Back in 2002, when Democrat Bill Richardson was running for his first term as governor, the company then known as Wackenhut, which ran two private prisons in New Mexico, donated $1,000 to his Republican opponent, John Sanchez — and nothing to Richardson.

Things have changed.

According to The Institute of Money in State Politics, in 2006 The GEO Group, which is the name Wackenhut now goes by, contributed $43,750 to Richardson's re-election campaign. In fact, Richardson, by a wide margin, received more money from GEO than any other politician nationwide running for state office in 2006. In contrast, Charlie Crist, governor of Florida, where GEO is headquartered, received only $1,500 from GEO. (Florida, unlike New Mexico, has campaign contribution limits.)

And it dwarfs the money that the company contributed to former Gov. Gary Johnson, who first brought Wackenhut to the state. Johnson's 1998 re-election campaign received a total of $9,000 from Wackenhut and its chief executive officer, Wayne Calabrese.

But that's not the last of the GEO money Richardson has received. According to the OpenSecrets.org database, which tracks contributions to federal races, the corporation's PAC donated $7,000 to Richardson's presidential campaign (which refunded $2,000 in February after his campaign folded.) Again, Richardson was GEO's favorite candidate. GEO's PAC gave only $5,000 each to the campaigns of Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee.

Richardson's presidential campaign received another $9,500 from GEO executives. The only other candidate to receive any money from GEO employees is Barack Obama, who has received a total of $2,000 — all of which came only after Richardson dropped out of the race.

Because New Mexico's disclosure laws don't require that campaign contributors identify the companies they work for, it's difficult to identify GEO employees who have contributed to state races. But two GEO lobbyists registered in the state contributed. Jorge Dominicis gave $2,500 to the governor's 2006 re-election, while Diane Houston contributed $5,000 to Richardson's 2006 race.

And while Richardson was chairman of the Democratic Governor's Association, GEO kicked in $30,000 to that organization (though it contributed more than $90,000 to the Republican Governor's Association.)

Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said last week that campaign contributions have nothing to do with GEO's presence in the state. Asked whether the governor is proud of being the top recipient of campaign funds from a private prison company, Gallegos said the question is "ludicrous and not worth addressing."

Richardson is not the only New Mexico politician to get money from GEO. In fact, only one state received more GEO campaign money than New Mexico in 2006. That's the company's home state of Florida, where GEO contributed $395,925. All but about $20,000 of that went to political parties (with Republicans getting about 85 percent of the contributions).

In 2006, GEO gave $66,450 to New Mexico state candidates other than Richardson. In state races, the company gave $20,000 to the Democratic primary campaign of attorney general candidate (and Richardson protégé) Geno Zamora; $10,000 to Gary King, who beat Zamora in the primary; $2,500 to King's Republican opponent, Jim Bibb; $8,000 to Lt. Gov. Diane Denish; and $2,500 to State Auditor Hector Balderas.

In New Mexico federal races this year, GEO has given $2,300 to Ben Ray Luján's 3rd Congressional District race and $1,000 to 2nd Congressional District Democratic candidate Harry Teague.

The company contributed $2,500 to Michelle Lujan Grisham's unsuccessful congressional campaign in October, but the campaign refunded the contribution in March. Grisham, a former state Health Department secretary, said last week that it wasn't GEO's prison contracts that concerned her as much as the company's $3.5 million contract to run the long-troubled Fort Bayard Medical Center, a state nursing home near Silver City. GEO terminated the contract last month. The federal government decertified the facility earlier this year after inspectors found problems with infection control, food preparation and response to reports of abuse.

In 2006, GEO's PAC gave congressional candidate Patricia Madrid $10,000 and U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman $1,000.

Campaign contributions aren't the only way the company has helped New Mexico politicians. In 1998, Wackenhut hired then state Senate President Pro Tem Manny Aragon as a "consultant." Aragon ended his Wackenhut employment after receiving intense criticism from both parties.

While GEO is the private prison company that gives the most to New Mexico candidates, it's not the only one.

The PAC for Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America — which runs the New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility in Grants as well as county jails in Cibola and Torrance counties — gave $5,000 to Richardson's presidential campaign last September. He was the only Democrat to get money from the CCA, which also gave $5,000 each to Republicans McCain and Fred Thompson. Richardson also received $1,000 from Jimmy Turner, a CCA vice president.

CCA also gave congressional candidate Ben Ray Luján $1,000 in March. In 2006, CCA gave $1,000 to Heather Wilson's 1st Congressional District campaign.

In 2006, CCA gave New Mexico politicians a total of $18,700, $5,000 of which went to Richardson. Eighty percent of CCA's New Mexico contributions went to Democrats.

Prison services contractors also contribute to politicians in the state.

Aramark Corp., which has a contract with the state to provide food for prisons, gave $25,000 for Richardson's last race for governor and $30,000 for his running mate, Denish. Last year, the corporation gave Richardson $5,000 for his presidential race. (Aramark contributed $6,850 to Clinton.)

The Bantry Group, the Pittsburgh-based parent company of Wexford Health Sources, which the state contracted to deliver prison medical services, contributed $10,000 to Richardson's gubernatorial race in 2006. Wexford Health CEO Kevin Halloran gave Richardson another $10,000 in 2005.

Ironically, in 2004 Richardson returned a $10,000 donation from Bantry to his PAC, Moving America Forward, because, a spokesman said, the contribution was made while Wexford was being considered for the state contract. The contribution was returned "to avoid even the appearance of impropriety," the spokesman said.

Wexford's contract was terminated in 2007 after a Legislative Finance Committee audit found serious problems with its performance delivering health care to inmates.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com.