RELATED STORIES

• New Mexico friends, fans offer praise and support for exiting Sen. Pete Domenici
• Slowly, Sen. Domenici's disease revealed itself
• Heather Wilson to run for Sen. Domenici's seat; Tom Udall says he won't
• Retiring Sen. Domenici yet to decide fate of his campaign war chest
• Richardson reiterates: "I am not running for Senate."

More Local Politics

• Red lights, cameras, action: Albuquerque program back on, but so is feud
• New Mexico hopefuls for U.S. Senate tout experience at debate
• Reports: Personal funds help some New Mexico congressional candidates

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation
• Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

WASHINGTON — The sudden decision by Sen. Pete Domenici not to seek re-election leaves the Albuquerque Republican with another big decision: What to do with between $1 million and $2 million in campaign cash?

By law, Domenici cannot pocket the money. Nor can he transfer the money to a would-be successor.

The most his campaign could donate to Rep. Heather Wilson of Albuquerque or any other Republican candidate is $2,000.

Here's what else Domenici can do with the campaign funds:

• Return the contributions.

• Donate the funds to the state or national Republican Party or National Republican Senatorial Committee or any other official party organization for general support of GOP candidates.

v Give the money to charity.

• Use the funds to support travel by Domenici and his wife to events if the function is related to his responsibilities as senator.

• Defray the costs of closing down his offices for up to six months after his term ends.

No decisions have been made on what to do with the money, said Domenici fund-raiser Heidi Fuller.

Domenici had $1,053,620 in his campaign fund as of June 30. Fuller said the campaign raised about $1 million in the last quarter, but she did not have an exact total Thursday for the cash on hand.