The Senate Rules Committee considered one ethics-reform bill today, and it sent that bill to the trash.
Senate Bill 258, sponsored by Tim Keller, D-Albuquerque, would have banned all campaign contributions to statewide elected officials from state contractors or prospective contractors. It was tabled on a vote of 3-2, with several members of the committee absent.
Voting in favor of tabling the bill — and effectively killing it — were Dianna Duran, R-Tularosa, Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, and President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell. Those voting against the motion to table the bill were Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, and Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe.
Keller had touted the bill as a serious attempt to end the pay-to-play culture in state government.