Two of New Mexico’s returning congressmen, Reps. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, voted against the tax-cut bill passed late last night by a 277-148 vote, while the congressman who lost in November’s elections, Rep. Harry Teague, voted in favor.

The tax-cut plan, which already passed the Senate, came after an amendment to reduce the cut on the estate tax failed to garner enough support to be added to the bill. This would have most likely doomed the bill as it would have needed to return to the Senate before being sent to President Barack Obama’s desk to be signed.

The bill will extend the Bush-era tax cuts for all income levels for two years. It would also extend unemployment benefits for 13 months and temporarily cut the 6.2 percent payroll tax to 4.2 percent. The bill would also set the estate tax at 35 percent on estates of over $5 million.

The main opposition to the bill among liberals was the extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for Americans making over $250,000 per year. Those opposing the deal say the cuts are too expensive and are unpaid for.

Some Republicans opposed the bill because they said the tax cuts should be permanently extended at all levels.

Earlier in the week, Heinrich wrote an op-ed in the Albuquerque Journal outlining his opposition to the tax cuts for the wealthy.

“I want to be 100 percent clear that I support extending the tax cuts for the 98 percent of New Mexicans who make less than $250,000 a year,” Heinrich wrote in Wednesday’s paper. “What’s at issue is whether to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.”

New Mexico’s congressmen are split on the tax cut-extension compromise that the White House brokered with Republicans. The compromise would extend tax cuts for those at all income levels, including those making $250,000 a year or more, and extend unemployment insurance for another 13 months.

Reps. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján both signed onto a letter opposing the deal while Rep. Harry Teague sent out a statement backing the proposal.

Heinrich and Luján were joined by 52 other House Democrats on the letter spearheaded by Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., which said the signatories “oppose acceding to Republican demands to extend the Bush tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires for two reasons.”

The letter continues:

First, it is fiscally irresponsible. Adding more than $900 billion to our national debt, as this proposal would do, handcuffs our ability to offer a balanced plan to achieve fiscal stability without a punishing effect on our current commitments, including Social Security and Medicare.

Second, it is grossly unfair. This proposal will hurt, not help, the majority of Americans in the middle class and those working hard to get there. Even as Republicans seek to add billions more to our national debt in tax cuts to the wealthy, they oppose extending unemployment benefits to workers and resist COLA increases to seniors.

Teague, who lost his re-election bid to Republican Steve Pearce last month, sent a statement to the media supporting the deal: “The bipartisan compromise negotiated by the President is not perfect, but allowing middle-class tax breaks to expire while we are still in this fragile economy will obstruct job creation and slow our economic growth.”

“I do have serious concerns about the long-term impact of extending the Bush tax cuts for wealthy Americans,” Teague wrote. “[B]ut it is important to note that those extensions are temporary and just one part of a larger package that includes maintaining tax cuts for the middle class, a new payroll tax cut for working Americans, key tax cuts for small businesses to spur investment and job creation, an earned income and child credit for hardworking families, a higher education credit to help families send their kids to college, and an extension of unemployment insurance for Americans seeking work.”

The Center For Responsive Politics released a report Wednesday illustrating how many members of Congress had grown richer during the recession. Rep. Harry Teague (D-N.M.), who lost his seat to Steve Pearce earlier this month in a rematch of the 2008 election, ranked 13th out of 435 House members in net wealth.

Because financial disclosure forms show a range of numbers, his net worth was measured between $21,119,041 and $53,084,997, largely because of his ownership of Teaco Energy. (Steve Pearce was worth between $8,382,014 and $37,980,000 in 2008.)

Reps. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben R. Lujan (D-N.M.) ranked 380th and 395th in the House, respectively.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) ranked 17th in the Senate, having 335 assets, mostly in Goldman Sachs funds. Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) ranked 53rd in the Senate.

Steve Pearce (Photo by Heath Haussamen)

Republican Steve Pearce appears headed back to Washington as returns show Pearce with 53.9 percent of the vote at 10:10 p.m. Tuesday.

The Democratic incumbent, Harry Teague, called Steve Pearce to congratulate him Tuesday night and told supporters that representing southern New Mexico was the “greatest honor of his life.”

Though for a time the race looked like it could be close, Pearce began to pick up support from conservative areas of the district and held Harry Teague to just over 55 percent of the vote in Doña Ana County, the largest Democratic stronghold in the district.

