Webber’s fundraising may need scrutiny

After reading last Monday’s article, “Coca-Cola-financed PAC supporting Trujillo in Santa Fe mayor’s race,” I felt I had to speak out. There seems to be a clear double standard going on here. It would seem that the main goal of this article is to demonize and smear Ronald Trujillo by suggesting he is being influenced by an out-of-state entity while praising Trujillo’s opponent, Alan Webber, for his record-breaking campaign contributions.

The article shamefully brings up the much heated and much divided issue of last year’s sugar tax and takes issue with $10,000 that was raised mostly by Atlanta-based Coca-Cola North America and Coca-Cola Santa Fe on Trujillo’s behalf. I would like to note that the tax was voted down by the majority of voters in Santa Fe. In response to the PAC, Mr. Trujillo states in the article that he did not know about the PAC. He is quoted as saying, “I’ve got a budget of $60,000, and I’m sticking to it.”

The article goes on to report that Webber has raised over $200,000. What it fails to tell the reader is that Alan Webber has taken contributions from 25 different states, Washington, D.C., and Canada.

On Jan. 25, the Santa Fe Reporter reported that Alan Webber reported 513 campaign contributions. Sixty-eight of those came from somewhere in New Mexico other than Santa Fe and “more than 120 came from outside New Mexico, 13 of them the maximum allowed under city election code for an individual donation, $2,500.”

That is at least $32,500 worth of contributions for Webber from out-of-state contributors not including the other 175 donations that came from outside of Santa Fe.

I think if Journal North is going to point a finger at Trujillo for a PAC that he has nothing to do with, then it should call out Alan Webber or any other candidate that is taking money from out of state or from another country. It makes me wonder how many of Webber’s more than 120 out-of-state supporters have a secret agenda