This is a link to a June 23 article published by ABQReports entitled “A-hole county commissioner tells constituent not to email him” and written by the publisher Dennis Domrzalski. The email exchange quoted from Commissioner Jim Collie and my response are 100% accurate and include clerical errors as well so be patient if you read and ignore the clerical errors. Many thanks to ABQReports for publishing.
COMMENTARY AND ANAYSIS
I will be very happy when my new Democratic County Commissioner Adriann Barboa takes over. I have known County Commissioner Collie for a number of years and found him to be a very warm and respectful and we share most if not all Democratic core values. Once Jim Collie was appointed Bernalillo County Commissioner by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham when Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins stepped down , I believe it went to his head.
Commissioner Collie’s email to me was a reaction to the blog article I sent him entitled “Pat Davis Booted From Judicial Selection Commission; Same Political Consultant Behind Pat Davis, DA Raul Torrez And Mayor Tim Keller; Davis Needs Step Down As City Council President Or Be Removed By City Council Vote.” The link to the blog article is here: https://www.petedinelli.com/2020/06/29/pat-davis-booted-from-judicial-selection-commission-same-political-consultant-behind-pat-davis-da-raul-torrez-and-mayor-tim-keller-davis-needs-step-down-as-city-council-president-or-be-removed/
Some went so far as to criticize the blog article saying the title was misleading by using the word “booted” and that it was too harsh to describe when Pat Davis was “removed” from the Judicial Selection Commission. Those readers apparently do not get it that the blog is a political blog where I clearly mark Commentary and Analysis only after reporting on current local, county, state and national political events.
When two other articles were published regarding City Councilor Pat Davis and reporting on his very troubling pattern of civil rights violations and lawsuits as a UNM Campus Police Officer, the negative push back from a few progressive activist Democrats, some that I have known for years, can only be described as “nasty” with one being down right threatening. Even ProgressNow got pushback from progressives when ProgressNow agreed with me and demanded City Councilor Pat Davis resign from the City Council, the Judicial Selection Commission as well as the Bernalillo County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. I have also said he should resign.
THE FIVE TARGETED DEMOCRATS
In the 2020 Democratic Primary, 5 incumbent Democratic State Senators were targeted for removal by the “No Corporate Democrats Community Organization”. Those Democrats were Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen of Las Cruces, District 38, longtime State Senator John Author Smith of Deming, the powerful chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Clemente Sanchez of Grants, Senator Gabriel Ramos of Silver City, and Senator George Muñoz of Gallup representing District 4. All 5 Democrats were accused by the coalition of not listening to the people who voted them in and listening instead to well-connected corporate interests. All 5 democrats strongly dispute the arguments saying they represented their districts well and understand what their constituent’s want and their demands. The fact they were repeatedly elected supported their position. Four of the 5 lost their reelection bids except for Senator George Munoz.
It came as absolutely no surprise to New Mexico political observers that “No Corporate Democrats Community Organization” was successful in defeating 4 incumbent Democratic State Senators. All 5 were labeled conservative “corporate democrats” who cooperated too much with Senate Republicans to thwart Democratic initiatives. Their defeat was brought on by their cooperation with the Republican Senate minority to defeat major progressive initiatives in the State Senate. One example is their opposition to allocate more money from the state’s Land Grant Permanent Fund and Severance Tax Permanent Fund to finance early childhood programs. Another example is that all 5 voted against the abortion rights measure in 2019 that would have repealed a 1969 anti-abortion law.
Being called a “Corporate Democrat” has become the ultimate insult used to disparage and tear down more traditional, moderate or even conservative democrats, even elected officials, considered the New Mexico Democratic establishment. Establishment Democrats such as Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Congressman Ben Ray Lujan and even Senator Martin Heinrich have all been criticized from time to time by the progressive wing of the Democratic part on their stands on various issues, positions and votes as not being “progressive enough” for the progressive wing of the New Mexico Democratic party.
ULTIMATE GOAL OF PROGRESSIVES IS TO PURGE NEW MEXICO DEMOCRATIC PARTY ESTABLISHMENT
The major problem with the “No Corporate Democrats Community Organization” coalition was that they have no affiliation with the Democratic Party. The “No Corporate Democrats Community Organization” was supportive of Democratic candidates but on many levels is very hostile to the Democratic Party. Democrats in order to secure the support the organization had to past a litmus test of being progressive enough or “progressive purist” committed to their causes.
The ultimate goal of progressive purist wing of the New Mexico Democratic Party is to force out and purge the Democratic establishment represented by the traditional, moderate to conservative party officials and even remove elected officials such as the 4 Democratic State Senators that were removed. The progressive purists are succeeding on many levels given their heavy turnout in elections and the turnover and new people that serve as precinct and ward chairs and party officials within the Democratic Party statewide.
