{"id":1741,"date":"2007-05-18T08:22:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-18T14:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/05\/in-moving-from-re-election-bid-to-presidential-run-richardson-may-have-skirted-campaign-finance-law\/"},"modified":"2007-05-18T08:22:00","modified_gmt":"2007-05-18T14:22:00","slug":"in-moving-from-re-election-bid-to-presidential-run-richardson-may-have-skirted-campaign-finance-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/05\/in-moving-from-re-election-bid-to-presidential-run-richardson-may-have-skirted-campaign-finance-law\/","title":{"rendered":"In moving from re-election bid to presidential run, Richardson may have skirted campaign finance law"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Politico has an interesting article<\/a> today calling into question Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s<\/a> use of money he raised for his gubernatorial re-election campaign as he prepared and began his run for president. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In an analysis of Richardson<\/st1:city>\u2019s state finance report filed this week, the publication reported that even after Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> won re-election, he \u201ccontinued using his gubernatorial campaign committee to fund what became the infrastructure of his next campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

From Dec. 2 of last year to May 7, the gubernatorial campaign paid nearly $360,000 to staffers and consultants now working on his presidential campaign. The Politico reported that the move appears to be legal and is becoming common in presidential races, but that, in Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s case, it may also skirt the intent of campaign finance law.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That\u2019s because of two facts: It\u2019s illegal for Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> to transfer the funds left over from his state run to his federal campaign. In addition, because New Mexico<\/st1:state> has no campaign contribution limits, much of the money Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s state campaign accepted and spent in the transition phase came from contributions that wouldn\u2019t be legal for a federal campaign.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Federal law limits contributions to $4,600 \u2013 half of it for a primary cycle and half for a general election.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Such laws kicked in when Richardson<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> formed his exploratory committee on Jan. 21 but, The Politico reports, his state campaign account remains active.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Amanda Cooper, deputy manager for the presidential campaign, said Richardson<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> is aware of the law and has been diligent in following it.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Keeping staffers on payroll, funding inauguration<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

During the five months covered in the state report, according to The Politico, Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s gubernatorial campaign \u2013 which had already completed the task of re-electing the governor \u2013 raised more than $660,000, much of it from contributions that would be illegal under federal law.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He spent $1.31 million. Cooper said it was all used to prepare for Richardson<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>\u2019s Jan. 1 inauguration, close down the campaign operation and pay bills that arrived late but were for services rendered before the election, The Politico reported.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Some of those late bills \u2013 totaling $225,000 \u2013 were from consultants who are now being paid by Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s presidential campaign.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And Cooper was one of 17 workers who stayed on the payroll of the state campaign after the inauguration. They received $116,000 in compensation before moving to the presidential campaign.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Cooper said that was a \u201cskeleton staff\u201d compared to the hundreds of employees who worked on Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s re-election.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, Massie Ritsch, told The Politico that Richardson used his state campaign like many candidates use federal campaigns and political action committees \u2013 to \u201craise money and spend it on things that will help them in their presidential race: They retain staff, they do polling and build their fundraising list.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But candidates who have run for federal office can legally transfer those funds to presidential campaigns. Hillary Clinton<\/a>, for example, was able to transfer $10 million from her Senate account to her presidential campaign.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Mitt Romney<\/a>, who may be in a similar situation to Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, raised nearly $7.1 million through non-federal committees he set up in seven states before this year, The Politico reported.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Richardson and Romney can\u2019t transfer the funds. They also can\u2019t spend the cash to assist their presidential campaigns if it\u2019s from contributions that would have violated federal law. Richardson<\/st1:city> took several donations in December and January that would violate federal law, including $25,000 each from a Denver<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> real-estate company, the drug maker Pfizer, AFSCME, and several other companies.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Cooper said the presidential campaign is paying its own way, and has spent $22,000 to buy desks, chairs and computers from the gubernatorial campaign.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThe only money we raised after the election was for the inaugural ball,\u201d she told The Politico.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Politico has an interesting article today calling into question Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s use of money he raised for his gubernatorial re-election campaign as he prepared and began his run for president. In an analysis of Richardson\u2019s state finance report filed this week, the publication reported that even after Richardson won re-election, he \u201ccontinued using […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}