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 race between incumbent Democrat Martin Heinrich and Republican Jon Barela was one of the highest rates of independent spending of any U.S. House race in the nation, ranking 12th. Of the slightly more than $3.8 million in independent expenditures in the race, nearly $2.4 million was spent in opposition to Heinrich according to the Sunlight Foundation’s analysis of FEC filings. This was the 14th most spent against any House candidate in the country.
The Independent wrote about the connections from some of the big groups ahead of the election.
The biggest spender against Heinrich was the American Action Network. The group does not disclose its donors and had some of its ads pulled after they were challenged on the facts. AAN spent $1 million on “electioneering communications” while the National Republican Congressional Committee spent $550,000 in opposition to Heinrich.
Barela didn’t get a free ride in the election. Barela had more than $1 million spent against him in the election. Virtually all of that came from $986,000 in independent expenditures from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
This was actually less money than was spent in 2008 when independent groups spent more than $5 million in the race according to numbers from the Center for Responsive Politics.
The year, the biggest spender was the DCCC which spent more than $2 million in support of Heinrich and opposing Republican candidate Darren White. The group Freedom’s Watch also spent $1.4 million in opposition to Heinrich.
