Democrat: Abolishing campaign donation limits will help fight ‘dark money’ (SF New Mex)

Six years ago, the state Legislature passed and the governor signed a bill that established limits on campaign contributions in statewide and legislative races in New Mexico. On Tuesday, a Senate committee voted to abolish those limits.

With bipartisan support, the Senate Rules Committee passed Senate Bill 689, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen. Sanchez said in an interview after the vote that he introduced the bill in an effort to get contributors to give directly to candidates’ campaigns rather than to independent expenditure groups, such as super PACS and nonprofits, which are neither subject to contribution limits nor required to disclose the names of donors.