The money to entertain at the Governor’s mansion comes from a state discretionary fund. And spending from that fund was up 63 percent from 2007, when the governor campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination and traveled extensively outside of New Mexico, the AP reported.

The Associated Press requested records on the fund’s expenditures, which totaled $138,925 in 2008, according to a report it obtained as a result of the records request. Spending had dropped to $85,197 in 2007 from $109,486 in 2006.

The only restriction in state law on the so-called contingency fund is that expenditures must be “for purposes connected with obligations of the office” of governor, the AP reported.