Public Financing

The mayoral transition in Albuquerque continues to shake out news that top executives under Mayor Martin Chavez moved to lower positions in city government in the waning days of his administration while keeping the salaries they had as political appointees of the mayor.
Today, we have news that Chavez’s employee relations director, Lawrence Torres, will keep [...]

Albuquerque’s municipal elections are supposed to be non-partisan, but in this year’s mayoral race the Republican Party has been quite active in support of one particular candidate, two-term State Rep. Richard Berry–who is a Republican. The party has helped Berry with canvassing and volunteer labor, and Berry has used telephone lines and a copy machine at the state party headquarters. In addition, the Republican Party funded a poll, late in 2008, that included questions about the Albuquerque mayoral race.

The penny-ante larceny of which Jerome Block, Jr., is accused is small potatoes when compared with the great, hulking pork roast that is the public financing of campaigns. New Mexico currently extracts millions of dollars — with perfect legality — from taxpayers to fund candidates like Block in elections all over the state. That is the theft we should be angry about.

Two of Albuquerque’s three ballot-qualified mayoral candidates say recent City of Albuquerque official television ads featuring Mayor Martin Chavez are essentially campaign ads, and that he should use his pot of public campaign money for such ads instead. The mayor’s spokeswoman counters that the ads are perfectly legal and that the three-term mayor has always been outspoken and highly visible.

It’s final — three candidates have qualified for public financing in Albuquerque’s 2009 mayor’s race.
State Rep. Richard Berry — the only Republican in the field of candidates — qualified for the funds yesterday, which was the deadline for turning in 3,287 $5 contributions from registered voters in the city.

Former state Senate President Pro Tem Richard Romero has turned in enough $5 qualifying contributions to receive public funds for his candidacy in the Albuquerque mayoral race this year, the city clerk confirmed to his campaign today.

When it comes to gathering enough $5 contributions to qualify for public financing in the Albuquerque mayor’s race this year, a nail-biter of an effort by two candidates is about to come to an end.
The deadline for turning in the required contributions from 1 percent of the electorate — which is about 3,280 people — [...]

The news that Albuquerque City Councilors Debbie O’Malley and Michael Cadigan both were dropping out of the city’s mayoral race caused many to wonder if state Rep. Richard Berry, R-Albuquerque, was having similar difficulty.
Unlike other candidates, Berry had not turned in any contributions to the city clerk’s office, and his campaign wasn’t offering any [...]

Former state Senate President Pro Tem Richard Romero turned in another stack of $5 contributions today to Albuquerque’s city clerk, in order to qualify for public financing in the city’s mayoral race.
The deadline for gathering the contributions from one percent of the electorate — 3,280 people — is March 31.

Albuquerque City Councilor Debbie O’Malley announced today that she is withdrawing from the Albuquerque mayor’s race.
“This process was a difficult undertaking, and I am grateful to so many people — supporters, volunteers, friends, my campaign staff and family,” O’Malley said in a statement. “I can’t thank them enough for their time and energy.”

The Albuquerque City Clerk’s Office is painstakingly verifying the $5 contributions being turned in by mayoral candidates seeking to qualify for public financing in the Oct. 6 election.

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez hasn’t announced his (expected) bid for reelection yet, but he’s already gathered the $5 contributions he needs to qualify for public financing. He turned them in today — which is the first day to report contributions.

The condition of Albuquerque’s fund for publicly financed elections is not as dire as recent speculation in the mainstream media might suggest. And City Councilor Rey Garduño has already pledged to seek more money for the fund if crowded fields of qualifying candidates make the Oct. 6 ballot.

The business of showing Albuquerque who has the determination to be mayor gets seriously underway today — the first day to pick up donation booklets from the city clerk.
Candidates who want to qualify for public financing have to convince 3,280 people — 1 percent of the registered voters in Albuquerque — to give them $5 [...]

The public financing bill sponsored by Sen. Eric Griego, SB 165, “sits in committee” as the Senate Rules Committee ended this morning’s meeting.