Happy with just one local race

One million dollars. The mere term makes me think of professional athletes, lotteries and Dr. Evil all at once.

That’s the money spent on the bitter New Mexico secretary of state race between Democrat Maggie Toulouse Oliver and Republican Nora Espinoza.

It made me wonder what our local candidates spent. I found unusual expenses, but nothing I couldn’t rationalize and nothing that said, “Dirty politics.” Here are a few things that may only interest me about local campaign finance reports:

n Two candidates raised and spent nothing — Roosevelt County Treasurer Layle Sanchez and Roosevelt County Clerk DeAun Searl. Neither faced primary or general election opposition.

n Two candidates raised money and reported no spending. Paul Grider, who ran unopposed for Roosevelt County Commission District 5, donated $100 to his own campaign, while Curry County Commissioner Tim Ashley raised $4,600.80 in his unsuccessful primary bid to keep his District 5 seat against Robert Thornton. Neither counted the $50 filing fee as an expense, though both had every right to do so. That was the only expense for Dennis Lopez, who ran unopposed for the Roosevelt County Commission’s first district.

n Sanchez, Searl, Grider, Thornton, Ben McDaniel and Matt Hunton reported no general election expenses. That list would include Ben Smith, the incoming Curry County commissioner for District 4, but he had $17.50 in bank fees.

n Signs are expensive. Incoming Curry County Clerk Jo Lynn Queener spent nearly $900 for 150 signs and stakes. At least they’re cheaper the second time around. Curry County Treasurer Debbie Spriggs (raised and spent $150) had no primary or general opposition, but spent $16.53 for “re-elect” labels just in case.

n Steven Whittington (raised and spent $1,100.58), who ran against McDaniel in the primaries, was the only candidate I found that spent money on Facebook advertising ($299.98).

n Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle (raised $110,100, spent $87,252.08) was easily the area’s biggest spender. The Portales Republican’s most unusual expense was the salsa he provided for the 2016 session ($452.80 with Portales’ El Rancho). Ingle had plenty of expenses for mileage, cell phone bills and half a dozen newspaper subscriptions.

Donation recipients included the Hartley House, Roswell Symphony Orchestra, United Way of Eastern New Mexico, Clovis Martin Luther King Commission, De Baca County Fair, Fort Sumner Chamber of Commerce, Single Airman Christmas, Portales High golf and Angelo State women’s basketball.

He also spent $65.08 on checks; he ran out for some reason.

n In the district judge race between Angelina Baca and Matt Chandler, candidates raised $33,135.17 and spent $30,436.48. Chandler spent just over half of his $17,410.99 in expenses with McCleskey Media Strategies — $6,031.21 for campaign mailers, $1,808.76 for palm cards and $930.98 for an auto dial campaign. Among Baca’s $13,025.49 in expenses were $1,000 for her campaign website, $1,940 for postcards and $73.35 on candy to give out.

n Rep. Dennis Roch (raised $29,076.98, spent $29,208.16) spent $40 each for school carnivals in Tucumcari and Logan, donated to the Tucumcari Altrusa Club ($200) and Clayton Arts Council ($100) and bought Krispy Kreme for a committee ($23.80).

n Curry County candidates raised $21,086.23 and spent $15,102.01. Roosevelt County candidates raised $3,218.39 and spent $2,527.58. Legislators raised $211,484.57 and spent $201,460.37 on their campaigns, though none faced any primary or general election opponents.

In all, the 27 candidates raised $268,924.36 and spent $249,526.44.

That means we could have done this three more times and not matched the one statewide race. But we’re all good with just one time, right?

Kevin Wilson is managing editor for the Clovis office of The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him at: [email protected]