There are 11 candidates who have registered with the City Clerk as candidates running for Mayor. The candidates listed in order by the City Clerk on the candidate web page are:
- Mayling Armijo
- Eddie Varela
- Patrick Sais
- Darren White
- Timothy Keller
- Louie Sanchez
- Alpana Adair
- Brian Fejer
- Alexander M. M. Uballez
- Daniel Chavez
- Adeo Herrick
Only three candidates for Mayor initially declared that they are privately financed candidates: Daniel Chavez, Mayling Armijo and Brian Feger .
Originally, 8 candidates declared as public finance candidates. Now there are 2 with 6 withdrawing their applications for public finance with those 6 now private financed candidates.
Public finance candidates must collect 3,780 donations of $5.00 to the city from registered voters to qualify for the city to give them $755,946 in city financing for their campaigns. The time frame to collect both nominating petition signatures and $5.00 qualifying contributions is the same and it is from April 19, 2025 to June 21, 2025, a mere 64 days.
The 8 orginal candidates who declared themselves to be “public finance” candidates are Alpana Adair, Alexander Uballez, Darren White, Tim Keller, Louis Sanchez, Edie Varella, Patrick Sais and Adeo Herrick. Six candidates have now withdrawn their application for public finance and the only two candidates who are still declared public financed candidates are Tim Keller and Adeo Henrick.
As of June 6, Keller has collected 3,040 verified qualifying $5.00 donations or 80% and he still needs 740 donations to qualify for public finance or another 20%. With 15 days left in the collection period, Keller must collect an average of 49 donations per day, plus an additional number to take into account disqualifications. The odds are high that Mayor Keller will be the only candidate who will qualify for public finance given the number of house parties his campaign has scheduled for that very purpose as well as public events scheduled for June.
Adeo Herrick has collected 0% of the qualifying donations and 1% of the required nominating petition signatures and it is safe to assume that Herrick is not a serious candidate and has likely dropped out of the race.
DROPPING LIKE FLIES
Alpana Adair withdrew from public finance after collecting only seven verified $5.00 contributions. Patrick Sais withdrew after collecting only two.
Eddie Varela withdrew after collecting 95 of the 3,685 donations or 3%. Varela had this to say:
“I was of the belief that [public finance] would help just a regular guy or gal run for office and would be a great benefit to everybody. … I don’t believe that anymore. I believe it’s flawed, and it needs to be revisited.”
On May 30, former United States Attorney Alexander Uballez abruptly ended his efforts to seek public finance. Uballez said this:
“I’m the fourth candidate to make this decision. When the only candidate who appears on track to qualify for public financing is the incumbent, it’s a clear sign that this isn’t working as it should.
On June 2, City Councilor Louie Sanchez became the fifth candidate to withdraw from public finance and become a private financed candidate.
https://www.cabq.gov/clerk/documents/sanchez-withdrawal-as-an-applicant-candida
Sanchez said this of his withdrawal from public finance:
“One of the things that I’ve found out about public finance is that it’s extremely difficult. When you get into the realm of public financing, there is a lot of things that play in. We’re noticing that in this day and age, not everybody has a five-dollar bill, our volunteers don’t have change. … Since it’s online, or the online link, it takes several times or several tries to get the cumbersome process going.”
On June 8, former Bernalillo County Sherriff Darren White became the sixth candidate to withdraw from public finance by filing with the city clerk a withdrawal notice. White said this:
“Despite our tireless grassroots efforts, it became clear that we would not be able to meet the remaining 1,800 qualifying $5 donations within the two-week deadline. … The only person who has qualified for [public finance] in the past two elections is Tim Keller. And so what does that tell you? It tells you that the system is, as I said, it’s an incumbent protection plan.”
https://www.cabq.gov/clerk/documents/white-withdrawal-as-an-applicant-candidate.pdf
KELLER RESPONDS TO CRITICS
The Keller campaign said qualifying for public financing isn’t supposed to be easy. In a statement, Keller took issue with all his opponents’ claims that the public finance rules favor incumbents. Keller said this in a statement:
“Complaining that public financing doesn’t work is like blaming the ref because you can’t hit your free throws — it’s not the system’s fault you’re falling short. The real issue isn’t the rules; it’s a lack of grassroots support, campaign credibility, and the organizational strength to lead.
