Abstract
This Comment explores a complicated and evolving area of law: campaign finance in New Mexico. In 2010, Citizens United v. FEC forever changed the political funding landscape. While the Court allowed corporations and non-profits to spend unlimited amounts of money for or against political candidates, it prohibited candidates and PACs from coordinating with one another. Republican Party of New Mexico v. King, echoing Citizens United, prohibited New Mexico from passing laws limiting political contributions to PACs. How can New Mexico protect its local elections after Citizens United? The answer starts by looking west. While the California legislature got to work and passed strict anti-coordination laws, New Mexico remains without any anti-coordination laws. Exposing this gap in New Mexico law, this Comment argues that New Mexico should adopt similar anti-coordination laws to ensure that candidates and PACs remain independent of one another. Implementing this proactive anti-coordination approach can help New Mexico fight political corruption and strengthen its campaign finance laws within the bounds of Citizens United.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Eric J. Orona,
Un-PAC-ing Campaign Finance Law in New Mexico,
47
N.M. L. Rev.
169
(2017).
Available at:
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmlr/vol47/iss1/7
