Judge orders dark money group to publicly disclose where its money comes from

A state judge is ordering a dark money group that paid for political advertising in support of legislative candidates earlier this year to disclose the sources of its funding and its spending by September 9.

In a 14-page ruling filed last week in state court, Judge Joshua Allison agreed with the State Ethics Commission that the New Mexico Project meets the definition of “political committee” and imposed a timeline for the group to meet the demands of the state’s campaign reporting act.

“The material evidence is undisputed,” Allison wrote in the ruling. By not disclosing its donors and its spending, the New Mexico Project “frustrates the purpose of the Campaign Reporting Act: to shine light on those who seek to influence our elections by paying for advertisements that support candidates for public office.”

The New Mexico Project, founded by one-time gubernatorial candidate, Jeff Apodaca, has argued in court filings that it does not meet the definition of a political committee and therefore isn’t subject to the law’s demands. The State Ethics Commission sued the New Mexico Project in May to force the disclosure of the information, a position Allison sided with in Wednesday’s ruling.



https://sourcenm.com/2024/09/03/judge-orders-dark-money-group-to-publicly-disclose-where-its-money-comes-from/