Don’t know if anyone has noticed; but a handful of progressive groups and individuals are taking over the Democratic Party. Why should we care? Lots of reasons. The Democratic elected officials are far more left-wing than mainstream Democratic New Mexico voters.
How did this happen? That is the interesting question. There are a handful of nonprofit progressive groups such as Emerge, Conservation Voters of NM, Olé, Working Families, the Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, Equality New Mexico, AFSCME, AFT, NEA and others that have united together, forming the group they call the C4 Roundtable. Their extreme agenda does not reflect the views of the average New Mexico Democratic voter. Their vile attacks on moderate Democratic candidates has the effect of disenfranchising thousands of mainstream New Mexico Democratic voters. The result is just what the progressive organizations want – leaving Democrats with a choice in the general election of an extreme right-wing Republican or a far-left progressive Democrat. While they have been successful in the recent past, the Democratic Party cannot continue on this path.
Many of these progressive groups house their offices together, they work together on each other’s issues, they solicit candidates, they train them, they run their campaigns, they educate them on the issues with their point of view, they fund their campaigns, and they elect their progressive candidates.
These progressives are against development, the oil and gas industry, any reasonable gun rights but are for de-funding the police, easing bail requirements on release of criminals, legalizing drugs, LGBTQ issues and anything that limits access to public lands. These progressive groups attack fellow moderate Democratic candidates for taking funds from businesses, developers and oil and gas but look the other way when one of their own accepts the same. In fact, they wallow at the trough like pigs at feeding time when oil and gas money is ballooning the state budget.
Mainstream New Mexico Democrats are concerned about kitchen-table issues; crime, good-paying jobs, equal rights, pensions, the availability of quality health care, good schools, and the opportunity to enjoy the great New Mexico outdoors.
We now have well over half of the Democratic caucus in the state House that these progressive groups have elected. They strike fear in the hearts of their elected officials to vote the way they dictate for fear of losing their support system that got them elected.
They continue to demonize industry, businesses, developers, oil and gas – yet these entities are paying over a third of our state budget. No one has a more vested interest in New Mexico than the oil and gas industry, developers and business owners. Progressive groups send mailers, use social media to demonize anyone who accepts contributions from developers, business owners and oil and gas. Yet their banner candidates such as Kristin Ortez, Susan Herrera, Andrea Romero and others all gladly accept contributions from other elected candidates that readily accept maximum contributions from developers and oil and gas, such as Speaker Brian Egolf and Leader Javier Martínez. The progressive candidates take the money and pretend they are above taking funds from businesses, developers or oil and gas.
The Democratic Party is a big tent, and we welcome everyone, and the progressives have a right to elect candidates and they have a right to be at the table – but when they run the table and demonize other Democrats, we run the risk of alienating our Democratic voters. If our elected officials aren’t representing the interest of the voter, bad things happen. Democrats have a strong majority, but that can change if we don’t get back to the basics that made the Democratic Party great. I’m a proud Democrat, but I worry about where our party is headed.
If this continues they will be the demise of the Democratic Party.
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