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Wednesday, April 13, 2011
NM Supreme Court Rules Susana Martinez Illegally Dismantled Labor Board
Foiled again! New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez's firing of Public Employee Labor Relations Board members was ruled unconstitutional today by the State Supreme Court in a unanimous decision. The ruling was in response to a writ of mandamus (pdf) filed by the New Mexico chapter of AFSCME, New Mexico Federation of Labor AFL-CIO, AFT, NEA, CWA and other unions based in New Mexico to have the board members reinstated.
Governor Martinez had fired a board member appointed at the will of labor unions and another selected by the board itself. According to an Albuquerque Journal article:
The court said Martinez did not have the authority to remove two members of the Public Employee Labor Relations Board, and ordered them reinstated immediately. The justices said the board must remain free of the governor's control, because it makes decisions on complaints brought against the governor or her agencies.
They said the three-member board couldn't operate freely if the governor could arbitrarily remove members. Ordered reinstated at the unions' request were John Boyd, organized labor's choice for the board, and Duff Westbrook, who was jointly recommended by the other two members.
The third member is chosen by the governor; Martinez appointed Wayne Bingham to that position two weeks ago.
The members who were ordered reinstated were John Boyd and Duff Westbrook.
Democratic Party of New Mexico Chairman Javier Gonzales had this to say in response to the ruling:
"In barely more than 100 days in office Susana Martinez has yet again lost in the state supreme court for overstepping her authority. First she was caught making a back-room deal with lobbyists to weaken clean-water protections, now she has been soundly rebuked for attempting to take away employees' rights by dismantling the board assigned to hear worker complaints. Clearly Governor Martinez has a troubling agenda and it appears she is willing to run afoul of state law to do it."
Martinez's lawyer, Jessica Hernandez, reported said the governor was following the statute on board appointments, based on her interpretation of other court rulings. Wrong.
Back on March 16 when the complaint was filed, NMFL AFL-CIO President Christine Trujillo compared Martinez's decision to actions by another Republican governor: Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin.
"Governor Susana Martinez exceeded her authority in firing the entire Public Employee Labor Relations Board in violation of state law," Trujillo said in a statement. "Her agenda is no different from that of Republican Wisconsin Governor Walker. ... She, along with the Tea Party controlled Republican Party across the United States are attempting to pick off the rights of American workers to collectively provide safe and equitable work environments."
April 13, 2011 at 06:02 PM in Democratic Party, Labor, Legal Issues, Susana Martinez | Permalink
Comments
Javier Gonzales stated, "Clearly Governor Martinez has a troubling agenda and it appears she is willing to run afoul of state law to do it."
Sigh. This is incorrectly worded. One does not "do" an agenda, one "follows" an agenda. The DPNM needs a new wordsmith.
How about "In just three short months as governor, Martinez has now twice been judged to have violated the constitution of our state. First the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled against her when she attempted to prevent the implementation of both a rule aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions and a measure which would control pollution from the dairy industry. Now the Court has ordered that two members of the Public Employee Labor Relations Board be reinstated, declaring her arbitrary removal of them to be an unconstitutional abuse of her authority. It is troubling to find a former D.A. acting with such disrespect for the law."
Posted by: Ellen Wedum | Apr 13, 2011 11:06:04 PM
I am also troubled at the word troubling. It is too vague and non-descriptive and mealy mouthed.
He makes it sound like the Democrats are mentioning the "trouble" in passing over afternoon tea. But, it is only mentioned because to go into detail would be distasteful. It is nothing to be too concerned about and why don't we just look the other way and pretend everything is just fine.
Javier, you are going up against well funded lying propagandists. If you can't do this job, hire and pay someone. There are students located in the writing center at NMTECH that could help.
Posted by: qofdisks | Apr 14, 2011 9:26:45 AM
Ellen, I like your wording but the original is not incorrect. According to Thesaurus.com, "agenda" is a noun that means "calendar, card, diary, docket, lineup, plan, program, schedule, timetable."
Substitute the word "plan" in the sentence and you have ""Clearly Governor Martinez has a troubling PLAN and it appears she is willing to run afoul of state law to do it."
Posted by: Old Dem | Apr 14, 2011 9:30:50 AM
The Democrats here and everywhere have terrible messaging. It's inconsistent, weak, uncoordinated, hit and miss and usually argues within a GOP frame. I don't know who advises them but they need a new crew.
Posted by: adgirl | Apr 14, 2011 11:56:37 AM
So, when can we start the Recall Martinez movement? People need to send future politicians wanting to run for office a message. You get into office one way and start doing things illegally you get the boot. If Martinez had ever suggested doing these things during her campaign she would have never stood a chance. This is the same crap going on in Wisconsin, Michigan,Ohio,Maine, and Florida.
RECALL MARTINEZ!
Posted by: Dana | Apr 14, 2011 1:48:37 PM
Old Dem suggests an alternative:
"Substitute the word "plan" in the sentence and you have ""Clearly Governor Martinez has a troubling PLAN and it appears she is willing to run afoul of state law to do it."
However, "implement" a plan would be better. One could also use "implement it" in the Gonzales post (but maybe the Republicans wouldn't understand that 3-syllable word...)
The other Gonzales statement (perhaps written by Scott Forrester) that made me groan was "New Mexico cannot afford to send an ethically challenged Republican like Heather Wilson to fill the seat of one of the most upstanding members of the US Senate!" OK, so what kind of Republican DO you want to fill the seat?
I wish Gonzales had at least had the good sense to keep Josh Geise (sp?) as executive director when he took over from Brian Colón. Josh was really competent.
Posted by: Ellen Wedum | Apr 15, 2011 10:32:09 AM
DPNM doesn't just need new wordsmiths. It needs a new State Chair and executive director.
Posted by: Proud Democrat | Apr 15, 2011 3:39:28 PM
"Do" is better than "follow" or "implement". "Do it" is short and sharp sounding. "Do it" is easy to say and understand. We are not looking for correct English, we are looking for emotional impact. I like "Do it".
Posted by: qofdisks | Apr 15, 2011 5:21:14 PM
This is all picking at nothing. There are real problems in the party and they don't have to do with grammar.
Posted by: Ward Chair | Apr 15, 2011 8:20:46 PM
There may well be more serious problems in the party, but a press release goes to newspapers throughout the state and may even occasionally make the national news. The DPNM does not need egg on its public face.
Posted by: Ellen Wedum | Apr 15, 2011 9:52:42 PM
Even if we had the best press releases in the world, it wouldn't help a party that has candidates and people in office who won't fight.
Posted by: Ward Chair | Apr 15, 2011 10:44:47 PM
Ward Chair,
the medium for the fighting is in the words. Fight? What the hell do you think fighting means? Fighting is by means of the propaganda. This is not a pep rally.
The republicans mean to crush labor rights for all working people in this nation. This condition of disempowered labor is well documented in history as creating horrible degeneration of human society. The republicans are doing it systematically with big corporate funding to pay for professional propagandists. Democrats need to counter this (fight this) by becoming more coherent in our messaging. Democrats need to learn to appeal to the emotion more than the reason. Republicans have been exploiting reptilian fear and territoriality for decades and are ramping it up with a toxic dose of anger.
Telling us to fight is vague and amateurish in a high school pep rally sort of way.
Posted by: qofdisks | Apr 17, 2011 1:04:41 AM
I mean we have many Democrat who don't believe in the Democratic message and won't support it. How much support do unions really get for instance? We can't get them to fight with a fighting message because they are owned by their donors not the party.
Posted by: Ward Chair | Apr 17, 2011 9:45:43 AM
