Pete Domenici Jr.
As promised, Republican gubernatorial candidate Pete Domenici Jr. released detailed information Monday about campaign contributions he’s received to-date, and his fundraising thus far has topped $260,000.
That includes a $50,000 contribution Domenici gave himself. Contributions he raised from others added up to $210,000.55.
Domenici posted the entire list of contributions he’s raised since entering the race six weeks ago on his campaign Web site.
“This support reflects the strong welcome Pete’s campaign has received from people who believe that he is a solid Republican who has the respect, backing and state-wide exposure to win the governor’s office,” Campaign Director Doug Antoon said in a news release.
“Janice Arnold-Jones was the first Republican to list her contributors on her Web site, and I am proud to follow her example,” Domenici said in the release.
Since January, Arnold-Jones has been posting on her campaign Web site information about every contribution she’s received to date, and she is keeping the list of contributions current. Domenici didn’t say if he plans to constantly update his list or release new information periodically. Antoon previously said the campaign hoped to release information about contributors at least monthly.
The next required finance report is due on April 12, but Democratic gubernatorial candidate Diane Denish started the trend of voluntarily releasing reports quarterly, even in off-election years when it’s not required, more than two years ago. Her most recent report came in January.
Republican Susana Martinez has matched Denish in voluntarily releasing a report of contributions and expenditures for the fourth quarter of 2009.
But unlike Denish and Martinez, Arnold-Jones has not been releasing information about campaign expenditures more often than is required by state law. Asked if Domenici planned to release information about expenditures more often than law requires, Antoon said he does not.
“Expenditures will be released in accordance with the state’s disclosure law because it is a campaign’s expenditures that detail planning and strategy (though nearly all campaigns would not admit that outright),” he wrote in an e-mail. “So we will safeguard that information.”
In response to a question, Antoon said the campaign may release information about any in-kind contributions the campaign has received more often than state law requires.
Republican candidate Doug Turner has said “maybe” in response to my question about whether he would voluntarily release a finance report. And the campaign of Republican Allen Weh has said he is “considering” doing the same.
Dems attack
The Democratic Party responded to Domenici’s release of contribution information by accusing Domenici of underperforming by his “own standards.”
Citing a “source close to the campaign” that NMPolitics.net quoted when Domenici entered the gubernatorial race on Jan. 17 as saying the campaign expected to reach $500,000 in fundraising “very soon,” the Democratic Party said in a news release that Domenici’s “early gaffes and mistakes” have hampered his fundraising.
The Democratic Party did not point out that the Domenici campaign never officially set the bar at $500,000.