Money out, Money in: Candidates return money to city contractors, then their owners give

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Albuquerque bans contributions to candidates for elective office from businesses or individuals who make money from city contracts, but that doesn’t prevent owners of those companies from giving to candidates in a different way. The practice is on stark display in a recent campaign report filed by mayoral candidate Brian Colón, who returned contributions from several companies with city contracts on September 12 and then accepted contributions from the owners of those companies about a week later. Owners are allowed to give as individuals or through other companies they own. In his report filed September 22, Colón showed he had returned contributions from contractors identified previously to him by KOB Channel 4, reported by KOB on September 19. The report also reflected that Colón had accepted contributions from the owners of those companies, as either individuals or through their other companies.

ABQ Election 2017

Realtors and developers give big money to ABQ mayoral candidates

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An often heard saying about elections is that candidates spend their time asking anyone they can find for money to fund their campaigns. The amount of money being raised and spent so far in the Albuquerque mayor’s race is already an unprecedented $2,646,494. But a look at the campaigns of the three candidates raising the most in private dollars suggests one constituency is being asked a lot more than others. The real estate and land development sector has given roughly $1 of every $4 raised so far in the Albuquerque mayoral race once you subtract public financing dollars for one candidate and a half-a-million-dollar loan another candidate gave to himself, an NMID analysis shows. No other sector even comes close in its giving power, according to the analysis.