Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation violated N.M. lobbying law, records suggest
National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation staff and officials listed in a Foundation report as having lobbied lawmakers for state funds, have not been registered as lobbyists as required by law, according to state records.
In a Dec. 3, 2010 expense report to the state, Foundation President Clara R. Apodaca reported $150,000 in staff salary expenses stemming from Foundation lobbying at the legislature between 2006 and 2008, including $72,000 of her own salary — expenses the Foundation subsequently reimbursed itself from state funds intended for the completion of the Torreon Building fresco mural of New Mexico history.
But the four Foundation officials and staff listed as lobbyists in that report, including Apodaca herself, were not registered as lobbyists during those years, according to archived records obtained from the Secretary of State’s office.
The N.M. Lobbyist Regulation Act requires that individuals engaged in lobbying register annually and file expenditure reports with the Secretary of State’s office.
Veritas New Mexico reader Frances Gabaldon raised the issue Thursday in a previous story‘s comments section, noting that Foundation staff lobbyists named in the expense report do not appear in the Secretary of State’s current list of registered lobbyists.
The expense report also lists Apodaca and Foundation board member Ed Lujan as lobbying state lawmakers in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Lujan was not paid for those services, according to the report. Apodaca is listed as receiving $72,000 for her lobbying efforts.
Apodaca had not responded by Monday morning to repeated requests for comment sent over the past week.
Foundation board member Venessa M. Alarid of Albuquerque is a state-registered lobbyist who joined the board in 2009, but who has not lobbied for the Foundation, according to state records.
“Clara Apodaca is the Foundation’s president and the absolute best person to speak on all matters of the board,” Alarid said Monday. “If the board ever wanted me to lobby in an official capacity, I’d be more than honored.”
The Foundation was created to raise funds and lobby for the Center, but is represented by no currently-registered lobbyists, according to the Secretary of State’s website.
Violating the Lobbyist Regulation Act can be punished by a fine of up to $5,000 and a prohibition of lobbying activities for up to three years. The Secretary of State has authority to refer violations to the Attorney General’s office or district attorney for prosecution.
According to the Act (section 2-11-8.2):
The secretary of state may conduct thorough examinations of reports and initiate investigations to determine whether the Lobbyist Regulation Act has been violated. Additionally, any person who believes that a provision of that act has been violated may file a written complaint with the secretary of state.
Secretary of State Dianna Duran was not immediately available for comment Monday.
Whether or not Foundation officials had registered as lobbyists before asking lawmakers for funds “is not a question the board would interest itself with,” Foundation board vice-chair Janice Paster said Monday morning.
“If you’re saying there was a violation of law here, I think that’s a stretch,” Paster said. “Now you have a microscope on every line she spent. That was all approved by the previous administration. There was nothing done in secret. No money went into anybody’s pocket. We’re audited every single year.”
Asked if the board has any concerns about how the Foundation managed fresco funds, Paster said, “No, I’m not concerned about any illegal activity. I think that’s what we have the audit for. I can only rely on the people who do the audits.”
Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) Secretary Veronica N. Gonzales demanded the Foundation return more than $379,000 in state fresco money March 30, having deemed many of the Foundation’s expenditures — including “administrative” expenses that include the staff lobbying listed in Apodaca’s Dec. 3, 2010 report — to be “impermissible” under state law.
Gonzales has also ordered an independent audit of fresco funds managed by the Foundation, to be conducted by auditing company Moss Adams.
Apodaca returned the $138,361 unspent balance of the state fresco funds March 31 but suggested in an accompanying letter that the Foundation may not return funds it has already spent. Apodaca also wrote that the DCA “does not have the authority” to audit the Foundation, but that the Foundation nevertheless “welcomes” such an audit.
The Foundation board does not review individual contracts or expenditures made by Foundation staff, according to Alarid and Paster.
“I don’t look at every voucher,” Paster said Monday. “Why would we? .. I don’t know how the vouchering was done for this. Let me make sure you understand something: every nickel raised by the Foundation goes to Foundation operating expenses or programming at the Center.”
Paster, a former state senator, expressed frustration that the Foundation was “being attacked” over alleged fresco funds misappropriations, and said that very few foundation presidents or lawmakers would likely know the restrictions on how capital outlay money is spent. Former DCA secretary Stuart Ashman, not Apodaca, was responsible for any lapses, Paster said.
Neither Paster nor Alarid could recall whether Apodaca had told the Foundation board that state fresco money was spent on Foundation salary reimbursements.
“It’s important we spend this money in the manner in which it was appropriated,” Alarid said. “I’m certain we’ll be discussing it.”
