Romero is opposed by a write-in candidate whose sole endorsement was just announced yesterday: the former GOP Chair and gas and oil magnate who wants the write-in candidate in the Roundhouse to advance GOP priorities. Please, please, don’t be fooled. This race is likely not over and Andrea Romero needs and deserves your vote.
I was going to pass on weighing in on this race for three reasons: 1) I was assured that no write-in candidate stood a chance, especially against a Democrat in Northern NM; 2) my views on this race are already abundantly clear; and 3) I am hopeful that once the race is done, I can work with people in Espanola, some of whom may support Nordquist, to encourage Democratic leadership in the US House and Senate to facilitate a just resolution to the horrid stalemate related to water and road access throughout much of Espanola and surrounding communities.
But as tomorrow’s post will make clear, this is no time for assumptions. We all were stunned by the results on Nov 8, 2016. We can’t afford any more surprises and we need Andrea Romero in the Roundhouse. And please be looking for the blog tomorrow morning; it is one you will want to share with many, many friends. As to Andrea Romero and District 46, Romero is endorsed by:
ELECTED LEADERS
-
Alan Webber, Santa Fe Mayor
-
New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich
PUEBLOS AND TRIBES
- Jicarilla Apache Nation
- Ohkay Owingeh
- Isleta
- Picuris
ORGANIZATIONS
- Conservation Voters New Mexico (CVNM) Action Fund
- Emily’s List
- Planned Parenthood Votes – New Mexico
- Organizers in the Land of Enchantment (OLÉ)
- Designated a “Gun Sense Candidate” by Moms Demand Action-NM
- Equality New Mexico AND
- Retake Our Democracy
LABOR
- New Mexico Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
- AFSCME Council 18
- Plumbers & Pipefitters 412
- Sheet Metal Workers Local 49 of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail & Transportation (SMART)
- Santa Fe County Firefighters Local 4366
- New Mexico Professional Fire Fighters Association
- Teamsters Local Union, Local 492
And who endorses Heather Nordquist? Glad you asked.
Yesterday, former New Mexican Republican Party State Chair (and current member of Donald Trump’s Republican National Committee) Harvey Yates sent a letter to voters endorsing Andrea’s write-in opponent, Heather Nordquist for State House 46. You can see it here.
Yates, one of New Mexico’s wealthiest oil and gas executives, is also a big donor to Republican Steve Pearce’s campaign to defeat the next Democratic Governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham. He says in his letter:
Yates’ rationale? Because he likes Heather’s agenda, and wants to thwart the House Democrats from cleaning up the mess he and Susana made of New Mexico’s economy, health care, and education system. Think about that.
The former Republican Chair wants Heather to win because he knows she will weaken the Democratic majority in the House, and fight against the Democratic agenda of Michelle Lujan Grisham. That’s also why Heather’s supporters were featured in an online video produced by Harvey Yates’ Republican political action committee last month that urged viewers to vote against Democrats.
If you can tell something about a person or a candidate by who supports them, that is an awfully nice list of endorsements for Romero and a very telling endorsement for Nordquist.
As printed in the Santa Fe New Mexican earlier this week, Nordquist was Representative Carl Trujillo’s right-hand person; name-called Senators Udall and Heinrich as “useless as tits on a boar”; attacked AFSCME and Planned Parenthood; and bullied Laura Bonar online, who had courageously come forward with sexual harassment charges against Trujillo. If you missed the New Mexican My View, I recommend the link above. The write-in candidate also joined a suit with the GOP to stop our Secretary of State’s effort to allow voters to vote a Party slate with one check of the box.
I actually think Nordquist means well, is likely embarrassed by the GOP endorsement, and has been a strong advocate in her community. But we need team players in the Roundhouse to create a collegial environment that is built upon trust and respect. Joining a suit against your own Secretary of State and labelling two high ranking Democrats as “useless as tits on a boar,” is not how you set a tone for respectful collaboration. Nordquist criticizes Udall and Heinrich for not taking a firmer stand on water and road access issues in Northern NM. My gut tells me that you do not forge alliances by leading with name calling. And if you need federal action to resolve the water and road access issues, insulting your US leadership is not the way to foster their action. We can do better.
