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ALBUQUERQUE — The public campaign financing system in the state’s largest city was approved by voters in 2005 and had its first run in 2007. Most candidates running for the Albuquerque city council that year opted in — and won.
This year will be the first time that public financing is used for the mayor’s race. So far, City Councilors Debbie O’Malley and Michael Cadigan, former state Senate President Pro Tem Richard Romero and local activist Donna Rowe have declared they’ll seek public financing.
Whether Mayor Martin Chavez will get into the race for what would be his fourth term is an open question. Even more candidates will likely pop up as well, if past years’ crowded fields of mayoral candidates is any indication.
But we should know soon. The city’s public financing rules, combined with a new law that bans campaign contributions from businesses, make it likely that any candidate who isn’t independently wealthy will need to get started in earnest Feb. 17.
That’s when a 45-day window opens for candidates to gather $5 contributions from one percent of registered voters in the city — or roughly 3,280 people — if they want to run for mayor using public money.
According to Matt Brix of the Center for Civic Policy, the new system is set up to favor candidates who are prepared and dedicated to run early.
“The system is designed in a way that ensures only serious candidates receive public funds,” Brix said. “(Gathering that many $5 contributions) is quite an undertaking. In order to pull it off, the candidate has to be ready.”
Candidates using public financing have to follow rigorous rules that took effect Jan. 1. These rules include raising the $5 contributions plus collecting signatures from registered voters.
All candidates who qualify receive an equal distribution from a public pot of money (currently at $1.6 million) to run their campaigns. Mayoral candidates get $1 per registered voter each, which equals $328,000.
They also get matching funds throughout the election period, up to twice the original sum, if a privately financed candidate exceeds what the publicly funded hopefuls have received from the city.
As further incentive to opt into public funding, a new law bans business contributions to candidates as well as contributions from anyone who has a contract with the city.
“The ban on business contributions makes public financing more attractive, because obviously one of the easier ways to raise money is through business entities,” explained City Clerk Randy Autio.
Whether the ban will really keep big money out of politics remains to be seen. The ban doesn’t apply to measure finance committees — the city’s version of political action committees — which are allowed to form to elect a certain candidate or group of candidates. They can still raise contributions from businesses.
Furthermore, business owners can still make contributions to a privately financed candidate as long as they don’t hold contracts with the city. In his January financial disclosures, Chavez reported $41,050 in contributions during the last quarter of 2008, many of which were from local business owners who gave in their own names.
The ban’s language also does not specify when a would-be office seeker formally becomes a “candidate.” Autio said the term remains open to interpretation.
“The only advice I can give people is that if they are contemplating a run for city office, someone might suggest you are a candidate if you are raising funds to prepare to run,” he said.
“The law might be vague, but there’s also the matter of public perception.”
How the public financing law, combined with the new ban on business contributions, shapes the future of citywide races will be the subject of great interest in 2009.
In the 2005 mayoral race, Chavez swamped all other candidates by raising $1.1 million. About half of that was raised before he declared his candidacy. His closest competitor, former councilor and now state Sen. Eric Griego, raised around $250,000. Chavez won in 2005 with 47 percent of the vote. By comparison, Griego and City Councilor Brad Winter each pulled about 25 percent.
Chavez, who has stated that he supports the ban on business contributions, still hasn’t said whether he’s running in 2009, but there have been several indicators that he will.
After he dropped his bid for the U.S. Senate in late 2007, he challenged the term limits attached to the mayor’s office in court and won.
In the final months of 2008, he held a fundraiser through a political action committee he set up at the state level, sent out direct mail, and commissioned a poll.
In an interview on Jan. 16 with David Alire Garcia, on KNME’s weekly public affairs program New Mexico In Focus, Chavez wouldn’t say if he was running but said he’d use public financing if he ran again.
“Yeah, I think the way the system is structured, unless a person is independently wealthy, that’s about the only direction they could go in,” Chavez said.