Santa Fe muralist Frederico Vigil’s 4,000 square foot fresco on the cylindrical Torreon Building’s interior wall and ceiling depicts New Mexico’s Native American and Spanish history, and took nearly a decade to complete.
Apodaca was the state’s first lady from 1975 to 1979. She took the helm at the Foundation in 2006, and currently serves on the board of directors for Think New Mexico. She received the New Mexico Spirit of Achievement Award in 2010 from National Jewish Health for community service, according to Foundation promotional materials.
Photo: Peter St. Cyr
Documents cited in this story
New Mexico Lobbyist Regulation Act
List of state-registered lobbyists for 2006
List of state-registered lobbyists for 2007
List of state-registered lobbyists for 2008
Foundation board member Vanessa Alarid’s current (2011) lobbying clients list
Current (2011) list of registered N.M. lobbyists
Current (2011) list of organizations represented by lobbyists
Note: Searches of some of some documents listed here were performed using tools provided to Veritas New Mexico by Document Cloud.
Mr. Furlow: please correct the link in your article to the Lobbyist Regulation Act. It does not go to the Act, but to one of your earlier articles.
I’m very sorry that your story today did not quote my statement about Clara Apodaca. She is a first-class fund raiser. She makes donors feel good about giving money to support the wonderful programs at the Hispanic Cultural Center. She has a total commitment to helping the Center thrive.
The state capital outlay appropriation helped pay for the beautiful fresco created by Frederico Vigil and costs related to launching it. It also freed up funds raised privately to support programing at the Center. Your readers need to understand that the State Legislature has been unable to fund program there except in small amounts in very good years. It looks to private fund raising to accomplish that task. Unfortunately the slow economy has made that difficult in the last few years.
It makes me very sad that you are engaging in sensationalized personal attacks when you could help to tell the story of the shortage of state funds to support our wonderful cultural institutions. Ask around at our museums and you will learn about the dire situation. Help us to inform people in New Mexico and elsewhere about the fresco, which is a world class work of art, and the commitment of the Foundation Board to supporting Hispanic culture.
Janice Paster
Thank you for your comments, Ms. Paster. The link has been corrected. (For our readers: Ms. Paster, a former state senator, is vice chair of the National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation board of directors.)
Since Ms. Paster is confident of Ms. Apodaca’s fundraising skills, my question is how much money did the NHCC Foundation raise and give for programs at the NHCC in the current fiscal year (excluding funds for the Fresco)? And how much have they committed for the next fiscal year? I would hope any answer could be substantiated with documentation.
I am compelled to respond to former state senator, lawyer and current vice chair of the NHCC Foundation, Janice Paster.
Her comments to Veritas are disingenuous and condesending to say the least.
So, the former lawmaker, lawyer and current NHCC vice chair believes all this investigative journalism is muckraking? What planet is she on?
The Veritas article above indicates that Paster asserts “that very few foundation presidents or lawmakers would likely know the restrictions on how capital outlay money is spent.”
First of all, this coming from a former lawmaker is just absurd and very disconcerting. If this is how she legislated as a state senator then she had no business serving in the New Mexico senate. When legislators allocate funds, enabling language is always attached to the appropriation. This “enabling language” determines what the money is to be used for and in this case it was clearly for Capital Outlay for the Fresco at the NHCC. Not for Clara’s salary, not for videos and not to schmooze lawmakers. There is no ambiguity and Paster knows this, as should Clara Apodaca who was paid a six-figure salary to “lobby” for the NHCC foundation.
Ms. Paster is simply trying to detract from the seriousness of the wrongdoing and mismanagement, which occurred under her watch.
I am glad that Maria raised the question of the present and future support of the Center by the Foundation. Fundraising for the NHCC is the foundations sole mission after all.
It is well known that the Foundation has not financially supported the Center this year because the foundation is in deep debt. Yet the center staff has obviously continued with incredible programming in spite of a severely mismanaged and negligent foundation.
Is it true that they are on their 5th grant writer in a year?
Is it true that money raised at Maravilla, the foundations annual gala fundraising event, does not go to the Center?
Ms. Paster claims that Apodaca is a “first class fundraiser”, yet the foundation is deep in the red.
What is the foundation going to do now that the state well has dried up? Isn’t it time that Apodaca and her board take responsibility for the serious problems they’ve created at the foundation instead of trying to blame something or someone else?
the foundation’s overhead costs are always at the top of its list in terms of priorities. a full multi-year audit will certain show just that. a more apt question might be are there limits to what an organization’s overhead costs can be?
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