Serving the High Plains

GOP needs to stick to legal process

To steal a quote from former GOP President George H.W. Bush, the Republican Party of New Mexico is in “deep do-do” these days, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better anytime soon.

Already the Republican Party is powerless statewide, since the Democrats control both legislative chambers as well as all statewide offices from the governor on down. But it’s recent news out of Washington, D.C., that has the state GOP stepping in its own mess.

Last week the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol issued 14 subpoenas — including one each to Jewll Powdrell, a member of the state GOP’s executive committee, and Deborah Maestas, former chair of the state GOP — for their part in an alleged scheme to flip the 2020 presidential election to Donald Trump.

The allegations are that they met and submitted false Electoral College certificates declaring Trump the winner in New Mexico, even though Joe Biden won a 54.3% majority, to Trump’s 43.5%.

The House Select Committee is leveling such allegations against the Republican Party in seven states, including Powdrell and Maestas here in New Mexico.

Three other New Mexico Republicans — Lupe Garcia of Albuquerque, Rosie Tripp of Socorro and Anissa Ford-Tinnin of Rio Rancho — signed the document in question but weren’t subpoenaed.

According to an Albuquerque Journal report, at the time the certificate was filed, the state GOP issued a statement saying it supported the casting of competing certificates until litigation over the election was resolved in the courts. The Trump campaign did file an election-related lawsuit in New Mexico — on Dec. 14, 2020, the very day in which New Mexico had filed its electoral votes.

But here’s the thing: State law makes it illegal to designate electors to cast ballots for anyone other than the presidential candidate who won the popular vote — which Biden did, decisively, by 99,720 votes, according to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s certified results. So the Republican Party’s action may turn out to be a fourth-degree felony.

That’s why New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas is investigating the possibility of a “criminal conspiracy to subvert or change the outcome” of the election, he said on CNBC.

That makes three investigations involving New Mexico Republicans. And since at least one of the subpoenaed Republicans has already linked the state’s current party chair to the matter — Powdrell told the Albuquerque Journal it was done under Steve Pearce’s direction — it could unravel the GOP’s credibility from the top down.

And this in a state that clearly went for Joe Biden.

For the most part, New Mexico wasn’t even considered a swing state in the 2020 election, and the majority of its voters went for Democrats in just about every race — except, of course, in eastern and southeastern New Mexico, where the Republican Party is strongest.

Which brings up another partisan issue we’ll be addressing through the courts in the year ahead — the congressional redistricting map created by Democrats last year.

The way in which the map was redrawn now gives an advantage to Democrats in all three districts — including Congressional District 2 in southern New Mexico, where the news website FiveThirtyEight.com projects a swing from a 14-percentage-points advantage for Republicans to a 4-point edge for Democrats.

Consequently, the Republican Party of New Mexico is suing over the new boundary lines, calling the new map a “political gerrymander” that weakens the voting power of southeastern New Mexico.

The case may have merit. And in this case they’re doing it the right way, by following the legal process.

But with the 2020 presidential election, they took actions that are legally questionable, to undermine a legitimate election.

Tom McDonald is editor of the New Mexico Community News Exchange. Contact him at:

[email protected]

 
 
Rendered 03/09/2024 16:25