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.
In out-of-state money, in oil-and-gas giving, in the number of eye-popping contributions, Republican Susana Martinez beat Democratic Lt. Gov. Diane Denish in the battle of dollars and cents, their latest campaign finance reports show.
Martinez cornered the New Mexico oil and gas industry ($257,500), contractors and builders ($77,150), dairies ($38,000), ranchers ($37,335), even auto dealers ($7,800).
The fundraising totals for Martinez and Denish are already known: Martinez wracked up $2 million to Denish’s nearly $800,000 from June 25 through last week.
But a comparison of the reports Wednesday showed something else: Republicans from outside of New Mexico care big-time about winning the New Mexico governor’s race.
The long-arm of the national Republican Party was evident in the $1.3 million Martinez collected in contributions of $5,000 or more, compared to Denish’s $279,000. That profusion of cash was driven mostly by a few eye-popping contributions from high-profile, and controversial, organizations and individuals with high-profile GOP connections.
The Washington-based Republican Governors Association contributed $500,000 in two $250,000 checks. A conservative Jackson, Wyo. investor added $200,000. Throw in $100,000 from a Malibu, Calif. magnate and the $50,000 from an Oklahoma City energy company, and you have more than 40 percent of Martinez’s fundraising over the period— just from those five contributions.
That gush of out-of-state money sends a message, pollster Brian Sanderoff of Albuquerque-based Research and Polling Inc. told the Independent on Wednesday.
“Major corporations and wealthy individuals rarely give unless they feel it is a wise investment,” Sanderoff said. “The money dries up when the major contributors feels their candidate of choice is not competitive. There are various corporate interests who feel that Susana Martinez has a good chance of winning and it’s a lot of lump sums from well-heeled individuals and PACs.”
Big issues at stake
It’s not just winning the governorship of New Mexico that’s drawing such large sums, Sanderoff said. It’s also large national issues. The next governor will preside over New Mexico when the 2012 presidential election rolls around. Governors are often viewed as powerful resources for a party’s nominee during a presidential election, especially in a battleground state like New Mexico.
Then there’s redistricting, the decennial tradition the New Mexico Legislature is about to embark on that requires redrawing the state’s legislative, and federal congressional districts.
“Where the Legislature stays Democratic, it becomes even more important for Republicans to have a check in the executive” during redistricting and presidential election years, Sanderoff said.
With the New Mexico Legislature expected to stay Democratic, Republicans have all the more reason to want a chief executive to act as a check, Sanderoff said.
Martinez’s report is also a sign, beyond Gov. Bill Richardson’s low-approval ratings, voter discontent and recent polls, that Martinez continues to ride high.
“Add all those things up, and it spells momentum,” Sanderoff said.
Denish charges Republicans are trying to buy the race
The Denish campaign on Wednesday attempted to turn the large sums of Republican money rolling in to its advantage.
The campaign sent out a plea to potential donors, saying “Diane needs your help to tell Susana Martinez that our state is not for sale.”
Meanwhile Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, also got into the act, sending out a fundraising pitch to donors with largely the same message: don’t let Republicans buy the New Mexico governor’s race.
Kerry singled out Martinez contributor Bob Perry for special concern in his letter. Perry helped fund the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the now-infamous group that helped fund a smear campaign against Kerry’s Vietnam War record during the 2004 presidential race.
“You may not have heard of Bob Perry, but he’s a big developer from Texas. He helped bankroll some of the most tasteless, shameful ads in campaign history – including those “Swift Boat” ads back in 2004. Now Perry is back at it and has given Republican candidate Susana Martinez a whopping $450,000 to attack the character of Democrat Diane Denish.”
Martinez received that amount from Perry and his wife before the Republican gubernatorial primary in June.
Denish’s numbers
Judging by the fundraising totals Denish reported Monday, her campaign will need a constant infusion of cash to keep up with Martinez’s pipeline to national GOP donors. Denish’s totals for the two-and-a-half month period ending last week appeared scrawny next to Martinez’s.
Where Martinez could count $1.1 million in contributions of more than $10,000, Denish reported only $170,000. Where Martinez reported more than $1 million in out-of-state money, Denish raised about $160,000.
Meanwhile the oil-and-gas industry, including those who listed themselves in the energy production and distribution businesses, appeared to firmly back Martinez, giving more than $250,000 to her, compared to nearly $13,000 for Denish.
Even Denish’s birthplace and childhood home, Hobbs, situated in New Mexico’s Oil Patch, appeared to be voting with its pocketbook for Martinez. A southeastern New Mexico town of nearly 31,000, individuals and companies from the area ponied up $122,000, according to the Martinez’s report.
The investment world also is giving heavily to Martinez, with 11 contributions totaling $269,817 from investment companies and investors, according to Martinez’s report. Individuals describing themselves as in investments or as an investor contributed $4,625 to Denish’s campaign.
In the end, Denish’s big contributors were labor unions ($50,000), attorneys and law firms ($72,857) and retirees ($71,350), according to her report.
With less than seven weeks to go, Sanderoff said it’s way too early to call a winner in the New Mexico governor’s race, although momentum at this point clearly favors Martinez.
“I suspect that Diane will be successful in raising funds to keep the race competitive,” he said. “Anything can happen in politics. We will have to wait and see.”
