{"id":396995,"date":"2017-07-28T10:10:56","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T16:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=396995"},"modified":"2017-07-29T14:43:21","modified_gmt":"2017-07-29T20:43:21","slug":"big-money-dwarfs-public-finance-in-albuquerque-mayors-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/07\/big-money-dwarfs-public-finance-in-albuquerque-mayors-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Big money dwarfs public finance in Albuquerque mayor\u2019s race"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_66499\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/feverblue\/7550299240\/in\/photolist-cvcfV7-92Yxoj-92VjYH-2VqKFS-ffJffR-4CaESc-5bzjuB-ffJfwP-dod3rs-vhH3xU-8dvo8A-dobxRi-5212Qa-4rhV4Y-rdqjy-4csaJH-92Vpev-5ZPuxr-92Vi5T-oA9iY-4csbqT-naNysN-ncTcyE-ncR2eX-naNwQz-ncRh5B-ncTfxA-ncQYji-ncTdnJ-naNA6Y-naNw94-ncTeWq-naNxKb-ncRiBz-naNyi5-92Vhxg-naNtLd-naNsTG-ncRcu4-naNtiQ-ncT8Z5-ncQU5g-dobAiR-uCxbrJ-dobHWq-dobHL5-dobH27-dobHpf-4cs92R-4rdPea\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-66499 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque-771x431.jpg\" alt=\"Albuquerque\" width=\"771\" height=\"431\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque-771x431.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque-336x188.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque-768x429.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque-1170x654.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Albuquerque.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Will Keightley \/ Creative Commons<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Albuquerque at sunset. (<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">photo cc info<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Ricardo Chaves says he won\u2019t accept any outside cash to help in his quest to become mayor of Albuquerque.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI won\u2019t take any campaign money, because I don\u2019t want to be beholden,\u201d Chaves said in a recent interview. \u201cI want to represent all the people not just the special interests.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So the 81-year-old retired Albuquerque businessman who founded Parking Company of America is relying on a different pile of money to push his mayoral candidacy over the line: his own. To date, Chaves has pumped more than $500,000 into his campaign war chest, mostly through loans.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/07\/27\/big-money-dwarfs-public-finance-in-albuquerque-mayors-race\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Mexico In Depth<\/a>. Sign up for\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=1d2ab093d81b992e50978b363&amp;id=9294743d38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>In January 2016, he wrote an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abqjournal.com\/700141\/our-salvation.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">opinion piece<\/a>\u00a0in the Albuquerque Journal in support of Donald Trump, another political outsider who bankrolled much of his presidential campaign with his own money.<\/p>\n<p>Chaves still supports the president, he said, but won\u2019t follow in Trump\u2019s footsteps and seek outside funding as the mayoral campaign progresses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll put in whatever I think is needed to win the election,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Chaves is certainly not the first self-funded candidate at the local, state or national level, though it appears to be a first at this level in Albuquerque. But it\u2019s one of his campaign promises that points to a paradox \u2014 and a flaw in the city\u2019s campaign finance system.<\/p>\n<p>Should he win, Chaves won\u2019t support Albuquerque\u2019s public financing system, which was created in part to ensure candidates can run for office without becoming beholden to the very special interests Chaves says he abhors.<\/p>\n<p>That system is currently teetering, at least when it comes to citywide races, largely due to the small amount of funds it provides compared to what competitors are able to raise, or in Chaves\u2019 case, self-finance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think taxpayers\u2019 money should be used for politicians to run for office,\u201d Chaves said. \u201cThat\u2019s my stand. The alternative is to work hard, whether you have money or not.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Expanding access<\/h3>\n<p>As of July 14, with 10 weeks to go in the campaign, eight mayoral candidates\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/07\/14\/abq-mayors-race-tops-2-million\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported $2,103,107<\/a>\u00a0on hand altogether, significantly surpassing previous mayoral contests. Attorney and former chairman of New Mexico\u2019s Democratic Party Brian Col\u00f3n is the only candidate who\u2019s out-raised Chaves so far.<\/p>\n<p>Albuquerque voters endorsed a public financing system for elections in 2005 with 69 percent of the vote. Campaign spending limits in place since 1974 had been struck down in court leading up to the 2001 mayoral election, and residents witnessed a dramatic upswing in spending during the 2001 and 2005 mayoral elections. Appetite for a new way to control election spending was strong.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt allows anybody who wants to, to run,\u201d said Viki Harrison, executive director of good government group Common Cause New Mexico. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to have a bunch of rich friends in order to run. We\u2019ve seen how each year elections are on steroids, it goes up and up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But this year, while the system still sees robust use in city council races, only one of eight mayoral candidates \u2013 State Auditor Tim Keller \u2013 is using public financing.<\/p>\n<p>As of July 14, the most recent reporting deadline, Col\u00f3n had raised $639,350. Chaves reported $517,859, all of which comes from his own bank accounts. Keller reported $387,333, including public funds and in-kind support. Dan Lewis and Wayne Johnson reported $380,665 and $240,175, respectively. There are three other candidates in the race who have raised nominal amounts: Michelle Garcia Holmes, Augustus Pedrotty and Susan Wheeler-Deichsel.<\/p>\n<p>The specter of wealthy candidates like Chaves who won\u2019t take public financing but instead funnel large sums of their own money into campaigns may be what keeps candidates from using the system.<\/p>\n<p>Col\u00f3n, the financial frontrunner in the race, says he isn\u2019t using public financing because \u201cthe system is broken.