{"id":808,"date":"2006-11-05T11:23:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-05T17:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/11\/democrats-cast-out-e-shirley-baca\/"},"modified":"2006-11-05T11:23:00","modified_gmt":"2006-11-05T17:23:00","slug":"democrats-cast-out-e-shirley-baca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/11\/democrats-cast-out-e-shirley-baca\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats cast out E. Shirley Baca"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A mailer E. Shirley Baca sent to some 10,000 Democrats last week urging them to vote against the Public Regulation Commission candidate who beat her in the primary appears to have cost her a future relationship with the Democratic Party. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The mailer urged a vote against Sandy Jones, the Democrat\u2019s District 5 candidate, because he used negative campaigning to beat her in the primary. Click here<\/a> to see the front of Baca\u2019s mailer, and here<\/a> to see the back.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Those I spoke with said it was almost unheard of for a primary loser to toss such a retaliatory, negative attack at the winner. Apparently, the Democratic Party of New Mexico agrees.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A news release it sent out Saturday evening accuses Baca of drug use and hypocrisy.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the text of the release. The only change I made was to take out the final paragraph, which would have amounted to free campaigning for Jones. This close to the election, I\u2019m not going there.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

What\u2019s E. Shirley Baca smoking now?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Disgraced commissioner hypocritically attacks negative campaign ads<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico John V. Wertheim says that E. Shirley Baca must be smoking something. <\/p>\n

\n

Baca, who was run out of office for her hypocrisy concerning drug use and after marijuana paraphernalia was found in her luggage, recently sent a mailer to voters in Public Regulation Commission (PRC) District 5 with statements tantamount to endorsements of the Republican candidate. Baca attacks negative advertisements with an attack ad of her own, even though she is no longer in the PRC race.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cE. Shirley Baca can continue disgracing herself, but her sour grapes are too bitter for Democrats to swallow. Whatever Ms. Baca is smoking now endangers the health and future of our party,\u201d said Wertheim. \u201cMs. Baca\u2019s erratic behavior and extreme views might be welcome in the party of John Dendahl and Gary Johnson, but not ours. A lot of Democrats believe she should pack up her bags and roll on out of this joint.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Wertheim called for Ms. Baca\u2019s resignation when it was reported that she told police she used marijuana occasionally. Although Ms. Baca instituted a zero tolerance office policy concerning drug use, she believed she was the exception to the rule. Several Democratic county chairs are condemning Baca\u2019s actions and rallying behind Jones. <\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt was a deceptive and petty move, motivated by revenge, and not in the best interest of the Democratic Party or representative of our values,\u201d said Do\u00f1a Ana County Chair Melinda Whitley, referring to Baca\u2019s mailer in an email to county activists. \u201cI hope that we can all support our duly elected candidate, Sandy Jones. Certainly, I am encouraging everyone in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> to do so. As our Commissioner, he will make us proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt makes me queasy just thinking about,\u201d said Grant County Democratic Chair Matt Runnels. \u201cMomentum for a historic election is building and everyone is united in our desire to move New Mexico<\/st1:state> forward and change the direction in Washington<\/st1:city>, D.C.<\/st1:state><\/st1:place> Ms. Baca\u2019s ego will not impact our electoral efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The release then includes the paragraph promoting Jones before it ends.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to remember that Baca was not convicted of drug possession. The charges were dropped. There were allegations that paraphernalia was found in her luggage as she attempted to board a plane in Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, but Baca claimed it was planted as part of a vast conspiracy against her.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Legally, her claim hasn\u2019t been proven false. It\u2019s very hard to libel a public official, but this release essentially accuses of Baca of drug use based on evidence that won\u2019t be used against her in a court of law, and it\u2019s an obvious attempt to damage her reputation in order to discredit the mailer she sent out.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That said, Baca asked for this. She lost the primary because voters were fed up with her antics and self-serving behavior. She must have known such a bitter, selfish attack on Jones would result in her being cast out of the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I doubt the Republicans will take her, either. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A mailer E. Shirley Baca sent to some 10,000 Democrats last week urging them to vote against the Public Regulation Commission candidate who beat her in the primary appears to have cost her a future relationship with the Democratic Party. The mailer urged a vote against Sandy Jones, the Democrat\u2019s District 5 candidate, because he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808","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=808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}