Diane Denish (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
There’s a lot of New Mexico and out-of-state money being spent to help Democratic gubernatorial candidate Diane Denish beyond what was reflected on her most recent campaign finance report.
The Democratic Governors Association, which has aired TV ads aimed at trying to help Denish defeat Republican Susana Martinez in November, raised $865,000 in the last reporting period for that effort.
The DGA’s New Mexico political action committee spent just over $400,000 during the reporting period, much of it on TV ads, according to the group’s finance report.
While Denish didn’t have as many massive contributions on her campaign’s finance report as did Martinez, the DGA’s report reveals some very large donations being used to help Denish. Those include $250,000 from the National Education Association’s Fund for Children and Public Education; $150,000 from Peabody Holding Company in St. Louis, Missouri; and $100,000 from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Peabody Holding Company is part of Peabody Energy, which operates coal mines in states including New Mexico.
Susana Martinez
All of that is revealed on the DGA’s finance report instead of Denish’s report because the DGA is spending its own money instead of giving it to Denish. By comparison, the Republican Governors Association’s New Mexico PAC reported raising $600,000 during the last reporting period and spending $519,000. It gave almost all of what it spent – $500,000 – directly to Martinez’s campaign, so that money was reflected on Martinez’s finance report.
While the DGA raised money specifically for its New Mexico operation, the RGA has not, making the sources of the money the RGA has given to Martinez more difficult to track. The finance report for the RGA’s New Mexico PAC simply reports contributions from the RGA in Washington.
It’s noteworthy that the RGA has been in the news lately because of a $1 million contribution from the parent company of FOX News and the Wall Street Journal. The RGA is a 527 group registered with the IRS. Click here for its most recent finance report, which included contributions through June 30.
Denish had one other source of financial help not reflected on her latest finance report: The NEA’s New Mexico Advocacy Fund for Public Education PAC has also been running print and TV ads for her. According to the group’s finance report, it raised $130,000 in the last reporting period – all of it from New Mexico members – and spent a little more than $200,000. Most of its expenditures were related to its media buys to help Denish.
For clarification, it’s the Washington, D.C. version of this NEA political committee that gave money to the DGA. That’s separate from the NEA’s New Mexico Advocacy Fund group, which is funded by New Mexico members and is using its cash to air its own TV ads.
The money the DGA and NEA are spending on pro-Denish and anti-Martinez ads is in addition to the approximately $800,000 Denish’s campaign raised and $1.7 million she spent in the last reporting period. By comparison, Martinez raised about $2 million – including the $500,000 from the RGA, $200,000 from Foster Friess of Wyoming and $100,000 from B. Hughes of California – and spent $1.3 million.
More on the candidates’ finance reports is here.