[LWVNM Action] LTE - Let the CRC do it's job. - also an attachment

[Hannah Burling]

Excellent letter, Dick.  Thank you for keeping the focus on what's needed.

Hannah

On Mon, Jun 28, 2021 at 9:41 AM E.K. VanWie via Action <
action at mailman.swcp.com> wrote:

> Great letter, Dick.  Thanks!
> Eileen
>
>
> *E.K. VanWie*, Ed.D.
> Email: vanwieek at yahoo.com
>
> "We are all bound up together in one great bundle of
> humanity."
>                Frances Ellen Watkins Harper 1866
>
> "To me there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality."
>         *Alice Paul - Circa 1917*
>
> "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."
>       Attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt - Circa 1940
>
>
> On Monday, June 28, 2021, 09:19:19 AM MDT, Richard Mason via Action <
> action at mailman.swcp.com> wrote:
>
>
> *Published in the ABQ Journal Letters to the Editor – Monday, June 28,
> 2021*
>
>
>
> In response to the June 13 Journal editorial criticizing the lack of
> diversity on the Citizen Redistricting Committee (CRC), the League of Women
> Voters of New Mexico shares those concerns.
>
>
> However, the League wishes to allow the CRC to fulfill its statutory
> functions, after which we will evaluate the results. The League was very
> involved in the process leading to the creation of the CRC. We knew from
> the beginning that it would be a compromise. What I believe many don’t
> understand is that the three excellent New Mexico State Ethics Commission
> appointees are the swing votes on the Committee. Former New Mexico Supreme
> Court Chief Justice Edward Chavez oversaw the redrawing of the 2011 New
> Mexico state House seats. He was involved in the drafting of the
> legislation which created the CRC as well. Member Robert Rhatigan is the
> New Mexico state demographer who oversaw the 2021 census effort in New
> Mexico and is an unaffiliated voter. Member Joaquin Sanchez is a teacher
> and an unaffiliated voter as well.
>
>
>
> So even if the Republican and Democratic appointees pursue their partisan
> goals, I doubt they will vote as a bloc - meaning they will have to win at
> least one vote from the Ethics Commission appointees. So let the CRC do its
> work and then we can evaluate the results. If you know anything about the
> League you know we will be the first to criticize any unfair results.
>
>
>
> Finally, problems with this process emphasizes the need for a New Mexico
> constitutional amendment to create a truly independent redistricting
> commission. In the future the League will be pursuing that end along with
> other good government groups.
>
>
>
> Richard Mason
> Chair of the Action Committee
> League of Women Voters of New Mexico
>
>
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