New Mexico Supporters Put Pens to Checks
Originally published in the Albuquerque Journal
Sunday, January 11, 2004
Supporters Put Pens to Checks
By Thomas J. Cole
Journal Investigative Reporter
Marsha Mason, the Emmy-winning actress and Abiquiu herb farmer, is a contributor to the campaign of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
Murray Gell-Mann, Nobel Prize physicist and fellow at a Santa Fe research center, has given to Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts.
Members of the wealthy Maloof family in Albuquerque are financial backers of Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri.
New Mexicans, with checkbooks in hand, are picking their horses in the race for the Democratic nomination for president. Some are giving to more than one candidate.
Through Sept. 30, New Mexicans donated nearly $361,000 to the major Democratic candidates, according to campaign finance data made available by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research group based in Washington, D.C. The number of contributions from New Mexicans totaled 649.
Not surprisingly, Dean, who has become the biggest fund-raiser ever in Democratic presidential politics, led in New Mexico with donations totaling $135,835.
By comparison, President Bush, who faces no major opposition for the Republican nomination, had raised $178,635 from New Mexicans through September.
Among the Democrats, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina was the second biggest fund-raiser in New Mexico. A former trial lawyer, he has the backing of a Who's Who-list of trial attorneys in New Mexico.
The rest of the Democratic candidates had raised far less in New Mexico than Dean and Edwards. Two of them— former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois and the Rev. Al Sharpton— had no contributions from New Mexicans, according to the data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
Democrats will cast ballots for the presidential candidates in a caucus Feb. 3.
Mason has contributed $2,000— the maximum allowed per election under federal law— to Dean.
The actress said she admires the former governor's frankness, saying he has been willing to talk about his opposition to the war in Iraq and the need to improve the economy and expand health-care access.
"He's not afraid to stand up and say, 'Wake up,' '' Mason said. "I just love his bravery."
Other contributors to Dean include Sallie Bingham, a Santa Fe philanthropist and writer, and Carol Oppenheimer, a labor attorney active in the campaign to enact a so-called living wage ordinance in Santa Fe.
Gell-Mann, who won the Nobel Prize in 1969 for his work on atomic particles, gave $250 to Kerry.
The physicist didn't recall the donation to Kerry but said perhaps it was the price of admission for an event attended by his wife.
"Anyway, it would be fun to have a Skull and Bones versus Skull and Bones election," Gell-Mann said. Both Kerry and Bush were members of the secret Skull and Bones society while at Yale University. Gell-Mann has an honorary doctorate from the school.
Kerry's other contributors include Brian Egolf Jr. of Santa Fe, an oil and gas developer and major contributor to Democratic causes, and Catherine Allen of Santa Fe, chief executive officer of a nonprofit technology consortium of the 100 largest financial institutions in the country.
Allen said she made the contribution so she could attend a Kerry fund-raiser in Washington, D.C., and speak directly with the candidate about funding for Iraq, the economy and other issues.
"I wasn't in any way saying this is the guy I'm voting for," she said, adding that she also likes some of the positions taken by Dean and retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark.
Colleen Maloof and sons George Jr. and Phil have given $2,000 each to Gephardt's campaign. Employees of Maloof companies have also contributed.
The family's business interests include beer and liquor distributorships, a professional basketball team in Sacramento, Calif., and a casino and hotel in Las Vegas, Nev.
George Maloof described Gephardt as honorable and experienced. He also said Gephardt supported Phil Maloof, a former state senator, in his failed bid for New Mexico's 1st Congressional District seat in 1998.
"We're loyal to people that are loyal to us," George Maloof said.
Gephardt's other contributors include Johnny Cope, a Hobbs businessman and member of the state Transportation Commission.
Cope gave $1,000 to the congressman but also gave $2,000 to Edwards. And Cope is the finance chairman for the Kerry campaign in New Mexico.
He said his donations to Gephardt and Edwards were made before his commitment to Kerry and that he and his wife recently gave $2,000 each to Kerry.
"I have friends and it's kind of hard to say no sometimes," he said of the contributions to Gephardt and Edwards. "Maybe I'm too easy."
Lisa Vigil of Albuquerque is among the lawyers who have given to Edwards. She donated $1,000.
"He is smart and has devoted his entire professional life to representing everyday people who have been severely damaged by the carelessness, negligence and greediness of big corporations," Vigil said.
"He was born from and represents the real people of this country. He is a great family man. He is enthusiastic about fixing the real problems real people face in this country."
Edwards' other contributors include Albuquerque attorneys Turner and Margaret Moses Branch, Sam Bregman, Stephen Durkovich, Randi McGinn and John Eaves. Eaves has also given to Dean.
Art Gardenswartz of Albuquerque, owner of Sportz Outdoor, is backing Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. He has contributed $1,250 and his father, Harold, has kicked in another $1,200.
Gardenswartz said Lieberman has the experience to be president and knows the value of diplomacy in making the planet a safer place to live.
"I particularly like his attitude toward foreign affairs," Gardenswartz said. "We don't live in an isolated world."
Lieberman's other financial backers include Paul Blanchard, president of The Downs racetrack and casino in Albuquerque and member of a powerful state board that supervises government money matters.
William Burnett, an economic consultant in Santa Fe, contributed $1,000 to Clark but said he hasn't decided if he will vote for the retired general.
Burnett said the Democratic Party needed a candidate like Clark in the race to give the party credibility on national defense issues.
"Clark brings some credibility to alternatives on foreign policies that President Bush has pursued," he said.
Other contributors to the retired general include Greg Levenson, president of the Bank of Las Vegas, and Santa Fe art dealer Bill Siegal.
Elizabeth Bardwell, a lawyer and biologist who works for a conservation group in Las Cruces, gave $500 to Dean and $1,000 to Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.
"Both of those candidates had elements in their platforms that I felt would benefit from funding so that they could continue to contribute to the public dialogue on where this country's going," Bardwell said.
Other Kucinich donors include Patrick Lannan, president of the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe. The family foundation, with assets exceeding $200 million, promotes cultural freedom, diversity and creativity. [ed. note: not bad for a candidate whose fundraising is usually denigrated]
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