{"id":2198,"date":"2007-09-06T10:33:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-06T16:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/09\/king-fundraiser-is-another-sign-of-the-need-for-reform\/"},"modified":"2007-09-06T10:33:00","modified_gmt":"2007-09-06T16:33:00","slug":"king-fundraiser-is-another-sign-of-the-need-for-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/09\/king-fundraiser-is-another-sign-of-the-need-for-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"King fundraiser is another sign of the need for reform"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In an attempt to pay off campaign debt, Attorney General Gary King<\/a> is holding a fundraiser next week that will be co-hosted by two members of a law firm that was recently awarded a state contract by King\u2019s office, the Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a> is reporting. <\/p>\n

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

Turner and Margaret Branch are members of the Branch Law Firm<\/a> of Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, which is representing the state on a case involving unpaid royalties on state land, the newspaper reported.<\/p>\n

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

The firm gets a percentage of the money the state is awarded as a result of the case \u2013 somewhere between 12 and 16 percent, King said.<\/p>\n

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

King told the newspaper he didn\u2019t see impropriety or the appearance of it, saying Turner Branch \u201chas been a friend of my family\u2019s for years. I don\u2019t see why he should be precluded as a supporter because he has contracts.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The Branches gave $7,838 to King\u2019s campaign last year and $5,500 to a primary opponent, Geno Zamora. They also gave $23,000 to Gov. Bill Richardson and $15,000 to Land Commissioner Pat Lyons.<\/p>\n

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

And, according to the newspaper, the previous attorney general, Patricia Madrid, was criticized in 2002 for giving a contract to the firm after the Branches gave her tens of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n

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

It would have been illegal for King to take contributions from the Branches during the bidding process, but he did not do that.<\/p>\n

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

King told the newspaper he supports public financing of campaigns, \u201cbut this is the system we have now, and the law doesn\u2019t prohibit this.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

He\u2019s right. It doesn\u2019t. And the answer isn\u2019t as simple as making it illegal, because this is a small state. It would be unreasonable to prohibit anyone who does business with the state from giving to political campaigns.<\/p>\n

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

Still, I\u2019d argue that there may not be impropriety here, but there is an appearance. The firm gave to Madrid<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, then got a contract from her office. It gave to Lyons and King, then got a contract though the attorney general\u2019s office involving state land office royalties. Impropriety or not, in a state with so many examples of a pay-to-play culture, there\u2019s a pattern here.<\/p>\n

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

It isn\u2019t a Democratic problem, contrary to the assertions of many Republicans. Turner Branch is a former GOP state lawmaker. Though Madrid<\/st1:state> and King are Democrats, Lyons<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is a Republican.<\/p>\n

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

This is just another sign that the system needs reform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an attempt to pay off campaign debt, Attorney General Gary King is holding a fundraiser next week that will be co-hosted by two members of a law firm that was recently awarded a state contract by King\u2019s office, the Santa Fe New Mexican is reporting. Turner and Margaret Branch are members of the Branch […]<\/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-2198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2198","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=2198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}