He has been told by phone that he is not welcome at our events. We have individually disinvited him from past and future DPNM events, and he no longer serves on any DPNM committees or caucuses or as the regular DPNM parliamentarian. . .He is no longer welcome to have any role within DPNM. . .This was not a sudden or recent decision. . .This was not a proactive message, but put out by the party in response to a media inquiry. . .(The Party is) glad to see the action Senate leadership has taken to remove Sen. Ivey Soto from any position of authority in committees during the session and the interim. We are also glad to see the Legislature’s ongoing work in recent years to improve the process for handling ethics complaints.
The Party's cancellation of Ivey-Soto brought a rebuttal from one of his supporters:
If Ivey-Soto deserves being cancelled what about Gov. Lujan Grisham? She was charged with throwing a bottle of water on the crotch of her then campaign employee James Hallinan and then grabbing him there. He sued. She settled out of court for $150,000 without admitting guilt. Ivey-Soto hasn't been found guilty of anything, either. So, where's the Governor's cancellation by Democratic Party Chair Jessica Velasquez? The notion of cancellation in a Democratic society is fraught with pitfalls as we are now seeing. The best place to cancel a wayward politician is at the ballot box. That's the American way.
A consultant for Ivey-Soto says he is planning to seek re-election next year to his Distrcit 15 NE Heights seat. If so, the Dem progressives can be expected to field a primary opponent against him. The district leans Dem so the primary winner would likely take the seat.
Ivey-Soto had $103,000 in cash in his campaign account in April. If national progressives urging his cancellation back an opponent, the race could become an expensive battle.
The harassment charges against Ivey-Soto have sullied him but the argument that he is receiving unequal and unfair treatment nags. Voters will have to decide--not the cancel culture.
MLG ENVIRO WOES
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| Sorker/Searchlight NM |
Then one of the nonprofit media that focuses on progressive issues came with this question: "How Green is MLG?" Most of the answers went like this:
Gail Evans, the lead counsel in a lawsuit asserting that New Mexico’s environmental degradation is unconstitutional, put it bluntly: “The governor has absolutely no business being a member of a climate leadership group.” Evans, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said Lujan Grisham might have plans and talking points for speeches, but hasn’t produced results. “Her administration has put in place rules that are supposed to control methane emissions and ozone precursors,” she noted. “And yet those rules haven’t led to a reduction in these dangerous emissions. Instead, these emissions are at all-time highs. And that’s because these rules are not being enforced.”
MLG's backers make the point that New Mexico is experiencing an historic oil boom that means more greenhouse gases and that any Governor would have trouble balancing that boom needed for state revenue and at the same time clamping down on environmental regulation.
This is the home of New Mexico politics.
(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2023