ALBUQUERQUE, July 19 — A third political party seldom rises to a level much beyond annoyance to Republicans and Democrats.
That is clearly not the case in New Mexico, where the Green Party has achieved so much power that its leaders say both major parties this year have tried to exploit it for their electoral advantage.
One offer, they said, came from Republicans this month, a promise of at least $100,000 if the Greens fielded candidates in two House races as a way to hurt Democratic chances. The other, they said, came from Democrats in January, a suggestion of helping the Greens maintain major-party status if the Greens did not field a candidate for governor.
Green leaders here say neither offer came to anything but political theater that has since devolved into a fight between Republicans and Democrats, with Greens trying to stay above it all, citing the incidents as affirmation of their growing importance.
"We're players in New Mexico politics," said Eric Wilson, the Green state co-chairman, a bread maker by trade who said he was surprised that Republicans and Democrats have acted so boldly. "We now have leverage, and that becomes dangerous ground for us, considering all the dust that has been stirred up."
National Green leaders say they have never seen anything quite like it, the offers in New Mexico going well beyond pleas of Democratic leaders in 2000 for Ralph Nader, the Green presidential candidate, to withdraw or to support Al Gore in swing states. Mr. Nader hung in, and had one of his best showings in New Mexico, winning 4 percent of the vote.
"To a certain degree, it's an insult," said Dean Myerson, political coordinator for the national Green Party, who could recall only one other case involving money: a Washington State Republican offering to pay the $100 application fee for a Green Party candidate in a state election two years ago as a way to dilute the strength of a Democrat.
"But bottom line," Mr. Myerson added, "people now see us as a threat and power broker."
The latest episode in New Mexico, the Republican proffer, has roiled state politics for weeks — all because the Greens found no viable candidates for races in the First and Second Congressional districts, which both major parties consider highly competitive and crucial for winning a House majority.
Fearful that Democrats might be strong enough to win the seats, now held by Republicans, the Republican state party chairman, John Dendahl, approached the Green leadership early this month, offering, Mr. Dendahl said, "at least $100,000" from an unnamed source in Washington to run Greens in the two races. The Greens say the offer was $250,000.
Representative Heather A. Wilson of Albuquerque is seeking a third term in the First District after winning in 1998 with 48 percent of the vote and in 2000 with 50 percent. In 1998, the Democratic and Green candidates combined for 52 percent of the vote; in 2000, for 49 percent.
In the Second District, Representative Joe Skeen of Roswell is retiring after serving 11 terms.
Mr. Dendahl's offer was based on the simple premise that Greens, who tend to be liberals, siphon off many more Democratic votes than Republican, and as he said in an interview, the benefactor "was not interested in New Mexico politics, only helping Republicans keep control of the House." He declined to say where the money came from, other than to say the source had no direct ties to the national Republican Party.
Mr. Wilson, who is not related to the congresswoman, said Mr. Dendahl led the Greens to believe that the offer stood even if the Greens found a candidate for just one of the seats.
While the New Mexico Greens refused Mr. Dendahl's offer, it set off a firestorm of protest, primarily by leading state Democrats but also by Republicans. Mr. Dendahl said John Sanchez, the Republican candidate for governor, told him he was "disappointed" that he made an offer. Senator Pete V. Domenici told him "it was a bad idea."
But they were tame responses compared with those by Democrats. Jamie Koch, the state party chairman, among other Democrats, has called on Mr. Dendahl to resign. Mr. Koch has also called on leading Republicans, including Mr. Domenici, to insist that Mr. Dendahl resign. So far, none have.
In addition, Mr. Koch suggested on Wednesday that Mr. Dendahl might have violated state election laws by making such an offer. Just to make sure it does not happen again, leading Democratic state lawmakers have promised to draft legislation that would make financial offers from one party to another illegal, Mr. Koch said.
"I'm not going to let this one go," said Mr. Koch, who described himself as a lifelong friend of Mr. Dendahl.
"Yeah, he's an old friend who's now out to destroy me," said Mr. Dendahl, who denied he did anything wrong and vowed not to resign.
Nonetheless, on Monday, Rebecca Vigil-Giron, the secretary of state, asked Patricia Madrid, the state attorney general, to determine whether the offer by Mr. Dendahl was illegal. Mr. Dendahl attacked the request as politically motivated in that both Ms. Vigil-Giron and Ms. Madrid are Democrats.
Mr. Dendahl said the offer would never have been made "if Democrats had not changed the rules" of elective engagement. He cited two examples.
One, he said, was Gov. Gray Davis of California, a Democrat running this year for re-election who mounted an advertising campaign during the Republican primary against Richard Riordan, the former Los Angeles mayor who was seeking to become the Republican nominee. Mr. Riordan was upset in the primary by Bill Simon, a conservative viewed by many California Democrats as an easier opponent for Mr. Davis.
The other incident, Mr. Dendahl said, was a series of attack ads against Mr. Sanchez before the Republican primary for governor in June, paid for by a New Mexico labor union that is supporting the Democratic nominee, Bill Richardson, the former energy secretary.
"Two years ago," Mr. Dendahl said of his offer to the Greens, "I wouldn't have had those conversations."
To Green leaders, state Democrats would have had cleaner hands were it not for what Mr. Wilson said was an offer by Democratic Party leaders and Mr. Richardson early in the year to help the Greens attain permanent major party status in the state if Mr. Richardson won in November — in exchange for a promise that no Green would run in the governor's race.
Just how that would work was uncertain, Mr. Wilson said. "But there was absolutely never any doubt in my mind that they were going to help us if we got out of the governor's race," he said.
Mr. Koch, who attended the January meeting with the Greens, as well as Mr. Richardson, denied that any such offer was made, saying the request for help came from the Greens and that the party offered not to run a candidate. In any case, David Bacon, the Green candidate for governor, has remained in the race.
"It's a preposterous misrepresentation of the facts," said Billy Sparks, a campaign spokesman for Mr. Richardson. "There was never any quid pro quo. I can't in a thousand years put the two in the same category."
Lest anyone think the Greens are beyond reproach, said Mr. Dendahl, now weary of the whole ordeal, it took their leaders almost a month to inform him they would not take the offer, an assertion Mr. Wilson confirmed.
"They were thinking about it," Mr. Dendahl said with a chuckle. "They were giving it serious consideration."
Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
Michael Pugliese