"New Mexico: Politician Must Write Letters"

Unit: Elections and Campaigns

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/us/new-mexico-politician-must-write-letters.html?ref=topics

Synopsis: This article by The New York Times Associated Press reports on a recent development this week in a district court case against Dianna Duran. Once the secretary of state for New Mexico, Duran was part of a campaign finance scandal. Duran was convicted for taking money from her election account to gamble, and claims to have a gambling addiction. The punishment for Duran's part in the scandal over her campaign came from Judge T. Glenn Ellington, who ordered that she must write letters of apology to each of the donors that contributed to her campaign. In addition to writing these letters to the political donors, Judge Ellington ordered that Duran must personally deliver each of the letters. Another letter must be written and sent to the citizenry of the state of New Mexico for her illegal missteps as a political figurehead. Another part of her punishment includes a few thousands hours of community service for the state. Duran also has 30 days in jail for the stealing of campaign election funds.

Analysis: Campaign corruption occurs in these modern times despite the work of the Federal Election Commission in protecting the money of donors and also keeping some kind of level playing field between candidates in an effort to provide some kind of equal opportunity. While "hard money" and "soft money" exist in campaign financing, the former consisting of closely monitored contributions to political candidates while the latter refers to unregulated and unlimited contributions that go directly to political parties in efforts to aid the party as a whole, it is juvenile to think that every candidate will put these funds toward solely campaign purposes and not personal ones. In the case of Duran, if her gambling addiction is real such an action seems nearly unavoidable. With the scandal exposed, Duran's chances for re-election are poor at best, as she will not have support from New Mexico citizenry and wealthy political action committees that might give her private funds. Although the letter writing might seem childish in punishment, her jail-time and community service is sufficient in my opinion to show the state's view on political corruption in campaign finance.