MUST READ: SWOP Responds to Lawsuit by Shannon Robinson et al.

Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) issued the following statement today in response to the recent lawsuit against them, other nonprofits and three Dems who won their primary legislative races. The suit was filed by incumbent Democrats who lost their primary races to reform candidates on June 3, 2008 -- namely Sen. Shannon Robinson, Sen. James G. Taylor and Rep. Don Silva. All three lawmakers have a reputation in many quarters for putting the desires of entrenched interests before the needs of their constituents, the common good and ordinary New Mexicans. The very poorly written lawsuit claims fraud and conspiracy and takes a tone that's come to be known as tinfoil-hat, if you know what I mean.

Also See: Besides reading the entirety of SWOP's moving and convincing response, make sure you check out the op-Ed by Eli Il Yong Lee, Executive Director of the Center for Civic Policy, published in today's Albuquerque Journal. Let's hope that fair-minded individuals, including Democrats in positions of power, will read these materials carefully and consider what is at stake here, including their own reputations. It's not only progressives who are angry about the attacks on reform candidates and well respected nonprofits. The political futures of a number of Dems are on the line here, and the public will vote accordingly if this ill-considered charade continues to try and protect the status quo to the detriment of the common good. 

From the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP):

See our full response here.

Since 1980, the mission of the SouthWest Organizing Project has been to empower the disenfranchised to realize equality and justice. These aren’t just nice words on paper meant to make us feel good, we actually believe this is possible.

Our primary purpose is to help low-income, communities of color organize themselves to build healthy, pollution free communities. One of the primary ways we do this is through public education so that New Mexicans have the information they need to urge action by their elected representatives.

Invariably, in the course of trying to achieve our mission, we face tremendous opposition from those maintaining the status quo – a status quo that has left New Mexicans ranked at the bottom of practically every social indicator from education to healthcare.

For us, it is not enough that the nonprofit sector simply work to alleviate the symptoms of poverty and racism. In addition to organizing, it is our duty to question the actions of decision makers that perpetuate relentless poverty and growing inequality.

Our theory of action is that we create opportunity for disenfranchised communities to insert their own voices into the crucial public debates that profoundly affect their lives. These opportunities derive from direct campaigns developed with communities of people to affect change. Making our voices heard, for us, has happened in a number of ways over our 30-year history. Sometimes it’s with a bullhorn in the street, other times it's sitting at the table with policy makers, and at other times it’s through direct communication via mail, telephone or radio to decision makers.

Along the way, we have consistently communicated to our constituents the voting records and campaign contributors of elected officials, urging them to communicate with their elected officials directly. We call this accountability and speaking truth to power.

Go to our blog for the full response: here
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See our previous post on this matter and the related confusion prompted by Attorney General King's sorta kinda official opinon on whether the legal status of the nonprofit New Mexico Youth Organized should be changed, in essence, to a PAC. That post contains a list of links to other posts related to the attack on the primary winners and various nonprofits.

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