KELLER PERFECTS WINNING STATEGY WARPING PUBLIC FINANCE WITH NO CONDEMNATION OF MEASURED FINANCE COMMITEES
Keller was first elected Mayor in 2017 when he was a very popular New Mexico State Auditor. It was during this election cycle that Mayor Keller and his politcal enablers perfected the strategy of first qualifying for public finance and then relying on measured finance committees to raise more and spend even more to get elected.
In 2017 originally there were 16 candidates for Mayor, with only 8 candidates who secured the number of qualifying nominating signatures to be placed on the ballot. Under the election code ordinance at the time, all candidates for Mayor were given three months to collect nominating petition signatures from registered voters, but only six (6) weeks to secure the 3,000 required number of $5.00 qualifying donations for public finance.
It was a crowded field of 8 candidates who qualified for the ballot by collecting the required number of signatures. Keller was the only candidate in 2017 election that qualified for public finance. The Keller campaign collected the needed qualifying cash donations of $5 to the City of Albuquerque from registered voters over a six-week period.
Keller proclaimed he was “walking the talk” to keep big money out of the Mayor’s race by qualifying for public finance. Once qualified, the Keller for Mayor campaign was given a total of $506,254 in public financing allowed at the time, which included financing for the first election and separate financing for the runoff. As a condition to receive public financing from the City, Tim Keller agreed in writing to a spending cap not to exceed the amount given and agree not to raise and spend any more cash to finance his campaign.
Although Keller proclaimed he was “walking the talk” by being a public finance candidate to keep big donors as arm’s length, it was a false narrative and a political facade. Keller supporters realized that more would be needed to elect Keller. Supporters formed three (3) measured finance committees that either raised money directly to spend on his behalf or indirectly spent money and supported Keller’s candidacy for Mayor financially. No other candidate for Mayor in 2017 had a measured finance committee raising or spending on their behalf.
ABQ Forward Together was a measured finance committee that was formed specifically to raise money to promote Tim Keller for Mayor in 2017. The measured finance committee raised over $663,000 for Keller. ABQ Forward Together was chaired by longtime political consultant Nerie Holguin a former campaign consultant for Mr. Keller when he ran successfully for New Mexico State Senate. $67,000 was raised and spent by the Firefighters political action committee known as ABQFIREPAC for Tim Keller. $122,000 was raised and spent by ABQ Working Families on Tim Keller’s behalf.
In 2017, a whopping $1,358,254 was spent on Tim Keller’s successful campaign for Mayor. ($506,254 public finance money + $663,000 ABQ Forward + $67,000 ABQFIREPAC + $122,000 ABQ Working Families = $1,358,254.)
In the 2017 Mayor’s race, there was no other candidate that had measured finance committees that raised and spent money on their behalf. Republican City Councilor Dan Lewis, who made it into the runoff with Tim Keller, raised more than $847,000 combined in cash and in-kind contributions for the October election and the November Mayoral runoff election.
Democrat Brian Colón raised and spent nearly $824,000 for his unsuccessful mayoral run and came in third. Republican Wayne Johnson privately raised and spent approximately $250,000. Republican Ricardo Chavez financed his own campaign by contributing and loaning his campaign $1 million dollars, but when he dropped out of the race, all of the money was repaid to him after he spent approximately $200,000. The remaining three (3) candidates for Mayor raised and spent less than $50,000 combined after failing to qualify for public financing.
2021 MAYOR’S RACE RECALLED
In 2021, Mayor Keller ran against former Bernalillo County Sherriff Manny Gonzales and Republican Radio Talk Show host Eddie Aragon. It was Keller’s long time politcal consultant Neri Olguin who managed Keller’s 2021 campaign. Mayor Tim Keller easily collected more than the then required 3,779 qualifying $5.00 donations collecting 3,945 and his campaign was given $661,309.25 in public financing.
In 2021, Keller was the only candidate to receive public financing after the city clerk rejected Manny Gonzales’ public financing bid. It was Neri Holguin who spearheaded the challenge to the Gonzales $5.00 public finance donations. The City Clerk’s office eventually found that Gonzales forged voter signatures and donations, something Gonzales denied having a personal connection to. Keller’s other challenger, Eddy Aragon, relied on private financing.
