Council for National Policy Linked fat cat donates $200K to Republican New Mexico Gubernatorial Candidate

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Council for National Policy Linked fat cat donates $200K to Republican New Mexico Gubernatorial Candidate
Published on 09-21-2010 Email To Friend Print Version


Source: Santa Fe New Mexican

A couple of people well known in national Republican fundraising circles topped the list of individual contributors to Susana Martinez's gubernatorial campaign, according to Martinez's campaign finance report filed Tuesday.

Martinez, the district attorney in Doña Ana County, raised more than $2 million in the last two months the report says. That's more than twice what her opponent, Democrat Diane Denish, raised during the same period.

Martinez's largest individual donor was Foster Friess, an investor from Jackson, Wyo., who gave $200,000.

Freiss, who made his fortune in a management firm called Freiss Associates, which he started in 1974 with his wife, Lynn, is well known in conservative and Christian-right circles. He was a featured speaker at the Western Conservative Summit in June in Colorado, along with U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.; former Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo.; and right-wing pundits Michelle Malkin and Dick Morris.

Freiss, identified by The Washington Post as a "a big-time GOP donor" and hunting partner of former Vice President Dick Cheney, is a major financial backer of conservative commentator Tucker Carlson's website The Daily Caller. In the late '90s, Freiss was vice president of the Council for National Policy, a conservative group headed by former Attorney General Edwin Meese.

Martinez got $100,000 from B. Wayne Hughes Jr., who operates a commercial real-estate company and a national self-storage chain based in Malibu, Calif. Hughes, listed by Forbes magazine as one of the richest people in the country, is a major contributor to the new organization headed by former George W. Bush political director Karl Rove and former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie. According to The Politico website, Hughes gave the group, called American Crossroads, $1.3 million.

Freiss and Hughes join Bob Perry, the Houston developer and major funder of the controversial Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, as major Martinez contributors. Perry and his wife gave Martinez $450,000 in May.

Martinez's biggest benefactor in the new report was the Republican Governors Association, which donated $500,000. The RGA also is listed for more than $11,000 in "in-kind" donations, which could mean the group is doing an ad for Martinez as it is for other GOP gubernatorial candidates around the state. Rules don't require specifications of "In-kind" donations.

Oil and gas producers and individuals in the industry contributed at least $220,000 to Martinez in the past 10 weeks, according to an analysis of her latest fundraising report by The Associated Press. Devon Energy, an Oklahoma City-based company gave her $50,000. Myco Industries, an Artesia oil company contributed $30,000, while Yates Petroleum of Artesia gave $15,000.

Other Martinez contributors include Sigma Ventures Inc. of Houston, which gave her $50,000. The Associated Press reported that Sigma's president is Michael Bleyzer, who runs a private equity company with investments in Eastern Europe. Biad Chili Co. of Las Cruces donated $25,000.

Bode Aviation of Albuquerque and its executive, John Bode, are listed for "in-kind" donations totaling more than $31,000. Lincoln Strategies, a Republican consultant group that is working for Martinez gave in-kind services of $35,000, the report says.

Martinez spent nearly $1.3 million during the time covered by the report, leaving $1,030,228 in the bank as of Sept. 6.

Denish reported cash-on-hand of $1.3 million as of Sept. 6.

Martinez missed Monday's deadline for filing the report. Both the campaign and the Secretary of State's office said there was a technical problem that prevented Martinez from submitting the report shortly before the 5 p.m. deadline.