60 days later, Cicero Institute's reason for NM lobbying still hidden from public

Yahoo

24-03-2025

The Roundhouse shrouded in darkness on a recent night. Now that the 60-day session is over, it's still unclear what the Cicero Institute was trying to get from lawmakers when it hired two veteran lobbyists, and the city of Albuquerque, which is also a client for one of them, defended its process for vetting lobbyists and identifying their potential conflicts of interests. (Photo by Patrick Lohmann / Source NM)
The legislative session is over and hundreds of bills are closer to becoming law, but it's still unclear which of them a billionaire-backed think tank influenced when it hired two veteran New Mexico lobbyists.
The Cicero Institute is a Texas-based, conservative think tank established by Joe Lonsdale, the billionaire co-founder of data mining and defense tech company Palantir. The institute has been linked to legislative lobbying efforts in other states where lawmakers have made it a misdemeanor to camp in public, including Texas and Florida, in moves designed to crack down on visible homelessness.
The Cicero Institute and its advocacy arm Cicero Action hired long-time lobbyists Alfred Park and Jason Weaks in late January, according to state filings. Weaks has disclosed more than $240,000 in political contributions and lobbying expenses in New Mexico since 2021, according to Secretary of State data. Park, a former state representative for Bernalillo County, is also a City of Albuquerque lobbyist under a $75,000 one-year contract, according to city records.
The lobbyists would not say, and state law did not require them to disclose, which bills they lobbied for or against in the 60-day legislative session that ended at noon on Saturday.
Billionaire-backed think tank that pushed homeless crackdowns elsewhere hires veteran NM lobbyists
Park's first client, the City of Albuquerque, also would not say, even though Park's contract requires him to get the city's approval before hiring any new clients. The city's chief administrative officer must sign off on new clients to ensure the lobbyist's new clients don't conflict with the city's interests, according to Park's contract the city provided to Source New Mexico.
Park did not respond to a request for comment Monday on which bills he lobbied for or whether he received the city's permission to lobby for Cicero. A public records request Source filed for communications between Park and the chief administrative officer regarding the institute also was returned with 'no responsive records,' a records custodian said.
In a statement, city spokesperson Shannon Kunkel said the city requires lobbyists it employs to disclose their lists of other clients, which she said is 'typically done verbally.' The statement did not address questions about what bills Park might have been lobbying for or whether the city agrees with the Cicero Institute's take on how to address the city's homelessness challenges.
'The City of Albuquerque hires professional lobbyists who maintain the highest standards of integrity,' Kunkel said in an emailed statement. 'Mayor Tim Keller continues to champion Housing Forward ABQ to increase equity, access, and availability of housing for all income levels.'
Lawmakers spent the first 30 days trying to tackle public safety and behavioral health challenges, including reforms to involuntary commitment and increasing some criminal penalties.
Cicero Institute leaders say the 'Housing First' strategy, which prioritizes placing a person in permanent housing without requiring the person to be sober or employed, has failed states, cities and people who live on the streets and, along the way, unnecessarily enriched nonprofit organizations. The institute calls for stricter involuntary commitment laws and bans on street camping, sometimes punishable with a misdemeanor and a $5,000 fine.
Devon Kurtz, a Cicero Institute policy analyst told Source New Mexico in February that the institute was unlikely to lobby for a statewide camping ban here, saying it 'doesn't seem like there's an enforcement problem.' The institute would instead focus on post-arrest policies around competency, probation and other things that happen after a person is arrested. The institute has also done some advocacy work around addressing the state's doctor shortage.
NM Legislative Recap March 18: Poetry in motion
Lawmakers sponsoring bills seeking additional lobbyist transparency at the state level pointed to the Cicero Institute's mysterious arrival as one reason lawmakers need to put more disclosure requirements on lobbyists. OpenSecrets ranked New Mexico 41st in the country when it analyzed lobbyist disclosure laws in 2022.
Late in the session, lawmakers approved House Bill 143, sponsored by Rep. Sarah Silva and Sen. Jeff Steinborn, two Las Cruces Democrats. Among other disclosures, the bill — if enacted into law by the governor — will require lobbyists or their employers to specify the bills for which they are lobbying and their stances toward those bills within 48 hours of beginning the lobbying activity.
Silva and Steinborn, in interviews throughout the session, said they saw Weaks and Park around the Roundhouse, but it was never clear exactly what issues they were lobbying on or whose interests they were representing.
Even though HB 143 passed, it won't go into effect until Jan. 1, 2027 if signed by the governor.