[These minutes were approved by the executive committee on 22 May 2024.]

Adelante Progressive Caucus

Executive Committee

Minutes of regular meeting 24 April 2024

Attendance

Present

Executive Committee members:

Cricket Courtney (CD-2 Chair)
Colton Dean (Chair)
Dan Fay (Treasurer)
Nicole Maestas Olonovich (Political Director)
Scotti Romberg (Vice-Chair)
Michael Sperberg-McQueen (Secretary)
Carol Trujillo-Fay (CD-1 Chair)

Other caucus members:

Patricia French (Past Chair)

Call to order and quorum check

The chair being delayed, the vice-chair called the meeting to order at 6:35 pm and confirmed that a quorum of the executive committee was present.

Agenda

The agenda sent out 22 April by the vice-chair was amended to add discussion of the question “Are Adelante caucus meetings public?”.

6:30 pm Attendance and quorum check
6:35pm Officers reports:
- Chair
- Vice Chair
- Secretary
- Treasurer
- Political Director
- CD 1
- CD2
7:00 pm Old Business:
- Letter from DPNM re: election irregularities
- Endorsements, possible donation amounts to candidates
7:30 pm New Business:
- Zoom Account
- Adding endorse candidates to APC website
- Adding Open Letter to website
- Standing policy for allowing members and other Democrats to our meetings
7:55 pm Announcements
8:00 pm Adjourn

Reports of officers and committee chairs

Vice-Chair’s report

The vice-chair reported that on 23 April the chair had transmitted to DPNM the letter agreed upon at the March EC meeting protesting the interruption by the chair of DPNM of the caucus report during the March SCC meeting.

In addition, the vice-chair and secretary, together with caucus member Jane Yee, have sent a letter to the Judicial Council and the chair of DPNM voicing some concerns and asking some questions about the handling of the challenge to the SCC balloting.

She also reported the receipt of a letter from the secretary of DPNM and several tribal leaders objecting to Adelante members making public remarks which assume that Native Americans take a particular position on particular issues in foreign policy, which can give the impression that the tribes are not in a position to speak for themselves.

Chair’s report

The chair reported that he had transmitted the letter of protest agreed upon at the last EC meeting.

Secretary’s report

The secretary noted that he was behind on distributing draft minutes of meetings; he apologized and said he was working on it,

Treasurer’s report

The treasurer reported a balnce of $4976.66 in the bank. As we near the primary election, more frequent reports to the Secretary of State are required, so he is working on that.

Political director’s report

NMO reported that the political action committee had met and discussed candidates in the primary election. We have applications from multiple candidates for our endorsement; please look at the information they provided (it’s on the web site). In accordance with the bylaws, she suggested a special meeting of the EC on Wednesday 8 May to decide on endorsements.

She also reported that Marianne Williamson would speak at the member meeting on 2 May. She proposed that we devote thirty minutes to hearing from candidates, then ask MW to speak for twenty minutes starting at 7 and take questions for another fifteen, with the rest of the meeting available for caucus business.

She reported on efforts to stop the governor’s efforts to evade bans on using ‘produced water’ (i.e. fluid waste from the oil and gas industry).

CD 1 chair’s rport

CTF reported that an Instagram account has been created, which currently has 65 followers.

She also raised a concern about a serious blow to the Albuquerque / Bernalillo County library system. For reasons that are not clear, funding for the libraries has been cut dramatically — the shortfall is equivalent to the entire information technology budget for the library system. There was discussion.

CD 2 chair’s rport

CC reported that in her role as vice-chair of the Democratic Party of Socorro County she has been working on planning the post-primary convention; not much else.

Zoom account

NMO noted that the zoom link for member meetings is now stable.

There was some discussion of the mechanics of managing the Zoom account — they are complicated somewhat by Zoom’s insistence on two-factor authentication and by the varying levels of technical sophistication in the EC. Some alternative ways of managing things were discussed, but no concrete action was taken.

Open letter

The open letter drafted by JY, SR, and MSM should be circulated to the leadership group for comment. There was discussion of submitting it to the Blue Review, but some uncertainty whether they would accept it.

Openness of caucus meetings

MSM raised a concern about the exclusion of a caucus member from the March general member meeting, reportedly because that member’s presence made some other attenees uncomfortable. Adelante meetings are advertised on the caucus web site as open to any interested Democrat, so excluding someone from the meeting is inconsistent with our public stance. And it is a basic right of any member of a group to attend the meetings of that group, so excluduing a caucus member from a general member meeting is a violation of that member’s basic rights. He moved that the EC instruct the secretary to send a letter of apology to the member in question, and that we re-affirm our commitment to our own bylaws and the rules of parliamentary procedure. DF seconded the motion in order to allow discussion.

There was discussion. The actions of the member, and the worries felt by some members of the caucus regarding the new party ‘conduct protocols’ were elaborated.

The motion failed by a vote on 4:1, with MSM dissenting; SR and CTF abstained.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 8:18 pm.