Big $$ in Senate Races

I finally ploughed through the most recent campaign finance reports of New Mexico's U.S Senate candidates. You can find that story HERE.

Some have questioned where the generically-named Good Government Fund, the major contributor to Republican Heather Wilson, came from. It's a a joint fundraising committee associated with Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's political-action committee, which raised money for Wilson and other Republican candidates.

The Wilson campaign provided me with a copy of the GGF's most recent report. I've posted it below.

My story points out that Democrat Martin Heinrich got a contribution from Gerald Cassidy, who was the focus of a book called So Damn Much Money, The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government by Robert G. Kaiser. There's an interesting reading from that book by the author, which originally was broadcast on NPR. You can find that HERE.

UPDATE 12: 49 pm I originally reported that state Rep. Zach Cook had contributed to Democrat Hector Balderas' campaign. The online version of The New Mexican story has been changed (as has this blog) to reflect the $300 contribution actually came from Angie Schneider-Cook, the representative's wife. She just told me she went to law school with Balderas.

Here's that "Good Government" report:

Good Government Fund 3rd Quarter 2011 Report 101311

The U.S.Senate Money Race

Democrat Martin Heinrich and Republican Heather Wilson are looking more like frontrunners in the U.S. Senate primaries with the release of their latest fundraising figures.

According emails and news released from the campaigns, Heinrich, currently a Congressman representing Albuquerque, raised more than $650,000 in the third quarter of the year. That’s better than twice that raised by his primary opponent, State Auditor Hector Balderas, who reported raising $250,000. Heinrich’s campaign says he has more than $1.1 million cash on hand. Balderas has $465,000, a campaign spokeswomen said.

In the GOP primary, Wilson, who held the Albuquerque Congressional seat before Heinrich, raised $530,000 between July and the end of September. She has nearly $1 million cash on hand, her campaign reported.

Wilson’s main opponent John Sanchez’s campaign just reported that Sanchez took in $164,000 in the last quarter, leaving him nearly $250,000 cash in hand.

I also haven’t heard yet from long-shot Republican candidate Greg Sowards, but Hotline this week reported that Sowards had raised more $231,000 in the third quarter, of which $185,000 was a loan from himself. Sowards, Hotline said, will report more than $496,000 in the bank.

The eventual winner of the Senate race will replace longtime Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat, who is retiring.

UPDATE: 405 p.m. The John Sanchez campaign emailed his figures right when I was writing this blog post. The post has been updated to reflect those figures.

Sierra Club Endorses Heinrich

Martin Heinrich just picked up an endorsement that's not going to hurt him in the Democratic Senate primary.

The Sierra Club emailed this message this morning:

"Throughout his career, Martin Heinrich has been an indispensable ally to those who champion the preservation of our natural environment and has proven time and again that he won’t back down to the polluters who wish to tear down decades of sound environmental policy,” said John Buchser, chair of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club.

As head of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, Heinrich brought ranchers, Native American leaders and environmentalists together to win federal protection for more than 11,000 acres in the Ojito Wilderness. He served the state as Natural Resources Trustee, working to restore contaminated public lands using funds seized from environmental polluters.

Wilson, Heinrich Leading in PPP Senate Poll

If the New Mexico primary was held this week, Republican Heather Wilson would beat Lt. Gov. John Sanchez by better than a 2 to 1 margin. And Democrat Martin Heinrich would beat state Auditor Hector Balderas by nearly 2-to-1.

This is according to a statewide survey conducted this week by a national polling company, PPP. It's the first public poll done on the Senate race since U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman announced he's not seeking re-election.

According to PPP's poll memo, Heinrich, a second-term ccngressman from Albuquerque, is helped by greater name recognition. He leads Balderas in the Democratic Primary, 47 percent to 24 percent.

The poll found 73 percent recognized Heinrich's name enough to have an opinion of him. Fifty three percent had a positive opinion while 20 percent had a negative opinion. More than half the Democratic respondents had no opinion of Balderas.

"Although Heinrich is weaker among Hispanics, who make up 46 percent of the Democratic primary electorate, he still leads Balderas 39 percent to 36 percent among Hispanics," the poll memo says. "However, since a majority of Democratic voters are still unwilling to give an opinion of Balderas, Balderas has more room to grow."

On the  GOP side, Wilson was supported by 52 percent of Republicans polled compared with 24 percent for Sanchez. Las Cruces businessman Greg) Sowards came in a distant third with eight percent, while Bill English of Alamogordo got 4 percent .

