KUNM's Government Project

A lot of speculation and jockeying for position will be taking place over the next year regarding who will be the eventual contestants in New Mexico’s 2012 general election. In the meantime, Albuquerque will elect four city councilors this year in the city’s even-numbered council districts. It will be the third time the city’s innovative public financing system for elections is utilized, but may also be the last for a key component of that system.

Albuquerque passed its public financing system in 2005, and it was first used in 2007. Basically, the city distributes a lump sum to qualifying candidates who opt into the system agreeing to not spend any other funds.  Then, the system provides for ‘matching funds’ to be distributed to candidates if their privately financed opponents or other entities spend an amount more than that lump sum plus a proscribed in-kind donation allowance, in opposition to their campaign.

After the 2009 mayoral race, in which all three candidates utilized the system, the public financing system was lauded as a success that leveled the playing field. All three candidates spent roughly the same amount of money, with considerably less funds entering the race from private sources and no matching funds issued. Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry won that race, beating out former Mayor Martin Chavez, who many saw as the front runner.

But since then, similar matching fund provisions used in other states have been challenged in court. The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in late March regarding the constitutionality of an Arizona matching fund system, and their final decision could render Albuquerque’s current matching funds provision obsolete. Many believe that a Supreme Court decision against such systems is likely, given their landmark ‘Citizens United’ decision, which equated corporate electioneering communications with free speech. One outcome of that decision, many fear, is that it will lead to a flood of unregulated private money into the election process.

If the matching funds component of Albuquerque’s public financing system is struck down, however, there are other options the city council could choose in order to keep the system intact.

“A lot of thought has already gone into possible replacements for the matching fund provision,” Steve Allen, Executive Director of good government group Common Cause, told KUNM.  “The most popular idea, and the one Common Cause would recommend, would be to create a system similar to the Fair Elections Now Act, a federal proposal to create a public campaign financing system for congressional races.”

Such a system works the same way as the Albuquerque system in that candidates would receive an initial public grant if they qualified, Allen said. But instead of the existing matching fund mechanism, publicly funded candidates would be allowed to continue raising small donations of $100 or less and have those donations matched with additional public money. In the federal proposal, it would be a 4-1 match. For instance, if the publicly funded candidate received a $100 contribution, she would get $400 in matched money.

“This system would allow publicly financed candidates to remain competitive against a privately financed candidate, while not running contrary to the bizarre constitutional objections we anticipate from the five Supreme Court justices who gave us last year’s disastrous Citizens United v. FEC decision,” Allen concluded, in a clear knock against that decision.

Other ideas are given in a report about Albuquerque’s public financing system, prepared by the Center for Governmental Studies, which also contains a description of the constitutional issues in play regarding the matching funds provision.

Regardless of the Supreme Court decision, this year’s Albuquerque municipal race won’t be affected. The public financing qualifying process has already begun, with candidates currently in an exploratory phase. Then, during the month of May potential publicly financed candidates must raise individual contributions of $5 from one percent of the people residing in their district. Once they meet that benchmark, they will qualify for inclusion in the program.

The state of New Mexico is contemplating a redesign of Medicaid, the state’s nearly $3.9 billion program that currently serves more than 550,000 New Mexicans.

The reasoning behind the move is contained in a 61-page request for proposals the state’s Human Services Department issued in mid March. Mainly, it comes down to this: The program’s cost is unsustainable, and the state must search out various ways to rein in spending in the future.

So far more than a dozen firms have indicated an interest in bidding for the contract, which is expected to be awarded next month.

The bid winner will help the state devise ways to re-design Medicaid.

Currently, the federal government foots about $3 billion of New Mexico Medicaid’s cost, leaving New Mexico paying nearly $1 billion.

New Mexico Medicaid’s rolls have grown in recent years as the economy has lagged. But while more than 550,000 New Mexicans — or one in four residents — were enrolled as of November 2010, an additional 150,000 to 170,000 New Mexicans are expected to enter the state’s Medicaid program in 2014, when Medicaid is expanded under the nation’s new health care law. The federal government will pay nearly all costs for new enrollees for the first few years, state officials say.