MEASURED FINANCE COMMITEES FOR 2025 MUNICIPAL ELECTION
Under the City of Albuquerque’s campaign finance laws, a Measure Finance Committee (MFC) is a political action committee (PAC), person or group that supports or opposes a candidate or ballot measure within the City of Albuquerque. Measure Finance Committees are required to register with the City Clerk. Measure finance committees are not bound by the individual contribution limits and business bans like candidates. No Measure Finance Committee is supposed to coordinate their activities with the individual candidates running for office, but this is a very gray area as to what constitutes coordination of activities, and it is difficult to enforce.
The fact that measure finance committees are not bound by the individual contribution limits and business bans like candidates is what makes them a major threat to warping and influencing our municipal elections and the outcome. Any Measure Finance Committee can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money and can produce negative ads to destroy any candidate’s reputation and candidacy.
All Measure Finance Committees must register with the Albuquerque City Clerk, regardless of the group’s registration as a political action committee (PAC) with another governmental entity, county, state or federal. Measure finance committees must also file financial “Campaign Finance Reports” reporting monetary contributions, loans, in kind donations and expenditures. Under existing law, it is illegal for any candidate for office or their campaign committee to coordinate their campaign efforts with any measured finance committee.
In the 2025 municipal election, four measured finance Committees have been formed thus far and are registered with the City Clerk. They are:
- SAFER ALBUQUERQUE COMMITTEE (SAFER ABQ) formed for the purpose “To advocate for Mayling Armijo’s candidacy for mayor during the Albuquerque 2025 mayoral race and align with values that reduce crime, reduce homelessness, and promote job growth.”
This measured finance committee thus far has raised $120,080 in total contributions and has made $36,224.29 in total expenditures and has a cash balance of $83,855.71. Chairperson: CHARLES M. ROLISON Treasurer: KATRINA TRACY. The top Contributors listed in the financial disclosure for the SAFER ALBUQUERQUE COMMITTEE (SAFER ABQ) are:
- Chauling Mary Armijo $40,000
- Katrina Tracy $40,000
- Four Winds Mechanical HTC/AC Inc $40,000
- Charles Rolison $80.00
Chauling Mary Armijo is believed to be the owner and chief executive officer of Four Winds Mechanical HTC/AC and she is the sister of candidate Mayling Armijo.
The lion’s share of the 53 individual expenditures totaling $36,224 is listed for “advertising” without explanation.
- ASCEND ALBUQUERQUE formed for the purpose “To support the election of Tim Keller as Mayor of Albuquerque.”
This measured finance committee thus far has raised $8,500 in total contributions and has made $4,027.96 in total expenditures and has a cash balance of $4,472.04. CHAIRPERSON: Michelle Mayorga. TREASURER: Sean Marcus.
Top Contributors to ASCEND ALBUQUERQUE listed are:
- Paul Wynn $5,000
- Randi McGinn $2,500
- James C. Akins $1,000
According to ASCEND ALBUQUERQUE financial expenditures report, the following expenditures have been made:
On April 15, $759 was paid to Blue Print Public Affairs of Salt Lake, Utah for “fundraising.”
On May 1, $277 was paid to “ACT Blue” for “Information”
On May 2, $3,000 was paid to Blue Print Public Affairs of Salt Lake, Utah for “fundraising.”
- ABQ For All formed for the purpose “To educate and advocate for or against candidates for City Council”
This measured finance committee thus far has raised $-0- in total contributions and has made $-0- in total expenditures and has a cash balance of $-0-. CHAIRPERSON: Mark Trujillo TREASURER: Eli Il Yong Lee
- CIPGAW: Committee to Elect Eddie Varela Mayor of Albuquerque formed for the purpose to “Elect Eddie Varela Mayor of Albuquerque.”
This measured finance committee thus far has raised $5,000 in total contributions and has made $24.83 in total expenditures and has a cash balance of $4,975.17. CHAIRPERSON: Bradley William Day TREASURER: Amanda Baca
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
The purpose and intent of the city’s public financing system is to reduce the influence of large donors in local elections. Simply put, its a FALSE narrative with the existence of measured finance committees that can and will raise unlimited amounts of money and spend it on promoting a candidate.
