Democracy for New Mexico

More Good News: Thomas Buckner Enters Race for Dem State Party Treasurer

From Thomas R. Buckner:
I am today announcing my candidacy for the position of Treasurer of the New Mexico State Democratic Party at the upcoming convention in Las Cruces on April 28.

You may remember me from the 2006 Primary campaign where I ran for State Auditor and obtained 43,000 votes, statewide, in the Democratic Primary. During that campaign I spoke with many of you by phone and in person.

I bring to the Treasurer Position my 47+ years of financial experience.  I am retired from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the State of New Mexico.  I have been in banking and bank regulation the majority of my professional career, having served as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of three commercial banks.  Additionally, I spent three years with the New Mexico Attorney General's Office working for Patricia Madrid in the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit as an accountant/investigator.  I hold a Master of Business Administration Degree (MBA) from West Texas A&M University, Canyon, Texas and a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree from the same University.

While with FDIC, I assisted in the investigation of the bank failures during the 1982-1996 time period and served as an Assistant Bank Examiner after the bank failures subsided following the election of  President Clinton.

I am married to my wife of 38 years, Sue A. Buckner.  We have three daughters, two granddaughters and one son-in-law.  Sue and I are members of Heights Cumberland Presbyterian Church where I serve on the Missions Committee.  Both Sue and I are active in the Sandoval County Democratic Party where I serve as the Treasurer of the County Party, a position I have held for two years and have recently been re-elected to.  Sue is a Master Social Worker currently employed by the Department of Aging and Long Term Care.

If elected, I will continue the process of honesty and openness of the financial affairs of the State Party as I have demonstrated in the Sandoval County Democratic Party and other organizations I have served in leadership positions on.

Another View On Unfair Apportionment in Taos County

This post was submitted by Claudia Kuhns of Colorado:
I have been following the precinct elections and the county re-organization in Taos County both this year and in 2005.  It is appalling that the gains in organization and equality have been obliterated by one group of so-called Democrats cheating to get their man elected as county chair. It is even more appalling that this appears to have been done with the complicity of the state Democratic Party which has not even followed its own rules in apportioning precinct representatives as well as allowing election fraud in some precincts while disenfranchising citizens in other precincts. Is there really any democracy in New Mexico?

This seems to follow the same pattern of oppression by some members of the Democratic Party in New Mexico in 2004 when an outrageously exorbitant fee was established for a recount in the Presidential election. This fee was established by then Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron and Governor Bill Richardson, both Democrats. It has since been statistically proved that there were gross irregularities in a significant number of precincts in New Mexico. The stopping of the recount was subsequently ruled illegal by the New Mexico Supreme Court.

More recently in the CD 1 race Patricia Madrid narrowly lost to Heather Wilson.  Again democracy was thwarted as no recount was done. In many states the narrow margin in this race would have triggered an automatic recount. One wonders why Ms. Madrid conceded so quickly.

Where are the real Democrats in New Mexico? Is the Democratic Party being run by Republicans in Democrats' clothing?  Sure sounds like that might be the case.

Claudia Kuhns
Executive Director
The Public Integrity Project
Be the Change USA

Editor's Note: See our previous posts on this topic here, here and . This post was submitted by Claudia Kuhns. Guest blogs such as these provide an opportunity for readers to express their opinions on political topics and do not necessarily reflect the views of DFNM. If you'd like to submit a post for possible publication as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link in the upper left-hand corner of our main page.

Evidence of Unfair Apportionment Formula Used by DPNM for Taos County Precincts

Above graphs and story submitted by "Taos County Democrat":
What's wrong with this picture? Note that the apportionment formulas used by the Democratic Party of New Mexico to determine representatives to the Democratic County Central Committee meetings in Bernalillo and Santa Fe Counties produced fairly even results, and a fair share of representation per Dem voter to every precinct. However, in Taos County, the State Party used a different formula that produced very uneven results, with significantly more representatives per Democratic voter in some precincts and significantly less representatives per Democratic voter in others.

In Taos County, representation ratio, RR values, vary from 1:26 to 1:94, and the distribution of the uneven results breaks clearly along ethnic lines. Additionally, the under-represented precincts are where high populations of non-Hispanics constitute an equal or majority portion of the Democratic electorate for that precinct.

The apportionments in Bernalillo and Santa Fe Counties conform to the Proportional Representation Rule of the State Party, while the Taos County apportionment does not:

RULE 17. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
The policy of the DPNM is to preserve equitable minority representation at all levels of the convention and meeting processes, and to that end committees and delegations to conventions shall be selected, insofar as reasonably possible, to represent proportionally any vote. Except as otherwise provided in these rules or in rules governing a National Convention there shall be no automatic delegates to any convention. -- Rules of the Democratic Party of New Mexico

The State Party is arguing that it assigned a CCC member to every precinct to ensure that all precincts would be represented. Representation is not the issue. It is PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION that is the issue.

For example, Taos County Precinct 09 (Arroyo Hondo) was apportioned 10 CCC representatives and Taos County Precinct 31 (El Valle) was apportioned "1" CCC representative. El Valle has a 26 average Democratic vote to factor, while Arroyo Hondo has an 879 average Democratic vote factor.

If the Democratic Party of New Mexico's precinct apportionment of CCC members for Taos County was a proportional representation of the average Democratic vote for Taos County Precinct 09 (Arroyo Hondo), that precinct would have been apportioned 34 CCC members (879 ÷ 26).

While the State Party is arguing that they were merely assuring representation from each precinct, they actually radically disenfranchised the larger Taos County Precincts in the process by a factor of 3 to 4. The result is in direct opposition to the State Party's own rule.

What's so democratic about a State Democratic party that argues against proportional representation of democratic voters? Easy answer ... nothing. If the Republicans would have done this there would be a revolution.

Editor's Note: Previous posts on this topic can be found here and . To submit a guest post or other information for possible publication on DFNM, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link in the upper left-hand corner of the main page.

Tonight on 'The Line'

‘The Line’ is a show with a dedicated and growing following. Airing every Friday night on KNME at 7 PM, many topics are of interest to progressives. Host, Gene Grant, engages show regulars and guests in a fast paced round robin of thought and opinion. The half hour is barely enough time the show’s topics but viewers are invited to continue the discussion on KNME's online forum at https://www.knmetv.org/forum/. Added bonus: Suzanne Prescott, who co-hosted the radio show with Eric Griego, is the guest panelist tonight.

Tonight the main topics are:

Courthouse indictments, Violence in the Land of Enchantment, The Supreme Court decision on greenhouse gases

Sophie Martin and Margaret Montoya get ready for the show (Photo by Suzanne Prescott)

The ‘On-the-Clock’ topics are:

The Dona Ana County Spaceport, Governor Richardson’s campaign finance report, Governor Richardson’s trip to North Korea, and Red-light cameras.

Margaret Montoya, UNM Law School and School of Medicine, and Duke City Fix’s Sophie Martin are joined by Whitney Cheshire’s replacement this week, blogger Mario Burgos and guest, ‘Insight New Mexico’ producer, Suzanne Prescott.

New Mexico Becoming Key Battleground for 2008?

Read the Election Insider by the National Committee for an Effective Congress that makes a case for the competitiveness of New Mexico's 2008 races. You can discuss this topic in our comments section and/or use this as an Open Thread. Type away.

LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER for 3/31 Network of Spiritual Progressives Workshop

PASSION AND SKILLS: SPIRITUAL PROGRESSIVES WORKING TOGETHER, a day-long workshop to learn about Spiritual Activism, is set for Saturday, March 31, from 9 AM to 5 PM, at the First Unitarian Church at Carlisle and Comache in Albuquerque. The event is organized by the Northern New Mexico and Albuquerque chapters of the Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP). Click for flyer (doc) for more info. The registration fee of $35 includes a vegetarian lunch. Please register now or request information by calling 505-983-2443 in Santa Fe or 505-323-6162 in Albuquerque.

SpiritualProgressives.org (national organization)

SpiritualProgressivesNewMexico.org (Northern New Mexico chapter in Santa Fe)

Albuquerque-NSP.org (Albuquerque chapter)

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.

Bernalillo County Dem Ward-Precinct Meetings Thursday 3.22.07

Let's have a big turnout!

The Democratic Party of Bernalillo County is holding its ward and precinct meetings at nine locations (see below) in the county tomorrow, Thursday, March 22, at 7:00 PM. All registered Democrats are urged to attend.

You're also encouraged to run for a precinct or ward office. The more elected members of the Party we have, the more we can affect what goes on and help build the Party to serve the people. In some areas, few show up for these meetings and if you do so, you can become a ward or precinct chair quite easily. If your precinct or ward already has a good chair candidate you want to support, you can always run for ward or precinct vice chair, treasurer or secretary and join the team. Of course if you'd like to run against another candidate for the ward or precinct chair slot, be sure to muster some support that will pledge to vote for you and get them to your meeting.

Ward and precinct chairs become automatic members of the County Central Committee (CCC) and will be able to vote at the CCC meeting to elect people who will then become members of the State Central Committee (SCC), the Democratic Party of New Mexico's governing body. In addition, some precincts can elect additional CCC members based on their high numbers of Democratic voters in the last elections. If so, any Democrat can run for these additional CCC slots.

(The CCC and SCC meetings will be held in April -- see Coming Events links on right-hand sidebar.)

You can also submit resolutions at your precinct/ward meeting, although the Party's platform will not be rewritten this year.

Here's the information as distributed by our Bernalillo County Party on tomorrow (Thursday) night's meetings:

A CALL FOR THE ELECTION OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF BERNALILLO COUNTY (DPBC) WARD AND PRECINCT OFFICERS AND ADDITIONAL MEMBERS OF THE COUNTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE (CCC)

WARD AND PRECINCT ELECTIONS,
THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2007, 7 PM

WARDS 16A, 16B, 23A, 23B, 29A, 29B:
Chaparral Elementary School, 6325 Milne Rd. NW

WARDS 10, 12A, 12B, 13A, 13B, 14A, 14B:
Rio Grande HS, 2300 Arenal Rd. SW

WARDS 11A, 11B, 11C, 15A, 17A, 17B:
North Valley Senior Center, 3825 4th St. NW

WARDS 18A, 18B, 19A, 19B, 25A, 26:
Highland High School, 4700 Coal Ave. SE

WARDS 20A, 20B, 21A, 21B:
Grant Middle School, 1111 Easterday Dr. NE

WARDS 24A, 24B, 27A, 27B, 30B:
Sandia High School, 7801 Candelaria Blvd. NE

WARDS 28A, 28B, 31A, 31B:
Eldorado High School, 11300 Montgomery Blvd. NE

WARDS 15B, 25B, 30A:
Cleveland Middle School, 6910 Natalie NE

WARDS 20C, 22:
Los Vecinos Community Center, Old Route 66, Tijeras, NM
**********************
HOW TO DETERMINE YOUR WARD AND PRECINCT:
Information on ward boundaries and precincts within the wards can be obtained by calling the DPBC, 830-3650. If you have a voter ID card, this information will be on the card.

You can also find your precinct at the Bernalillo County Clerk's website by entering your address .

You can match your precinct to your ward at this (the Party can't vouch for accuracy), but if there is any question, please be sure to double check with the County Party at the phone number listed above.

Hey Heather, Tell the Truth

This radio ad put together by the DCCC will run for five days in New Mexico. It confronts Rep. Heather Wilson (R, NM-1) on what fired U.S. Attorney David Iglesias has testified under oath was a pressuring phone call regarding an ongoing, alleged New Mexico corruption case:

Wilson has repeated said that the call was entirely "appropriate." I guess that depends on the kind of standards of conduct you apply to making that judgment. Anyone applying common sense and a conscience would probably come to a different conclusion.

Fortunately, as far as we know, it's still a relatively rare occurence when a powerful politician feels justified in directly confronting a U.S. Attorney on a potentially explosive, politically important, active investigation, and doing so right before a close election -- in fact -- the caller's own election. Then again, most politicians haven't felt shielded from the consequences of such an action by an administration and Justice Department that's been dangerously politicized by the President's right-hand political operative, Karl Rove.

Here's the text version of the ad:

“Testified” – 60 second Radio

October, 2006
A phone call is made … a scandal begins.

According to testimony from the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, Congresswoman Heather Wilson called U.S. Attorney David Iglesias and pressured him concerning a federal corruption investigation.

Listen to U.S. Attorney Igelsias’ testimony before the Committee…

“I received a call from Heather Wilson.” “She said ‘what can you tell me about sealed indictments.’ The second she said any questions about sealed indictments, red flags went up in my head, because as you know, we cannot talk about indictments until they’re made public, in general, we specifically cannot talk about a sealed indictment.”

Serious questions remain about Heather Wilson and violation of Congressional ethics rules.

It’s time for Heather Wilson to release her phone records and come clean.

It’s time for Heather Wilson to tell the full truth.

Announcer: Paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, www.dccc.org. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising.

Iglesias: Why I Was Fired

Fired U.S. Attorney David Iglesias makes his case in a New York Times op-ed. After reviewing the documents released by the Justice Department, he concludes the evidence is clear that he was fired not for job performance issues, but for political reasons. Iglesias ends by saying, "only a written retraction by the Justice Department setting the record straight regarding my performance would settle the issue for me." Excerpts:

United States attorneys have a long history of being insulated from politics. Although we receive our appointments through the political process (I am a Republican who was recommended by Senator Pete Domenici), we are expected to be apolitical once we are in office. I will never forget John Ashcroft, then the attorney general, telling me during the summer of 2001 that politics should play no role during my tenure. I took that message to heart. Little did I know that I could be fired for not being political.

Politics entered my life with two phone calls that I received last fall, just before the November election. One came from Representative Heather Wilson and the other from Senator Domenici, both Republicans from my state, New Mexico.

As for the continued yammering by Bush-Rove-Gonzales apologists that Iglesias was incompetent or worse in "refusing" to issue indictments for alleged "voter fraud" crimes in New Mexico, he says:

As this story has unfolded these last few weeks, much has been made of my decision to not prosecute alleged voter fraud in New Mexico. Without the benefit of reviewing evidence gleaned from F.B.I. investigative reports, party officials in my state have said that I should have begun a prosecution. What the critics, who don’t have any experience as prosecutors, have asserted is reprehensible — namely that I should have proceeded without having proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The public has a right to believe that prosecution decisions are made on legal, not political, grounds.

... After reviewing more than 100 complaints of voter fraud, I felt there was one possible case that should be prosecuted federally. I worked with the F.B.I. and the Justice Department’s public integrity section. As much as I wanted to prosecute the case, I could not overcome evidentiary problems. The Justice Department and the F.B.I. did not disagree with my decision in the end not to prosecute.