N.M. Admin. Code § 1.10.13.25 - CANDIDATE EXPENDITURES

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.

Notes

N.M. Admin. Code § 1.10.13.25

Adopted by New Mexico Register, Volume XXVIII, Issue 18, September 26, 2017, eff. 10/10/2017, Amended by New Mexico Register, Volume XXXIII, Issue 06, March 22, 2022, eff. 3/22/2022