First Impressions & Second Thoughts: COUNCILOR FLORES REINFORCES THE CANCEL CULTURE IN LAS CRUCES

Readers of my blog, whether viewed on my website or in my distributed email, have the unqualified right not to read it or even open it, to skip it or trash it. They have the unqualified right to send me their brickbats as well as their bouquets; most do neither. But elected officials with publicly funded email accounts have no right to block any constituent, regardless of whether they intend to read or respond to their emails.

But Councilor Yvonne M. Flores, a lawyer on City Council, chose to make a point by blocking my emails to her government account (yflores@las-cruces.org). She wanted me to know that she so much detests me or my opinions about antisemitism, police dishonesty, the City Attorney, and the incompetence and waste by Public Works—all matters which should be matters of concern to Councilors—that she rejects them and those which I have not yet written. Better I should applaud her and her colleagues’ heroic action in banning plastic shopping bags from retail stores and thereby striking a blow against climate change, environmental degradation, and the fossil-fuel industry.

Councilor Flores is just one of the city’s officials and its residents who believe that I, because of my background, should not have relocated to Las Cruces and then criticized it. As I imagine her notions, this Yankee loud-mouth—probably, New York (you know what I mean)—should either keep quiet here or relocate elsewhere if he finds so much to criticize about Las Cruces (and New Mexico). These outsiders!

I could be accused of picking on a woman except that she has company on the Council. Mayor Miyagishima, having made public and private promises that I could present my case to the police auditor, began to quake at the thought and quibble at the terms after the temporary spasm of public protest for police reform relaxed. So when I sent OIR the materials which I might have presented to it, he pitched a fit. He persuaded Council to disqualify my case from OIR review by setting a start date for reviewed cases long after mine, though I was still pursuing it by administrative appeals.

Councilor Johana Bencomo, who had spoken so earnestly about police reform until she, too, realized that the public no longer cared, had heard the City Manager admit the false charges and the need for a retraction and an apology, but had been scolded into submissiveness by the Mayor, was pleased to stress this deadline in a working session so that I would get the message of her betrayal of my case.

Long before, Councilor Gabriel Vazquez had refused to respond to an email about police reform when he, too, followed the issue while it had a crowd and abandoned the issue when it did not. Now that he is running for Congress, the electorate should know that he is not likely to respond to or represent those with whom he disagrees; he will be Heinrich’s puppet and serve the Progressive Voters Alliance under the direction of Don Kurtz.

Councilor Sorg, who styles himself Mayor Pro Tem Emeritus, made several promises to me about the OIR review which he apparently broke before he made them.

My Councilor, Kasandra Gandara, while making City Hall meetings possible, likely disclosed confidential information about my case in conversations about it with her friend in the Law Office, whom she defended by blaming one of its senior lawyers.

Let’s see: naming five of six other councilors finding ways to silence me, shunt my case aside, or betray it sure ain’t picking on a sixth one. Nevertheless, Councilor Flores sets the bar so low there is no going below it. Whatever citizens of Las Cruces think of me or my views, they should ask themselves what they think of a councilor who behaves irresponsibly in her position and immaturely in her person. They should also ask about the political integrity of Miyagishima, Bencomo, Vasquez, Sorg, and Gandara.

With an election under way, even reasonable people who think of themselves as Progressive might consider whether an all-Progressive City Council is too much of a good thing or, as I think, not good enough. Bev Courtney’s views, when I can understand them, do not sit well with me, but it would sit well with me if she represented District 1. For that reason and for her brains and bravery, we need a return of Ceil Levatino, with whom I have had the pleasure of disagreeing respectfully.

P.S. Would someone please forward this email to Councilor Flores. I do not want to be accused for writing behind her back even though she has blocked my emails.

NOTE TO BLOG: I emailed her three times on 10 October and once before sending this blog as an email. All four got this message. A friend forwarded the 10 October blog to her; it was not returned.

11 Oct 6:00 & 10:10 pm update: My friend had his email blocked, but he failed to so inform me because he had the wrong email address. I assumed that he had not contacted me because his email had not been blocked. I retract the accusation that she blocked (only) me (unless, of course, she blocked out everyone to block out me, but I am not egotistical or paranoid enough to take that possibility seriously). Still, all emails to all other Council members and three senior city officials were received. What is with Councilor Flores's email account?

11 Oct 10:05 pm update: Ignoring my first paragraph, the Las Cruces City Attorney Jennifer Vega-Brown asked me to remove her from my distribution list so that she would no longer receive my emails, usually the texts of my blogs. I note that the request is not her first insult to me and that she thinks that, as a public official using a taxpayer-funded email account, it is appropriate for her to request a taxpaying citizen not to communicate his views with her, even if some refer to her and even they are part of a mass distribution. As a lawyer, she should know, but apparently does not know, that the Constitutional right to petition government implies the right to communicate with government officials.