Clock ticks on campaign reform

Corruption cases and government scandals unleashed a small flood of ethics proposals in the Legislature including one measure to put a lid on campaign donations for the first time.

Right now an individual or group can give as much money as they want to political candidates and parties.

"I think New Mexico has lagged behind other states with these reforms," Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Sandia Park, told KRQE News 13.

On Wednesday the Senate Rules Committee advanced a bill to limit campaign contributions.

"A candidate can raise $100,000 from one source and have that be his or her entire campaign," Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, said. "That's doesn't exactly make for a democratic process because, of course, a contributor of $100,000 has a lot of say."

Annual caps would limit an individual's contribution to a candidate at $2,300 and to a political party at $10,000.

Donations by political committees would be limited to $5,000 each to a candidate and a political party.

"When you have campaign limits, you're not going to have great big, overt $150,000 campaign contributions like we've seen in the past," Beffort said.

Feldman echoed that statement saying, "This will limit the influence of the really big special interests," she said.

With a little more than two weeks left of the legislative session this bill still has some hurdles to get over.

It next will be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee before it can move onto the Senate floor for a vote.

Gov. Bill Richardson said he wants legislators to pass the ethics legislation but without a sunset provision that would end the caps in two years if they are not approved again by the Legislature. Richardson said he wants to make the contribution limits permanent.