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Mark Ronchetti website
Mark Ronchetti's campaign website in 2022.
Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Ronchetti is suing a political consulting firm he says botched the launch of his campaign websites both during the 2022 election and when he was running for Senate earlier. The second mistake, the lawsuit says, forced an abrupt end to his career as a weatherman at KRQE.
The lawsuit says Ronchetti first hired Virginia-based Go Big Media to work on the website for his unsuccessful 2020 US Senate campaign against Democrat Ben Ray Luján.
As he prepared to jump from local television to the campaign trail, Ronchetti reached an agreement with KRQE to leave his position as chief meteorologist on January 6, 2020, according to the lawsuit.
But Ronchetti says his campaign website appeared live online that evening and was “leaked” to the media, before Ronchetti formally announced his candidacy.
Ronchetti returned to KRQE after that race and despite the bungled campaign launch in 2020, the lawsuit says he reached out to Go Big Media again to work on the website for his 2022 gubernatorial bid.
The lawsuit says Ronchetti demanded confidentiality during the drafting phase of the website.
Again, though, the website appeared online in October 2021 before Ronchetti had formally launched his campaign, catching the eye of political reporters.
“The second leak also occurred before Mr. Ronchetti had announced his candidacy, and in fact before he had made his final decision whether to run,” the lawsuit says. “As a result of this leak, Mr. Ronchetti was forced to resign immediately and without warning from his job at KRQE-TV.”
The lawsuit argues that this caused “financial losses, loss of reputation, damage to his campaign, damage to his employment prospects, and other economic and noneconomic damages.”
Go Big Media did not respond to emails seeking comment but in court, its lawyers have said the company is not at fault.
The lawsuit comes as Ronchetti’s next steps are unclear. He has not returned to KRQE and is now 0-2 in statewide elections with a US Senate race looming in 2024.
Filed in Albuquerque during February, the lawsuit does not specify how much money Ronchetti is seeking from Go Big Media but seeks compensatory and punitive damages, accusing the company of unfair or deceptive trade practices, breach of contract and negligence.
It’s also not clear how much money Ronchetti’s campaigns have paid the firm, which has worked for Republican candidates across the country. While his US Senate campaign reported paying Go Big Media more than $400,000 for its work on the 2020 race, financial disclosures do not list any payment from his gubernatorial campaign to the firm. And the campaign closed out the last finance reporting period with only $1,436.78 in the bank.
Jessica Hernandez, general counsel under former Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, is representing Ronchetti in the case. She did not respond to a phone message Wednesday seeking comment.
Editor’s note: We’ve updated this story to include more detail about the scope of the lawsuit.
