In addition to the quick bios published in this week’s “Replacebook,” SFR spoke with each candidate for Lieutenant Governor at length. We’ve tried to keep the transcripts short and snappy enough that you’ll make it through all eight…

José Campos (D), 48, restaurateur

SFR: What are two things Diane Denish did as Lt. Gov. that you’d have done differently?

JC: That’s an interesting question. I don’t think I would have done much different. There were critical issues she had to deal with…Now that our situation has changed, we need somebody focusing more on economic development.

How would you do that?

I would be pushing to complete the transmission authority so renewable energy can take off and create new, better-paying jobs ASAP. We’re not going to create jobs just for the sake of creating jobs; we’re going to be moving into a new industry of creating renewable power and utilizing that power within the state but also as an export to Arizona and California. That is going to bring billions of dollars back into the state of New Mexico. It’s a whole new economic opportunity for the state of New Mexico. If we don’t do it in the next four years, we will lose opportunity for the next 40. Continue reading »

Fred Nathan, left, and Rep. Jose Campos present HB 118.

After being briefly tabled last week, the house bill aimed at banning political contributions from lobbyists and government contractors is on the move again.

Today, a compromise bill (HB 118 plus HB 172) to ban political contributions from lobbyists, “seekers of targeted subsidies,” “prospective state contractors” and to prohibit bundling cleared the House Voters & Elections Committee in a 6-4 “do pass” vote. The bill, now HB 172, is en route to the House Judiciary Committee.

“We’re delighted, and I think it’s going to get easier from here,” Fred Nathan, the director of Think New Mexico, a nonprofit think tank that’s been pushing hard for the bill’s passage, told SFR after the meeting. HB 118, sponsored by Rep. Jose Campos, D-DeBaca, merged with Rep. Gail Chasey’s (D-Bernalillo) HB 172 after a disappointing committee hearing last Thursday. Continue reading »

Fred Nathan, left, and Rep. Jose Campos present HB 118.

HB 118, the bill aimed at banning political contributions from lobbyists and government contractors, is on hold for now.

The bill comes at an interesting time: in the wake of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court decision many say changes the face of campaign finance by allowing corporations to directly support and fund candidates for political office. (Obama decried the decision in last night’s State of the Union address, even though Citizens United has targeted him, too.)

Fred Nathan of Think New Mexico, the Santa Fe think tank backing the bill, told the House Voters & Elections Committee this morning that the Supreme Court decision “does not affect this bill”—but that assertion hardly seemed to quell some legislators’ concerns. Continue reading »

…a (potentially) big one for New Mexico: SFReeper just got word from Fred Nathan of Think New Mexico that Rep. Jose Campos, D-De Baca, introduced HB 118, a bill aimed at banning political contributions from lobbyists and special interest groups.

Read the bill summary from Think New Mexico, which has been pushing for the bill as part of its 2010 ethics initiative, and details about Sen. Tim Keller’s separate ethics bill after the jump. Continue reading »