’ve got local people contributing into a group that’s addressing local issues,” he said.
Although Miyagishima says he’s happy being mayor, his name has emerged in recent years as a possible challenger to Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., whose district includes Las Cruces. Pearce’s brother, Phillip, serves as Goal West’s treasurer. Goal West’s 2015 donors all have contributed to Pearce’s campaigns, Federal Election Commission records show.
Both Murphy and Pearce’s spokesman Tom Intorcio said the congressman is not involved in the PAC’s operations.
Murphy defended his group’s use of the police report, which he said researchers came across while digging into Miyagishima’s old policy positions. “We felt like it was worthy of voters’ attention,” he said.
In the report, which Goal West posted on its website, Miyagishima’s then-wife said he had hit her in the past but said she called police because she had scratched Miyagishima’s face during an argument that day.
The document indicates that police did not investigate the case further. Miyagishima has denied any wrongdoing.
Wednesday, the mayor said he’s sort of relieved the issue surfaced and he survived the scrutiny. “They did their best,” he said of the super PAC’s efforts, “but I’m thankful that the residents of Las Cruces supported me.”
“It was an assault. I know that politics can get brutal, but I’ve never seen it this bad.” Las Cruces, N.M., Mayor Ken Miyagishima