Weh ‘considering’ voluntarily releasing finance report

Allen Weh

Republican gubernatorial candidate Allen Weh says he may join other candidates who have chosen to voluntarily release campaign finance reports this month.

“We’re considering it,” Weh spokesman Christopher Sanchez wrote this morning in an e-mail.

He had no further comment.

Weh joins Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Turner in not giving a definite answer (Turner said “maybe” earlier this week) to the question I’ve been asking about whether gubernatorial candidates would voluntarily release a finance report this month for the fourth quarter of 2009. Weh is the last gubernatorial candidate to provide some kind of answer.

Democratic candidate Diane Denish has been voluntarily releasing reports quarterly — even in off-election years when it’s not required — for some time, and she did it again last week. Republican Susana Martinez has matched Denish in voluntarily releasing a report of contributions and expenditures for the fourth quarter of 2009.

Republican Janice Arnold-Jones has gone well beyond that in terms of disclosure of campaign contributions. She recently posted on her campaign Web site information about every contribution she’s received to date, and she is keeping the list of contributions current.

But unlike Denish and Martinez, Arnold-Jones has not been releasing information about campaign expenditures more often than state law requires.

Republican Pete Domenici Jr., who entered the race over the weekend, plans to voluntarily release information about contributions at least monthly, his spokesman says.

The next finance report is required by law on April 12.

Denish spokesman Chris Cervini said it’s “nice to see others have finally begun to follow (Denish’s) lead of openness and transparency.”

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