This third virtual Taos United / Taoseños Unidos Community Forum was as interesting as always. We thank the 19 TU members and the four special guests who attended, the guests each addressing different aspects of the November elections. We encourage all of you to attend and bring a friend next time. We know many folks are becoming “Zoomed” out but would love to see participation grow in these enlightening and fun forums.
Do you like this Recap format? Or would you rather just have bullet points with links, phone numbers, etc? Let us know! Write to Paula at paula.claycomb@gmail.com with your thoughts.
Terry Surguine was the evening’s moderator. He provided a few tips on Zoom use, including good ol’ muting, and noted that the forum would be recorded. Taos United’s list includes more than 500 friends and activists working for a fair and just democracy. Diverse points of view are welcome. We hold these forums and send out Action Alerts to help you find allies for your cause and for you to find causes that ignite your activist fire.
A newcomer to the forum introduced herself:
- Jeanne Wheeler is active with Taos Alliance for Public Health and Safety (of 5G). She spoke again later (see below).
Terry noted the origins of TU in early 2017 as a way to fight back against “what we were afraid of Trump doing. Today we find ourselves right, and stressed and anxious. We have lived with outrageous, endless lies from a President who ignores all norms and laws. The election is do or die for our democracy and only 7 weeks (49 days) to go. If you find yourself fearful or worrying …. Only antidote I know is to take action … work with what’s in your control, let go of what’s not. Hope all of you have found ways to help but if you haven’t the TU Elections Group of 175+ writes to less frequent voters in battleground states. Come join us for some activism therapy and bring your friends and help. Our battle cry is Dump Trump and Flip the Senate. Contact Diane, Marjorie or me and we’ll help you get started.”
Diane Shifrin, dshif@well.com
Terry Surguine, tsurguine@gmail.com
Marjorie Luckey, luckbend@gmail.com
Terry interspersed the special guests with the regular 3-minute presentations by participants.
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- A few 3-minute presentations
- Diane Shifrin, Coordinator of Postcard Posse, announced on behalf of George Brown, Treasurer of Taos County Democratic Party, that volunteers are needed to write postcards to targeted, registered voters in Taos County, encouraging them to vote. There are about 2,000 names. TCDP office volunteers are preparing packets to be picked up, each with 20, stamped and return addresses included, for you to write a personal message. The office is open 10-6 Monday-Thursday and Friday 10-4. Contact Diane dshif@well.com with any questions.
- Tracy Brewer, Phone Bank Coordinator for TCDP, invited people to make calls urging people to vote. Contact him: (575) 779-3732 & brewer_tr@yahoo.com or George:
- Peggy Nelson, former District Judge in Taos – Noted the importance of judges. She said there is a well defined, though not obligatory, vetting process that virtually every Democrat currently on bench who is running for office has gone through. Many of their opponents have not. Even those of opposite party of Governor, is not an excuse for not submitting yourself and qualifications to a group of people who are colleagues, community members and others in the profession.
- Jeanne Stevens, anti-nuclear and climate crisis activist, noted several events at the UN:
- September 21st is the International Day of Peace;
September 26 is the Internatonal Day for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons;
- October 2 is Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, and the 75th anniversary of the UN and end of WWII will be marked.
- She also noted that PBS is screening several excellent Ken Burns documentaries.
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Special Guest Speaker #1, (Former) Judge James Hall, Vice Chair of the New Mexico Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission (NM JPEC)
See http://www.nmjpec.org/ for complete information on the candidates for judges.
Judge Hall noted that NMJPEC is often referred to as Jay-Peck. He explained NM’s system for electing judges, which is unique in the US. The first time a judge runs for office, they run in a partisan, traditional, contested primary, then move to the general election in November. Then, whoever is elected in that election, they move to a retention election system, with no opponent. The voters simply vote to retain, requiring at least 57% of the votes.
Looking at this year, there are 8 traditional, partisan, contested elections – 5 are statewide, 2 seats on the Supreme Court, 3 on the NM Court of Appeals. In those cases, there are both Republican and Democratic candidates, plus 1 Libertarian candidate.
Then there are 3 judicial races related to Taos County: 2 District Court judges on ballot and plus local Magistrate. All 3 are Democrats and are unopposed, but it still counts as a partisan election because Republicans had the opportunity to run. These are: Melissa Kenneally and Judge Jeff Shannon on the District Court and Sara Blankenhorn on the Magistrate Court.
This system does not apply to Magistrate judges, so does not apply to Sara, who if she decides to run again in 4 years, will be a traditional partisan election. If Melissa and Jeff are elected now and wish to continue in 4 years, it would be in a retention election.