Other states also looking at ways to control Medicaid spending. An annual survey of Medicaid programs by the Kaiser Family Foundation said 20 states reduced Medicaid benefits for the year that ended June 30, 2010, more than in any year in the past decade, and 14 states planned to reduce benefits for this year.

Rep. Martin Heinrich talks with local media about his Senate race while his wife Julie looks on.

U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich announced today that he will run for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, who has served in that capacity for thirty years.  Heinrich, who is in his second term representing New Mexico’s first congressional district, made his formal announcement online with a video and a statement on Facebook that were released while he was participating in Albuquerque’s annual César Chávez birthday celebration.

After introducing Dolores Huerta, co-founder with César Chávez of the United Farmworkers of America, and listening to her remarks at the Hispanic Cultural Center, Heinrich explained to local journalists that he wanted to announce on a day that says working people matter. As he often does when speaking about his role models, he described the hard work of his parents, his father an electrician and his mother a seamstress in a factory.

“The thing that runs through my life as a thread that I can always touch back to is how hard my parents worked when I was growing up, so that I would have more opportunities than they had,” he said.  “…That’s an ethic that is at the heart of what Cesar Chavez was all about. I wanted to announce on a day that says working people matter.”

Heinrich made an unusual choice to announce his candidacy online, versus a highly staged press conference. The choice was meant to show his campaign wouldn’t be the typical, old-fashioned Senate campaign, he said.

“We’re going to do everything we can to bring people into this race in a grassroots way and engage people who haven’t been part of the process before,” he said. “…The real question is, how do you get people excited about the future of our state and the future of our country again.”

The online kick-off may be unusual, but from the sound of it, Heinrich plans to travel extensively throughout the state as well. In the coming few months he’ll be on the road, he said, from Las Cruces to Mora  and Taos, from Clovis to Gallup. Heinrich said that while he’ll be in campaign mode, his constituents can still expect him to serve through to the end of his current term.

“We’re not changing a thing about how we operate our congressional office,” he said, emphasizing the constituent services his team offers.

Heinrich is the first Democrat to announce a bid for the Senate seat. State Auditor Hector Balderas as well as former Lt. Governor Diane Denish have both been mentioned as potential candidates. On the Republican side, former Rep. Heather Wilson has formally entered the race. A potential Republican candidate mentioned is current Lt. Governor John Sanchez.

If both Wilson and Heinrich win the primaries, New Mexico will see a match-up many expected to see back in 2008 before Sen. Pete Domenici shook up the New Mexico political landscape by retiring.

When Heinrich first indicated he’d run for the first congressional district back in 2007, the general consensus was that his opponent would have been Wilson, who had held that seat for almost a decade. Then Wilson jumped into her first Senate bid, for the seat vacated by Domenici. She was unable to triumph in the Republican primary in 2008, however, so did not make it to the general election in which she would have run for the Senate against then Rep. Tom Udall, CD-3. Udall went on to win that Senate seat.

New Mexico State Senator Eric Griego announced today that he will form an exploratory committee to consider making a run for New Mexico’s First Congressional District, currently held by Rep. Martin Heinrich. In a statement, Griego noted that media reports suggest Heinrich may announce tomorrow that he will seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.

“It is a very critical time for our state and our country,” Griego said in the statement. “We need a Democratic Congressional candidate who will unapologetically stand up for working families and take on those who would put large corporate interests ahead of our children, our environment and our local businesses.”

Griego emphasized that he is an “outspoken” progressive in the State Senate, sponsoring legislation calling for “…sweeping campaign and ethics reform, supported a state budget that adequately funds our schools, healthcare and public safety, and called for more responsibility from large corporations in paying their fair share for public services and protecting our environment.”

Currently the executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, a research, policy and advocacy organization, Griego  previously served as an Albuquerque City Councilor, as assistant secretary for Economic Development and as chairman of the State Economic Development Commission, before joining the State Senate in 2008.

As an Albuquerque City Councilor, Griego sponsored the city’s current public financing for elections law.

In the statement released today, Griego said he’s seriously considering running for the congressional seat but won’t decide before discussions with his family, employer and his supporters.

“This is an important decision not just for me and my family, but for our whole community and it warrants serious soul searching and a sober review of what kind of Democrat we want fighting for us in Washington,” he said.