Campaign-finance report: Block's funds help reduce Clinton's debt
Related
Advertisement
10/14/2008 - 10/15/08
In his latest campaign-finance report, Jerome Block Jr. gave $700 to Hillary Clinton, well after the former first lady had given up her run for president.The contribution, made with public campaign funds, is dated Aug. 25, a week after Gov. Bill Richardson hosted fundraisers in New Mexico to help Clinton get rid of her multimillion-dollar campaign debt.
A section of the Voter Action Act, which funds Public Regulation Commission campaigns, says, "All money distributed to a certified candidate shall be used for that candidate's campaign-related purposes in the election cycle in which the money was distributed."
"A good argument can be made that that is not a campaign-related purpose. I don't know how it could be," said Jim Harrington, a board member of Common Cause New Mexico, a government-reform group that pushed for public-campaign financing. "Hillary was not publicly financed, so to take public money from a candidate who has jumped through all the hoops to make the qualifications, it doesn't strike me as right."
Harrington said he had not seen the report and said Common Cause might review it further.
State Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, who sponsored the Voter Action Act, said Tuesday that she wasn't sure if Block's Clinton contribution conflicts with the law's intent.
Efforts to reach Block were unsuccessful.
Tuesday was the first reporting deadline of the general election, and Block and his opponent, Green Party member Rick Lass, each filed electronically with the Secretary of State's Office. Each received $67,278 for the general election. Block outspent Lass during the reporting period, $31,095 to $9,777.
Block's report also addresses the controversial $2,500 he gave to the band Wyld Country. His report says he both received the money from the band and returned it to the state on Sept. 26, which conflicts with an early statement by band member Paul Maez, the San Miguel County clerk.
Maez has said he cashed the check soon after receiving it in June and gave the money back to Block.
Among the Democrat's other expenditures were $1,500 each to the Taos County and San Miguel County Democratic parties for "collaborative campaigns." He also gave $523.97 to MATI Networks for Web site "design and hosting." Block's father, former PRC member Jerome Block Sr., is a lobbyist for MATI, which stands for Mescalero Apache Telecom Inc. He gave $106.41 to Jenifer Block for parade candy — candidate Block's sister goes by the same name.
Block's spokesman, Jonathan Valdez, received $5,100, and the Santa Fe Boys and Girls Club received $1,000 for advertising at a fundraiser.
Block also spent $35.91 for lunch Sept. 10 at Twin Peaks, a restaurant in Albuquerque.
Of the nearly $10,000 Lass spent, close to half went to three people for campaign work — $2,900 to Magita Story, $800 to John McAndrew and $650 to Bernie Logue y Perea. The report doesn't describe the nature of the work.
Story is listed as Lass' campaign treasurer, and Logue y Perea was a Democratic ward chairman in Santa Fe before quitting the post to help Lass.
Lass, Story, McAndrew and Logue y Perea couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday night.
Lass also spent $977.93 for a party July 29 at Osteria d'Assisi restaurant.
Contact Doug Mattson at 986-3087 or dmattson@sfnewmexican.com.
