Show Me The Money For The Runoff!

Below is the Albuquerque Journal article that appeared October 21, 2017 on page C-1 of the Metro / New Mexico section.

Typical Journal giving the headline to the Republican when the Democrat has more money raised. In 17 days, Tim Keller is given $125,000 in public finance, Tim Keller’s Measured Finance committee raises another $110,000, and Dan Lewis raises $200,000 in private funds. You can expect a lot more to be raised and a lot more negative ads.

The donations are the usual suspects.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1080936/lewis-raises-nearly-200k-for-mayoral-runoff.html

Lewis raises nearly $200K for mayoral runoff
By Martin Salazar / Journal Staff Writer
Friday, October 20th, 2017 at 6:14pm

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — City Councilor Dan Lewis has raised nearly $200,000 since advancing to Albuquerque’s mayoral runoff, while State Auditor Tim Keller has received just over $125,000 in city funds to run his campaign, according to the latest round of campaign finance reports filed Friday afternoon.
The runoff between Lewis and Keller is Nov. 14, although early voting begins Wednesday.

Dan Lewis

Most of the money raised by Lewis, a Republican, has come from local companies and business owners, although several political action committees have also contributed to his campaign, including ABQ Coalition for a Healthy Economy, which gave Lewis’ campaign $5,192. That was one of the groups fighting the proposed mandatory paid sick leave ordinance, which was defeated on Oct. 3.

“We hit our goal — exactly where we planned to be,” Lewis told the Journal.

His report shows that he spent $90,000 — mostly on television ad buys — and had about $110,000 in his campaign war chest as of Thursday.

Keller — a Democrat who received city funds because he qualified to run as a publicly financed candidate — had cash on hand of close to $126,000.

Tim Keller

The political action committee backing Keller’s mayoral run, meanwhile, has raised close to $90,000 since the Oct. 3 election. About a third of that came from unions, although OLÉ, one of the groups backing the sick leave ordinance contributed .

“There’s a real choice to be made, and people are excited for Nov. 14,” said Neri Holguin, chairwoman of ABQ Forward Together. “Albuquerque can choose between more of the Berry administration or real change for our city.”

Make Albuquerque Safe, the Santolina-backed political action committee opposing Keller, reported just $3,500 in contributions and a negative closing balance. The $3,500 contribution was from Western Albuquerque Land Holdings — owner of 21 square miles of land covered by the Santolina Master Plan west of Albuquerque.

Cynthia Borrego, one of the City Council District 5 candidates, reported receiving a little more than $15,000 in city funds for her runoff campaign. Her opponent, Robert Aragon, had not filed his campaign finance report as of press time, according to the city clerk’s website.

Top contributors to Lewis’ campaign include: John Bode Jr. and John Bode Sr., of Bode Aviation Inc., who each contributed $5,000; Michael Castro of Shepards Properties, $5,192; Toby Garcia of Garcia Honda, $5,192; Rebecca Weh, of CSI Aviation, $5,000; Chris Archuleta of Superior Ambulance, $5,000; Mary Merrell of Amcare Inc., $5,000; Thomas Tinnin of Tinnin Investments Inc., $5,000; Dorothy and Larry Rainosek of Frontier Restaurant who gave a combined $6,000; Walking by Faith, $5,000; ABQ Coalition for a Healthy Economy, $5,192; Debbie Harms, of NAI Maestas & Ward, $5,192; Michael Merrell of Amcare Inc., $5,000; New Mexico Restaurant Investors Inc., $5,192; Jalapeno Corporation/Harvey Yates, $5,000; Steven Maestas, with Maestas Development Group, $5,000; Dale Armstrong of TLC Plumbing, $5,100; New Mexico NAIOP PAC, $5,192; Allen Weh of CSI Aviation, $5,000 and Victory Jury of Summit Electric Supply, $5,000.

Top contributors to ABQ Forward Together include: Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, $20,000; OLÉ, $7,000; AFSCME, $5,000; Ed Garcia of Garcia Honda, $5,000; Julian Garcia of Automundo de Garcia, $5,000; and IBEW PAC Voluntary Fund, $5,000.

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About

Pete Dinelli was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is of Italian and Hispanic descent. He is a 1970 graduate of Del Norte High School, a 1974 graduate of Eastern New Mexico University with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and a 1977 graduate of St. Mary's School of Law, San Antonio, Texas. Pete has a 40 year history of community involvement and service as an elected and appointed official and as a practicing attorney in Albuquerque. Pete and his wife Betty Case Dinelli have been married since 1984 and they have two adult sons, Mark, who is an attorney and George, who is an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). Pete has been a licensed New Mexico attorney since 1978. Pete has over 27 years of municipal and state government service. Pete’s service to Albuquerque has been extensive. He has been an elected Albuquerque City Councilor, serving as Vice President. He has served as a Worker’s Compensation Judge with Statewide jurisdiction. Pete has been a prosecutor for 15 years and has served as a Bernalillo County Chief Deputy District Attorney, as an Assistant Attorney General and Assistant District Attorney and as a Deputy City Attorney. For eight years, Pete was employed with the City of Albuquerque both as a Deputy City Attorney and Chief Public Safety Officer overseeing the city departments of police, fire, 911 emergency call center and the emergency operations center. While with the City of Albuquerque Legal Department, Pete served as Director of the Safe City Strike Force and Interim Director of the 911 Emergency Operations Center. Pete’s community involvement includes being a past President of the Albuquerque Kiwanis Club, past President of the Our Lady of Fatima School Board, and Board of Directors of the Albuquerque Museum Foundation.