Competing visions of campaign finance transparency are front and center in Albuquerque’s City Council District 3 runoff election where outside money is pouring in and each candidate is calling out the other’s supporters for unnecessary big money influence in a relatively small city council runoff race.
Klarissa Peña, the longest-serving member on the council currently, used public financing in the general election but switched to private money for the runoff. Challenger Teresa Garcia, who chairs the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Commission and formerly led the Southwest Community Policing Council, has run a privately financed campaign from the start. Neither cleared 50% on Nov. 4. Peña finished with 41% and Garcia with 38%. A third candidate, Chris Sedillo, finished with 21%.
A City Desk series on outside money in city elections identified six major independent groups raising and spending money in the city’s regular election. For the runoff, at least 3 of those appear to be active, so far, in District 3 on the city’s southwest mesa.
Who funds Peña’s PAC?
Westside Families First, a political action committee supporting Peña, has raised $54,121, with $32,703 in cash on hand and received a $10,000 Election Day donation from Jeff Garrett of Scottsdale, Arizona, according to campaign finance records. Garrett is president of Garrett Development Corporation and manages the 13,851-acre Santolina development on Albuquerque’s Westside.
Other donors to the PAC include State Sen. Debbie O’Malley, former State Sen. Jacob Candelaria and a handful of lobbyists.
While outside committees like these, called measure finance committees in city election law, are not supposed to coordinate with candidates, their supporters and agendas often overlap.
Garcia pointed to Westside Families First in criticizing Peña’s campaign to City Desk. “My opponent is being supported by wealthy out-of-state developers,” Garcia said.
As City Desk reported Thursday, other outside groups are also spending money in the city’s mayoral and council runoff races. The largest, Albuquerque Coalition for Transformation, backed mostly by realtors and pro-business lobbying groups, is paying for a series of digital ads in District 3 promoting Peña.
ABQ Fire PAC, a committee supported by the local firefighters’ union and is backing Peña, is also expected to spend in this race.
Garcia’s dark money
ABQ Working Families Party announced Wednesday it will back Garcia as part of
“a six-figure investment” supporting three candidates in Albuquerque’s runoff elections, promising to “mobilize tens of thousands of voters” through door-to-door organizing, phone banking and mailers.
The party endorsed Garcia, District 1 candidate Stephanie Telles and Mayor Tim Keller “to ensure that the newly elected council and mayor recognize the mandate to govern for working people,” according to a press release.
Austin Weahkee, interim state director for New Mexico Working Families Party, said the investment would be “roughly in the six figures,” though they did not provide specific numbers and city records show that no contributions have been raised for the runoff as of last week.
During the general election, ABQ Working Families Party raised $119,000, drawing its money from three nonprofits that don’t disclose donors, according to campaign finance records.
The PAC’s largest donation came from the Brooklyn-based national Working Families Party PAC which has been building local political party status in New Mexico. It gave $50,000. OLÉ (Organizers in the Land of Enchantment) contributed $43,000 through its PAC and NM Native Vote gave $25,000 through its PAC.
None of the three nonprofits are required under federal tax law to disclose their donors. That means the PAC reports the organizations as donors, but the ultimate sources of the money remain hidden — what experts call “dark money.”
Like Garcia, Peña pointed to the insertion of this non-candidate spending to define her opponent’s campaign. “My opponent is being supported by well-funded ‘nonprofit’ groups with hidden, out-of-state donors,” Peña said.
Both candidates said campaign finance law prohibits them from coordinating with independent expenditure groups.
The money race
Peña’s decision to forfeit $20,000 in public financing to pursue private fundraising for the 4-week runoff election put more money in her campaign account. Peña’s campaign raised $62,387, with $25,517 on hand, including $2,000 from hotel owner Jim Long, whose hotel company just recently received a $227 million tax break from the city, and $2,000 from Steven Maestas, CEO of Maestas Development Group, along with other political committees.
Garcia’s campaign has raised $25,843, with $13,147 on hand, including $2,000 from her former opponent, Christopher Sedillo and $500 from former City Councilor Isaac Benton.
Both campaigns include contributions from the Silverman family, which runs Geltmore LLC, a local commercial real estate company. Adam and David Silverman contributed to both Peña and Garcia.
The contentious race follows a September lawsuit by former Breaking Bad star and former County Commissioner Steven Michael Quezada, whose wife has worked in Pena’s council office, attempting to remove Garcia from the ballot. The challenge was unsuccessful.
The runoff election is Dec. 9. Early voting runs December 1-6 at locations across Albuquerque.
Every vote counts
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