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.
Campaign contributions to state Supreme Court candidates soared from $83 million nationwide in the 1990s to more than $206 million between 2000 and 2009, a new study reports. It’s a concerted push by special interest groups to influence judicial decisionmaking…
The New Mexico Secretary of State’s office got its new Campaign Finance Information System up and running on a shoestring budget of just $176,500.
But that could change if the system needs additional work. Under a state pricing agreement with…
After two days of turmoil, over four hours of heated debate and lots of procedural wrangling, the House on Tuesday passed a major piece of ethic legislation. HB 118 would ban campaign contributions from lobbyists and big state contractors from giving money to state-wide candidates and political parties. The bill now has less than 48 hours to try and get through the Senate.
“Today’s setback is huge,” said Rep. Jose Campos, D-Santa Rosa, moments after he asked to delay debate on his election reform bill. After debating House bill 118, which would ban contributions to statewide candidates from lobbyists and some…
Money. It’s been called the mother’s milk of politics. But House Bill 118 aims to stop lobbyists and special interests from making contributions or bundling contributions to state candidates.
Common Cause and the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops…
Later this week, Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez will voluntarily release a year-end report of contributions and expenditures for 2009, campaign spokesman Adam Deguire said. The law doesn’t require her to release another report until April 12.
Congressman Martin Heinrich and Senator Tom Udall, both Democrats, were among the members of Congress to accept what the Center for Responsive Politics calls “curious bundles of cash” from lobbyists connected to the health care industry since 2007. (Hat…
State Sen. (and blogger) Dede Feldman has had a few days off and, earlier today, reflected upon the legislative session, especially the hectic last day.
“The last night and morning of the 2009 session was true to tradition: underlying…
Sunshine Week forecast: Partly sunny. On Tuesday afternoon, the Legislature’s upper chamber passed a bill that would “shine a little sunshine” on contributions from contractors to political candidates. With only four days left in the session, the proposal has an uncertain future.
NMI reported live from the Roundhouse Monday morning during a Senate Rules Committee hearing. On the menu were several ethics reform bills, including some addressing campaign contributions from state contractors, and proposals for a state ethics commission. Click on the headline to read the live blog transcript.
There’s at least one ethics-reform proposal that isn’t getting any discussion this year. In fact, some legislators, when asked about it, thought it already was part of state law. The proposal: require a campaign contributor to list his or her employer.
In all the hoopla leading up to the inauguration, we failed to point NMI readers to an interesting Wall Street Journal article about New Mexico’s “unusual — and lightly regulated — political culture.”
Before describing the current pay-to-play federal…
