{"id":522786,"date":"2018-02-14T00:07:32","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T07:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=522786"},"modified":"2018-02-14T20:34:48","modified_gmt":"2018-02-15T03:34:48","slug":"state-dem-party-chair-implicated-in-dona-ana-county-commissioners-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/02\/state-dem-party-chair-implicated-in-dona-ana-county-commissioners-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"State Dem Party chair implicated in Do\u00f1a Ana County commissioner&#8217;s scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Democratic county commissioner from southern New Mexico is in more hot water and may have pulled the state party in with him. The Democratic Party of New Mexico\u2019s vice chairwoman said the head of the party encouraged her to stay quiet after she was allegedly sexually harassed by the Do\u00f1a Ana County commissioner.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_506170\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-506170\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Vasquez-John-large-336x251.jpg\" alt=\"John Vasquez\" width=\"336\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Vasquez-John-large-336x251.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Vasquez-John-large.jpg 550w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 336px) 100vw, 336px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy photo<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Vasquez<\/p><\/div>\n<p>DPNM Vice Chairwoman Neomi Martinez-Parra sent <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Martinez-ParraLetter.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a letter<\/a> to state party Chair Richard Ellenberg <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1334823101\"><span class=\"aQJ\">on Monday<\/span><\/span> asking that he take \u201ccorrective action\u201d against Do\u00f1a Ana County Commissioner John Vasquez for \u201cinappropriate sexual misconduct.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In her letter, Martinez-Parra said she previously alerted Ellenberg of her interaction with Vasquez.<\/p>\n<p>She also said the chairman implied she should stay quiet as long as the party could convince Vasquez to step down from a local Democratic veterans group.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFurthermore, you and I discussed these issues prior to Mr. Vasquez resigning as the DPNM Veteran\u2019s Caucus Chair,\u201d Martinez-Parra wrote. \u201cI disagree with your proposal \u2018something for something\u2019, inferring that Mr. Vasquez would resign if I did not pursue a complaint against him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Martinez-Parra could not be reached for comment. But Ellenberg confirmed with NM Political Report that Martinez-Parra told him about her allegations in January. Martinez-Parra\u2019s letter does not detail Vasquez\u2019s specific actions and Ellenberg declined to speak for her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s just say what was alleged to have happened was inappropriate,\u201d Ellenberg said. \u201cI\u2019ll leave it to her to decide what she wants to say publicly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ellenberg said he had multiple conversations with Martinez-Parra about how she wanted to move forward, and added he never intended to keep her quiet.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpoliticalreport.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Mexico Political Report<\/a>,\u00a0a nonprofit news organization\u00a0focused on promoting a greater public understanding of politics and policy in the state of New Mexico.<\/p>\n<h3>The letter<\/h3>\n<p>Read Neomi Martinez-Parra&#8217;s letter to Richard Ellenberg <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Martinez-ParraLetter.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cIf I said or did anything that gave the impression I was trying to be anything other than totally supportive of what choices she made, I apologize for that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Ellenberg said Vasquez agreed to resign as the Democratic Veterans Caucus chair if Martinez-Parra did not file a formal complaint. She declined the offer. But, Ellenberg said, he still persuaded Vasquez to resign from the caucus.<\/p>\n<p>Vasquez did not reply to email, voice, text or Facebook messages from NM Political Report <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1334823102\"><span class=\"aQJ\">on Tuesday<\/span><\/span>. One of his voicemail inboxes was full.<\/p>\n<p>State Rep. Angelica Rubio, D-Las Cruces, who was copied on the letter to Ellenberg, told NM Political Report sexual harassment allegations \u201cshould be taken seriously at every level\u201d and \u201cshould never be political.\u201d Martinez-Parra also sent the letter to other Democratic Party officers, Democratic state Sen. Howie Morales and New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas.<\/p>\n<p>Rubio stopped short of calling for Ellenberg\u2019s resignation, but criticized him for his inaction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf leaders are not ready to make these decisions about these issues, they should not be in positions of leadership,\u201d Rubio said.<\/p>\n<p>But, Ellenberg said, the state Democratic Party\u2019s hands are tied.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can&#8217;t tell anyone not to be a Democrat and we can\u2019t tell anybody not to be a commissioner,\u201d Ellenberg said.<\/p>\n<p>Vasquez stepped down as chair of the Democratic Veterans Caucus, but he still serves on the Do\u00f1a Ana County central committee, which, according to Ellenberg, has its own policies and procedures for misconduct and removing officers.<\/p>\n<p>NM Political Report could not reach the Democratic Party of Do\u00f1a Ana County chairman on\u00a0Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Ellenberg said he\u2019s heard \u201cplenty of grounds\u201d for Vasquez\u2019s removal but that many people want to remain anonymous and don\u2019t want to go public with their stories.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t accuse somebody of doing something I can\u2019t say what it was and I\u2019m not going to violate somebody\u2019s privacy,\u201d Ellenberg said.<\/p>\n<p>The only other option, Ellenberg said, is for voters to recall Vasquez from office. That would require a large number of petition signatures from voters in Vasquez\u2019s district.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would take a huge effort and would almost certainly be unsuccessful,\u201d Ellenberg said.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t the first time Vasquez has made headlines.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe also had the issue with him on the Facebook post,\u201d Ellenberg said, referring to a series of comments Vasquez made to a constituent who also helps run an advocacy group. \u201cThere\u2019s no shortage of issues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, Vasquez said <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/01\/on-facebook-dona-ana-county-commissioner-goes-after-activists-mother\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">on Facebook<\/a> that the mother of a female activist and constituent asked for \u201cwierd (sic) favors\u201d from the commissioner. He was widely denounced for the exchange on Facebook, which has since been deleted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The state Democratic Party&#8217;s vice chair accused Commissioner John Vasquez of &#8216;inappropriate sexual misconduct&#8217; and said the state party chair encouraged her to stay quiet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":506170,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[115,3636,292],"class_list":["post-522786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-dona-ana-county","tag-john-vasquez","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}