"Wilson leads by strong margins across the Republican ideological spectrum," the poll memo said. "She leads Sanchez 48-19 among moderates and 48-31 among very conservatives."

Even though many identify Wilson as a "moderate" Republican, since her defeat to Steve Pearce in the 2008 GOP senate primary -- in which Pearce and his supporters called her a "liberal" -- Wilson has been stressing her conservative credentials.

PPP's blog says, "There's been a lot of talk about whether Wilson is weak with the far right and she is weaker with that segment of the party. ... Maybe she'll have trouble with the Tea Party crowd later in the game but she doesn't start off showing any signs of weakness with them."

PPP is a company owned by Democrats and specializes in polling for Democrats and liberal organizations. However, according to experts, the North Carolina-based company's numbers normally are in line with other national polling firms.

Wilson's campaign didn't seem to mind that PPP is a Democratic company. She posted the poll results on her Facebook and Twitter accounts.

PPP poll results released earlier this week show Heinrich and Balderas with modest leads in match-ups against Wilson and Sanchez.

Heinrich led Wilson 47 percent to 42 percent and Sanchez by 45 percent to 39 percent. Balderas led Wilson 45 percent to 39 percent and Sanchez 39 percent to 35 percent.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee on Tuesday responded those numbers Tuesday in an email saying, "If this is what a Democrat polling firm’s numbers show, than it’s clear that the New Mexico Senate race will be among the most competitive in the country next year."

PPP also polled New Mexico Republican voters on the GOP presidential candidates.

Those results found Minnesota Congresswoman and Tea Party favorite Michele Bachmann with a plurality of 21 percent with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney close behind with 18 percent. Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson came in third with 13 percent.

"Johnson has the weakest favorability numbers with his home state Republican primary voters at 47 (percent favorable)/40 (percent unfavorable.)" the PPP blog said. "Some of his unorthodox positions aren't playing well with the base, even if they do give him an unusual level of popularity across party lines with Democrats and independents."

The "unorthodox positions" referred to undoubtedly were Johnson's outspoken support for marijuana legalization, and possibly to the fact he supports abortions rights and civil-union rights for same-sex couples.

PPP surveyed 400 usual New Mexico Republican primary voters and 400 usual Democratic primary voters, with a 4.9 percent margin of error, between June 23 and 26. The poll was not paid for or authorized by any campaign or political organization.

UPDATE 9:05 pm : Some gibberish in the lead paragraph in the original version has been cleaned up.

PPP Release NM 630930

Just How Rich Are These Guys?

Three of the state's five representatives in Congress are millionaires. Rep. Steve Pearce of Hobbs is the richest, with Sen. Jeff Bingaman is a close second. Sen. Tom Udall is a distant third.

The poor cousins in the delegation are Reps. Ben Ray Lujan of Santa Fe and Martin Heinrich of Albuquerque. As I said in my story published in today's New Mexican, they are mere "thousandaires."

This all is based on the most recent financial disclosure statements each filed last month.

You can check out and download all New Mexico Congressional financial statements (including those from past years and past members) HERE.

NM Among Top Most-Likely-To Change Senate Seats

Chris Cillizza of The Fix, a Washington Post political blog, includes this Enchanted Land as one of the top 10 states most likely to switch parties in next year's U.S. Senate elections. Here's what he had to say:

The symmetry of the two primaries here is striking. Both Rep. Martin Heinrich (D) and former congresswoman Heather Wilson (R) are seen as strong candidates to replace retiring Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D), but both face Hispanic candidates who hold statewide office — in a plurality Latino state. The jury is still out on just how formidable state Auditor Hector Balderas (D) and Lt. Gov. John Sanchez (R) will be, but if they can run good campaigns, that will make both primaries very interesting. Case in point: Wilson has been extremely aggressive in trying to define Sanchez from day one. Republicans think she’s running a strong campaign, but winning the primary with such a moderate record will be tough (as she found out in her 2008 Senate primary loss) and this is a Democratic-leaning state. 

NM Senate Candidates and the Ryan Plan

I almost forgot to link to my story in Tuesday's New Mexican about the major U.S. Senate candidates from both  parties and their positions on the controversial Ryan budget.

