Letters to the Editor (April 10, 2025)

Elections matter

Editor:

Oh, the irony that a hotly contested race for Wisconsin’s State Supreme Court fell on April Fool’s Day.

Such a partisan race is unusual to us in New Mexico – our state Supreme Court Justices are usually appointed by the governor and run in a partisan election. We have partisan judicial elections, but not Wisconsin-style.

Why care about Wisconsin then? The control of Congress could hang in the balance as the court rules on Wisconsin’s electoral map. Judges are supposed to be impartial. Yet this race has massive political consequences. And this race has drawn national attention and millions of dollars.

The laws the winner interprets will be the same. The oath the winner takes will be the same. The decisions the winner makes will be greatly different depending on the winner.

How did we get here? When our U.S. Constitution was up for a vote Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist 78 about the judiciary in a government with separated powers, and wrote of it as the “weakest,” “the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution,” and even said “the general liberty of the people can never be endangered from that quarter.” It is worth asking: how far are we today from that vision?

So, in the end, what does Wisconsin’s April Fool’s Day Supreme Court Race tell us, here in the Land of Enchantment? It is a reminder that judicial elections matter. We, the people, should vote in our own.

Jonathan Gardner

Los Lunas

They hoodwinked us

Editor:

Here’s what I know about the federal workforce pre-Project 2025, based on working in the federal government for more than 27 years — it is exceptional.

People who work for the feds, many of which are veterans, have gone through testing, interviews and investigations to prove they are worthy of the jobs they are assigned. If they work on sensitive stuff, special investigators look into their backgrounds for anything that could compromise them before they get their security clearance.

Supervisors are tough, folks consistently go through evaluations and are given opportunities to improve or retrain if they become stuck. The contract between union and management is available in black and white and has been hashed out over the years to assure fairness to all.

The federal government set the standards on equal opportunity and fair pay. Federal workers swear an oath of office, just like the military. Every federal agency is scheduled for audits and inspections by outside sources.

We had one about every four to six years and everyone was responsible to assure all records were available, major (and minor) contracts were being followed to the nth degree, and every resource was accounted for.

It would have been impossible to hide anything. An IG inspection was a big deal and every single person, every single process, every single area that had even a whiff of taxpayer control was scrutinized. Write-ups were inevitable, and most of the time were minor infractions having to do with record-keeping.

Working for the federal government gave me a sense of pride and accomplishment. We all cared deeply about our jobs and our commitment as civil servants. The federal workers and postal workers who have been summarily and illegally fired do not deserve what was done to them.

Musk and Trump hoodwinked us. They are destroying upstanding citizens, veterans and families, and agencies that serve Americans with competence, dignity and distinction. We are no longer that shining city on a hill, we have become a nation of disarray and a house of horrors.

Being treated like we are swine by rich men is awful and Jesus would never sanction that and we shouldn’t either.

Michelle Tafoya

Los Lunas

Golfing trumps economy

Editor:

Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

While the economy crumbles, Trump plays golf, and wins yet another tournament at his own golf club.

James Rickey

Los Lunas