2010 Legislative Session
Common Cause New Mexico is working on three main issue areas this legislative session:
1) Early Vote Registration -- HB123 (Trujillo) and SB161 (Sapien). Take action now!
2) State Ethics Commission -- various proposals will be heard in the House Judiciary Committee and Senate Rules Committee and combined into a substitute bill.
3) Lobbyist and State Contractor Contribution Ban -- HB 118 (Campos) and HB172 (Chasey) will probably be combined into a committee substitute in the House Voters and Elections Committee.
If you're interested in volunteering during the legislative session, by calling legislators, attending committee meeting, submitting letters to the editor, etc, email sallen [at] commoncause [dot] org.
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Albuquerque used its Clean Money public campaign financing system for the first time in a mayoral race on October 6, 2009. The system largely did what it was intended to do: Cut the corrupting influence of special interest money out of city campaigns. Marjorie Childress published a fantastic article on the subject here.
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Common Cause New Mexico has released a report, Connecting the Dots: The Oil and Gas Industry's Influence on New Mexico Politics, which reveals and analyzes connections between campaign contributions and policy-making here in New Mexico. (Click on the report title to read the full text.)
The Nation is Watching
January 2009
Recent news about actual and alleged government corruption in New Mexico has brought renewed interest in ethics reform. The weakness of our state's ethics regulations as compared with almost every other state in the country has even received national attention. Here's a sampling of some of the recent media attention:
• New York Times article on New Mexico's weak ethics laws (sign-in required)
• Wall Street Journal article on New Mexico's weak ethics laws
• CCNM on KOB-TV Channel 4's "Eye on New Mexico"
• CCNM on KNME-TV Channel 5's "New Mexico in Focus"
2008 Post-Election Analysis Released
January 2009
Common Cause New Mexico announces the release of "Count Every Vote New Mexico, 2008 Election Report," an analysis of election protection activities during the 2008 election cycle, as well as suggestions for legislative and regulatory reforms designed to improve election administration in New Mexico. Read the full report by clicking here.
The Ball Drops
January 2009
Governor Richardson recently announced that he would withdraw his name from consideration as Secretary of Commerce due to concerns that a federal investigation into the connection between campaign contributions and state contracts would disrupt the confirmation process. In this regard, it's worth noting that if New Mexico had campaign contribution limits and/or publicly financed campaigns for executive offices such as governor, our state wouldn't be facing this enormous mess. During the upcoming legislative session, Common Cause New Mexico will push harder than ever for these and related ethics reforms that should have been enacted years ago.
Count Every Vote New Mexico: 2008 Election Reform
January 2009
This report details the work done by New Mexico‘s Election Protection coalition during the 2008 election cycle, identifies election administration issues that impacted New Mexican voters, and sets forth actions and remedies for each of the issues highlighted.
The Role of the Health Care Industry in New Mexico State Politics
August 2008
In the past decade, the health care industry has become a powerful and influential participant in New Mexico’s policymaking process. Over the past five election cycles, the health care industry, including pharmaceutical companies, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), and hospitals contributed over $1.6 million in campaign donations to candidates for New Mexico state office. This report examines why the health care industry has invested so heavily in New Mexico’s political campaigns.
Returning Elections to Voters: Albuquerque's Success with Voluntary Public Financing of Campaigns
December 2007
This report discusses Albuquerque's new public campaign financing system, which was used during the municipal election on October 2, 2007 for the first time. The report also outlines some small changes that should be implemented to make a good system even better.
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