Susana Martinez
Gov. Susana Martinez’s political operation has released the full list of donors who paid for her inauguration activities.
You can view the list by clicking here.
Martinez raised more than $960,000 and spent more than $860,000 on the inauguration. Martinez is donating about $106,000 of the money she raised to SAFE houses throughout the state.
Martinez political spokesman Danny Diaz pointed out that no taxpayer dollars were used.
“In the spirit of openness and transparency, the inaugural committee decided to voluntarily disclose every contribution, in addition to voluntarily limiting donations from individual contributors,” he said.
Donation sizes were limited to $25,000. That’s far above the state’s campaign contribution limits of $5,000, which apparently doesn’t apply to inauguration contributions.
From The Associated Press:
“Contributing $25,000 to Martinez’s inaugural was Allsup’s, which runs convenience stores across New Mexico; United Healthcare; a political committee of Public Service Company of New Mexico, the state’s largest electric utility; Coca-Cola Refreshments; Devon Energy Corp., an Oklahoma City-based oil and natural gas company based in Oklahoma City, Okla.; Apache Corp., a Houston-based oil and gas company; and the Albuquerque law firm of Turner Branch; Pinnacle West Capital Corp. the parent company of utility Arizona Public Service Co.; and Vanessa Bartoo, a Truth or Consequences businesswoman and racehorse owner.
“Among those giving $10,000 was Chevron, ConocoPhillips, El Paso Electric, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, the Nuclear Energy Institute, Union Pacific and Urenco USA, which operates an uranium enrichment plant in southeastern New Mexico.”
The cost of Martinez’s inauguration is fairly comparable to others. For example, new S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley spent about $700,000, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry spent $2 million. Haley also limited contributions to $25,000, while Perry limited them to $100,000.