Heath Haussamen
Sunland Park’s government is volatile. Its word isn’t worth a penny. There’s reason to suspect widespread corruption. In short, the government is standing in the way of the bettering of people’s lives in Southern Doña Ana County. That needs to stop.
In conversations with several people earlier this year, I suggested that lawmakers should create a state House district during the redistricting session that would be exclusive to the south valley of Doña Ana County.
After all, doing so made sense, at least in theory. Lots of people live south of Las Cruces. Many communities are primarily Spanish-speaking. It’s a different world, in many ways, than Las Cruces. And yet, all south-county legislative districts in the House and Senate reach up into Las Cruces and are represented by people who live in or near the state’s second-largest city.
That means rural farmers and people who live in suburbs of El Paso are represented primarily by Las Crucens in the Legislature.
The new district I was suggesting would center in Sunland Park and include areas in and around that city, perhaps stretching as far north as Anthony and Chaparral. Giving a legislative district to people with greater ties to El Paso than Santa Fe could help pull them into state government.
However, some will view the recent shenanigans in Sunland Park as proof that it doesn’t deserve to be the population center in a legislative district.
The most recent incident came during a meeting of the city council last week. Councilors started insulting each other, and, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News, pretty soon the arguing included people in the audience. Allegations of corruption flew back and forth, and police had to stop a physical altercation between Mayor Martin Resendiz and Mayor Pro-Tem Daniel Salinas.
That prompted state Rep. Mary Helen Garcia to ask the state to abolish the city and take over management.
In another recent sign of political immaturity and irresponsible behavior, Resendiz admitted in court documents to being drunk when he signed nine city contracts at a local restaurant. He said he was so inebriated that he didn’t understand what he was signing.
Nothing new
Corruption and shenanigans are nothing new in Sunland Park. I kept an eye on the city for years when I covered Doña Ana County for the Sun-News. A decade ago a damning audit found widespread disregard for state laws in Sunland Park.
I thought things might have been turning around in 2005 when Sunland Park entered into an agreement with Doña Ana County to form a joint utility to serve the Santa Teresa area and end decades of legal wrangling that hampered growth and cost taxpayers untold sums of money.
Now, after years of working to hash out the details and get things going, Sunland Park is thinking about backing out. That’s caused Gov. Susana Martinez to criticize city officials for threatening the growth potential of the region, and to urge them to uphold their agreement.
In response, Sunland Park’s city manager went to a Spanish-language news website out of El Paso to make this allegation:
“I see in the governor an unhealthy racist obsession against a town of poor Mexican immigrants, who additionally vote Democrat.”
That’s an outrageous and irrational allegation to toss at a governor who is Hispanic, from El Paso, and the granddaughter of immigrants from Mexico. Those who have supported the creation of the joint utility include former Sunland Park Mayor Jesus “Ruben” Segura and former Gov. Bill Richardson – both Democrats – in addition to several county commissioners who are Democrats and Republicans, and some former Sunland Park city councilors and current state lawmakers who are all Democrats.
In short, elected officials who represent the south county at various levels of government and from both major political parties have worked toward the creation of the regional utility. The only officials who appear not to be on board are those currently in control of the volatile city government in Sunland Park.
There’s nothing racist about wanting a city to uphold its end of an agreement that would help encourage economic development.
Residents deserve better
The reality is that the city is playing political games. The question is, why? There’s every reason to suspect the worst.
If Sunland Park can’t be trusted to stick to its agreements, how can any other government work with the city? How can any business make a long-term commitment to the region?
Perhaps government officials in Sunland Park don’t understand how serious this is. The city manager, Jamie Aguilera, was quoted by the Sun-News as saying he’d “seen worse” than the recent council meeting:
“I’ve seen people come to blows, roll around wrestling. It’s kind of a shame that what seems like disorder to some people is actually democracy at work. The councilors were questioning what the mayor was doing, his actions, his lack of attendance. People lost their tempers, but eventually they calmed down again.”
The city’s government is volatile. Its word isn’t worth a penny. There’s reason to suspect widespread corruption. Sunland Park’s government is standing in the way of the bettering of people’s lives in Southern Doña Ana County.
As long as that’s the reality, there’s no way the state will create a legislative district with Sunland Park as its population center.
It appears the Department of Finance can’t take control of the city in spite of Garcia’s request, because takeover can only follow a state audit that finds widespread problems. The city was headed for potential state takeover a decade ago because of the bad audit, but a behind-the-scenes deal between Richardson and Segura put a stop to that.
Perhaps it’s time for the state auditor to launch a new probe, and for the state to look for ways to reign in the reckless behavior in Sunland Park. Hopefully this time no state official will be willing to make a deal that lets Sunland Park’s government continue its abuse of the public trust.
It’s time for the city’s government to grow up. Residents of Sunland Park and the region deserve better.