Early voting ends this Saturday, and election day is next Tuesday. The Republicans are desperately pulling out all the stops to keep Democrat Andrea Romero out of office. Let’s show them that the days of Susana Martinez and Trump are long gone in New Mexico. We need to make the blue wave real, by filling in the bubble and voting for Andrea and all other Democrats up and down the ticket. That’s the only way we take back our country.
In solidarity,
Paul & Roxanne
Categories: Election, Political Reform & National Politics
It is “tits on a boar” not “bore”
Thanks Merrill. Moving too fast. Hope you are well.
Paul, you are just not telling the truth! Or perhaps you are not reading the Sfe Reporter, which yesterday endorsed Heather. And you sure are reaching when you try to tar Heather with a single GOP endorsement, you admit as much further into your post.
No, Heather is not well connected politically, yes she does reflect the anger of Norteños who have been displaced by the relatively newly arrived Anglos, such as yourself, for over 150 years. But she is honest, candid and open to dialogue and interviews, unlike your ‘featherweight’ candidate.
It seems most likely that you do not understand people power in northern New Mexico. Read the Milagro Beanfield War for a great Marxist analysis how regular paychecks from developers brought Sears charge accounts, disrupting the old land based community barter socio-economy of northern New Mexico. Then keep your eyes and ears open, and your mouth shut, for a decade before you try to rouse wealthy white retirees to further oppress people of color.
¡Remember the Buffalo!
Best,
Jim Klukkert
Thanks for the input, Jim. I have read Milagro Beanfield but long before I moved to NM. Will move it to the top of my list. I didn’t just discredit Heather for a single GOP endorsement, but for her comments about other Dems and he siding with the GOP on a lawsuit. But I fully understand how many Norenos are angry and want to receive the support they deserve from Lujan, Heinrich and Udall. I do not consider Romero the list bit “lightweight.” She will surprise you…. in a good way.
Jim – you are supporting an anglo with a european last name (scandanavian origins, I think, circa mid 1800’s?), against a very qualified person with a hispanic name whose family has been here, quite literally, for centuries, right, and yet citing concerns over “relatively newly arrived anglos”. Does the irony not strike you, not even just the teensiest bit?
But beyond surface kneejerk name response – I have known Romero for years, and consider her to be a great candidate – hardly a featherweight. I get it – it’s easy to use words like that without substantive backup when you’re feeling angry and resentful at circumstances. I think we’ve all given in to that at one time or another. I truly hope we can reconcile frustrations sown in the wake of Trujillo’s representation after the election, regardless of the outcome.
Damn. Nicely put.
I am supporting Heather Nordquist, a woman of mixed heritage with a Hispanic mother, an Anglo father and an Anglo husband from whom she gets her last name. Heather has lived her whole life within the Pojoaque Valley, though she has traveled and lived extensively abroad. Like many of us in the Valley, she is proud of the many influences which formed her perspective.
The irony that strikes me is that you do not know the least bit about who Heather is; you should know that she laughed when she first read your comment.
Like many of us, Heather does not mince her words, like many of us, she has seen the norteño’s way of life challenged and indeed overrun by well-meaning outsiders. This leads to some anger and frustration, which leads to an angry tone in some of her comments.
We expect and deserve our elected representatives to have a depth of understanding of New Mexico. When our Congresspeople and other representatives do not understand the threat that local Pueblos pose to our egress on the roads we drive every day, by disputing the title to those roads, this has led to what I see as an unfortunate color to popular comments. I do not believe that Udall and Heinrich are as useless as feminine body parts on a pig, but I was seriously let down by their representation regarding this locally important issue.
Regarding the term ‘featherweight’, this comes from Milan Simonich’s recent columns regarding Romero. I have a hard time believing that anyone that is a neighbor to this Valley, which has a median income of about $32,000, or that has received an education from Stanford University, would believe that public tax monies could be spent on 3.2 beer much less $28 whiskey. That Andrea did not know this from the get go puzzles me to no end. I cannot believe that the Democratic leadership would believe that such a person was qualified for the legislature.