The Dems, Martin Heinrich and Hector Balderas, to absolutely no one's surprise, both are dead set against plan, which would eventually privatize Medicare.(Both current New Mexico senators, Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, Democrats bothn voted against the Ryan budget last week.)

The Republicans, Heather Wilson and John Sanchez, are on the proverbial fence. Neither would outright endorse the plan, but neither wanted to say exactly why/ Sanchez said that no plan is perfect. Wilson said she doesn't agree with all the plan, but she would rather talk about why the Democrats suck.

You can read the story HERE.

Javier Is Re-elected State Dem Chairman in Close Battle

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
May 1, 2011


In what turned out to be a much closer race than either of the top candidates had predicted, Javier Gonzales of Santa Fe held on to his job as state Democratic Party chairman, edging out challenger Sam Bregman.

In declaring victory at the meeting of the state Democratic Central Committee, Gonzales said the party was unified and ready to go forward to defeat Republicans in the 2012 elections.

“We’re coming together and moving forward,” Gonzales said as he called Bregman and his other opponent Letitia Montoya to the stage. They hugged and raised each others’ arms in a show of unity.

“Today marked the day we go forward as a unified party,” Gonzales told a reporter after the vote. “Today really showed the energy and commitment of the grassroots.”

Sam Bregman

“We lost fair and square,” Bregman told a reporter after the vote. “I congratulation the chairman and urge all my supporters to get behind Javier Gonzales and go out and kick some Republican tail.”

But only a couple of hours before, both Bregman and Montoya were harshly critical of Gonzales, saying he’d not done enough last year to help the Democratic ticket, which suffered major losses in the November election — and that Gonzales had not done enough to counter Republican Gov. Susana Martinez and her supporters during this year’s legislative session.

“We have leadership who lost the election,” Bregman said during his speech to the Central committee. He said 2010 — in which Democrats lost the governor’s race, a seat in Congress, the Office of Secretary of State and eight seats in the state Legislature — was the worst defeat for New Mexico Democrats in 80 years.
Montoya in her speech said, “I think it’s time for a woman to take over to clean up the mess the men have made.”

Former Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, last year’s Democratic candidate for governor, defended Gonzales’ work in the 2010 election. “Javier did everything we asked him to,” Denish said in her speech nominating Gonzales for his new two-year term.

The four-month campaign for the chairmanship often became bitter and personal. Some of Gonzales’ supporters criticized Bregman, an Albuquerque lawyer, for representing several figures who have been central in corruption scandals in the past five years, including former state Treasurer Robert Vigil, who went to prison after being implicated in a kickback scheme.

But Bregman after the vote, downplayed the intensity of the battle, saying Democrats were a family that could fight but in the end unite for a common purpose.

Javier Gonzales

Out of 380 committee members voting, Gonzales won 191 votes — just over 50 percent. Bregman got 180, and Montoya got nine votes. Had Gonzales received one less vote, he would have faced a run-off with Bregman.

Gonzales, 44, is a business consultant, a former Santa Fe County Commissioner and son of former Santa Fe Mayor George Gonzales.

He also serves on the New Mexico State University board of regents. Before he decided to enter the race, Gonzales told The New Mexican that if he got named chairman of the NMSU regents there might be a conflict of interest if he stayed on as Democratic state chairman. He might be in a position of blasting the governor one day and asking for funds for NMSU the next, he said.

However last week in an interview he said he was not going to become chairman of the regents so he wasn’t worried about a conflict of interest.

The central committee meeting attracted most of the candidates and those considering running for U.S. House or Senate seats next year. Both U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich and state Auditor Hector Balderas — both of whom are running for retiring U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s seat — spoke at the event as votes were being counted, as did longshot contender Andres Valdez, an Albuquerque activist.

U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, who is seeking re-election in the northern 3rd Congressional District, said he hasn’t decided whether to endorse one of the Senate candidates. Both Heinrich and Balderas mentioned Lujan in their speeches.

Eric Griego decides whether to take this call

In the 1st Congressional District, state Sen. Eric Griego of Albuquerque made it official Saturday, saying he will run for the seat currently held by Heinrich. Griego is one of the most uncompromisingly liberal voices in the Legislature.

Two possible candidates in the southern 2nd Congressional District — currently held by Republican Steve Pearce — emerged Saturday. One was Martin Resendiz, the mayor of Sunland Park, who said he plans to run. Meanwhile, former state Rep. Nate Cote, D-Las Cruces, told The New Mexican that he’s also considering the race. Cote lost his legislative seat to Republican Rick Little last year.

