Cash pouring in for Lujan Grisham's 2022 reelection campaign

Oct. 24—Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is called a lot of different things.

Add "rainmaker" to the list.

Over the past six months, Lujan Grisham raked in thousands of individual campaign contributions totaling more than $2.53 million for her reelection bid in November 2022.

None of the seven Republicans seeking the GOP nomination for governor so far even came close, with a combined haul of less than $1 million, according to campaign finance reports filed earlier this month.

Lujan Grisham's money poured in from donors across New Mexico and throughout the country.

While most of the contributions were $100 or less, the governor collected some 200 contributions of $1,000 — cha-ching — and more than 300 contributions of $2,000 or more — cha-ching, cha-ching.

And that's not all. More than a dozen well-heeled donors contributed the maximum $20,800 to the governor's campaign. Two of those donors actually exceeded the campaign contribution cap, one by $10,000 and the other by $4,200, forcing Lujan Grisham's campaign to return the excess funds and file an amended report.

Among those in the elite class of contributors was Das Nobel, CEO of MTX Group Inc., a global technology consulting firm that has received close to $12.2 million in "emergency procurement" contracts from state government under the Lujan Grisham administration.

Nobel contributed the maximum amount in October, less than two months after the state Economic Development Department announced it was pledging $2 million from the state's Local Economic Development Act Job-Creation Fund to assist MTX as it opens a Southwest regional office in New Mexico. The company's Albuquerque expansion is expected to create 250 new high-paying jobs in the state in the next five years.

"The MTX payroll is expected to reach $20 million and the direct economic impact in New Mexico is estimated at $347 million over the next 10 years," according to a news release issued at the time.

Nobel did not return messages left with his company. But he touted MTX's partnership with the state in August.

"The state's incentives mean the company can grow and hire faster, and that means we can better serve the local communities in New Mexico with outcomes in mind around happiness, health, and economics and throughout the southwest," Nobel said in a statement. "MTX is excited to partner with the State of New Mexico to keep local talent in the land of enchantment."

Kendall Witmer, a spokeswoman for Lujan Grisham's campaign, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Witmer has been paid more than $25,700 over the past six months, according to Lujan Grisham's campaign finance report.

That amount is nearly covered by one of the maximum contributions.

John and Marlene Bingaman of Santa Fe, spouses whose contributions were listed separately, donated a combined $20,800 to Lujan Grisham's reelection campaign. John Bingaman served as the governor's chief of staff until November 2020, when he left the administration to return to his old job managing a private investment firm.

Another couple also contributed the maximum amount, but the pair did it individually.

Billionaire heiress Amy Goldman Fowler and her husband, agriculturalist Morgan C. Fowler, contributed a combined $41,600 to Lujan Grisham's campaign in May. Efforts to reach the couple, whose address is listed in New York in the governor's campaign finance report, were unsuccessful.

In June, Albuquerque businessman Steven B. Chavez also gave the governor the maximum allowed. Chavez was willing to give the governor even more money. In October, he sent Lujan Grisham's campaign an additional $10,000, which the campaign refunded because the amount exceeded the limit, according to the campaign finance report. Chavez, president and CEO of Integrated Control Systems, a team of design and building specialists, did not return messages seeking comment.

Lujan Grisham, who called a special session this year to legalize recreational marijuana in New Mexico, received multiple donations from the cannabis industry.

But only one marijuana-related company maxed out its contribution amount in the last campaign reporting period, which covered April to October.

Albuquerque-based PurLife Management Group contributed the maximum amount to the governor's campaign Sept. 14. One of the company's dispensaries gave the governor an additional $10,400 the next day. That dispensary had contributed $10,000 to Lujan Grisham's campaign in June, for a total of $41,200 from PurLife and one of its subsidiaries.

The company is headed by Darren White, a former Bernalillo County sheriff and former state Department of Public Safety Cabinet secretary who used to be against the legalization of marijuana but is now one of the biggest cannabis producers in the state. White, who worked in the Gary Johnson Cabinet, did not return a message seeking comment.

Four other cannabis-related entities — three producers and the New Mexico Cannabis Chamber of Commerce — contributed a combined $75,400. One of those producers, Bright Green Corp., nearly maxed out, contributing $20,400 to the governor's campaign.

Lujan Grisham's campaign received four additional $20,800 contributions in September.

One came from the Democratic Governors Association, which Lujan Grisham chairs.

Christina Amestoy, an association spokeswoman, wrote in an email Lujan Grisham has been "a proven leader" throughout her first term in office.

Another big donation came from investor Ian McKinnon, an Albuquerque native who is the founding partner of Connecticut-based Sandia Holdings LLC. McKinnon, who serves on the boards of the Santa Fe Institute and Albuquerque Academy, did not return a message seeking comment.

Radio personality Elvis Duran, host of the nationally syndicated weekday morning radio program Elvis Duran and the Morning Show in New York, gave the governor the maximum allowed last month. Duran, who is friends with former Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales, also did not return a message seeking comment.

The other maximum contribution in September is linked to the Albuquerque-based Garcia Automotive Group. Garcia Infiniti and Garcia Subaru each contributed $10,400 to the governor's campaign on the same day. Carlos Garcia, one of the company's principals, did not return a message seeking comment.

Lujan Grisham received four maximum contributions last month, including from Nobel, the head of MTX.

Intrepid Potash, however, went over the contribution limit, giving the governor $25,000. The Associated Press reported Thursday the campaign returned $4,200 to the Denver-based mineral company after an opposition political committee dubbed STOP MLG pointed it out.

The two other big donors, Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources, a wholesale electricity supplier, and billionaire Illinois Gov. Jay Robert Pritzker, also a Democrat, abided by state statute and stayed within the limit.

The governor received multiple contributions from 11 of New Mexico's Native American tribes. Combined, they contributed $69,900 to the governor's campaign in the last reporting period.

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter

@danieljchacon.