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McALLEN — How many political action committees, or PACs, have been formed to oppose a ballot initiative asking voters here to decide on two proposed charter amendments, and what role has McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos played in that opposition?
Those are the questions that continue to linger several days after Ground Game Texas, an Austin-based progressive political advocacy nonprofit, filed a complaint against the mayor with the Texas Ethics Commission.
Earlier this year, Ground Game spearheaded a signature gathering effort on a petition to place two initiatives on the November ballot.
Their efforts were successful and now McAllen voters have begun taking to the polls to decide.
Proposition A, which Ground Game dubbed the “McAllen Anti-Corruption Act,” would impose strict campaign contribution limits on upcoming municipal elections.
Donors would only be allowed to give a maximum of $500 per candidate per election cycle. Currently, those limits sit at $5,000 per city commissioner candidate and $10,000 for a mayoral campaign.
Proposition B would give McAllen residents what the nonprofit refers to as “direct democracy” powers — that of initiative, referendum and recall.
If approved, McAllen residents would be empowered to petition for proposed legislation, to call for the overturn of ordinances approved by the McAllen City Commission, and to call for the recall of an elected official.
In all three cases, if the commission fails to act on such voter-driven efforts, McAllen would be obligated to put the matter up for a vote at the next available election.
From the beginning, however, city leaders have balked at the propositions, saying they would allow outside groups to influence McAllen’s local politics and governance.
One of the loudest voices in that opposition has been Villalobos’.
Several weeks ago, the mayor began taking to social media to denounce Props A and B, and asking for residents’ support in voting them down.
Not long after, campaign signs began going up along streets throughout town. “Save McAllen,” the signs read.
At the bottom, in tiny print that can’t be read from a car driving by, are disclaimers that the signs have been paid for by a group called “Concerned McAllen Residents.”
The only problem with that is that there doesn’t seem to be any such political action committee in existence — at least not one that Ground Game can find.
And the group checked. They scoured city, county and state records looking for evidence of a PAC by that name, according to their three-page complaint, which the group, via their general counsel, Mike Siegel, filed with state regulators on Monday.
From Ground Game’s perspective, it appears that an unregistered PAC is operating within the city and that Mayor Villalobos is closely connected to it, if not entirely responsible for it.
“He (Villlalobos) is the principal proponent of the PAC, or of the, you know, unformed PAC,” Siegel told The Monitor earlier this week.
“It’s a lot for him to say that he’s not leading it, but if he wants to say, ‘So-and-so is leading it, not me; they’re responsible,’ then that’ll be between him and the state (ethics commission),” Siegel added a moment later.
One PAC has emerged in opposition to the ballot measures — the “Save McAllen Tx PAC,” which was registered with city officials on Oct. 11. It wasn’t until this week, however, that McAllen officials posted the PAC’s campaign treasurer appointment form to the city’s website.
That PAC was started by local community advocate and attorney, Laurel McLeaish.
Confusing matters further, McAllen’s police and fire unions have also joined the fray in opposition to Ground Game’s ballot initiatives.
As of Thursday, the first responders, via the McAllen Firefighters for Responsible Government, and the McAllen Public Safety Advisory Committee, have launched both a website and a Facebook page under the name “Save McAllen.”
The mayor figures prominently on both.
But when it comes to “Concerned McAllen Citizens,” the mayor said there’s no such thing, no such PAC by that name.
Instead, the mayor admitted it’s all one big misunderstanding — one borne from acting too quickly.
“There’s one PAC and the confusion was really mine,” Villalobos said Wednesday night.
The mayor added he knew the formation of a PAC was in the works to oppose Props A and B, but that he “jumped the gun” in posting on social media before its registration documents had been filed.
“When there’s an effort to do something quick, these things happen. And unfortunately, it happened. And if I’m in the middle, I’ll do whatever I need to do to rectify it,” Villalobos said.
But as to the question of where the name “Concerned McAllen Residents” came from, the mayor had no clear answer. Nor could he answer the question of who had ordered campaign signs with “Paid for by Concerned McAllen Residents” disclaimers printed on the bottom.
Thus far, both Villalobos and McLeaish are in agreement that, though campaign materials have been produced, no invoices have been received or paid for.
Both Villalobos and McLeaish were operating under the assumption that they had been speaking about the same thing — about one PAC opposing the ballot initiatives. But Villalobos said he takes responsibility for the resultant misunderstanding.
“If I was caught in the middle of a possible violation, well then, I guess I apologize to the people. But I would do it all over again if I can save our city,” Villalobos said.
Meanwhile, Ground Game continues to be concerned that an unregistered PAC is operating within McAllen in contravention of state election law.
“The Concerned McAllen Residents is not a registered PAC. That is what we filed our complaint for,” Karen Salazar, Ground Game’s local organizer, said Wednesday.
It remains unclear whether the campaign materials that include the “Concerned McAllen Residents” disclaimers now obligate the formation of a PAC by that name. And a message left with the Texas Ethics Commission went unreturned Thursday.
Meanwhile, in addition to the police and fire unions, all six McAllen city commissioners have also come out to publicly oppose Props A and B.