PURGING OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS NATIONAL MOVEMENT
This overt attempt to “purge” the New Mexico Democratic party of moderate to conservative Democrats is also national movement. It has been going on since the 2016 Presidential primary election between progressive Bernie Sanders, the Independent running as a Democrat and Hillary Clinton, the establishment Democrat. The purging repeated itself in the 2020 Presidential Democratic Party primary with the “new and improved self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders” who ran against former Vice President Joe Biden, the establishment Democrat and now the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party. Even after Sanders dropped out and endorsed Biden, there is still resistance to Biden by the more progressive wing of the Democratic party.
In 2016, after a brutal primary, Sanders refused to drop out all the way to the convention demanding major concessions from the Democratic Party that he has never been a member of until he runs for President. After Clinton secured the nomination, Sanders finally endorsed Clinton and held events for her. But the Clinton campaign felt Sanders showed lukewarm support for her. Sanders was not as helpful as he could have been in getting the message out when and where they needed it to defeat Trump.
Nationwide, one poll found that more than 1 in 10 people who voted for Sanders in the 2016 primary against Hillary Clinton ended up supporting Trump in the general election.
A mid March, 2020 poll in Michigan, one of the 5 battleground states that will decide the election, found just 2 of 5 Sanders backers said they would vote Democratic in November, regardless of who became the nominee. Four in five said they’d be dissatisfied with Biden as the Democratic standard-bearer.
Much of the polling has changed with Trump mishandling of the Corona Virus Pandmic and the crashing of the economy. Biden is now leading in all the national polls by 9% to 14% and leading in swing states where Trump beat Clinton to win the electoral college.
The reality is that the progressive purist wing of New Mexico Democratic Party are just as extreme in their views and actions as the totally opposite conservatives represented by the “neocon conservatives” of the Republican Party and the hard-core Trump supporters. Anyone and anything being remotely viewed as moderate to conservative is considered unacceptable to them to the point of refusing to vote for, or compromise in any manner, even if it means not voting at all thereby assuring Republican wins.
Philosophical purity of any kind tends to translate into dogma and political disaster in one form or another something the country has now experienced under President Trump over the years he has been in power.
FINAL COMMENTS
I have been a Democrat all of my life. At one time I was very much involved with the party serving as a precinct chair, ward chair and state central committee member over the years. I even went to the National Democratic Convention in 2012 to vote to nominate President Barack Obama for his second term. Although still a staunch Progressive Democrat, I am no longer involved with the party apparatus and there is a reason for it.
There is now a litmus test within the progressive wing of the New Mexico Democratic Party that is now in control of the party: if you’re not progressive enough to suit them and do not conform to their causes and support progressive candidates and progressive elected officials such as Mayor Tim Keller, Pat Davis and Raul Torrez without question and you do not keep your mouth shut about them and their job performance, there will be consequences. You will be shunned, no longer welcomed and likely condemned. Their message is clear: do not bother running and stop talking if you are not progressive enough and support progressives in all they do as elected officials.
This is the identical attitude of the Republican Party, but the conservative version of it, and its is what is bringing an end to the Republican Party. It will happen to the New Mexico Democratic party if it is not careful and more tolerant of opposing views. We must hold our elected officials like Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, US Senator Martin Heinrich, Congressman Ben Ray Lujan, Congresswoman Debra Haaland and Xocoatl Torres Small, Mayor Tim Keller, DA Raul Torrez and City Councilors such as Pat Davis and County Commissioners such as Jim Collie accountable for their conduct.
Throughout my 27 public service career and even when I ran and held office, I attempted to avoid sharp words and vulgarity when I was subject to withering criticism and did so out of respect for voters and citizens who I knew paid my salary and out of respect for their constitutional rights to freedom of speech. Now that I publish a blog, many people who have unloaded on me are taken aback when I shove it right back at them. Me keeping my mouth shut is simply not in my DNA, even if you’re a progressive democrat.
Now that I am fully retired, I can say what I want, how I want and when I want on my blog. If you read the blog articles and agree with me that’s great. It’s also great if you don’t agree with me and still read the articles because I still care for my home and there is a need for civil discussion in today’s politics. I also believe that November 3 cannot come sooner to vote to for Joe Biden as President and get rid of the fascist fool in the White House. As Linda Richman would say on Saturday Night live when she was feeling upset or emotional “I’m all verklempt. … Talk amongst yourselves. I’ll give you a topic: Will progressives give Trump a second term by not voting for Joe Biden?”