Albuquerque city councilors on Monday finally decided how much public financing future council and mayoral candidates will get.
During their last two meetings, councilors debated and deferred a proposal, sponsored by Councilor Joaquín Baca, to clean up campaign finance sections of the city’s charter. Without any discussion Monday night, councilors approved the proposal on a 7-2 vote.
YES: Brook Bassan, Joaquín Baca, Tammy Fiebelkorn, Renée Grout, Dan Lewis, Klarissa Peña, Nichole Rogers
NO: Dan Champine, Louie Sanchez
The proposal raises the amounts council and mayoral candidates receive by $0.25. Council candidates will now receive $1.25 per registered voter in the district they are running in and mayoral candidates will receive $2 per registered voter in the entire city.
There will also be a cap on contribution limits for privately financed candidates.
“No privately financed candidate shall, for any one election, allow total contributions, including in-kind contributions, from any one person with the exception of contributions from the candidate themselves of more than $2,000 for Council Candidates and $6,000 for Mayoral Candidates,” the legislation states.
Read more about the proposal and debates here.

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