Church of the Left

I had not read the Daniel Chacon column about the proposed vetting of candidates by the Democratic Party before attending the ward meeting where it was to be presented. I was invited to the meeting weeks earlier by the Chairperson and was told that Mayor Gonzales would be coming. I was disappointed that the Mayor was a no-show and that even a few of the 25 or 30 Democrats in attendance supported the absolutely stupid vetting proposal that had been leaked to the New Mexican.

I sat through the banality of a report on how a meaningless resolution becomes a useless plank and an infuriating 'lesson' from a St. Johns student, who is the Vice Chairman of the ward, on how to canvas for your cause. It seems you are not supposed to try to convince the person you're talking to but rather just be nice. "Studies show almost one in ten people" will then vote for your candidate,” he said. I had heard that kind of bull before and it was from the implanted self-appointed 'leader' of the local Bernie for President organization.

Destroying will and limiting your opponent's effectiveness is a nasty political game and if one can embed an imposter or dupe in your opponent's leadership ... more power to you.

The ward meeting from Hell ended for me with "9. Who do we want to invite to our next meeting?"

"Since Mayor was a no-show, why don't we invite Ron Trujillo?" I suggested. Ron is a longtime loyal local Democrat who will be running next year for Mayor against our incumbent no-show Mayor Gonzales.

That suggestion was ignored. So, having been given a printed handout for a Democratic Party fundraiser at Mayor Gonzales' home co-sponsored by the film union IATSE, and knowing that the guy in charge of the IATSE has an office twenty feet away from where we were sitting, I suggested Jon Hendry come talk to us. Unbelievably the Chair's response was, "I don't know who that is." OMG, we were having a political meeting in an old church on Cerrillos Road that had been converted to a secular Church of the Left and this women does not even know who the President of the NM Federation of Labor is and that he is half owner of the church she's attending.

Finally I recommended that someone who worked for Bernie, maybe the guy who ran for State Party chairman and lost, come talk with us. A second came from someone and the Chairperson reluctantly wrote down my nominated person.

If the Democratic Party ever hopes to outlive the Trump coup that they themselves created with their own arrogance, then they better wake up. Candidates for public office are not employees of political parties or at least they shouldn't be... especially in Santa Fe where by law local election are supposed to be non-partisan.

Democrats have to get some courage and heart and reach out not only to Bernie's people but to Republicans. The Party itself has to believe in democracy and stop rigging their own processes and internal politics. The other choice, which is what I vote for, is to simply fire or annoy to death all the leaders in the Party from State Chairman down to ward official. That is the kind of 'repeal and replace' that might actually save the Democratic Party.