Guest Blog: Albuquerque City Council Candidates to Test New Public Financing Option

This is a guest blog by Suzanne Prescott:

Maria Martinez (right), Democratic Chair of Albuquerque's precinct 162, says campaign finance reform is a good thing, and helps to insure that our elected officials represent their communities and not special interests. Listen:

Voluntary public campaign finance reform for Albuquerque municipal elections was passed by referendum in the fall election of 2005. This is the first time that the law is being put to the test. Candidates and their supporters will have to feel their way through what is at present an untested procedure set in motion by the referendum that was passed in 2005. To qualify for public campaign funding, the new law requires that a candidate for City Council get signatures and $5.00 from 1% of the registered voters in their district from May 1 to May 30  -- that's gives them less than a month.

For Debbie O'Malley, running for City Council from District #2, that means collecting 300 signatures.  A question worth raising is whether it's worth the effort to get the signatures if a candidate is running unopposed. At present O'Malley has no opposition, but that could change. Collecting the signatures now could be good insurance if an opposing candidate decides to enter the race at a later date. If O'Malley is unopposed and decides not to run a campaign, then the money that has been collected would have to be returned to the initial signators.

ith an official campaign organization just getting off the ground, and with no explanatory literature to hand out, it may not be easy to quickly gather the needed signatures. The first week of collecting signatures is already over -- close family members, and friends have been mined for their support.  Now the hard work begins of explaining the new law and reaching out to those less familiar with the candidate.

Some observers say that with the money in hand there would be at least two advantages to running a campaign: First, it would allow O'Malley to get her name and credentials before a larger audience. This could be useful later if O'Malley were to decide to run for another elected office and there seem to some available. Second, O'Malley's collection of 300 signatures is a good opportunity for supporters to actively engage registered voters in a discussion of public campaign financing and its merits. There are still voters who are not sure what public campaign financing entails and why it's important.

Get Involved
Signatures are already being collected. Registered voters in District  #2 who support Debbie O'Malley can sign a form by calling 304-3960 or emailing . Anyone who is not a registered voter in District #2 and who would like to become one of the 300 signators must register to vote by the end of the month and also sign the form and submit the $5.00. Use the contact information above to become a registered voter. You don't have to live in District #2 to help O'Malley round up signators who will donate $5.

Those who qualify would receive $1 for every registered voter in their District that would be used to finance their campaign. Click for a copy of the issued by the Albuquerque City Clerk.

Editor's Note: Albuquerque will be electing City Councilors from Districts 2, 4, 6 and 8 in November, 2007. :

District 2: Debbie O'Malley is running as an incumbent. No other candidates have announced.

District 4: Brad Winter running as an incumbent. No other candidates have announced.

District 6: Incumbent Martin Heinrich will not run again so that he can enter the Congressional race for CD1. One candidate who has announced he will enter this race is Rey Garduno, who has said he will pursue qualifying for public financing. A subsequent post will provide more information on his campaign.

District 8: It's not known if incumbent Craig Loy is planning to run again for his seat.

This is a guest blog by Suzanne Prescott. Guest blogs provide an opportunity for readers and others to express their views on issues of political interest to DFNM. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link on the upper left-hand corner of the main page.