The measured finance committee ASCEND ALBUQUERQUE was formed for the sole purpose “To support the election of Tim Keller as Mayor of Albuquerque,” and it will likely raise thousands of dollars to promote Keller on top of the $755,946 he will get if he in fact qualifies for public finance. This follows the identical strategy Keller and his handlers have used in the past to get him elected.
The chairperson for ASCEND ALBUQUERQUE is well known progressive Democrat and politcal consultant Michelle Mayorga who is a partner with GBOA, a public opinion research, political strategy and consulting firm based out of Washington, DC.
“Mayorga is a leading expert in Latino public opinion, and has spent two decades in progressive politics — recruiting, managing, and training candidates and organizers at all levels. Her clients have included Democratic candidates around the country, such as Senator Ben Ray Luján (NM), Reps. Colin Allred (TX-32), Andrea Salinas (OR-6), and Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-3) as well as Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall.
[Mayorga] has worked with advocacy and nonprofit groups like Equis Research, Progressive Caucus PAC, Sierra Club, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ BOLD PAC. Prior to joining GBAO, Michelle Mayorga worked on the ground organizing voters around the country. She served as the National Field Director of Planned Parenthood, and had national field organizing roles at the AFL-CIO, DCCC, The Democratic Party of New Mexico, and the DNC.
The American Association of Political Consultants recognized Michelle Mayorga with their Democratic Pollster of the year award in 2025 and the 40 under 40 award 2016.”
The links to the quoted information on Michelle Mayorga are here:
https://www.gbaostrategies.com/team/mayorga
https://www.gbaostrategies.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-mayorga-33346625
ASCEND ALBUQUERQUE has already paid Blue Print Public Affairs located in Salt Lake, Utah to commence fundraising efforts to promote Keller. Blue Print Public Affairs is a public relations and communications service that provides political consulting and fundraising services.
https://rocketreach.co/blueprint-public-affairs-profile_b4235d1bfee2844a
KELLER’S KEY POLITICAL ENABLERS
Confidential sources have confirmed that Keller’s 2021 Campaign Manager Neri Holguin is involved with Keller’s 2025 reelection bid for a third term and that Holguin educates Keller volunteers on how to collect the $5.00 donations at Keller campaign events. In the 2017 Mayor’s race where Keller was first elected, Holguin headed up the measured finance committee that raised $663,000 to promote Keller when he ran the first time.
Political Consultant Neri Holguin is the owner and primary principal of Holguin Consulting, Inc. Neri Holguin has an extensive history of successful management of numerous progressive Democrat campaigns including New Mexico House and Senate campaigns, county races such as county commission and Bernalillo County Sherriff and city council races. It is known that Holguin is currently involved with at least two city council races helping only Progressive Democrats. Holguin managed one of Keller’s state senate races.
Holguin is considered Mayor Tim Keller’s key political advisor, confidant and politcal consultant on the same level as Republican Political Consultant Jay McCleskey was to former Governor Susana Martinez. Holguin is known for her slash and burn political tactics, similar to that of Republican Political Consultant Jay McCleskey, of making false and inflammatory allegations and smearing any opposing candidate, even Democrats, to ensure her candidates win at all costs. She represents exclusively progressive Democrats. Conservative and moderate democrats need not apply. It’s unknown what Mayor Keller has agreed to pay Neri Holguin out of the public finance funding if he qualifies for the funding. (See article in postscript below for more on Neri Holguin.)
It is more likely than not that Mayor Keller’s long-time Democratic political consultant Alan Packman will be involved in the Keller reelection campaign. Packman’s political consulting firm’s managed Tim Keller’s successful campaign for New Mexico State Auditor. In August, 2018, it was reported Democratic political consultant Alan Packman had been hired by Mayor Tim Keller to work at the city. The city confirmed Packman would be working in the Department of Technology and Innovation which oversees the 311 citizens call center. 311 is the centralized call center for all non-emergency inquiries and services and logs are maintained on calls responded to and how the calls were resolved.
