September 18, 2015

This Is How Far Politicians Will Go for Campaign Cash

Approximately 10,500 feet—vertically—in the case of New Mexico’s GOP Gov. Susana Martinez.

Andres Leighton/AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Politicians go to great lengths to please their donors, but New Mexico’s GOP governor Susan Martinez is taking things to a new level. This weekend, she plans to skydive into a fundraiser attended by corporate donors.

Martinez, who has been likened to Sarah Palin (both for her personality and her vice presidential potential) is making the jump to raise money for the Republican speaker of New Mexico’s House of Representatives, Don Tripp. The fundraiser will be attended primarily by corporate lobbyists, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican:

“Nearly 50 corporations, lobbyists and individuals are listed as sponsors of the fundraiser, which will help in the Republican effort during the 2016 elections to maintain control of the state House. The GOP last year won a majority in the House for the first time since 1954. Republicans have a 37-33 advantage over Democrats.”

Among the listed sponsors are natural gas giant Devon Energy, United Healthcare, railroad company BNSF, and “virtual school” company K-12 Inc.

The minimum donation for watching Martinez defy death is a fairly reasonable $75. Organizers expect about 100 people to attend.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate