UPDATE on Non-Profit “Advocacy” Groups in NM: SOS Agrees with AG Gary King, NMYO Must Register as PAC (Update 1X)

I’m going to quote extensively from Joe Monahan’s blog on the change.  I was wondering if King might cave to pressures from the Richardson crew, but apparently, the SOS did her job.  The link to the ABQ journal’s “complete report” is behind a firewall, so forget about getting the full story, but Eli Lee’s op-ed of August 15 is available, for some reason. I might be able to track it down the report at another site like I did for my earlier posts on this fight.

From Monahan’s August 19th post “Watching the Watchdogs”:

NM Secretary of State Herrera has agreed with AG King and on Monday ordered NM Youth Organized (NMYO) to register as a political committee, forcing them to disclose their contributions and expenditures. The group, an affiliate of Eli Lee’s Center for Civic Policy, says it will fight the order in court, which could prove expensive and raise questions by donors concerned that their money is being used for lawyers’ fees. Here’s a complete report from the ABQ Journal. Read on for our analysis.

The political nonprofit at the center of the storm over disclosing contributions and expenditures is lawyering up and pulling out all the PR stops. But none of it will avoid the inevitable collision. Center for Civic Policy executive director, Eli Lee, writes in an op-ed piece in the ABQ Journal that the people of NM deserve to know “from whom (legislators) receive financial contributions” but then he turns around and asserts the people have no right to know who is funding his nonprofit’s expensive mail attacks on an assortment of legislators. His latest excuse is that release of the donors to the Center would subject them to “harassment.” Does that mean we should halt already required financial disclosure because it is a threat to the public safety? Lee, under pressure, recently identified foundation donors, but not individual donors, to his group.

The political nonprofit has sent out loads of hit literature against legislators they claim is “educational” while the AG argues it is blatantly political. The enduring question is why Lee and his allies, who so forcefully promulgate disclosure by the campaigns of elected officials, are themselves so reticent to adopt this ethical behavior as their own, even as they claim to be self-appointed ethical watchdogs of our Legislature. If there were an indictment for being hypocritical, the grand jury would be looking at a true bill.

Lee has also not disclosed specific group expenditures, including his salary. Informed insiders tell us he may be getting as much as 20% of the gross donations. That would be about $329,000 if his group collects his projected amount over two years. (If our insider figure is inaccurate, we would be glad to provide updated information from the Center, or they can give it to the newspapers.)

King has been ridiculed by Center allies as a backwoods country lawyer. It now faces a legal fight over his quest to force full disclosure of the estimated $1.645 million the Center says it will take in this year and next (Although some say the recent publicity can’t be helping the Center’s fund-raising while others argue the legal trouble will spur it on). Center lawyers say King’s action could lead to “unnecessary litigation.” But we face the prospect of continued undisclosed funding coming into this state from far and wide, depriving us of the knowledge of who is trying to influence public policy here. Under those circumstances, litigation is something to look forward to, not shy away from.

Background posts, from most recent to oldest:

Update on Non-Profit “Advocacy” Groups in NM…AG Gary King Squelched by Richardson?

Part II: NM AG, “Gutsy Gary” King, Fighting for Transparency re: Non-Profits Like the League of Young Voters and ACORN

Part I: New Mexico “Progressive” Voter Registration Groups in Trouble: ACORN Again…Surprised?? (UPDATE 1X)

UPDATE  August 22, 2008

A great new post up at NO QUARTER…ACORN – CSI – OBAMA. Someone else noticed!

THE PAST WEEK: Recaps and Rambling Thoughts–August 10-16 (Howard Dean Does a Jackass Proud; A Note on The Atlantic’s Josh Green; Shipler/Shipley; Saddleback)

Who could forget…

Howard Dean on Women and Whites…

When Andrew Cuomo and a few other Hillary surrogates made remarks that were deemed “racist” the media went crazy.  Howie plays a race card, and insults women as an added bonus, and what happens? Saturation coverage at the same level as his “scream”?  I wonder…

Watch him embarrass himself in this clip of his remarks on Friday.  Oh, and don’t forget, the GOP is the “white” party.  I think I liked “the scream” better…

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The “Hillary Campaign Memos” were released by The Atlantic and Tennessee Guerrilla Women had this great tidbit on Tuesday, 8/12:

Author of Atlantic’s Hit Job on Hillary Lied About Al Gore Too

Joshua Green has worked for some serious publications, like the Washington Monthly and American Prospect, where he has fed readers lies such as: Al Gore is a serial exaggerator who said he invented the internet. In fact, Green is one of the irresponsible ‘journalists’ who helped put Bush, instead of Gore, into the White House.

Joshua Green, senior editor at The Atlantic and author of the latest hit job on Hillary Rodham Clinton, inadvertently reminds readers that he once wrote for The Onion (seriously) when he actually suggests (on page one) that his hit job is “empirical truth.”

I checked out Green’s bio and he has won several prestigious awards for his work. It’s pretty sad that a guy who can twist words as well as Green is considered an up and coming “journalist.”

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Nicolas Stix Uncensored provided some interesting information in a comment about kenoshaMarge‘s July 31 post last week entitled “PUT THAT RACE CARD DOWN AND STEP AWAY FROM THE DECK!.

He wrote:

I stumbled onto your site looking for an older race card round, and I’m glad I did.I was looking for an Obamanoid Timesman (if you’ll pardon the redundancy) named Shipler, but misspelled his name “Shipley,” and instead got a totally different, Obamanoid Timesman. Shipler is the guy who wrote an LA Times op-ed on April 16. Ten years ago, he wrote an unreadable book promoting “racial dialogue,” whereby groups of apologetic whites would meet with groups of inconsolable blacks, so that the whites could practice apologizing, and the blacks could practice refusing to accept their apologies.

Shipley, meanwhile, is the current op-ed editor, the guy who gave op-ed space to Obama for a free ad, while refusing it to McCain. (Note: David Shipley is Deputy Editorial Page Editor and Op-Ed Editor of the New York Times and former Special Assistant to the President and Presidential Speech Writer for Bill Clinton.  David K. Shipler wrote the LA Times op-ed piece, The Resonance of Racism, in which he opined that the word “elitist” now connotes racism.)

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On Saturday, there was a great post over at Alegre’s Corner on the continuing intimidation of delegates.  Read it and be fed up…

And Dr. Lynette Long has launched her site, CaucusFraud. It’s a MUST VISIT…

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Last but not least, Saturday night the Saddleback Forum hosted Obama and McCain, “on the same stage,” but not at the same time!  McCain was on for the second hour, which means Obama couldn’t do his standard “I agree with ……..” game.  I didn’t watch any of it, but caught clips. Frankly, from what I saw, I think McCain did very well and I think his maturity is a refreshing after having Obama being shoved at us non-stop.  The relaxed setting suited McCain just fine.  I find McCain is easier, in terms of style, to listen to at this point. That doesn’t mean that I’ll vote for him (I’m definitely NOT voting for Obama), but at least I can stand watching him for more than 2 minutes, unlike Obama, whom I can’t watch at all.

***

In spite of the rain we’ve had again this week, the toad didn’t reappear.  But the hummingbirds seem a lot more active now and orioles seem to have moved on. Tonight, there was a touch of fall’s coolness here in the low desert…

THE WEEK’S POSTS

*Posted by kenoshaMarge

THE PAST WEEK:Recaps and Rambling Thoughts–August 3-August 9, 2008 (Highlights: A Great Post by Soldier4Hillary on the Fall of the Democratic Party; Rocky Mtn. News Reports O’s “Dual Citizenship” and Much More! (Update 1X)

Part I: New Mexico “Progressive” Voter Registration Groups in Trouble: ACORN Again…Surprised?? (UPDATE 1X) Part II: NM AG, “Gutsy Gary” King, Fighting for Transparency re: Non-Profits Like the League of Young Voters and ACORN

*The “Meaning” of America

CHANGE–Anybody Can Do It!! (How to Buck “The System”…)

Update on Non-Profit “Advocacy” Groups in NM…AG Gary King Squelched by Richardson?

Update on Non-Profit “Advocacy” Groups in NM…AG Gary King Squelched by Richardson?

Earlier this week I posted two pieces on the non-profit “progressive” groups ACORN and The Center for Civic Policy and Attorney General Gary King’s efforts to have them declared as PACs, which would require the full disclosure of donors.

Part I: New Mexico “Progressive” Voter Registration Groups in Trouble: ACORN Again…Surprised?? (UPDATE 1X)

Part II: NM AG, “Gutsy Gary” King, Fighting for Transparency re: Non-Profits Like the League of Young Voters and ACORN

Joe Monahan updates the situation today:

Rather than have Attorney General King dancing around with Secretary of State Herrera over having political nonprofits like the Center For Civic Policy release the names of their donors and their expenditures, why not have the Legislature pass a law mandating disclosure? Look for such a measure to be introduced in January.

After being chided by critics and reporters, the Center released to the ABQ Journal the names of the foundations that have given it money, but refused to release the names of individual donors. Political observers are still trying to digest the stunning amount of money–$1.645 million–that political operative Eli Lee, who runs the Center, says it will take in over a two year period.

Dem State Senator Dede Feldman has been in the forefront of campaign finance reform. Would the ABQ North Valley lawmaker be willing to sponsor a full-disclosure measure? We’re just asking.

Earlier in the week Monahan had reported:

According to Monahan, King is planning to as the Secretary of State again to ask NYMO to adhere to state election laws. If the secretary doesn’t, expect King to file a lawsuit to force the issue. Meanwhile, lawyers representing the nonprofits are warning King that they will sue the state if he persists in his bid to hold the groups feet to the fire. (See NMYO lawsuit.)

Monahan also revealed that

Insiders say King was none too happy that he was made to look like he was dragging his feet and perhaps fearful of retaliation by the far-left wing of the Democratic Party. Democrat King is up for re-election in 2010. He has also been mentioned as a possible Dem Guv candidate.

In my earlier piece I commented about the possible role of Bill Richardson in his Secretary of State not yet taking action to change of status of New Mexico Youth Organized (run by the Center for Civic Policy) and ACORN.  It seems that King is getting nowhere with Secretary of State at this point. Who knows if there will be any further action by his office?

Richardson has angered many legislators who feel he doesn’t really put state business first, so it will be interesting to see if the Legislature will confront the governor in January on this issue.  With big money coming into the state without transparency (and Richardson’s own ties to Eli Lee, the executive director the Center), it will be interesting to see if anything will really change…Of course, if Obama gets to the White House, Richardson may not be here in January, so maybe there is a chance…Unless Lt. Gov. Diane Denish decides to become “Bill RIchardson II”…