Limits on some political donations may be doubled

The Legislature is considering legislation to effectively double the limits on the amount someone can contribute to a candidate for most state and county offices.

Under the proposal, a person, business or political committee would be able to donate as much as $20,800 per election cycle to a candidate for statewide office, like governor or attorney general.

The maximum would be $9,600 to a candidate for most nonstatewide offices, like state senator or sheriff.

The election last year was the first in New Mexico for limits on campaign contributions to candidates for state and county offices.

The Legislature imposed the caps as a result of supersize political donations to then-Gov. Bill Richardson and the pay-to-play allegations and investigations that dogged him and his administration.

As the law now stands, a person, business or political committee can donate up to $5,200 to a statewide candidate for each primary or general election in which the candidate is on the ballot, or a total of $10,400 for both elections.

The maximum is $2,400 to a nonstatewide candidate for each primary or general election in which the candidate is on the ballot, or a total of $4,800 for both elections.

But under the proposal before the Legislature, candidates could collect the maximum for primary and general elections in years when they aren’t on the ballot.

Confused? Here’s an example:

Let’s take the case of a state senator who was elected in 2012 to a four-year term.

As the law stands now, a person, business or political committee can donate up to $4,800 to support the senator’s re-election bid in the primary and general elections in 2016.

But under the proposal before the Legislature, the same person, business or political committee could donate another $4,800 to the senator for the primary and general elections in 2014 even though the senator would be midterm and not on the ballot that year. That would bring the total amount of contributions to the senator to $9,600.

The current limits on the size of campaign contributions would remain in effect for candidates for the state House of Representatives, because those elections are every two years.

Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, and Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, have each introduced legislation to change the donation caps.

The Senate last week unanimously approved Ingle’s bill and sent it to the House, where it is pending in committee. Wirth’s measure is still in the Senate.

The proposal is in part a reaction to the emergence in last year’s election of so-called super political action committees.

As a result of the Citizens United ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010 and a related ruling by a U.S. district judge in New Mexico in 2012, the limits on the size of campaign contributions don’t apply to donations to super PACs.

Super PACs, also known as independent expenditure-only committees, aren’t subject to the limits because they operate independently of candidates.

There were two large super PACs active in last year’s legislative elections: one with ties to Republican Gov. Susana Martinez and another largely funded by organized labor.

Supporters of the proposal to double the limits on the amount of campaign contributions say the additional money would allow candidates to better match the money spent by super PACs to defeat them.

Wirth says he believes it’s important to have caps on donations but doubling the limits would make them more acceptable to those who want to do away with them altogether.

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