The more I learn, the more my head aches

Maggie says:
I've spent some time going through the great writing on NM blogs (see DFNM, HH, and FBIHOP) about the Super Tuesday disaster, and have some new questions/comments/concerns about the whole mess. My caveat is that I'm not a party person, don't know the internal politics of the NM Dems, and also, am not even a NM resident anymore. But bear with me as we all try to get our heads around what happened on Tuesday. Here's what's troubling me:

1. Bill Richardson's Role. Richardson's chastising letter to the state Democratic Party is arrogant to the core. He kicks Colón and the State Dems around in ways that you know I think they deserve, but he shouldn't come away clean on this one, either. Here's the thing: changing around the primary this year - turning it into a "caucus," moving up the date to Super Tuesday, etc. - was Richardson's pet idea. So to absolve all responsibility for how it turned out is outrageous.

Says Big Bill: "In 2004 Governor Richardson--through his personal efforts and those of his organization--ensured a successful first caucus--well organized, well funded, well-executed. This year, his political organization was devoted to his Presidential run and his personal time is now devoted to the Legislature. The New Mexico Democratic Party and New Mexico Democrats were wholly responsible for this caucus in the absence of the Governor's time and his organization."

Remember yesterday when I wrote that I feel badly for the Dem volunteers because they were expected to operate in a "framework set up for failure"? Well, the arrogance of Richardson's letter makes me wonder about some framework failure for the upper party folks, too. That Richardson demanded changes the party might not have been able to execute doesn't take away their egregious errors with low turnout projections and faulty Primary Day logistics, but it does make me wonder if there was any way Super Tuesday could have ever succeeded, mostly because of...

2. The Money. The funding aspect of the primary is very troubling to me, and I'd love more answers. First, how common is it for a state party to pay for its own primary? I did some really basic Googling on how primaries are paid for, and it appears that many primaries in other states are paid for by the state itself or by the county, and they do it in various ways. In Maryland, for example, it looks like the counties foot the bill and the state reimburses them. In Missouri, the cost of the primary is covered up front by an Election Fund earmark from the state legislature. I'm wondering why the New Mexico Democratic Party paid for the "caucus," whose decision that was, how much money was raised, etc.

What's troubling to me about this funding method is that what should be the realm of the public - an election - takes on tones of privatization. This is especially problematic in a contested election year like this one. I can hear a protest that a primary election is not in the public realm, but I'm going to disagree with that because to me, the spirit of an election should always embody civic trust and the public good. Again, I'm sure many will disagree. Going forward with the privatization line of thinking, though... we've seen commenters on several blogs suggest that we should be giving money to the State Democratic Party if we want a better outcome, and this is hugely troubling to me. What happens, say, if Candidate A gives huge amounts of money to the state party paying for the primary? What happens in my view is that New Mexico's delegates are up for sale. Already, the outcry about the missing Rio Arriba County ballot boxes centers around the fact that the folks responsible are involved with the Clinton campaign. An election fund controlled by the state would help protect the integrity of primary elections and ensure that basic tenets of a fair voting process - reasonable waiting times, a convenient voting location, fair distribution of voting locations, votes that are counted accurately and timely - are the rule instead of the exception.

Tawdry internal party politics is exactly what keeps many people away from politics, and many only register with the party in order to have their voice heard during the primary. These voters should be respected, too. Everyone deserves a fair voting process, even folks who want nothing to do with internal party machinations and have no idea how their Super Tuesday Caucus is paid for. That goes back to the public trust... something, I'd hope, the New Mexico Democratic Party cares a lot about.

And as for the figurehead of that party? Richardson should have known better than to call for speedy electoral changes in a state that, let's face it, doesn't have a good track record of running elections. Given the funding/execution framework of how Super Tuesday would be run, he should have ensured that the party had the appropriate funding and manpower to pull it off. Instead, the entire country is still wondering what's going on in New Mexico. So am I.

Suddenly I'm not sure what's worse: state party mismanagement of Super Tuesday, Richardson's arrogance in creating changes that he should have known couldn't be executed properly, or a private entity entrusted with something as important to the public realm as an election like this one.

Help me out here with some answers.

New Mexican voters deserve better

Maggie says:
The more I'm reading about the NM Democratic "Caucus" yesterday, the more I feel like those responsible should be deeply ashamed of themselves. I was kidding last night during the live-blog about Secretary of State Mary Herrera being at fault, and I realize that yesterday's primary wasn't a state-run election, but my gut reaction about fundamental top-to-bottom problems is telling. I have nothing but low expectations for electoral smoothness in New Mexico, and at this point my knee-jerk Herrera reaction comes from something very real, namely disaster after disaster in Bernalillo County when she was Clerk. It shouldn't be so difficult to allow New Mexicans to vote and then have those votes counted. But when it comes to running elections, New Mexico is shockingly behind every other state in the country, and the sooner it really understands that, the better. It can be funny sometimes, I get that and laugh/groan at it too... but it's also not so funny all the time. It's downright embarrassing.

I hope the New Mexico Democratic Party will do a lot of soul-searching after this debacle. I'm going to start with Chair Brian Colón, who by some incredible lapse of judgment actually believed that only 40,000 Democrats would turn out yesterday. During the most contested - and arguably exciting - Democratic primary we've ever had. In a state with razor-thin margins, always. In a state "led" by a man who was until recently a contender in the race. That's just an irredeemable error on his part. Final tally from yesterday? 131,573 voters. You know, only 91,573 more than he expected.

Journal: "Colón tried to put the best face on the voter stack-ups: Asked whether he had been getting reports of long lines at numerous locations, he said, 'I'm hearing (of) high participation.'"

And he said it with a grin, right? Let's just go ahead and call that the worst euphemism of the year. Making light of the kind of voting chaos that went on as the clock ticked by yesterday (with people in lines for hours in the cold, by the way) isn't meant to be grinned at.

Another issue: the fact that polling places didn't open until noon yesterday. Are you kidding me? My jaw dropped when I read that. We start with all the indicators for high turnout that every seventh-grader in the state could have seen except for the Democratic Party Chair, factor in that when it came down to it, the party decided to accommodate only 40,000 voters, and then not have the polls open until noon?

Oh wait, one more fun fact: let's combine the hell out of precincts until we end up with, say, one voting location for the entire City of Rio Rancho. You know, the third-largest city in the state?

Ridiculous. FBI HOP has all the dirt on what happened in Rio Rancho, and it's bad. Reader Hilary is right: that's disenfranchisement, folks.

I take Hilary's comment about the volunteers running the operations yesterday to heart: they were "battle-worn in a way I've never seen before." And why wouldn't they be? They were asked to perform yesterday in a framework set up for failure. This takes me right back to Barb's writing from Democracy for New Mexico that I pointed out this morning. She really does sum up this entire disaster perfectly:

"The unpaid county and state officers worked like dogs, as did the paid state party staff. You can imagine which party members weren't around to help in any way. They all hold offices or are candidates or are "name" politicos or big Dem donors. No sign of them anywhere work was being done, or where a few pizzas or donuts might be welcome. Very troubling, to say the least. I wonder what the former presidential candidate and all his pals did all day and into the night. After all, a Caucus was originally his idea."

Shame on everyone at the top who let last night happen. New Mexico deserves much better than this. And the longer there's an empty results box beside New Mexico's name, the rest of the country knows it, too.

Random Notes: Youtube, Medical Marijuana, Human Rights, Domestic Space

marjorie says...

In the spirit of Maggie, here are my random notes at the moment:

• I think the youtube Hilary 1984 video is brilliant. Who knows if Barack is behind it?

• While those two sling mud, I am enjoying Bill Richardson’s latest endorsement of Medical Marijuana. I particularly like his admonishment “My God, let's be reasonable," to folks opposed to a Medical Marijuana bill. Really, in a land beset by alcoholism that results in awful domestic violence and vehicular homicide, you would think that such a benign drug would not be so contentious to people, particularly for medicinal purposes. And frankly, when it comes to marijuana as a recreational drug, we all know so, So many people who use it that it bothers me to think of the danger they put themselves in when they go to acquire it. They endanger their lives when they have to deal with those who peddle all manner of illicit things, which sometimes causes a confluence of bad things. And they endanger their lives by running the risk of being locked up. I think it’s asinine, in fact, that the purchase and use of such a benign drug leads to incarceration. But it does…by the droves in this country. Regardless of whether you use it or not, Marijuana should be legalized, regulated, and taxed. And kudos to Bill for coming out for its use medicinally.
  

• The United States Social Forum. This is going to be a really great moment for social justice community based organizations. There’s a large delegation of New Mexico organizations going, and they’re going together. That is kick-ass. Here is the short commercial that SWOP put together to do outreach. All of you should consider going. If you can’t go, consider supporting those who are going, especially the organizations that operate on a shoestring budget.

• Speaking of incarceration, did folks notice that the U.S. State Department has released their 2006 Country Reports on Human Rights? These are our government’s annual assessments of how countries do in the area of Human Rights. Funny, I don’t see us, aka The United States, on the list. Given that we have the largest prison population in the world (by leaps and bounds) it might be useful to examine our own human rights record first and foremost. This kind of gets at one of those fundamental truths that our parents are supposed to teach us: look at yourself before throwing stones. Or something like that. Our human rights record extends beyond how we treat foreign prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. Or I should say, it extends deep within our own country. Through neglect of poverty, the criminalization of poor people, and the turning of a blind eye to entrenched racism we allow human rights violations to happen in this country on a daily basis. And our democracy has not proven itself up to the task of correcting these realities.

Ok, its not all politics and social justice on my mind.

• Arundahti Roy is writing a new novel. Yes, she’s way political but her one and only novel, The God of Small Things, is about the microcosm of life. And it’s so good that she won The Booker Prize for it. I'm looking forward to her next one. Anyhow, in this article she touched on her living arrangement with her husband. Apparently they live in separate houses. To explain this she says: "Living with my own contradictions is hard enough - forcing my political views on someone else, on their lifestyle and the choices they make is not something I want to do. It distorts a relationship beyond redemption. So, I decided to have my own place." I love that recognition, and I think it can be very true. I don’t know how to best order a domestic relationship. It beats me. But I certainly understand how the merging of separate lives, with separate passions and priorities, into one space…can distort a relationship beyond redemption.

• Speaking of domestic space, spring time has me wanting to open my bedroom window but I’m afraid that I will die from a juniper attack. When will it end? I’m feeling that springtime optimism…that is oh so sweet…but the allergy attacks are hindering me big time.

• Skiing is over for another year. I sort of want to cry about that but at the same time I feel pretty good about the season. I ski’ed a lot and saw real improvement. I rocked the bumps! And before you ask, yes, it does make me feel very bourgeois. So...now its time to pull out the camping gear...anyone want to backpack way out and lay be a stream?
  

• As the big 40 approaches, I've decided I will enter the decade at the same weight as I entered my 30s. No, its not a big stretch. And yes, this is something I can talk about on m-pyre! We have an obesity epidemic in this country folks. Think Food. Our food is killing us. But enough of that for now...this is the non-political section of random notes. Because jogging is so darned hard on my joints these days, I've decided to take up rollerblading. Not only is it great excercise, I've been told its a great off-season sport for improving ones skiing. So you do the math. lol. Anyone want to go zooming on blades with me? Yes, zooming. :-)

Alright, I think that is it.

Vote for NM House Majority Leader

Mikaela reposts a plea from a close friend:

NM State Representative Mimi Stewart has been a great supporter of Tricklock, the Duke City Shootout, UNM's Sustainability Studies program and more initiatives I care about...

A close friend reposts a plea from Mimi Stewart:

Dear Friends,

I apologize if you got this mail from me before, but I am asking for your immediate help. I am running for the Majority Leader of the NM House of Representatives and am locked in a head to head battle for votes with my opponent through an Internet blog.

Now, I ask you, when do YOU ever get to vote for Majority Leader? The answer is now, if you will go to the following blogspot and vote in the upper right hand corner, for me, of course, I hope.

http://haussamen.blogspot.com

Of course, it's not the real vote, but I'm trying to win in the dominate media, which in this case is the Internet. Please ask your friends and family to do so also. Thanks so much!!

Mimi

PS. The real vote will be Dec. 18 and will be decided by 41 Democratic members of the House of Representatives. Stay tuned!

Dia de los Muertos Marigold Parade

marjorie says...

It was another beautiful day today, just perfect for the Dia de los Muertos Marigold Parade in the South Valley. I love this parade. It is so homegrown, so do-it-yourself. And SWOP's float always epitomizes that. Kudos to Victoria for leading the way on making participation a tradition every year. This year I had a really good time with Moc taking pictures. Afterwards we came over here to Flying Star to see what we came up with...and here they are. More of our pictures are on SWOPblogger.

"To speak the name of the dead is to make them live again"

Aztec dancers lead the way

Front of SWOP truck
SWOP in the parade

Side of SWOP float


Sandra and her grandsons, Ruben and Herman

Cars...

and more Cars

demanding justice for the murdered women of Juarez

Silviana and her friend

Face painting

Paraders: