More on Controversial Taos County Dem Party Elections

A collection of audio clips and photos from the Democratic Party of Taos County Central Committee last week are provided by CulturalEnergy.org (scroll down to stories of week of March 26, 2007 and click the Central Committee meeting link). After a meeting filled with arcane parliamentarian maneuvers and rulings, Chuby Tafoya was elected as Taos County Chair in a victory over the current County Chair, Billy Knight.

Background
The manner in which some of the County Party's earlier precinct elections were conducted was widely criticised, with challenges ultimately filed against the validity of the elections in five precincts. Next came a County Credentials Committee meeting, where the challenges were dismissed against four precincts where many of Chuby Tafoya's supporters reside. Many claim this was done without a proper review by the Credentials Committee of affidavits and ballots submitted to document alleged irregularities and rule breaking. One challenge, by Chuby Tafoya's supporters in the large Arroyo Hondo precinct, where most of Billy Knight's supporters (as well as Tafoya) live, was accepted by the Credentials Committee without a review.

Attendees report that despite the presence of the Executive Director of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, the DNC Field Organizer, Joseph Casados, and the State Party Parliamentarian, Robert Beck, on hand to chair the Credentials Committee meeting, not one single person was credentialed and not one single precinct's election documentation examined. Many who witnessed it are calling it an astounding display of incompetence and a violation of Party rules.

Taos County Central Committee Meeting
The audio clips are from the County Central Committee meeting where the Credentials Committee rulings were accepted in violation of the Party rules, and a majority voted to keep the Arroyo Hondo precinct winners from voting in the County Chair election. Some of the speakers describe their reactions to the Arroyo Hondo precinct delegation being kept from voting based on what they deem to be murky and minor technicalities, if any, while other more serious precinct election challenges were set aside without any real review of the evidence by the Credential Committee. Indeed, it seems that clear evidence of the alleged ballot tampering by Tafoya's father was suppressed from examination by the majority vote of the Tafoya-dominated Credentials Committee.

From approximately 7 minutes until 13 minutes on the audio recording, Margarita Denevan gives an especially passionate and clear defense of how the rules were clearly and closely followed in the Arroyo Hondo precinct elections -- ironically, the only precinct where the Credentials Committee saw supposed violations.

After the voting for County Chair was finished at the CCC meeting, giving Chuby Tafoya a victory without any votes from the Arroyo Hondo precinct, the majority voted to reinstate the Arroyo Hondo delegation.

What Comes Next
Emotions continue to run high in Taos, and much criticism continues to be leveled by many of those who attended the Credentials Committee meeting on State Party parliamentarian Robert Beck and Executive Director Matt Farrauto, who were present but did not question the proceedings. It's being alleged that the Credential Committee did not even vote to approve the credentials of those who were allowed to vote at the County Central Committee meeting, and the legality of holding the County Central Committee meeting itself was questioned by incumbent Chair Billy Knight. Knight reportedly intends to challenge precinct elections in three precincts — Talpa, Cruz Alta and Ranchitos — to the state party’s judicial committee.

This is a complicated and emotional situation and it has been somewhat difficult to get and communicate a clear narrative of what happened at the Taos Dem meetings from the reports I'm getting from up north. I hope I'm getting it right so far, as information continues to be released.

Previously Available Material
Check my that lists some of the challenges that were later to be filed against various precinct elections. There's also material on New Mexico Matters that describes alleged violations in one precinct, as well as scanned precinct ballots that show alleged tampering. There's also coverage of an article published by the Taos Daily Horse Fly, which presents the controversy as a rather humorous anecdote, rather than a serious situation where precinct election fraud is being alleged and the process by which Dem Party rules were applied (or not) is being challenged.