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.
More than half of the $3.4 million Republican Susana Martinez has raised since late June has come from out-of-state contributors, according to a review of her last two finance reports.
From late June through Oct. 4, about $1.8 million has gushed in from Texas, Florida, Washington, D.C., Connecticut, California and Virginia, as well as other places, to help the Las Cruces prosecutor in her bid to take the governor’s mansion.
Martinez’s latest report, filed Tuesday, showed the Republican collecting $780,000 from out-of-state contributors who gave $2,500 or more to her campaign, according to her report.
That’s in addition to the more than $1 million Martinez collected according to a campaign finance report filed last month, which gives you the $1.8 million the GOP candidate has collected from beyond New Mexico’s borders.
The outsized advantage Martinez has wracked up Lt. Gov. Diane Denish in out-of-state money has led Denish and her supporters to accuse the Las Cruces prosecutor of being beholden to powerful out-of-state interests. Denish’s campaign raised about $230,000 in out-of-state money in contributions of $2,500 or more, according to her latest report.
Martinez has repeatedly responded to the attacks by saying she will be independent if elected governor.
A breakdown of out-of-state money
Most of the money Martinez has received from outside New Mexico’s borders has come in huge contributions, including three totaling $1 million from the Republican Governors Association.
The latest, an Oct. 4 contribution of $500,000 from the RGA, easily outpaced other contributions for size in the campaign finance report filed Tuesday. The RGA gave $500,000 to Martinez during the period covered by the last campaign filing period.
In the latest report, roughly $190,000 of the $780,000 out-of-state money Martinez received came from Texas, including a $75,000 from a property development firm in Midland, Tx. Martinez also received $15,000 from Clayton Williams Energy of Midland, Tx.
Denish also has received out-of-state money, but nowhere near at the clip that her opponent has, her finance reports show.
Since late June roughly $400,000 of the $1.6 million Denish’s campaign has raised has come from out-of-state contributors, her last two reports show.
That included an eye-popping $100,000 contribution from the American Federation of State, County Municipal Employees out of Washington, D.C. on Sept. 20. Denish also was aided by a pair of $20,000 contributions from the International Association of Firefighters out of Washington, D.C. and a manufacturing company in Denver. A California health care company also contributed $10,000, Denish’s report shows.
