Azure Mitchell | New Mexico In Depth
This story first appeared in New Mexico In Depth at nmindepth.com.
Trinidad Malone, a local Artesia businessman running to represent District 66 as state representative, exceeded the amount of money he can accept from anonymous donors to run his campaign.
New Mexico’s Campaign Reporting Act allows anonymous donations if the candidate does not know who the donor is, but places limits on them. A non-statewide candidate, like Malone, may only accept up to $500 in total from anonymous donors and none of the contributions may exceed $100. It also does not allow contributions to be recorded as anonymous if the candidate knows who the contributor is.
Malone’s second disclosure report, filed May 11, shows a total of $1,500 of the total $2,000 raised coming from seven anonymous donors. Five exceed $100. His report reflects just one named donor, Bowlin Travel Centers for $500.
In an interview, Malone said friends, family, and local businesses contributed, in addition to Bowlin, but in the interest of time he filed them as anonymous because he lacked the information he needed before the reporting deadline.
“We’ll go ahead and amend it once we get all their credentials,” he said of the report.