Paul Gibson has commented that your sentiments were well put. I agree, well put like a softball being placed across the center of the plate to be knocked out of the park.
Like you, I hope we can reconcile frustrations, but those frustrations go back farther than Trujillo. I urge you at this late date, to refrain from voting for an obviously unqualified candidate like Romero, and until you have taken the time to understand the needs of this whole district, to refrain from voting against a woman who knows this district like the back of her hand, is smart, and is honest. This race is not about race, but is about a way of life, and increasingly it strikes me as a race about class. As a progressive in more than name only, I urge you to vote in races that you understand, but refrain when you clearly are uninformed.
Jim, like so many of the Trujillo supporters who have criticized this blog, you make assumptions about my knowledge and my efforts to expand my perspective. I’ve been very active with TEWA Women’s United and Communities for Clean Water on the LANL plumes, I’ve met with Heather, I’ve attended two town halls on the access issues in the Valley and from this I know I have much more to learn, but may also have something to contribute. You say that Heather knows D. 46 like the back of her hand but 40% of the district is in Santa Fe and those folks deserve representation, as well. You’ve restated your concerns about Romero’s issues with being reimbursed for alcohol, something I’ve written about extensively and believe to have demonstrated that most of the responsibility should rest with LA County as fiscal agent and the Regional Coalition Board, all of whom should have had a good understanding of what is and isn’t reimbursable. But we’ll just have to disagree about that. I share your hope that reconciliation is possible post Nov 6 and that Rep. Romero can lead the effort to engage and coordinate a more productive role for our federal reps who could and should be doing more. Until then, I’ll be canvassing like a fiend.
Wow! Do just a little bit of research! If you had if nothing else you would have discovered that Nordquist is Heathers married name… please!
I am supporting Heather Nordquist, a woman of mixed heritage with a Hispanic mother, an Anglo father and an Anglo husband from whom she gets her last name. Heather has lived her whole life within the Pojoaque Valley, though she has traveled and lived extensively abroad. Like many of us in the Valley, she is proud of the many influences which formed her perspective.
The irony that strikes me is that you do not know the least bit about who Heather is; you should know that she laughed when she first read your comment.
Like many of us, Heather does not mince her words, like many of us, she has seen the norteño’s way of life challenged and indeed overrun by well-meaning outsiders. This leads to some anger and frustration, which leads to an angry tone in some of her comments.
We expect and deserve our elected representatives to have a depth of understanding of New Mexico. When our Congresspeople and other representatives do not understand the threat that local Pueblos pose to our egress on the roads we drive every day, by disputing the title to those roads, this has led to what I see as an unfortunate color to popular comments. I do not believe that Udall and Heinrich are as useless as feminine body parts on a pig, but I was seriously let down by their representation regarding this locally important issue.
Regarding the term ‘featherweight’, this comes from Milan Simonich’s recent columns regarding Romero. I have a hard time believing that anyone that is a neighbor to this Valley, an area with a median income of about $32,000, or that has received an education from Stanford University, would believe that public tax monies could be spent on 3.2 beer much less $32 whiskey shots. That Andrea did not know this from the get go puzzles me to no end. I cannot believe that the Democratic leadership would believe that such a person is qualified for the Legislature.
Paul Gibson has commented that your sentiments were well put. I agree, well put like a softball being placed across the center of the plate to be knocked out of the park.
Like you, I hope we can reconcile frustrations, but those frustrations go back farther than Trujillo. I urge you at this late date, to refrain from voting for an obviously unqualified candidate like Romero, and until you have taken the time to understand the needs of this whole district, to refrain from voting against a woman who knows this district like the back of her hand, is smart, and is honest. This electoral contest is not about race, but is about a way of life, and increasingly it strikes me as a contest about class. As a progressive in more than name only, I urge you to vote in races that you understand, but refrain when you clearly are uninformed.
Thank you Jim!