You can't exactly call them major players in the world of political finance, but New Mexico's largest fireworks company, its subsidiaries and its employees have dropped more than $42,000 on New Mexico politicians in the form of campaign contributions in the last 10 years.

Due to the major forest fires in the state, especially the Las Conchas Fire near Los Alamos, fireworks and politics have been in the news. Gov. Susana Martinez has pleaded publicly with New Mexicans to refrain from using or even buying fireworks this year because of the danger of accidental fires.

While she's ordered a ban on fireworks on state lands, Martinez has stressed she does not have the legal authority to impose a ban on all fireworks in the state.

Despite having several drought years in the last decade, the Legislature in recent years has not considered many bills aimed at fireworks safety. No bill that would give the governor the power to prohibit fireworks in emergencies has been considered by the Legislature, at least in recent years.

The last fireworks bill to pass was in 2007. That bill tweaked some technical aspects of the existing law, requiring that all places where fireworks are stored, sold or displayed comply with the safety standards of the National Fire Protection Association and adding bosques to the list of places where fireworks are illegal.

Bill Fulginiti, longtime director of the state Municipal League, said Monday that the last major fireworks legislation was passed in the late 1990s. At that time, the law was changed to allow cities to ban "aerials," such as bottle rockets and Roman candles, and "audibles," which are loud firecrackers.

In 2004, Sen. Dede Feldman introduced a bill, crafted with the help of the Municipal League, to give the governor the power to ban fireworks in emergency drought conditions. Although the state fire marshal testified in favor of the bill and Feldman said "every firefighter in the state was for it," the bill didn't make it very far.

"I couldn't even get it out of my own committee," Feldman said Wednesday. It was tabled in the Public Affairs Committee, which she chairs.

Cities are allowed to impose a fireworks ban in drought years only if they have adopted an ordinance to do so at least 20 days before the ban, Fulginiti said.

Ken Delfeld, vice president of American Promotional Events, which does business in the state as TNT Fireworks, downplayed the company's political contributions. "Forty-two thousand dollars in 10 years? That's like $4,000 a year," he said in an interview Tuesday.

Delfeld said his company and the fireworks industry in general have worked to "provide a framework for safety."

"It seems to be working," Delfeld said of existing fireworks laws.

Ask what he thinks of the governor's call for people not to buy fireworks, Delfeld said he understands the sentiment. But he said it's safe to use products such as sparklers and fountains "in an open, barren area where there's enough water."

While the dollar amount of TNT's donations is modest compared with other industries in New Mexico, the company has made contributions to dozens of legislators and other state officials.

According to records available at the followthemoney.org website operated by the Institute on Money in State Politics, the candidate who got the most contributions from TNT was former Gov. Bill Richardson, who received the donations during his first gubernatorial race. In 2002, the company gave Richardson a total of $6,000.

There's no record of any TNT contribution to Richardson's re-election in 2006. Last year, the company contributed $500 to Diane Denish, who lost to Martinez in the general election.

In 2008, the fireworks company gave Attorney General Gary King a contribution of $500.

Many Santa Fe-area legislators have received TNT contributions in the past 10 years.

House Speaker Ben Luján, D-Nambé, has received $1,750 from the company. Rep. Debbie Rodella, D-Española, who chairs the House Business and Industry Committee, has received $1,400. The company has given $450 to Sen. Phil Griego, D-San Jose; $200 to Rep. Jim Trujillo, D-Santa Fe; and $100 to Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe.

Some of the donations were made under the name of Plains Wholesale Fireworks, a wing of the company that went out of business sometime after 2008, Delfeld said.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.