Check out my snapshots of the DEmocratic event today. CLICK HERE

Senate Race News

Democrat Martin Heinrich has written a letter to President Obama asking him to start beinging the troops home from Afghanistan.

The letter, which is online HERE, says in part

We have spent over $450 billion in Afghanistan since the start of this war. Our youngest soldiers now serving in some of the most dangerous places on earth were just eight years old when our nation was attacked on Septembers 11, 2001. It’s time we start bringing our troops home.”

In his news release, Heinrich points out he's been to Afghanistan "to meet with troops, military and diplomatic leaders, and humanitarian workers in the region to discuss issues pertaining to the war."

It looks like Heinrich is trying to distinguish himself from opponent Hector Balderas, pointing out that he's had at some some foreign policy experience.

On the Republican side, longshot Las Cruces candidate Greg Sowards sent an announcement this morning that he's hired a team of Washington pros for his campaign.

He's retained Tyler Harber and Kurt Luidhardt from the Prosper Group for general consulting, online fundraising, and telephone voter contact. They've helped several Republicans including successful Senate candidates Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.

Sowards also hired Darcie Johnston of Johnston Consulting, and Paul Hatch of 101 Strategy Partners as finance consultants. They've worked for candidates including Mitt Romney and Utah Sen. Mike Lee.

Photo by MaryEllen Broderick

UPDATED 4:14 pm: I just received a news release from Democrat Hector Balderas touting a bunch of endorsements from Democratic officials.

Among them are state Sens. Phil Griego of San Jose and Cynthia Nava from Las Cruces, Reps. Joe Cervantes of Las Cruces and Miguel Garcia of Albuquerque, and Bernalillo County Commissioner Michelle Lujan Grisham, who ran for Congress in 2008 in the primary Heinrich won.

It's a Race

It's true. State Auditor Hector Balderas has filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission for a Senate race, someone familiar with the campaign told me. He's expected to announce his candidacy early next week.

Balderas will face U.S. Rep, Martin Heinrich in the Democratic primary in June 2012.

Albuquerque community activist Andres Valdez also has said he'll run for the seat currently belong to U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman who is retiring.

AFSCME Endorses Heinrich

The state political board of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees has endorsed U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich in the 2012 Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.

According to an e-mail from the union

“Our members are middle class, hard-working New Mexicans. Martin is one of us, and he has gone to bat for regular working people both here in New Mexico and across the country” said AFSCME’s New Mexico PEOPLE Chair Patty French. “That’s why” French added, “our members on our political committee voted unanimously to do everything we can to ensure that Martin wins the Democratic nomination for Senate”.

The move comes a couple of weeks before state Auditor Hector Balderas is expected to announce his candidacy for the Senate seat, which is open because longtime Sen. Jeff Bingaman isn't seeking re-election.

AFSCME, one of the two largest unions in the state is a major player in state Democratic politics, as well as a major contributor to Democratic campaigns. According to the Institute of Money in State Politics, the union contributed more than $435,000 to candidates in New Mexico.

Keller to Seek Re-election to State Senate, Not Run for Congress

State Sen. Tim Keller, D-Albuquerque, told Capitol Reports earlier this month that he was thinking of making a run for U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich's seat because Heinrich is running for retiring Jeff Bingaman's U.S. Senate seat.


However, in a Facebook post this morning, Keller announced he wants to stay put.

Many thanks to all of you that have been encouraging me to run for Congress. I greatly appreciate your enthusiasm! Liz and I remain passionate about local public service, but instead of congress I will be running for re-election to the NM senate next year. Thank you again for your continued support.

(Liz is Keller's fiancée.)

So, on the Democratic side, that leaves state Sen. Eric Griego and state Rep. Moe Maestas as possible contenders. Both have announced they are considering such a run.

On the Republican side, former state Rep. Janice Arnold Jones is considering the CD1 race, while Albuquerque City Councilor Dan Lewis has already thrown his hat in the GOP primary.

Just yesterday I saw a  article in The Hill, a Washington, D.C. publication about the CD 1 race that opines Arnold-Jones would likely have the edge to get the Republican nomination.

The Hill also quotes an anonymous observer saying  Griego's announcement last month about forming an exploratory committee was "sloppy" because it was the day before Heinrich announced his Senate run.

