Chairwoman Debra HaalandPOLITICAL News:
A group of concerned Democratic Party of New Mexico State Central Committee members delivered a petition Oct. 8 to the Democratic Party of New Mexico State Vice-Chair Juan Sanchez asking for the removal of State Chairwoman Debra Haaland.
The petition was delivered at the party’s Rising Star Dinner at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Albuquerque.
The petition reads as follows:
“We the undersigned members of the Democratic Party of New Mexico State Central Committee call for the removal of the State Party Chairwoman Debra Haaland for violating the Democratic State Party rule 5-2(E), ‘Powers and Duties; The State Chairperson shall: refrain from using his/her office to advance the cause of any individual candidate including himself/herself for office in the Democratic Primary election.’
Chairperson Debra Haaland committed a violation of rule5-2(E) by cancelling a Presidential Preference Poll (sic. straw poll vote) to be taken at the State Pre-Primary Convention on March 12, 2016 at Isleta Casino. This action advanced the cause of Hillary Clinton, destroying democratic process. We also call for the removal of the State Party Chairwoman Debra Haaland pursuant to rule 5-7(A)(2) removal of an officer for nonfeasance.
It is incumbent upon our Democratic Party State Central Committee to restore public trust and integrity of our Party.”
Signing members agree that the Presidential Preference Poll was cancelled by Chair and Superdelegate Haaland because there was a preponderance of Bernie Sanders supporters at the Convention, based on investigations by a larger statewide ad hoc group.
The poll had been officially announced twice by the DPNM prior to the Convention via email to its members and was initiated at the Convention by the distribution of voting cards. The poll was cancelled arbitrarily and with no democratic process in the presence of an estimated sixty percent or more Bernie Sanders proponents. Had it been conducted as scheduled, the poll results would have indicated to the state and to the country that New Mexico Dems favored Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton.
It has been stated by an unnamed State Central Committee member that the poll was cancelled at the behest of Diane Denish, treasurer of the Hillary Clinton Campaign in New Mexico, associated with the organization Strategies 360, and former New Mexico lieutenant governor. This controversy follows in the wake of the July resignation of the Democratic National Committee Chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz, for similar rule-breaking biased actions designed to suppress the Bernie Sanders Campaign.
