Albuquerque, NM- Cynthia Borrego, candidate for Albuquerque City Council District 5, is set to answer a campaign ethics violation complaint before the Board of Ethics and Campaign Practices on October 25, 2017 at 9:00am. The ethics violation hearing stems from a complaint that Cynthia Borrego, a publicly financed candidate, violated the Open and Ethical Code of the City Charter by accepting campaign donations disguised as "in-kind" donations. Borrego, was one of several candidates who accepted public financing, and is accused in the complaint of flouting campaign finance rules to benefit her candidacy, for Council District 5, contrary to the policies set forth in the Open and Ethical Election Code.

The ethics violation complaint filed on August 25, 2017 by Felix Nunez, seeks to shed light on whether the "in-kind" donations Cynthia Borrego's campaign received were cash donations, as well as whether the campaign's "in-kind" donors purchased the campaign materials and delivered to the candidate without collusion or communication with the Borrego campaign. Borrego is accused of openly accepting contributions to her campaign, designated as "in-kind" donations, that paid for campaign materials; including palm cards, campaign road signs, and yard signs. Twenty-two individual donors contributed $3,320.08 in what Borrego's campaign designates as "in-kind" donations, in addition to the $45,680 of public funds her campaign received prior to the runoff election. Contrary to the purpose of the "in-kind" donations Borrego's campaign filed with the City Clerk's Office, all campaign materials funded by and designated as "in-kind" donations, have been attributed in their printed disclosures to being purchased by Borrego's campaign directly and not the campaign's "in-kind" donors. The City Charter states in Article XIII "Election Code" Section 5 "Campaign Materials: "Each candidate and each chairperson of each Measure Finance Committee shall ensure that all campaign materials specify the name of the sponsor who authorized the printing or distribution of such material and the name and address of the establishment that printed or otherwise created the campaign materials; provided, that the name and address of the printing establishment is not required to be specified in a newspaper advertisement."

The ethics violation complaint against Cynthia Borrego was originally scheduled to be heard by the Board of Ethics and Campaign Practices on September 25, 2017, however the hearing was rescheduled by the Board to October 25, 2017 at 9:00am in the Vincent E. Griego Chambers at the City/County Government Center. Additionally, on Thursday, October 12, 2017, Board Chairman Andrew Schultz, in response to publicly financed Mayoral Candidate Tim Keller requesting an advisory opinion on receiving "in-kind" donations during the Runoff Election, stated, "A (publicly financed) candidate may accept in-kind contributions only from the beginning of the exploratory period up to the regular municipal election," according to the Albuquerque Journal. The advisory opinion was passed unanimously by the Board.