Heinrich In

As expected, U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich of Albuquerque announced today he's running for retiring U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman's Senate seat.

Here's the video.


The Decision from Martin Heinrich on Vimeo.

Heinrich's news release stressed his working class origins.

I was raised in a working-class family. My father was an electrician and my mom worked in a factory. My parents taught me the values that I still hold dear today, and that I believe can help anyone get ahead—hard work, honesty, responsibility, and self-reliance.

My wife Julie and I are raising our two sons in New Mexico with those same values. Like many families across our state, Julie and I sit at the kitchen table and talk about our children’s future and how tough the path is for too many of our neighbors and friends. The fact is, a lot of middle class families in New Mexico are struggling to get by as costs continue to rise and the deck seems stacked against them. It doesn’t take long in Washington to see that things there just aren’t working. Big corporations and special interests seem to get all of the breaks while regular New Mexico families are left holding the bill. New Mexico families deserve better.

Almost immediately, state Rep. Antonio "Moe" Maestas announced he's "closely considering" running for Heinrich's CD1 seat. I guess that means he won't be joining Sen. Eric Griego's  exploratory committee.

One of Heinrich's colleagues in the New Mexico delegation shared some love this morning.

Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce said in a news release, ""Martin Heinrich's extreme agenda would cripple America and throw tens of thousands of New Mexicans out of work. ... New Mexico families deserve a Senator who will go to Washington to fight on their behalf to create jobs and get our economy moving again. In Heinrich, they will only get someone fighting for special interests and the extreme agendas of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid."

Pearce, who was the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate in 2008, hasn't ruled out another try for Senate himself.

Eric Griego Forms Exploratory Committee

Anticipating that incumbent CD1 Congressman Martin Heinrich will soon jump into the U.S. Senate race, (the talk is as early as tomorrow) state Sen. Eric Griego of Albuquerque announced he's starting an exploratory committee to look at running for Heinrich's seat in the Democratic primary.

In a news release, Griego said:

"We need a Democratic Congressional candidate who will unapologetically stand up for working families and take on those who would put large corporate interests ahead of our children, our environment and our local businesses. ... I am seriously considering entering the Congressional race, but need to discuss my final decision with my family, my employer, and of course my supporters. This is an important decision not just for me and my family, but for our whole community and it warrants serious soul searching and a sober review of what kind of Democrat we want fighting for us in Washington”

Griego is a former Albuquerque city councilor who three years ago ousted incumbent Democrat James Taylor for his state Senate seat. He quickly became known as one of the most liberal voices in the Senate.

He currently works as executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, a non-profit group based in Albuquerque.

New Poll in Dem Senate Race

Congressman Martin Heinrich is the leader for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate  in a new poll conducted by a San Francisco company.

The poll of Democratic likely voters, conducted March 8-10 by Tulchin Research for the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, showed:

Martin Heinrich 32%
Diane Denish 25%
Ben Ray Lujan 15%
Hector Balderas 5%
Undecided 24%

One thing that caught my eye is that the sample size  --213 likely 2012 Dem voters -- seems a lot lower than the numbers I usually see. And the margin of error is higher -- 6.71 percent.

But what's interesting is how I learned about the poll. Heinrich didn't send it out, the National Republican Congressional Committee did. And a spokesman for that organization, Tyler Q. Houlton, implied in a statement that Heinrich is considering the race because he's chicken!

“Martin Heinrich barely won his competitive congressional seat last year due to his support of the $800 billion failed stimulus and the trillion dollar government takeover of healthcare. Instead of risking a loss in 2012, will Heinrich decide to run for U.S. Senate?”

Heinrich "Actively Considering" Senate Run

On Friday I asked all three current congressman from New Mexico whether they might be considering a run for Jeff Bingman's Senate seat next year Martin Heinrich was the only I didn't hear from.

Until Sunday. Here's his answer.

"Since the announcement Friday by my friend and mentor, Senator Jeff Bingaman, that he would not seek a sixth term in the U.S. Senate, many constituents and friends across New Mexico have asked if I will run for his seat. I have not yet made a decision, but together with my wife Julie, I plan to actively consider running. Jeff Bingaman and I share a passionate concern for this great state and its people, and my decision will be based on whether I believe I can best serve New Mexico in the House or in the Senate."

For the record, spokesmen for Ben Ray Lujan and Steve Pearce said their bosses were focused on their current jobs.