Keller’s is one of at least three bills in the Legislature that would ban or require the disclosure of campaign contributions from state contractors.
Freshman Sen. Tim Keller has introduced a bill that would ban the type of activity at the base of pay-to-play controversies surrounding the leader of his own political party, Gov. Bill Richardson.
Senate Bill 258, sponsored by the Albuquerque Democrat, is one of at least three bills introduced in the Legislature that would ban state contractors from contributing to candidates for statewide offices or at least require disclosure of such contributions.
Keller announced the introduction of his bill on Wednesday in a news release and at a public event.
“This bill is very cut and dry — if you are a contractor, you cannot contribute to candidates who may be responsible for hiring your firm,” Keller said at a news conference, according to a Wednesday news release. “… I have been working on this issue since this summer and am optimistic that recent events — which in some instances have led to pay-to-play criminal convictions — highlight the need for this commonsense legislation.”
Though his administration is under investigation, Richardson hasn’t been directly accused or convicted of any crime, but several other government scandals in recent years — some of them involving pay-to-play allegations — have resulted in criminal convictions.
Richardson is currently facing two separate pay-to-play controversies. The first involves a federal grand jury investigating allegations that a California company received a state investment contract that paid almost $1.5 million in exchange for $110,000 in contributions to two Richardson political action committees and his 2006 gubernatorial re-election campaign. In the second case, a lawsuit alleges that the state lost $90 million in investment deals made in exchange for a little more than $15,000 in contributions to Richardson’s 2008 presidential campaign.
On top of that, a number of Richardson donors have received state contracts and done other business with the state during Richardson’s tenure as governor.
Keller, who didn’t directly address in his news release the controversies surrounding Richardson, said the Legislature “must make it a priority to create a sharp and effective instrument to ensure potential contractors cannot influence the public contracting process to benefit themselves.”
“Without a bright-line rule, we will continue to see people taking advantage of loopholes and grey areas in our campaign finance laws,” Keller said. “Now is the time to ensure these practices end.”
The other, related bills are House Bill 244, sponsored by Minority Whip Tom Taylor, R-Farmington, and Senate Bill 263, sponsored by Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Sandia Park. Taylor’s bill is similar to Keller’s. Beffort’s, meanwhile, doesn’t ban such contributions but does require that prospective and current state and local government contractors disclose their campaign contributions.