Author
At the last Bernalillo County Commission Meeting, June 27th, one of my fellow commissioners introduced an Administrative Resolution establishing the process by which the county will design an elections ordinance to provide voluntary public financing for qualifying county candidates which was approved by four commissioners.
Walt Benson is a Bernalillo County Commissioner representing District 4. He can be reached at BernCo.gov
If the resolution receives final approval, and it is scheduled for a final vote at the August 11th administrative meeting, this Public Financing for Qualified Candidates measure will go before voters in this coming general election on November 3rd.
The time frame for this resolution is approximately six weeks from its introduction to a final vote from the Board of County Commissioners. If approved it leaves very little time to explain to voters what the vague and limited language on the ballot would mean on an already crowded general election ballot. There will not be any detailed information available on how qualified candidate public financing will be implemented – only promises that the process will be worked out AFTER the election if the measure passes.
Bernalillo County has five commission seats along with a Treasurer, a Sheriff, a Clerk and an Assessor and candidates must run for these perspective offices. In an instance where several candidates might run for each race and may all choose to use public financing; this could become expensive.
The City of Albuquerque’s similar ordinance, for example, requires a candidate to secure 3,799 individual $5 donations and in exchange, that candidate receives a check from the City of Albuquerque for $700,000.
This is not the best use of taxpayer dollars, especially at a time when the county was not able to give across-the-board raises to our employees and froze any new job postings.
Bernalillo County, at the direction of the commission, has been widening expenditures on projects and initiatives far above our mandated core services outlined in the New Mexico Constitution. These include Law Enforcement and Public Safety, Elections Administration, Maintaining Judicial Facilities, Property Assessment and Taxation and Public Health.
As many of our constituents are having to revisit their monthly budgets due to cost increases for groceries, utilities and gas, I suggest the same for Bernalillo County. We need to take a step back and take a close look at our mandatory service costs and any additional spending.
Since this resolution is being rushed through, there is little time to develop a public information campaign to explain to voters what they are voting for and where their tax dollars will be spent, resulting in lack of transparency and lack of education for our constituents.
This is not good government; but rather a knee-jerk reaction to a situation that has not been a problem in the past. There are no other counties in New Mexico who administer public financing for qualifying candidates so, consequently, there is no blueprint to follow.
Individuals who run for local county government positions understand they must raise campaign funds and create pathways to educate and inform their electorate. These tasks did not stop me or any of my fellow commissioners from running.
Other local governments across the country who have adapted public financing for candidates have had to deal with ongoing problems of taxpayer burden; continued outside spending by PACS, bureaucratic complexity and the potential for abuse.
The final adoption of this measure should be postponed NOW and there should be a robust effort to gather input from the public, study best practices of other local governing bodies and construct a solid proposal on how public financing will be implemented in Bernalillo County. More importantly we need to have studied cost estimates and where that money will come from using taxpayer dollars.
For a group of commissioners who constantly seek and respect input from the public on prospective changes, my request to pause seems reasonable. As an example, a new Economic Development Policy focusing on Community Benefits was recently passed by the board. This initiative took almost a year to study and develop and cost $500,000. This same consideration and care should be applied to the possible Candidate Public Financing ballot question.
The League of Women Voters of Central New Mexico, a well-respected organization, sent me a letter regarding the proposal stating:
“This sequence puts the decision before the information. Voters should understand the financial implications of a charter amendment before they are asked to approve it—not months afterward. While the proposal contemplates public hearings once the cost analysis is completed, those hearings would occur only after voters had already amended the County Charter.
The League believes that informed voters make better decisions. A credible fiscal analysis and implementation plan should be completed and made available to the public before this measure is placed before the voters.”
We owe so much more to our constituents than a fast-tracked ballot question. There is no emergency and moving forward this quickly on an important ballot initiative that will change how prospective county candidates fund their campaigns is a great disservice to the members of the public we serve.