Ground Game files ethics complaint as voting begins on McAllen ballot measures

2 hours ago 15

McALLEN — As voters here begin to head to the polls to decide on a voter-driven ballot measure to bring campaign finance reform and direct democracy powers to McAllen, things have devolved into a war of opposing accusations.

On the one hand, local officials, led by McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos, have taken to social media in vehement opposition of Propositions A and B on the McAllen ballot.

But the proponents of the measures — led by an Austin-based Ground Game Texas — say it’s Villalobos’ own opposition that illustrates the need for the measures in the first place.

To that end, on Monday, Mike Siegel, the progressive group’s political coordinator and legal counsel, filed an ethics complaint against the mayor with state election regulators at the Texas Ethics Commission.

The group accuses Villalobos of violating Texas election law by participating in a political action committee that has surfaced to officially oppose Props A and B.

“Mr. Javier Villalobos violated Title 15 of the Election Code … by failing to file a treasurer appointment for ‘Concerned McAllen Residents,’ an unregistered political action committee that has spent more than $1050 in opposition to the McAllen Ballot Propositions A and B …” Siegel states in a three-page complaint.

Speaking with The Monitor on Tuesday, Siegel went a step further, calling the mayor’s actions hypocritical.

“This illustrates, frankly, the hypocrisy of the mayor, who is telling the public in his Facebook messages, in his other advocacy that, ‘We’re McAllen, we’re good, we don’t need this,’” Siegel said.

“And at the same time, he’s leading an illegal effort to oppose the ballot measure. He is not complying with state campaign finance law,” he said.

Siegel was referring to the heart of Prop A, which Ground Game dubbed the “McAllen Anti-Corruption Act” in its petition to place the matter before voters this November.

If approved, Prop A would cap campaign contributions to just $500 per candidate per election, would classify certain campaign expenditures as contributions, and would criminalize non-compliance.

Currently, donors may contribute up to $5,000 per city commissioner race, and up to $10,000 in the race for mayor.

Meanwhile, if McAllen voters approve Prop B, then residents here would be empowered with three so-called “direct democracy” powers — the power of initiative, of referendum and of recall.

The language of Prop B lays out an extensive process that would allow residents to propose legislation to the McAllen City Commission, to call for the overturn of ordinances approved by the commission, and to call for resignation of an elected official.

In all three cases, if the commission fails to act on any such voter-driven initiatives, then McAllen would be obligated to put the matters up for a vote at the next available election.

But as the proposals began to gain traction earlier this year, leading up to Ground Game submitting more than 4,500 signatures to the McAllen City Secretary that triggered the election, city officials have become increasingly vocal in their opposition to Props A and B.

None more so than the mayor, who, in multiple posts on Facebook, has said the measures will not bring about more public accountability, but instead will harm the city by allowing outside interests to dictate McAllen politics.

In recent weeks, Villalobos has made multiple posts detailing his opposition on two Facebook accounts — including one that lists his name as “Javier Villalobos McAllen Mayor.”

The posts show Villalobos holding campaign signs encouraging voters to “save McAllen” and to “vote no” to the two ballot initiatives.

In at least one post, Villalobos proclaims the support of both the McAllen police and fire unions.

For Ground Game’s campaign organizers, there is no better illustration for why campaign finance reform is needed than those posts — largely because they say there’s no clear trail of where the funding for the opposition campaign is coming from.

“This is concerning ‘cause the whole propositions are about, you know, increasing accountability and trust in local government and these signs are popping up around McAllen that we don’t know where the funding’s coming from,” Karen Salazar, Ground Game’s local organizer, said Tuesday,

“We don’t know who’s paying for these and there is no accountability there,” she said.

It’s a concern Siegel echoed.

“That contradiction is really important because it goes to the credibility of the people who are opposing these ballot proposition,” Siegel said.

In Ground Game’s complaint, the group states that they were unable to find any records of a political action committee that has registered with either the city of McAllen, Hidalgo County or the state of Texas.

The group estimates that, based on the number of campaign signs Ground Game organizers have documented around town, then any such opposition movement must surely have crossed the monetary threshold that would require the formation of a PAC and the appointment of a campaign treasurer.

The group also assumed that Villalobos is the head of a PAC.

“He is the principal public proponent of the PAC, or of the, you know, unformed PAC. He is the first person to announce publicly that there is this opposition. He is the first person to post a picture of the yard sign against the proposition. He is the first person to post pictures of the road signs,” Siegel said.

But on Tuesday, the mayor denied leading the PAC.

“No, I’m not a spokesperson, but I know a PAC was being formed for the purpose of fighting Ground Game,” Villalobos said.

The mayor added that he has only been speaking on behalf of himself in his social media posts.

“When I talk about this, it’s me as Javier Villalobos, a resident, a citizen. They’re both my personal Facebook (pages). They’re not related to the city at all,” Villalobos said.

Ground Game’s complaint states the group could find no evidence of a PAC formed to oppose their ballot measures, saying, “the City of McAllen has not received a treasurer appointment for a committee entitled, ‘Concerned McAllen Residents.’

However, in a phone call this week, McAllen city officials stated they did receive a PAC registration related to the ballot measures.

The PAC, called the “Save McAllen, Tx PAC,” filed its appointment of a campaign treasurer with the city on Oct. 11, according to a copy of the document obtained by The Monitor.

“The city secretary sure as heck does (have the form)!,” Laurel McLeaish, the PAC’s treasurer, said of the campaign treasurer appointment.

As for the PAC’s contributions and expenditures, McLeaish said she still has not received invoices for campaign materials.

Nor has the PAC missed any campaign filing deadlines, she said, adding that the PAC was formed after the 30-day deadline. The 8-day deadline has not yet lapsed.

As for Villalobos, the mayor seemed unfazed by the ethics complaint against him, saying he would address the issue if needed.

“If there’s a possible violation, well, I’ll deal with it and see what needs to be done. And of course, we try to do everything right,” Villalobos said.

The post Ground Game files ethics complaint as voting begins on McAllen ballot measures appeared first on MyRGV.com.

Read Entire Article