Gov. Trips Build Political Goodwill

After being elected governor in 2002, Bill Richardson traveled a great deal out of state, campaigning and raising funds for candidates.

Richardson’s plan: Do good for others in hopes they would do good for him in a bid for national office.

Richardson didn’t get the Democratic nomination for vice president in 2004 and failed in a bid for the party’s presidential nomination four years later.

Still, he was able to raise substantial campaign donations, in part because of the political goodwill he had built up and the connections he had made across the country.

Republican Susana Martinez, elected governor in 2010 to succeed Richardson, travels far less out of state on political business than Richardson did, but she is making some trips and making friends.

Much of Richardson’s travel was in connection with the Democratic Governors Association, and Martinez has attended fundraisers and other events for the Republican Governors Association in Houston; Washington, D.C.; Orlando, Fla.; Las Vegas, Nev., and Aspen, Colo.

The RGA, which supports GOP governors and gubernatorial candidates, was the largest contributor to Martinez’s campaign for governor, giving more than $1.3 million.

Martinez left Tuesday for a quarterly meeting of the RGA in Colorado, political adviser Jay McCleskey said. She was to travel from there to Yakima, Wash., on Friday for a fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial hopeful Rob McKenna.

The RGA and the McKenna campaign are paying the travel costs, according to McCleskey, who was traveling with the governor. Martinez plans to return to the state Saturday.

Martinez also has made political trips unrelated to the RGA, including trips to Texas, Colorado and California to speak to GOP groups.

The governor has said repeatedly that she isn’t a candidate for the Republican nomination for vice president this year, but the favors she is doing could be returned with financial and other support for her political committees, her planned re-election campaign in 2014 and any run for national office after that.

McCleskey said the governor has received well over 100 requests for out-of-state political appearances.

“Obviously, the vast majority of those have been declined because the first threshold is that the potential appearance not interfere with her official responsibilities and schedule,” he said in an email.

“If there is not a conflict with her schedule, then she is willing to attend events to help candidates and causes across the country that she supports.”

He said the McKenna event will be the first fundraiser the governor has attended for an out-of-state candidate, although a travel log provided by the Governor’s Office shows Martinez attended a fundraiser for a California congressman in June 2011.

Tickets for a lunch with Martinez and McKenna are $125 per person, but the charge is $1,000 per person for a private reception and photo opportunity with the two before the lunch.

Martinez and McKenna have a lot in common.

Both are popular Republicans in blue states and emerging new faces in the national GOP.

McKenna is a twice-elected state attorney general. Martinez also is a lawyer. She was a state district attorney before becoming governor.

Like Martinez, McKenna wants to overturn a state law that allows illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.

Washington, New Mexico and Utah are the only states where foreign nationals can obtain driving privileges regardless of their immigration status. Instead of issuing a license like New Mexico and Washington, Utah issues what it calls a driving privilege card that cannot be used as government identification.

To some degree, Martinez and McKenna also represent a kinder, gentler approach to immigration within the GOP. Both have been critical of Arizona’s law targeting illegal immigrants, most of which was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in June.

Building support among Hispanics is key to the Republican Party in national elections, and Martinez and McKenna could play roles in that effort.

Both Martinez and McKenna oppose same-sex marriage, although McKenna, an Eagle Scout who remains active in the Boy Scouts, opposes that group’s policy to exclude gays.

Martinez and McKenna do differ on abortion. She describes herself as “pro-life,” while McKenna supports a woman’s right to choose abortion.

UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Thom Cole at tcole@abqjournal.com or 505-992-6280 in Santa Fe. Go to ABQjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal