I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Bob J. Perry, the Texas developer behind the anti-John Kerry Swift Boat Veterans for Truth 527 group gave $450,000 to the gubernatorial campaign of Susana Martinez and airline service company owner Allen Weh loaned his campaign another $600,000. Those are the highlights of the most recent campaign finance reports, available now on the Secretary of State’s website.
Perry and his wife’s donation of $450,000 is nearly two-thirds of Martinez’s $720,000 haul in the three-week fundraising period that ran from May 4-25.
Martinez is in a tight race with former Republican Party chairman Allen Weh, who lent another $600,000 to his campaign recently. That makes a total of $1.6 million he’s lent himself.
As The Independent wrote last year, Perry has put hundreds of thousands of dollars into New Mexico politics. The Institute on Money in State Politics has documented Perry’s financial involvement over the last three cycles (more under the name Robert Perry.)
As for Weh, he has not had to go across state lines to find large sums of money to help fund his campaign — he hasn’t even had to leave his house. But other than the $600,000 Weh lent himself on May 13, Weh raised just more than $41,000 in the period.
No single donation to Weh’s campaign was more than $2,500.
Attorney Pete Domenici, Jr. raised more than $80,000 in the period. That total included $55,000 in loans the candidate made to his campaign.
Doug Turner announced raising more than $26,000 in the period; he did not loan his campaign any more money.
Janice Arnold-Jones reported raising more than $22,000 in the period, including a nearly $9,000 loan from Roger Nagel, a CPA from Albuquerque.
Yesterday, Democratic candidate Diane Denish announced raising nearly $465,000 in the fundraising period.
The primaries are on Tuesday, June 1.
