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State workers a top donor to Richardson's presidential campaign

By The Associated Press

Article Launched: 10/17/2007 07:07:56 AM MDT

SANTA FE — State workers in New Mexico continue to pump money into Gov. Bill Richardson's presidential bid, giving his campaign about $78,000 during the past three months.

State employees have given more to Richardson's campaign than any other group of individuals when totaled by their employer, according to a review of campaign finance records by The Associated Press.

Since launching his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Richardson has collected at least $468,101 from state employees, including those working for executive branch agencies, courts, other state offices and publicly funded colleges and universities. That represents about 2.5 percent of the $18.5 million in total contributions received by Richardson so far.

At the end of September, Richardson had a balance of about $5.8 million in his campaign account.

Among the state officials giving to Richardson during the third quarter were Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, $2,300; Higher Education Secretary Reed Dasenbrock, $2,300; Tourism Secretary Michael Cerletti, $2,000; John Bigelow, who runs the Public Defender Department, $2,300; and Roy Soto, who is in charge of the Department of Information Technology, $2,300.

Contributors described as self-

employed gave nearly $830,000 to the campaign during the third quarter, bringing their year-to-date total to about $3.4 million.

Retirees contributed about $614,000 during the past three months, bringing their campaign-to-date total to about $1.9 million.

Published reports about Richardson's campaign contributors often focus only on individuals whose employer is listed as the "state of New Mexico." In the third quarter, those donors gave $39,600. However, that understates the money coming state employees.

Richardson's campaign report lists contributions from state workers with dozens of different descriptions of their employers — ranging from "New Mexico Department of Public Safety" to "NM DOT" for the state Transportation Department.

New Mexico is the largest source of campaign cash for Richardson.

During the third quarter, donors from New Mexico contributed about $1 million.

New Mexicans — individuals and political committees based in the state — have given $5.2 million since the campaign started. That represents about 28 percent of the total contributions to Richardson.

Workers for Richardson's presidential campaign committee contributed $8,190 during the third quarter. David Contarino, of Santa Fe, who is the campaign manager, gave $2,300 and that brought his total contributions to $4,600 — the maximum amount for the primary and general elections.

Lawyers with the New Mexico-based Modrall, Sperling law firm contributed $8,600 during the past three months to Richardson.

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, who is running for the Democratic nomination for Senate, contributed $2,300 to Richardson's campaign and Albuquerque city employees gave $4,000.

New Mexico Indian tribes and pueblos contributed $10,500 to the campaign during the past three months. Giving $2,300 were Pojoaque, Tesuque and Zia pueblos and the Jicarilla Apache Nation. Sandia Pueblo contributed $1,300.

Polls agree Richardson is the one Democratic candidate that Democrats, independents and Republicans would most likely vote for.

I don't know if you did, but I stayed up late Tuesday night watching election returns. As someone who has been in public life a long time, I find Election Day really inspiring. It's the day when the talking heads don't matter anymore and the workings of the world's greatest democracy are on display for all to see. And if you're running for office, it's the day you finally stop campaigning, plunk down in front of the television, and find out just how good a job you did.

The wonderful thing about our country is that even after the electoral disasters of 2000 and 2004, it has a way of correcting itself -- of kicking the bums out and getting back on track. We saw that in 2006 when we took back Congress. We're going to see more of it in 2008. Shoot, we saw it Tuesday when Kentucky voters booted out their Republican Governor after he was indicted for political interference in state hiring.

But what worries me when I think about the 2008 election is that if we nominate the wrong candidate, we're not going to win the White House.

You've seen how the national Republican Party operates. They're masters at destroying our candidates through smear campaigns and distortions. They've already got their long knives out for Senator Clinton -- a person I admire even though I disagree with her on many important issues.

The best we can hope for if she is the nominee is another squeaker that could go one way or the other.

I don't think this country can afford another George Bush.

The polls are all in agreement. I'm the one Democratic candidate that Democrats, independents and Republicans would most likely vote for. That means that if I'm the candidate, we've got our best shot at taking back the White House.

I know I put the arm on you last week, but this whole election comes down to what we can do in Iowa and New Hampshire in the next 55 days. Every dollar of support you can give us will go instantly into our media and field operations in those key states.

So if you can find a way to contribute today, I would be incredibly grateful to you.

I've got to go catch a plane. Please keep paying attention to the news, keep talking to your friends about why you support my candidacy, and keep being the true-blue Democrat you are. This country needs more people like you.

I'll be in touch.

Bill

P.S. You may have heard talk about me giving up the presidential race to run for either Senator from New Mexico or Vice President. Don't you believe it. I'm in this race until the end. And thanks again for your support.

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