Then, with respect to retention elections this year, this is where JPEC comes into play. When NM shifted to the retention system, the NM Supreme Court decided it would be important to get information out to voters on judges who were standing for retention. So it created JPEC to evaluate judges and when elections come around, to provide information and recommendations to voters on candidates who are on the ballot. In Taos this year, will have three judgeships on the ballot. On the Supreme Court, Judith Nakamura will be on the ballot, and for the State Court of Appeals, Jacqueline Medina, and in for Taos County Court of Appeals, Emilio Chavez. Judges Nakamura and Chavez are recommended to be retained. Judge Medina has served only two years so insufficient evidence is available to make a recommendation. See https://nmjpec.org/en/jpec-news-rss/106-2020-nmjpec-evaluations-announcement for the recent (September 11) report of the JPEC.
In response to questions from attendees, Judge Hall noted that:
— JPEC members are 15 individuals (7 lawyers and 8 non-lawyers) who are appointed to staggered terms by the Supreme Court of NM. (From the website: They are selected from nominations by the Governor, Chief Justice, Speaker of the House, President Pro Tempore, House Minority Leader, Senate Minority Leader and President of the State Bar.)
— Sometimes JPEC recommends that judges not be retained. Their criteria include such issues as legal ability, fairness in the courtroom, communication skills, how they run their courtroom (with respect to timeliness, temperament, amongst others). This year, 3 judges are not recommended for retention. The JPEC members collect data who have been in the judge’s courtroom; they also interview the judge.
— This year, 2 judges in Albuquerque and 1 in Las Cruces are not recommended for retention. Everything can be found on the website.
— JPEC tries to provide information to voters statewide through newspaper ads and letters.
— Judge Hall urged Taos United to also write letters to their local newspapers.
— JPEC members are volunteers, though they can request reimbursement for mileage. Members are geographically balanced across the state. In fact, Patricia Quintana from Taos represents the Taos area.
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- More 3-minute statements!
- Cristy Holden and Dan Pritchard from Taos Progressives, called our attention to Protect the Results, a coalition of organizations to protect the valid results of the 2020 Presidential election. It was begun by Indivisible and Stand Up America and has a long list of participating organizations. Go to https://protecttheresults.com/ You can sign up if you are concerned about what happens on 4 November AND how to take non-violent actions should the current occupant of the White House dispute the results. Scroll down so you can see all the partners.
- Bea Balsamo, Member of Taos Immigrant Allies: Made an announcement for Del Endres, who is working on Census. A special effort is being made to get undocumented people into Census. TIA will pay small stipend to a fluent Spanish speaker, perhaps already a DACA recipient, to accompany Del to specially identified communities. Text Del at 770-0133 or email at delendres@gmail.com if you know anyone who could help with this.
- Al Kelly, TU member and long-time activist, spoke about the cause of systemic racism in the US. He began by citing the myth of Adam and Eve, with Adam blaming Eve for their downfall and Eve blaming the Serpent. The moral of that story is that we always seem to be able to say it’s because of systemic or institutional racism and can blame something else for our own behavior. But systemic and institutional racism were, and are, created by White people. Until we White people, personally, individually admit we are racist, we will continue to blame the system. We learned racism from our family, friends, jobs, school, religion, government, politics. We are steeped in systemic and institutional racism. More important is our personal racism. Is a matter of not who you are or what you have done against racism… but many before us who have created systemic institutional racism. He urged us to look deep inside and see what are the root causes of our own racism. How do we respond when we come into contact with person of color in a store or on the street, at a party, family reunion? When we recognize it, we will start to feel different. It is so deep within us, we do not even know we are racist! Let’s not be like Adam and Eve, and blame the institutions. Let’s be responsible and admit our racism. This will change the world. When you see a person of color in a grocery store oron the street, try to make eye contact and say “hello”. Support Black Lives Matter while voting Trump out of office. Good luck in starting to get well. “I’m still working on it,” he said.
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- Special Guest Speaker #2, Eric Griego, State Director of NM Working Families Party
(Eric Griego played a major role in the primary in turning out some very conservative Democrats and replacing them with younger and more progressive candidates. See https://workingfamilies.org/states/new-mexico/)
He gave an overview of how NMWFP was born, in 2018, largely to elect Susan Herrera and vote Debbie Rodella out of office. Susan, who joined us later, has been huge change for northern NM and the whole state. WFP supported the election of Stephanie Garcia Richards as State Land Commissioner. That campaign year was a huge, collective effort to shift the legislature to more progressive tilt.
Some policy victories have been seen, too, like paid sick leave, an increase in State Minimum Wage, working families tax rate, same-day registration and voting.
Eric noted that forming a strong, broad coalition and making over 50,000 phone calls and writing thousands of postcards was all part of their winning strategy.
