NM State Ethics Commission sues secretive group behind pro-Project Jupiter ad campaign
by Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
This story was originally published at Source New Mexico, a NMPBS partner.
The New Mexico State Ethics Commission on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Elevate New Mexico, the anonymous, out-of-state company behind the massive physical and digital ad campaign that urged New Mexicans to support the controversial OpenAI and Oracle data center complex Project Jupiter.
The lawsuit, filed in the state Second Judicial District Court, alleges that since Elevate New Mexico spent at least $2,500 to lobby the New Mexico Environment Department to approve air quality permit applications during a public comment period in March for natural gas power plants associated with Project Jupiter, it should have registered as a lobbyist organization and is in violation of the state Lobbyist Regulation Act.
“Despite the Commission’s request for compliance with the registration and disclosure requirements…Elevate refuses to register and to disclose any information related to its expenditures and contributions for its advertising campaign for the purpose of lobbying Secretary Kenney to approve Acoma, LLC’s air permit applications,” the lawsuit says. “New Mexicans have a right to know who is contributing money to fund advertising campaigns for the purpose of lobbying, including who Elevate is and, moreover, who is contributing money to Elevate.”
A spokesperson for Project Jupiter’s developer, BorderPlex Digital Assets, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In March, Source NM was first to report that a Virginia corporation was behind the physical mailers that appeared in New Mexicans’ mailboxes and asked them to support Project Jupiter, which it claimed would bring $360 million in community investments, $50 million for improving local water systems and “thousands of high-paying careers, prioritizing Doña Ana residents.”
The State Ethics Commission’s lawsuit repeats Source NM’s findings, including that the smiling Hispanic woman on the mailers is a stock model who also appears on a Texas dentistry’s website. Critics at the time told Source that the Hispanic model, along with project developers naming their companies after New Mexico iconography — Green Chile Ventures and Acoma LLC — appeared to be a “brownwashing campaign.” The latter company recently changed its name following criticism by Acoma Pueblo Gov. Charles Riley.
The lawsuit says that — unlike political mailers — the mailers did not disclose who was behind them.
“New Mexicans have a right to know who is funding efforts to influence state official acts that impact their communities, environment, health, and public resources,” State Ethics Commission Deputy Director Amelia Bierle said in a statement. “Out-of-state corporations do not get to operate in the shadows when attempting to influence New Mexico official actions affecting New Mexico communities.”
Lawyers for the Ethics Commission are asking a judge to require Elevate to register its ad campaign as a lobbying effort with the New Mexico Secretary of State and to report contributions and expenditures, including names, addresses and employers of the people making contributions.
“I’m glad that they are being held accountable for their corrupt actions across every avenue that they’re approaching this,” said Neeshia Macanowicz, a Las Cruces resident who received one of the mailers in January. “I hope this is indicative of what’s to come.”
This story was originally published at Source New Mexico, a NMPBS partner.