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The city’s Campaign Ethics and Review Committee on Thursday dismissed Mayor Alan Webber’s complaint that accused a Spanish fraternal organization and two veteran groups of illegal political advocacy on behalf of his opponent.
Council members met in an executive session to discuss the allegations, then voted 4-0 against the complaint. Board member Kristina Martinez abstained because she works at the law firm representing Webber.
Webber’s campaign claimed that the Union Protectíva de Santa Fé, Foreign War Veterans 2951, and the American Legion Post 1 were acting as political committees for rival JoAnne Vigil Coppler but had not registered as as such, allowing them not to disclose sources of funding and other information.
These actions violated city codes and turned those organizations into secret influence peddlers, according to the complaint.
But Union Protectíva’s lawyer Scott Fuqua argued that the main focus of the group was not politics and therefore it could not be a political committee, so that none of the alleged offenses apply.
“These provisions are not on the table,” Fuqua said.
His arguments influenced the members of the board of directors.
“Their main purpose… is not to function as political action committees,” said board member Paul Biderman. “They do not meet the definition of a political action committee.”
In a statement, Union Protectíva spokesman James Hallinan celebrated the decision.
“I am happy to see justice and the rule of law prevail today,” said Hallinan, “especially since so many of us, the veterans unfairly targeted by Mayor Webber, have served our country. to preserve these American ideals and freedoms. ”
At the same time, Webber’s camp has expressed disappointment.
“We respect the board’s decision but respectfully disagree,” Sascha Guinn Anderson, Webber’s campaign spokesperson, said in a statement. “All entities that engage in a negative campaign should disclose their donors so that there is transparency for voters.”
Lawyer David Herrera, representing Webber’s campaign, said messages from groups denigrating the mayor made it clear that they opposed him as a candidate.
“The issue before the board of directors today is simple,” Herrera said. “If the voters of Santa Fe have a right to know who is trying to influence the campaigns to elect the officials who rule this city.”
The post further met the definition of political action as it was made within 60 days of the election, Herrera said, arguing that signs denigrating the mayor are still displayed in the courtyards.
The groups’ political motivations required them to register with the city clerk’s office before distributing materials and posting messages, Herrera said.
Herrera was referring to a widely circulated social media and newspaper ad that pokes fun at CHART, a city-led effort to address the art and monuments that many indigenous residents say glorified the Spanish conquest.
The words comprising the acronym have been changed from Culture, History, Art, Reconciliation and Truth to “Cancel the religious traditions of the Hispanic arts”.
VFW Post 2951 and American Legion Post 1 are listed as sponsors of the ad, which also appeared on road signs.
The complaint also cited an ad Union Protectíva had placed in the Santa Fe Reporter, calling Webber a Marxist trying to divide Santa Fe.
But Fuqua countered that spending $ 250 on an advertisement doesn’t make a group a political organization. He is simply exercising his constitutional right to criticize an elected leader, he said.
Lawyer Gregory Ross, representing VFW, said members of the group were simply expressing outrage at the mayor paving the way for vandals to demolish the obelisk, a memorial to veterans.
The language of the CHART posters is free speech and doesn’t tell anyone who to vote for, Ross said, calling the ethics complaint an attempt to harass those who say things the mayor doesn’t like.
Ross said he personally had nothing against Webber and worked with him on projects that benefited everyone involved.
“It is very unfortunate that the mayor felt [it] necessary to make false allegations against the VFW, ”Ross said.
This ethics complaint was one of three filed in an increasingly combative mayoral race.
In a complaint, Republican candidate Alexis Martinez Johnson claimed that an email Webber sent touting his “down pipe” with the Santa Fe Fire Department used an event paid for by taxpayer dollars to promote his campaign.
The ethics committee dismissed her complaint in August, saying she had not demonstrated an ethics violation.
Union Protectíva filed a complaint on Wednesday accusing the mayor of intimidation and general abuse of power.
The leaders of the group insist the action is not to retaliate against the mayor for his now dismissed complaint against them.
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