Susana Martinez
Gubernatorial candidate joins Diane Denish, Janice Arnold-Jones in going beyond what the law requires
Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez says she’ll voluntarily release a campaign finance report later this week, though the law doesn’t require her to release another one until April 12.
Martinez will release a year-end report of contributions and expenditures for 2009, campaign spokesman Adam Deguire said.
“Susana Martinez believes in transparency and open government,” Deguire said. “She is concerned that the current campaign reporting schedule, with its long gaps between reports, does not provide the type of transparency the public deserves.”
Deguire said the report will be available on Martinez’s campaign Web site.
Martinez joins two other gubernatorial candidates – Democrat Diane Denish and Republican Janice Arnold-Jones – in going beyond what’s required in terms of disclosure of campaign finances.
Denish has been voluntarily releasing campaign finance reports – lists of contributions and expenditures – quarterly, though in off-election years it’s only required twice. She says she will voluntarily release another report in the next couple of weeks for the fourth quarter of 2009.
And Arnold-Jones recently posted on her campaign Web site information about every campaign contribution she’s received to date. She plans to keep the list of contributions current, adding new contributions to the Web site each time one is received.
Arnold-Jones has not put a list of campaign expenditures online.
Last week, Denish accused the GOP candidates of operating “in the dark” for not agreeing to match her in releasing finance reports quarterly. That came before Arnold-Jones unveiled her online list of contributions – a move Denish later praised — and before Martinez made her announcement.
The other gubernatorial candidates – Republicans Doug Turner and Allen Weh – have not answered my question about whether they will release a fundraising report this month.
Update, 10:15 a.m.
The Denish campaign released this statement:
“It’s good to see some of the Republican candidates for governor are starting to follow Lt. Gov. Diane Denish’s long-standing example of increased transparency in campaign reporting,” Denish campaign spokesman Chris Cervini said.