SOUND OFF: Remember the Party of the People?

Is it just me, or is anyone else put off by Governor Richardson's already large campaign fund for the 2006 governor's race? According to this morning's Albuquerque Journal, Richardson has "more than $3 million in his 2006 re-election campaign account almost a year before the candidate declaration date and before any Republican has mounted a challenge."

The article continues, "The Richardson for Governor committee raised $2,921,449 million and spent $131,085 over the past year, according to a report filed Monday with the state Bureau of Elections. The account's closing balance was $3,066,459."

What peeves me is that we frequently hear "we have no money" when we suggest that the Dems, particularly our County Parties, do something about building our Party BEFORE the next election cycle. No wonder it's so difficult to raise funds for Party activities when the big honcho at the top sucks all the bucks into his own personal coffers for a race that's way down the line.

In my opinion, this is NOT the way to rebuild the Party from the ground up after the devastating losses at so many levels over the past couple election cycles. You'd think it would be clear that the Party needs to spend bucks and time on grassroots activities and candidate development. And you'd think the top Dem in the state would be concentrating on raising funds for that instead of for his own personal goals.

I know that the State Party (with DNC funds?) has financed regional field coordinators around New Mexico and I think that's a very good thing. By all accounts the field staff is working their buns off. However, I'm sure they could always use more resources, along with the essentially broke County Parties, to really kick this effort into high gear. Instead, the dollars are going to ONE candidate who won't, in all probability, even have a serious competitor from the Republican side. Meanwhile, important work goes undone between now and the 2006 congressional election cycle. I know the Republicans aren't sitting on their behinds during this time, that's for sure.

This irks me too. According to the Journal, major contributors to Richardson include Miguel Lausell, a political and business consultant based in Puerto Rico, $25,000 and Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Bloch, real estate investors from Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., $25,000. Hmm. I wonder what they expect to get from such generous donations to a governor's race in New Mexico? We once were truly the Party of the People. What are we now? The Party of the big bucks contributors?

Personally, I hope Governor Richardson sees the light and starts putting more effort into helping the State and County Parties, as well as up and coming Democratic candidates, raise funds. If we don't build the Party as a whole, from the bottom up, we'll be in piss poor shape regardless of whether Richardson wins another term.

To my mind, almost all of our efforts at this point in time should be dedicated to Party building and finding and supporting real Democrats to run in every single race possible around the state -- not to fattening up the finances of one particular Democrat.

What do YOU think?

Barbara Wold