Teague, a freshman Democrat from Hobbs, rode a wave of Democratic voter enthusiasm in 2008, winning with 55 percent of the vote. But with the economy still a major worry, and President Obama’s approval hovering around the floorboards, the 2010 election promised to be much tougher for Teague.

Pearce had given up his seat in the U.S. House after Sen. Pete Domenici’s retirement. He defeated then Rep. Heather Wilson in the primary, but he was defeated by then-Rep. Tom Udall in the general.

Pearce announced his candidacy in July of last year and cited Teague’s vote on the controversial cap and trade bill as the reason why. Pearce hammered Teague on the issue, calling it a vote for “job-killing taxes” throughout the campaign.

Pearce, like Teague, made his money in the oil and gas industry of southern New Mexico.

The vote even ended up in an unofficial boycott of Teague’s business according to Politico. Politico reported that the boycott cost Teague’s business up to $15 million. Late last year, Teague announced that he was divesting himself of business interests in three of his oil companies.

The race attracted quite a bit of national attention, and was long considered one of the House seats most likely to change parties.

Teague did break with the Democrats and  vote against the health care reform bill that passed Congress last year, saying it didn’t do “enough to rein in insurance companies” and that he was concerned about the cost of the bill.

Pearce has promised to work to repeal health care reform.

Throughout the campaign, Pearce was dogged by statements made while a member of Congress on privatizing social security. Though Pearce denied support for social security, news stories from 2005 and 2007 showed that Pearce supported at least part of George W. Bush’s failed plan to privatize social security.

Outside groups spent millions on the race

Pearce raised more money than Teague since entering the race, but Teague’s head start in fundraising helped him stay competitive on the fundraising front. Teague was also aided by outside groups. In all, the groups spent more than $1.5 million opposing Pearce while groups spent $1 million opposing Teague.

The largest spenders were the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, which spent $770,000 opposing Pearce, and the National Republican Congressional Committee, which spent $550,000 opposing Teague. Most of the money spent in the race was for advertisements either on TV or the radio.

Teague was dealt a blow weeks before the election when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced it would cutt back on the amount of money that it would spend in the district opposing Pearce. The DCCC shifted its resources to New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District to aid Martin Heinrich.

All results from the Secretary of State’s unofficial numbers as of 10:10 p.m. on Tuesday.

As the numbers in the Secretary of State’s office stands as of this writing, Pearce is leading 52.9 percent to 47.1 percent for Teague.

Click on the image to see it full size.

NPR yesterday ran a fascinating report on the spider web of connections between the major players in a handful of independent groups that have been spending tens of millions of dollars on election ads throughout the country—and hundreds of thousands of dollars in New Mexico.

NPR describes the independent groups as anything but independent. “It’s one big network: a Republican campaign operation, working outside the official party.” That’s a technique that the Democrats invented in 2008, but that Republicans have now mastered, with the help of the Supreme Court decision that allowed unlimited political spending, the network reported.

Here’s how Republican- and Democrat-aligned groups have been spending money in New Mexico.

Yesterday, The Independent reported that the outside spending in federal races in New Mexico was nearing $5 million through October 25 almost exclusively in the races between Jon Barela and Martin Heinrich, and between Harry Teague and Steve Pearce. Since then, spending on independent expenditures has increased to over $6 million.

American Action Network spent $275K against Heinrich; its director gave Martinez $100K

The conservative American Action Network has spent $550,000 in New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District targeting incumbent freshman Martin Heinrich. The American Action Network is organized as a 501(c)4 non-profit and so does not have to disclose its donors. So far, the American Action Network has spent nearly $10 million nationwide targeting vulnerable Democrats.

The American Action Network is closely aligned with another group, American Crossroads, which has spent millions of dollars so far this year. The two conservative groups share an office suite in Washington, D.C., but the connections go deeper than that.

Billionaire B. Wayne Hughes is both the director of American Action Network a major funder of American Crossroads, a group run by George W. Bush advisor Karl Rove and former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie. Hughes donated $1.5 million to American Crossroads and $100,000 to Susana Martinez.

Bob Perry gave $4.5 million to RGA; RGA gave Martinez $1.3 million and Perry and wife gave her $450K directly

Texas developer Bob Perry, of the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth group, donated $7 million to American Crossroads and $4.5 million to the Republican Governor’s Association, both of which can accept unlimited donations.

Both Perry and the RGA have both been major contributors in New Mexico. Along with his wife Doylene, Perry donated $450,000 to Martinez through the latest campaign finance reports. The RGA has donated $1.25 million to Martinez’s election campaign as of the last campaign finance reports and today the Associated Press reported an additional $50,000 donation from the group to Martinez.

Carl Forti is the bridge between American Crossroads and Americans for Job Security. Forti, who was called “one of the smartest people in politics you’ve never heard of” by Karl Rove, is the political director of American Crossroads in addition to serving as a consultant to Americans for Job Security.

Americans for Job Security spent $55K against Teague

Americans for Job Security has targeted Rep. Harry Teague, spending nearly $55,000 against the incumbent freshman.

Forti founded the Black Rock Group with Michael Dubke, who was the co-founder and president of Americans for Job Security from 1997 to 2008. Dubke founded Crossroads Media in 2001 and still runs the group. This is the group that places ads for the Republican Governors Association, the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Republican National Committee, American Crossroads, Americans for Job Security and other Republican and conservative groups.

Forti also “handles public relations and media services” for the 60 Plus Association. That group has spent nearly $9,000 on a mailer targeting Teague.

Forti also was part of Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign. Romney’s political action committee donated $10,000 to Martinez and headlined a fundraiser for Susana Martinez.

Defenders of Wildlife spent $800K attacking Pearce; DCCC spent $1 million against Barela

Groups backing Democrats have also spent significant amounts of money in New Mexico, although less than their counterparts. And it’s harder to make connections between them.

The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, for example, has spent nearly $800,000 in opposition to Steve Pearce.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has spent nearly $1 million in opposition to Jon Barela in the 1st Congressional District, nearly half of which came in an ad buy earlier this week. The DCCC has also spent $500,000 in opposition to Steve Pearce in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District.

A group calling itself “Accountability 2010″ has spent nearly $213,000 opposing Pearce. There is little information on the group but R. Brooke Coleman is listed on the group’s FEC reports. Coleman is president of the New Fuels Alliance and has deep connections to the biofuels industry.

The bulk of the money spent in the past few days has gone toward the race between Martin Heinrich and Jon Barela, likely signaling that the Albuquerque-area race is the most competitive of all the House races this year. Over a half-million dollars has been spent in the past few days by outside groups in New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District, most of which came from the DCCC’s expenditures opposing Republican Jon Barela.

Still, nearly 60 percent of the money spent in New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District has been spent opposing Martin Heinrich and just 30 percent has gone opposing Barela. Just over ten percent has gone in support of either candidate.

Just $60,500 in new money has been spent in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District since The Independent’s last report.

Most of the money, over 55 percent, has gone towards opposing Steve Pearce. Just 38 percent has gone to oppose Harry Teague and about five percent has gone toward supporting either candidate.

The latest cash infusion, which goes through Oct. 25, continues the trend of out-of-state interests swooping in to New Mexico‘s two hottest congressional contests.

So far, the money spent in opposition to one of the four candidates in the two races easily outpaces the dollars meant to support the candidates, with nearly 90 percent, or more than $4.3 million, spent in opposition TV and radio attack ads as well as direct mail advertisements, records show.

The emphasis on negative campaigning seems to point to studies that show such efforts are more effective than positive messages.

Former congressman Steve Pearce, who hopes to unseat first-term Democratic Congressman Harry Teague in the 2nd Congressional District race, has the biggest bullseye on his back, attracting more than $1.5 million in opposition money, records show. The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund has led that opposition effort, spending nearly $800,000 to oppose the Republican, records show. Meanwhile Teague has been the subject of more than $1 million in money opposing his candidacy, with the largest portion of that effort coming from the National Republican Congressional Committee, records show.

In the 1st Congressional District race, first-term Democratic Congressman Martin Heinrich has attracted $1.3 million in opposition money, while his Republican opponent, Jon Barela, has had more than $525,000 spent against him.

Like Teague, the biggest spender opposed to Heinrich’s re-election is the National Republican Congressional Committee. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee meanwhile is responsible for nearly all of the money spent against Barela.

Only about $410,000 has been spent in favor of one or more of the candidates.

The amount of money coming from out-of-state groups have functioned almost as a shadow campaign, with the spending from these groups largely keeping pace with the spending of the candidates’ campaigns themselves.

The organizations in question,  which vary from  the Democratic and Republican congressional committees to advocates of all political stripes, have paid for everything from TV and radio ads to voter surveys and direct mail campaigns, records show.

The 3rd Congressional District race in which first-term Democratic Congressman Ben Ray Lujan is facing a challenge from Republican Tom Mullins has largely missed out in the spending bonanza by out-of-state groups.