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.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, under scrutiny for possibly using foreign money to fund political activities, is spending $244,598 for TV ads against Democratic Rep. Martin Heinrich and $239,739 against Rep. Harry Teague.
The Chamber has said it will spend $75 million on elections across the country.
Earlier this week, the liberal blog Think Progress reported that the Chamber of Commerce was mixing foreign funds with political ad money. The Chamber denies it’s using any foreign funds, but FactCheck.org says the Chamber also refuses to say exactly how it does that when the money all goes into—and comes out of—the same account.
The chamber does indeed say it has internal controls to prevent any foreign money being used in illegal ways. Tita Freeman, the chamber’s vice president for communications, told us that money the chamber takes in from foreign corporations “is not used for political ads.” However, she declined to describe how the funds are segregated. “I won’t go into the specific accounting,” she said. “We are careful to comply with the applicable law.”
According to the Washington Post’s campaign cash tracker, the Chamber has spent the sixth-most this week on campaign expenditures. The spending has all gone to aid Republican candidates.
The Chamber of Commerce had previously found itself getting scrutiny after the news that News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and other media companies, donated $1 million to the group.
