Ethics & Campaign Reform

Independent Source PAC Calls for Federal Investigation into Possible Pay to Play and Bid Rigging in Racino Contract

November 22, 2011 by Democracy for N...

Independent Source PAC (ISPAC)is calling on the the US Attorney to investigate potential bid-rigging at the Downs at Expo New Mexico fairgrounds. Yesterday in a surprise vote Martinez's State Fair Committee pushed to award a large donor a large state contract worth many millions of tax payer dollars.

This from the Susana Martinez who could not say enough of how corrupt and full of pay to play cronyism the Richardson administration was, and who also smeared all the same claims at the Democratic governor candidate Diane Denish and the Lieutenant Governor candidate Brian Colon as well as anyone else with ties to the Richardson administration.

In the article "Downs gets racino bid" within the website onPolitix.com, it is stated, "The Downs, the same group that is there now, is the winning bidder. This is the same group that was just slammed by an audit for not paying its bills to the state, but in the end State Fair officials said they are the best pick."

Senate Dems Statement: Business as Usual at Expo NM, Missed Opportunity at State Fairgrounds

November 22, 2011 by Democracy for N...

Following is a statement by the Senate Democrats.

Guest Blogger Patrick Davis: Gov. Martinez's Big Bet with Public Money Gives Big Donor the Purse

November 22, 2011 by Democracy for N...

This is a guest blog by Patrick Davis - Executive Director of Progress New Mexico.

Martinez's "Super Committee" Gives Commission Just One Option to Approve Governor's Handcrafted Process Gives 25 Year Multimillion Dollar Contract to Big Donor

The State Fair Commission's "surprise" vote yesterday afternoon to award a big Martinez donor a multimillion dollar state contract was no surprise at all to members of the public and State Fair Commission.

Heinrich Joins House Colleagues to Introduce Campaign Finance Constitutional Amendment

November 17, 2011 by Democracy for N...

This legislation is a companion to Senate Resolution that empowers Congress to regulate campaign finance

On November 14, 2011, U.S. Representative Martin Heinrich (NM-1) joined Representatives Betty Sutton (OH-13), Jim McDermott (WA-07), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), and Jesse Jackson Jr. (IL-02) to introduce an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would authorize Congress to regulate the raising and spending of money for federal political campaigns, including independent expenditures, and allow states to regulate such spending at their individual levels.

Rep. Heinrich led the fight for public financing of elections while he served on the Albuquerque City Council and continues to be a fighter in the House to take back control of the campaign finance system.

“This is about putting the American people before big corporations,” said Rep. Heinrich. “It’s time we put voters first and increase the transparency and disclosure of political spending.”