New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 1 - GENERAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION › Chapter 10 - ELECTIONS AND ELECTED OFFICIALS › Part 13 - CAMPAIGN FINANCE › Section 1.10.13.25 - CANDIDATE EXPENDITURES

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A.
				Candidates who use the candidate's own personal funds for expenditures of the
				campaign committee must report the funds as either contributions to the
				campaign committee, which cannot be repaid to the candidate, or as loans to the
				campaign committee, which can be repaid from other campaign contributions
				received by the campaign committee. A candidate may also pay for expenditures
				of the campaign committee out of personal funds and obtain reimbursement from
				the campaign committee, but the campaign committee must itemize the
				expenditures reimbursed and otherwise comply with the disclosure requirements
				of Section
				1-19-31 NMSA
				1978 including disclosure of the original payee. A candidate may not, for
				instance, report a single payment to a credit card in lieu of reporting each
				individual expenditure paid for out of personal funds. Use of a credit card
				specifically designated for campaign expenses is permissible but expenditures
				must be itemized when reported.
B.
Permissible expenditures.
(1)
				Use of campaign funds must be in accordance with Section
				1-19-29.1
				NMSA 1978. Candidates and committees must provide a purpose or description
				detailed enough to associate the expense to the campaign. For example, an
				expense of "taxi" is not appropriately descriptive to determine that it is
				related to a campaign. Such an expense should be reported as "taxi for travel
				to campaign meeting."
(2)
				Expenditures that are reasonably attributable to the candidate's campaign and
				not to personal use or personal living expenses are permissible campaign
				expenditures. Personal use of campaign funds is any use of funds in a campaign
				account to fulfill a commitment, obligation or expense of any candidate or
				legislator that would exist regardless of the candidate's campaign or
				responsibilities as a legislator. If the expense would exist even in the
				absence of the candidacy, or even if the legislator were not in office, then it
				is not considered to be a campaign-related expenditure. The following is a
				non-exhaustive list of items considered to be per se personal use and are,
				therefore, not allowable expenditures:
(a)
				household food items or supplies;
(b) funeral, cremation, or burial expenses
				except those incurred for a candidate or an employee or volunteer of an
				authorized committee whose death arises out of, or in the course of, campaign
				activity;
(c) clothing, other than
				items of de minimis value that are used in the campaign, such as campaign
				t-shirts or camps with campaign slogans;
(d) tuition payments, other than those
				associated with training campaign staff;
(e) mortgage, rent or utility payments:
(1) for any part of any personal residence of
				the candidate or a member of the candidate's family; or
(2) for real or personal property that is
				owned by the candidate or a member of the candidate's family and is used for
				campaign purposes, to the extent the payments exceed the fair market value of
				the property usage.
(f)
				admission to a sporting event, concert, theater or other form of entertainment,
				unless part of a specific campaign or officeholder activity;
(g) dues, fees, or gratuities at a country
				clubs, health club, recreational facility or other nonpolitical organizations,
				unless they are part of the costs of a specific fundraising event that takes
				place on the organization's premises;
(h) payments to candidate's family unless the
				family member is providing a bona fide service to the campaign. If a family
				member provides bona fide services to the campaign, any salary payment in
				excess of the fair market value of the services provided is personal use; and
(i) a vacation.
(3) Legal expenses reasonably
				attributable to the candidate's campaign are permissible campaign expenditures.
(4) Candidates and political
				committees may use campaign funds to satisfy fines and other non-criminal
				penalties as a result of violating a provision of the Campaign Reporting
				Act.
(5) Wear and tear on a vehicle
				is a permissible expense of the campaign and candidates shall claim mileage
				rather than actual repairs for travel solely related to the campaign. Mileage
				shall be calculated at no more than the published rate pursuant to the Mileage
				and Per Diem Act. Candidates must keep a log for the candidate's own records
				regarding miles traveled for campaign purposes and calculate the per diem based
				on this log. Mileage rates are meant to account for both wear and tear on a
				vehicle as well as costs for gas; therefore, candidates may not charge for both
				gas and mileage.