Packman’s official title was listed as “Integration Specialist” and when hired he was paid a salary of $75,000. City records later reflected that Mr. Packman was being paid $80,329. Packman organized a series of telephonic town halls where thousands were contacted by phone for a conference calls with Mayor Keller and with Packman introducing Mayor Keller and screening his questions. The telephonic town halls were viewed by city hall observers as simply an exercise in self-promotion by Keller and the use of city resources to promote Keller’s political agenda.
(See article in postscript below for more on Packman.)
Now that he is running and on the ballot, Keller is back at it again in full force with the townhalls. On June 10, Keller announced a Telephone Town Hall event on June 11 in an Instagram post. In his post, Keller said this will be an opportunity to discuss “immigration policies, recent ICE roundups, public safety support, and solutions to combat homelessness.”
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
The fact that only one candidate for Mayor will likely qualify for public finance this election year is clear evidence that the system has been set up for candidates to fail and that it favors incumbents, that is why it is highly likely only Mayor Keller will qualify for public finance. The system favors incumbents such as Mayor Tim Keller who have high name identification and built in campaign organizations including city staff and a Mayor who holds two and three press conferences a day.
Some have argued, especially Mayor Keller and his supporters, such as former Democratic Party State Chair and two term Democratic Lt. Governor Diane Denish, that public finance is a system that is “supposed to be hard.” Denish became yet another Keller public finance enabler when she went out of her way to severely criticize Alexander Uaballez when he withdrew his bid to qualify for public financing and when Uballez asserted the system favors “entrenched” politicians.
Denish said this on social media about Uballez:
“It’s really strange to hear Uballez complain about public financing and how hard it is to get enough $5 contributions and somehow suggesting that because Keller has built name ID, a volunteer infrastructure and strong support, it’s not fair to him. Is he that naive? If you think qualifying for public financing is hard, try being Mayor. And, yes Alex, you are a politician. You are running for office. Welcome to the world where you have to work hard to get public finance.”
Upon information and belief, Denish is financially well off and capable of financing her own campaigns but despite her wealth she has fundraised when she has run for office. She has never run as a public finance campaign in city elections although she hinted at running for Mayor in 2013. Denish really has no idea how hard it is run a public financed campaign because she has never done so herself.
It’s very difficult to take Denish seriously when she defends Keller and condemns a young, progressive Democrat like Uballez who is a threat to Keller and his progressive base, especially when she knows the advantages of incumbency and being well connected and taking advantage of those connections over so many years. A recent example of Denish taking advantage of her politcal connections was when she contacted Governor Lujan Grisham to veto funding of a playground in a park across the street from her home.
Both Keller and Denish are essentially saying public finance is designed to “weed out” candidates who are incapable of mounting serious campaigns or who have little or no political support. But building political support by newcomers to the political process is what political campaigns are all about and that can only accomplished with adequate funding. Making it so hard that no one qualifies for public finance but incumbents is a mockery of the purpose and intent of public finance which is to encourage qualified people to run who cannot afford to run and who are not independently wealthy and who are not politically connected.
Increases to the amount of public finance over the years were done to allow public finance candidates to compete with private financed candidates. But the problem is the system allows candidates to publicly finance and then allows their supporters to just turn around and set up measured finance committees so they can have the best of both worlds which is something Mayor Tim Keller and his enablers have perfected.
EDITOR’S REMINDER: The 2013 Mayors race was between Republicans Incumbent Mayor Richard Berry and Paul Heh and Democrats Pete Dinelli and Margret Aragon Chavez. Aragon Chavez did not qualify for the ballot. Mayor Berry was a privately finance candidate. Dinelli was the only candidate who qualified for Public Finance collecting 5,000 qualifying $5.00 donations when he needed only 3,600 and securing $360,000.00 in public financing. The public financing given to Dinelli was totally inadequate to compete against a well funded incumbent. Berry raised $904,623 and in-kind contributions of $5,176 for a total of $909,799. Berry’s 2013 contributors were top heavy with major Republican donors and included the Republican National Committee that made a $10,000 donation, oil and gas companies and Republican elected officials and Republican Party officials. Mayor Berry won reelection in a landslide with 68.12% to Dinelli 28.73% to Heh 3.15%. Berry’s margin of victory was a little over the two to one margin he spent to get re-elected by the lowest municipal voter turnout since 1977, which was 70,473 votes or only 19% of registered voters at the time. Dinelli was the first candidate to ever openly run as a Democrat for Mayor to no avail. Republican voter turnout was very high while many Democrats simply failed to vote.