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe current system doesn\u2019t provide enough funds for me to effectively communicate my message to the citizens of Albuquerque,\u201d Col\u00f3n told NMID.<\/p>\n<p>Col\u00f3n\u2019s point can be traced to a 2011 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down an important component of a public financing system in Arizona similar to Albuquerque\u2019s. That provision gave publicly financed candidates a dollar-for-dollar match \u2014 above the initial disbursement \u2014 to equal the amount of money their opponents had raised privately. The Supreme Court said it was an unconstitutional infringement of free speech.<\/p>\n<p>Albuquerque\u2019s public financing system was similarly designed to provide funds to candidates so they can be competitive. But since the 2011 decision, Albuquerque has not provided candidates with matching funds, or modified the public financing program to include a different, but constitutional, measure that achieves the same objective.<\/p>\n<p>Had the city come up with a constitutional way to allow publicly financed candidates access to money they need to keep up with competitors, Col\u00f3n would have been more inclined to go that route, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, a publicly financed mayoral candidate is limited to one dollar for every registered voter in the city, this year a little more than $380,000, plus limited in-kind support.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no question that ABQ\u2019s public finance system is very dated and in need of reform,\u201d Keller wrote in an email to NMID.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, despite city council approving some needed changes and an extensive task force convened by the mayor; actual changes were blocked,\u201d Keller said. \u201cWithout reform, our campaign could very well be the last public financed mayoral race in our city.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While funds available to Keller are limited compared to some privately financed candidates, at least one independent measure finance committee (the city\u2019s version of a political action committee) has formed explicitly to support his campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Keller said that the committee helmed by the manager of his state senate campaigns in 2008 and 2012 is \u201ccompletely independent\u201d from his campaign. A review of the expenditure reports for the committee and Keller show the two are utilizing services of the same research organization but Keller said his campaign is not working with the committee, stating \u201c\u2026there are likely to be MFCs helping all sorts of candidates and causes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Measure finance committees spring up every election cycle in Albuquerque. There are five current committees listed on the city website as this article publishes. In 2015, a non-mayoral election year, there were 10\u00a0such committees. In 2013, when Mayor Richard Berry was re-elected, there were 15.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding formation of a measure finance committee explicitly to support a publicly financed candidate, Harrison of Common Cause said it\u2019s frustrating but she can\u2019t blame people for doing it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an indication that we haven\u2019t fixed this system,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we had fixed the system, he\u2019d be competitive against privately financed candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Albuquerque city councilors tried for a fix in time for the 2017 election when they approved a ballot measure last summer to increase what candidates get from $1 to $1.75 per registered voter. But the Bernalillo County Commission refused to include the proposal on the fall 2016 ballot for Albuquerque residents, and Albuquerque councilors subsequently didn\u2019t place it on the 2017 city ballot.<\/p>\n<p>Harrison said there are several potential constitutional solutions in addition to raising the distribution to $1.75.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, the city could allow publicly financed candidates to raise small contributions of $100 above and beyond their initial infusion of public cash, that are then matched at a certain amount by the city. She also pointed to innovations elsewhere, like a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.seattle.gov\/democracyvoucher\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seattle program<\/a>\u00a0that gives registered voters $100 to distribute to candidates of their choice.<\/p>\n<h3>Money not the only factor<\/h3>\n<p>Keller says there\u2019s more to a race than money, stating on his website that his campaign is a \u201cpeople-powered movement.\u201d And if the number of people supporting a campaign financially is an indicator of the outcome of a race, rather than just the total amount raised, Keller looks more competitive.<\/p>\n<p>While NMID hasn\u2019t assessed the volunteer base of each campaign, a proxy of sorts can be gleaned from comparing the number of financial contributors each candidate has so far.<\/p>\n<p>The public financing system by design forces candidates to raise small dollar donations from a significant amount of people. In Keller\u2019s case, he had to persuade at least 3,802 Albuquerque voters to give him $5.<\/p>\n<p>He blew past that, according to his campaign manager, Jessie Hunt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe clerk stopped counting what we handed in once they went a specific amount over the required number qualified,\u201d Hunt said in an email to NMID. \u201cWe handed in over 6,000 total contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Keller also raised initial seed money for his campaign. Combining those contributors with the number of $5 contributions recorded on the city website shows Keller has at least 4,793 supporters willing to dip into their pocket books for him.<\/p>\n<p>The candidate with the next biggest pool of financial supporters is Brian Col\u00f3n, with 903 in mid-July.<\/p>\n<p>By contrast, in 2013 incumbent mayor Richard Berry\u2019s campaign reports reflect 1,699 supporters by the end of the campaign in October of that year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The public financing system is teetering, at least when it comes to citywide races, largely due to the small amount of funds it provides compared to what competitors are able to raise or self-finance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66499,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3334,139,705],"class_list":["post-396995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2017-election","tag-albuquerque","tag-money-in-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396995","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=396995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}