Posted on 07/07/2006 1:38:51 PM PDT by CedarDave
The Bill Richardson campaign-money machine kept churning last month.
In his bid for a second term as governor, Democrat Richardson took in more than $824,000 last month, according to his campaign-finance report filed with the state Thursday. That brings the total he has raised for re-election to more than $8 million -- about the same amount he raised for his 2002 campaign.
Richardson, who has at least a dozen full-time employees on his campaign staff, spent more than $1.5 million last month, leaving just under $5 million in the bank.
Meanwhile, Richardson's Republican opponent, John Dendahl, was not able to get his report to the Secretary of State's office by 5 p.m. Thursday because of a misunderstanding over whether he had to file a report.
Dendahl did not run in the primary election. He was nominated by the state GOP Central Committee last month after the party's original candidate, J.R. Damron, stepped down.
In a letter to the Secretary of State's Office, Dendahl said in the past two weeks he'd raised about $100,000 from about 75 donors. He said he had eight donations totaling $55,000 that were more than $5,000. His largest contribution was $20,000 from "hydrocarbon producers," he said.
Damron, who withdrew on June 17, reported $5,185 in contributions during his final days as a candidate. He spent $26,393 in June.
Richardson's biggest contribution on the most recent report was $95,000 from the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees. AFSCME, which represents thousands of state employees in collective bargaining, was one of Richardson's biggest contributors in 2002.
The governor also received $50,000 from CAP II, an Albuquerque real-estate company.
He reported four $25,000 contributions. These were from AGS, a Stockton, Calif., development company; Peter Nuert, who works for the insurance industry in Fort Worth, Texas; The New Mexico Optometric Association; and Hereford, Texas, rancher Cliff Skiles Jr.
Richardson took in nine $10,000 contributions from the Ben Barnes Group in Austin, Texas; Brian Egolf of Santa Fe; My Way Holdings of Sunland Park, N.M.; lawyer Gene Gallegos of Santa Fe; David Barry, (no occupation listed) of Hoboken, N.J.; New York fund manager Peter Briger; Chicago lawyer Mark Taylor; New York investor Thomas Meehan; and Amarillo, Texas, banker E.W. Williams.
And there was sweet news from Florida for Richardson. He got $2,500 contributions from five Florida sugar companies: South Florida Industries Inc., St. Lucie River Co. and Vandergriff Williams Farms, all of Loxahatchee, Fla.; Stoffin Co. Inc., of South Bay, Fla.; and United States Sugar Corp. in Clewiston, Fla.
It is not clear why the sugar farms would be backing a candidate for governor of New Mexico, where there is no sugar industry. Traditionally, the industry pours millions into the campaigns of members of Congressional agriculture committees.
Spokesmen for Richardson's campaign couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.
Richardson's running mate, Diane Denish, raised nearly $150,000 and spent more than $38,417 last month according to her report. In New Mexico, governor and lieutenant governor candidates run as a ticket, not separately, in the general election, though traditionally lieutenant governor candidates raise their own campaign funds.
Denish's biggest contributor was New York telecommunications mogul Leo Hindery, who gave $25,000.
She also got $10,000 contributions from three companies, Eunice Well Servicing Co., ABC Tool Rental of Hobbs and Controlled Recovery Inc. of Hobbs,. The GEO Group, formerly known as Wackenhut, which operates private prisons for the state, gave Denish $5,000, according to her report.
Denish reported a balance of more than $750,000 in her campaign treasury.
Dendahl's running mate, Sue Wilson Beffort, received $5,595 in contributions and spent $2,026. Her top contributor was the state Republican Party, which gave her $2,195. Her balance was just over $12,000.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Probably well enough to know what I'd mean if I ran into him and said, "Horalé, cabron! Pinché ojeté! Veté a la chingada!"
Thanks for the heads up. That newspaper, the New Mexican, the day after Scott Peterson was convicted, the put a story about Americans moving to Canada on the front page instead of the Peterson conviction. It made me remember why I use it for the litter box.
And if voting for Mr. Dendahl will be like voting for Dole, then so be it. I will be statisfied that Richardson could not get my vote.
Richardson was born in Pasadena, California. His mother, Maria Luisa Lopez-Collada, was Mexican. His father was born in Nicaragua, grew up in Boston, and worked for Citibank as an executive in Mexico. He was raised in Mexico City, but moved to Massachusetts at age 13 to attend a Boston-area high school.
How many know he was born right here in SoCal? I didn't. Since he lived approx. 12 of his early years in La Capital, he knew Spanish. It's a question of how much he retained, but I think the use of it would come in handy as Governor of New Mexico.
NM has a 48% Hispanic population, and Richardson's not been doing that bad of a job, as far as anyone can see. He is well liked. Sometimes I wonder even if they knew some of the things he had done, if they'd excuse it and give him a pass. NM politics have always been shady.
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