PROPOSED CHANGES
The deficiencies in the city’s public financing have been repeatedly warned about over the last 14 years, at least by www.PeteDinelli.com, but have been ignored. Some of the changes advocated is reducing the number of qualifying donations to a more realistic number as well as increasing the time to collect the qualifying donations. Simply put, public finance laws should not be set up to make it too difficult to qualify for public financing and should have sufficient safeguards to police and prevent fraud.
The following changes to the City’s public finance system and election code are in order:
- Reduce the amount of the qualifying donation from $5.00 to $2.00.
- Double the amount of time from 64 days to 128 days to collect both the qualifying donations and petition signatures, and private campaign donation collection.
- Reduce the number of qualifying donations from 3,780 to a flat 2,000. Simply put, many voters loath making political donations of any kind.
- Strictly prohibit former campaign staff or family members of candidates from being allowed to run or fund measured finance committees.
- Allow the collection of the qualifying donations from anyone who wants, and not just residents or registered voters of Albuquerque. Privately finance candidates now can collect donations from anyone they want and anywhere in the State and Country.
- Once the allowed number of qualifying donations is collected, the public financing would immediately be made available, but not allowed to be spent until the date of closure of the collection process.
- Permit campaign spending for both publicly financed and privately financed candidates only from the date of closure of the collection process to the November election day.
- Return to candidates for their use in their campaign any qualifying donations the candidate has collected when the candidate fails to secure the required number of qualifying donations to get the public financing.
- Mandate the City Clerk to issue debit card or credit card collection devices to collect the qualifying donations and to issue receipts and eliminate the mandatory use of “paper receipts”. Continue to allow the collection of both nominating petition signature and $5.00 donations “on line.”
- Increase from $1.00 to $2.50 per registered voter the amount of public financing, which will be approximately $900,000, and allow for incremental increases of 10% every election cycle keeping up with inflation.
- Allow additional matching public financing available for run offs at the rate of $1.25 per registered voter, or $450,000.
- Albuquerque should make every effort to make municipal elections partisan elections to be held along with State and Federal elections by seeking a constitutional amendment from the legislature to be voted upon by the public.
- Any money raised and spent by measured finance committees on behalf a candidate should be required to first be applied to reimburse the City for any taxpayer money advanced to a public finance candidate or deducted from a publicly finance candidates account and returned to the city.
- City of Albuquerque campaign reporting and finance ordinances and regulations need to define with absolute clarity that strictly prohibit the coordination of expenditures and campaign activities with measured finance committees and individual candidate’s campaigns in municipal elections.
- A mandatory schedule of fines and penalties for violations of the code of ethics and campaign practices act should be enacted by the City Council.
FINAL COMMENTARY
There is little doubt that all of Mayor Tim Keller’s opponents are now in a state of panic or depression, or perhaps both, as Keller is on the verge of being the only candidate who will likely qualify for public finance and be given $755,946 in city financing for his campaign.
Some politcal gossip pundits and columnists are already saying that if Keller’s opponents are unable to raise sufficient money to run their campaigns, there is a chance that Keller could actually capture 50% of the vote and avoid a runoff election that would be required between the top two finishers if no one captures 50% plus one of the vote. With at least 6 likely candidates making the ballot, that is probably wishful thinking on the part of gossip pundits and columnist. Frankly, Keller will need every penny of his public finance and then some to deal with his low approval ratings as the campaign drags on over the summer and into winter and his opponents hit him hard on the issues until November 4.
Notwithstanding, all of Keller’s opponents are now relegated to scrambling for private financing unless they are wealthy enough to self-finance. It’s unknown how they will do with private fundraising but we will soon see as campaign finance reports are required. The only candidate that likely has the ability to private finance his campaign is Parking Company of America CAO Daniel Chavez who has already donated $100,000 of his personal money to finance the collection of the ballot qualifying nominating signatures.
