I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Albuquerque City Councilor Rey Garduño calls for the firing of the prosecutor who sent offensive e-mail. (Photo by Matthew Reichbach)
The YWCA Middle Rio Grande and prominent Hispanic Democrats gathered Wednesday in downtown Albuquerque to condemn and call for the firing of a prosecutor who sent an e-mail they called racist. Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish said Wednesday afternoon that she would have fired the employee.
State Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas said the press conference was the result of a “spontaneous outpouring of outrage” on the e-mail which depicted “a double homicide based on racism and hate.”
Albuquerque City Councilor Rey Garduño called on Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez, the Doña Ana County District Attorney, to “step up and do what is right and get rid of these folks” who forwarded the e-mail.
Doña Ana County Chief Deputy District Attorney Susan Reidel told The Independent on Monday that the person who forwarded the e-mail was reprimanded by Martinez.
But a Martinez campaign spokesman said the calls for Martinez to fire the prosecutor were “desperate.”
“Susana Martinez found the forwarded email ‘joke’ to be unacceptable, and immediately addressed the issue when it was brought to her attention by reprimanding the individual and issuing a statement from her official office to make clear that the email forwarded by one employee did not represent her views, nor the views of the office,” the spokesman said.
“As far as I’m concerned, there should be zero tolerance for racism and Susana Martinez’s silence on the matter has been disappointing,” Denish said. “Needless to say, if this happened in my office, the employees responsible would no longer have their jobs.”
Democratic Party of New Mexico chairman Javier Gonzales earlier called for Martinez to fire the employee in her office who forwarded the e-mail.
Middle Rio Grande YWCA CEO Carolyn Margolies, a former trial lawyer in New York, said such e-mails would not be tolerated in her office and that Martinez had to “send a message to Mexican and Arab children that they’re safe and loved” and no one wants to hurt them.
