Councilor pushes Dept. of Peace

At last week’s Albuquerque City Council, Councilor Rey Garduño introduced a resolution supporting the creation of a federal Department of Peace and Nonviolence. The resolution urges Congress to support legislation that currently has 70 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives. The legislation has both a domestic and international focus, and is primarily centered on violence prevention. Albuquerque joins 36 other local governments in its support of the idea.

Councilor Trudy Jones commented on the resolution for the Albuquerque Journal on Saturday:

Jones said she was elected to shape city policy, not the federal government. The bill "has nothing to do with the City Council," Jones said. "It just makes us look foolish."

The Independent asked Councilor Garduño why he thinks local governments should weigh in on federal level policy making, and if doing so makes the City Council "foolish." This is his response:

Having different perspectives on an issue is healthy.  However, I was disheartened that a fellow Councilor would acquiesce to the notion that any governance unit must be subservient to any other and further to characterize any challenge to that subservience as "foolish" is misled, egregious and negligent of ones public trust. 

I suggest that all levels of government represent the ‘public’ and if one level of government is not responding to the will of the people then it should be encouraged to move legislation by other governance bodies.  Raising the minimum wage as an issue had stagnated at the federal level until local city councils and state legislatures forced the issue.

A resolution supporting Peace and Nonviolence should be encouraged by every elected official.  Otherwise we continue to operate under the notion that violence and war are the only solutions, now that’s ‘foolish’. 

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