Until there is real reform of public finance laws, we can continue to expect only incumbents to qualify for public financing in elections for Mayor and thereby by giving the incumbent the upper hand and an unfair advantage over all those who run for the office. If Mayor Tim Keller is really committed to the city public finance and wants to “Walk The Talk” as he has said, he would go out of his way to distance himself from ASCEND ALBUQUERQUE. Keller should ask ASCEND ALBUQUERQUE organizers cease any efforts to raise donations to promote his candidacy. Asking Keller to condemn a measured finance committee promoting him is likely way too much to ask of an entrenched politician such as Keller and his greedy enablers and handlers like Holguin and Packman who make lucrative livings off of public finance and the candidates they support.
__________________________
POSTSCRIPT
ABQ JOURNAL GUEST OPINION COLUMN BY ERIC GRIEGO
Eric Griego is an adjunct professor in political science at the University of New Mexico. He is a former Albuquerque City Councilor and former New Mexico State Senator. Griego was the original sponsor of the Open and Ethical Elections legislation in Albuquerque. In 2022, Eric Griego was employed by the city and Mayor Tim Keller as Assistant Chief of Staff for Policy for the Mayor Keller where he led the mayor’s policy, government affairs and community outreach efforts.
https://www.cabq.gov/mayor/news/keller-administration-announces-additions-to-city-leadership.
On Sunday, June 9, the Albuquerque Journal published the following guest editorial opinion column by Eric Griego:
HEADLINE: Public Finance Rules In ABQ Need Reform
By: Eric Griego
“Much has happened since the Open and Ethical Elections proposal creating public financing was passed overwhelmingly by voters in 2005, but the merits of public financing were as important then as they are now.
First, public financing makes it possible for ordinary people to run for public office. You shouldn’t have to be well-connected, wealthy or a party insider to run a strong race.
Second, instead of being forced to raise money from just a handful of wealthy donors to be competitive, publicly financing candidates can spend more time meeting their constituents and learning about the issues.
Third, under public financing, public policies are likely more reflective of public preferences and less focused on the desires of wealthy special interests.
In the first two elections (2007 and 2009) under the new system, eight out of 10 candidates won their seats using the new public financing system. Overall campaign spending decreased, and because of the required individual $5 contributions, voters had much more personal contact with candidates. More importantly, the outsized influence of large campaign donors was balanced by more participation from average voters. In 2009, all three mayoral candidates, including the incumbent mayor, ran using public financing. That was a huge victory for clean elections and local democracy.
That victory, however, was short lived. In 2010, in what will surely go down in U.S. history as one of the worst judicial decisions for American democracy, the U.S. Supreme Court in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission struck down limits on corporate independent expenditures. That decision not only poisoned our national and state elections but blew a huge whole in Albuquerque’s public financing system.
Thanks to Citizen’s United, independent PACs (called Measure Finance Committees or MFCs in Albuquerque elections) can now spend unlimited amounts of money supporting or opposing candidates. That effectively undermines the original purpose of public financing, which is to provide an alternative to the oversized power of big money in our elections.
My intention when I first started working with advocates and community members on Albuquerque’s Open and Ethical Elections system was to make it so more people could realistically run for local office. Short of a constitutional amendment, we can’t do much to end unlimited outside spending by PACs and MFCs. However, we can and should improve the current public financing system to make it more feasible for all candidates.
Currently, it is difficult for anyone other than incumbents and career politicians with strong partisan ties to qualify. In the 2021 mayor’s race, if the current trend continues, only one candidate — the incumbent — will likely qualify for the more than $750,000 provided by the clean elections fund.
If we want to keep public financing as an option, we must address this barrier as well as make other reasonable reforms to the system.
First, the threshold for qualifying for public financing in mayoral races should be cut in half from the current roughly 4,000 $5 contributions to 2,000.
Second, the time period for collecting qualifying contributions should be extended from the current 64 days to at least 90 days.
Third, oversight and penalties for coordination with MFCs should be improved. Former campaign staff or family members of candidates should not be allowed to run or fund these supposedly independent PACs.
Until we find a solution to the corrosive effects of big money in elections at all levels, we need to make alternatives like the Albuquerque public financing system viable to help change who runs, who they answer to and where their money comes from. It is a small step to improving our democracy, but it matters.
The link to the Journal column by Eric Griego is here:
https://www.abqjournal.com/opinion/article_dc5a6966-066e-474f-8353-47cf1e914125.html
Links to related articles are here: