Message from the First Vice-Chair
By Greg Bennett First Vice-Chair
In the past month, Sandoval County Democrats elected individuals for several party positions. Along with the returning Ward Chairs, we elected two new members to our leadership team, so please welcome Ward F Chair: Michael Barger and Ward M Chair: Jay Bajwa. While the good news is that nearly 50% of our Wards have leaders; which is a step in the right direction; it is also obvious that we still have many positions to fill. If you are interested in getting involved with your Party, please consider becoming a Ward Chair. Additionally, only 15% of our precincts currently have leadership. We need to have leaders in each of our precincts. So if you cannot commit to leading a Ward, please consider becoming a Precinct Chair. Contact the DPSC Chair (chair@sandovaldemocrats.org) if you are interested in either of these positions.
Alex Piland was re-elected as Chair while Greg Bennett was elected as 1st Vice Chair and Aleta “Tweety” Suazo remains as 2nd Vice Chair. The newly elected State Central Committee (SCC) members will vote for leadership in the State Party (DPNM) and on several resolutions. All SCC members should have received information about this meeting and how to register to vote in these elections.
During the month of April, we held our First Friday event at the Range Café. While the crowd was not large, Gino Satriana (Executive VP and Representative of the Rio Rancho School Employees Union) gave us his insight on what is happening at our Rio Rancho schools. Staffing remains a central issue. While teachers’ salaries have gotten better we still need to attract more staff and teachers to our schools.
Second Saturday was held at M’tucci’s and our guest speakers were Rep. Kathleen Cates and State Senator Brenda McKenna. They presented their views on the recent legislative session. For nearly an hour they addressed questions about Bills that passed and ones that were close and will be re-introduced at the next legislative session. We thank them for their commitment, service and time.
On a final note, we were asked to turnout at the Rio Rancho City Council meeting on April 13th. Individuals from an organization called “Mass Resistance”, a nationally known and recognized hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for making false statements about the LGBTQIA community, were asking the Council to consider removing all LGBTQIA material from our Public libraries. I am happy to report that DPSC turned out for this event in force. While 3 people spoke in favor of removing these materials, we had over 30 people speak in opposition. Thank you to all who came to support our values on this issue. This however, will not be the end. This group will continue to promote their hate and therefore we have to remain ready to oppose their assaults on our rights and freedoms.
Remember our regularly scheduled monthly events First Friday (May 5th), Second Saturday (May 13th) as well as our Coffee Klatch the last Saturday of the month at our Headquarters, 661 Quantum Road, Rio Rancho. All of these events begin at 11 a.m.