WFP is funded through lots of low dollar money, from $5 in NM to as far away as MA. They also have some big progressive funding (from Green activists, the labor movement, and wealthy progressive donors. Eric said he hates “dark money” and would like to be rid of it completely but until Citizens United and other campaign laws are rewritten, at least “this is progressive dark money”.
In response to questions, Eric said:
- With this new crop of Progressives, it is indeed important to hold them accountable, so they don’t wind up behaving like the people they replaced! Accountability is hard, though. After working hard for a candidate, who then is really disappointing, arguing that compromise is necessary, WFP tracks all voting records. If elected officials have a poor record or start taking money from questionable sources, WFP will pull support. “We will not be lapdogs,” he said.
Eric noted that SD35 and SD9 have tough races this year. Neomi Martinez-Parra in District 35 especially faces a strong opponent. Check out her campaign and if you like her, consider supporting her.
To join WFP, text 30403 and put WFP in the subject line> you will get into their system and they’ll plug you in.
Link: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/elections-2018-nmwfp-political-action-committee
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- More 3-minute statements!
- Jay Levine, activist and delegate to the NM State Deocratic Party’s Central Committee, spoke about a Constitutional Amendment on the November ballot that would change how members of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) are selected. It would go from being a 5-member elected body to 3-member appointed body. While coherent arguments go both ways, he believes it boils down to being about power, with the Governor and allies wishing to control the PRC. In fact, the State has kicked them out of their offices and provided no budget for new offices. He believes this is clear political gamesmanship and noted that he opposes the resolution.
- Jeanne Wheeler, local activist, currently with the Alliance for Public Health and Safety, wanted to bring to people’s attention a discussion next Tuesday, Sept. 22, at the Taos County Board of Commissioners. It is for an appeal of an earlier decision of the Planning Commission to grant a Special Use Permit for the construction of a 50-foot cell-phone tower near the Gorge Bridge. Many people oppose it due the danger to wildlife and birds but also because it will distract from the visual beauty of this major tourist attraction. She is also concerned about cell tower radiation – This hearing will be live streamed at
http://taoscounty.org/389/Meetings-Agendas-and-Minutes and interested persons may
participate in the meeting via “Google Go to Meetings” at the following address:
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/634929341 In the event you can’t access the meeting on line, you can call 575-737-6310. You can see more at https://www.is5gsafe.org/
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- Special Guest Speaker #3 — Anna Martinez, County Clerk (outgoing)
Anna waited patiently to speak to the group about how her office is gearing up for the General Election. They are still in the application phase, collecting applications for absentee ballots. They are going through about 100 per day, and have received over 4,000 online applications. Early voting begins October 6 and ends on the 31st. They will start at the County Courthouse, in the Commission Chambers. Then alternate sites will be offered starting on Oct. 17th: the Penasco Community Center, El Prado Water & Sanitation District and the Questa Municipal Village Hall. Voting places will be open from Tuesday through Saturday from 10 to 6.
There will also be dropboxes at the County Courthouse, one near the Blue Bus stop (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) and one closer to the door (not 24/7). The alternative sites will also have these 550 lb dropboxes or ones that will be fixed to the walls.
In response to questions, Anna noted that:
- Her office foresees having plenty of poll workers (who have been with them for years). None have indicated they are unwilling to work.
- Same day registration and voting will be only at the County complex, until Oct 31.
- Lots of people who sent their application for a mail-in ballot do not appear on the State list as having been received, but her office is up to date and you can call them to confirm your request was received. Telephone is 575-737-6380.
- Five days before election day, the Clerk’s office will begin to prepare all received ballots to run them through the machines.
- Ballots will be printed by this coming Saturday so they can begin sending them overseas.
- Anna thanked everyone for the support she has received over the 18 years she has been doing this job.
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- George Brown announced that the Taos County Federation of Democratic Women is holding a Zoom celebration on Monday, Sept. 21, at 6:30. It is for their first anniversary and 100 years of women’s suffrage. Several women officials will attend. Please wear something white!
- Terry Surguine, if you wish to help TU financially, go to the TU website at https://taosunited.org/donate/
- Terry also invited participants to suggest speakers at future forums. He also noted that an Action Alert will be issued in the coming days. He asked everyone to sign up, get trained and start multiplying your vote.”
- Susan Herrera joined us at end and spoke about submitting a new bill on predatory lending, having learned a lot about how to push bills through last year. She also wants to introduce a bill about water to support mutual domestic water systems. Also wants to support broadband internet for whole state and also affordable housing.
Don’t miss our next Community Forum, AFTER the elections, on Tuesday, November 17th.
Come make your own 3-minute statement on your favorite issue and support your neighbors around town on theirs.
Taos United Steering Committee: Bea Balsamo, Paula Claycomb, Danielle Freeman, Marjorie Luckey, Diane Shifrin, Terry Surguine