Opinion ID: 211931
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Evidentiary Support for the Board's Determination

Text: 67 McEntee's final challenge to the Board's decision is that it is not supported by substantial evidence. McEntee bases this claim on the assertion that in order for an election designated as nonpartisan under state law to be considered a prohibited race, a candidate must receive a formal endorsement by a national, state, or local body of a major political party. Because McEntee received no such endorsement, he believes that the 2001 Albuquerque mayoral race did not constitute an election for a partisan political office. The error of this assertion has been fully addressed above and does not need belaboring. 68 Although we do not attempt to establish the minimum level of partisan politics necessary to rebut the presumption that an election designated as nonpartisan under state and local law is, in fact, a prohibited political race, there is no question that the record here amply supports the conclusion that the presumption of nonpartisanship afforded the 2001 Albuquerque Mayoral race was so rebutted. Here, McEntee openly solicited members of the Republican Party for campaign contributions and made it clear that he was requesting donations on the basis of party affiliation in order to further the party's agenda. He trumpeted his endorsement by the Executive Committee of the Bernalillo County Republican Party and individual Republican Party figures and appeared at press conferences with his endorsers. 9 Furthermore, leaders of the local and state Republican Party actively supported McEntee by publicly associating themselves with his campaign, advocating his election, and helping to raise funds in support of his candidacy. While we leave open the possibility that less blatant invocation of party status may not justify rebutting the presumption of nonpartisanship, there can be no doubt that the combination of McEntee's conduct as a candidate and the Republican Party's acquiescence in that conduct constitutes representing a major political party such that the race in which he participated constituted an election for partisan political office. 10 The Board had substantial evidence to support its findings.