Village Council approves proclamation in response to federal actions

CORRALES — The village of Corrales councilors unanimously approved a proclamation that “defends the United States Constitution and separation of powers” Sept. 9 at the regular council meeting, but not before a change was made to the proclamation and the council heard public comments on the subject.

The proclamation was in direct response to President Donald Trump and his administration’s recent actions, according to Mayor James Fahey.

Resident Carol Welch said she strongly supports the proclamation during public comment.

“I believe that it addresses a lot of what is happening from the White House. Our democracy, as well as our Constitution, are being challenged as never before. I have never worried about our democracy being taken away or my rights, which are granted to me through the Constitution, being taken away or even threatened. This is not true today. Our time now is not normal. We the people have got to come together to fight the changes that are happening. My hope that you, our mayor, and all of you on the council will pass, approve and adopt the proclamation,” she said.

However, this sentiment was not shared by Bob Eichhorst, who up until the local election filing date was going to run for Corrales mayor. Eichhorst said he dropped out so Fred Hashimoto could run against current Mayor Jim Fahey.

“I used to be a Democratic precinct chairman in Corrales. But I’m damn sure not progressive,” he said.

Eichhorst accused Fahey of using the proclamation for his own candidacy in the mayoral race. He also claimed that there was not enough notice given about the proclamation.

“If the mayor wants to write this letter, put it in your name. If the council wants to write this letter, put it in your name. Once that seal from the village of Corrales goes on it, it represents everybody in Corrales,” he added. “You didn’t give anybody notice that this was going to happen, or else you’d be flooded with a ton of Republicans in here.”

He went further, stating he is a “very conservative Democrat” and completely disagrees with the proclamation.

“This is going in the wrong direction. This is supposed to be a nonpartisan board. This is not nonpartisan proclamation. What happened to the nonpartisanship?” he said.

After the item quickly got a motion and a second, it was the councilors’ turn to comment on the proclamation.

Bill Woldman, councilor for District 2, thanked the mayor and administration for the “comprehensive and important statement in our democracy.”

He disagreed with Eichhorst, stating the proclamation is not a partisan statement “but rather an acknowledgment of a significant deviation from 250 years of practice of the separation of powers,” he said.

District 6 councilor Stuart Murray also disagreed with Eichhorst.

“I was looking at the definition of proclamation, and it does not require any input anywhere from residents. This is just a statement being made by council, so I’m comfortable with it,” he said.

One councilor, Zachary Burkett of District 5, was unsure if the council had the purview to issue such a statement.

“Despite the fact that I agree with virtually everything on this page, I do have some misgivings about whether this is within our job to to do this,” he said.

Burkett was mostly concerned that the proclamation was too specific about issues in one of the statements and made a motion to change it.

The section of the proclamation first read: “the Village of Corrales Council acknowledges the unconstitutional consolidation of power in the Executive Branch by Executive Orders and willful misdeeds such as, but not limited to: the revocation of birthright citizenship; freezing of federal spending approved by Congress; shuttering of federal agencies; demonstrating a pattern of usurping the duties of the legislative branch; violating due process rights of persons of the United States; infringing upon civil service protections for federal employees; threatening deportation and/or prosecution based on political views; ignoring or disobeying judicial mandates; politicizing law enforcement and the military; and generally expressing contempt for the separation of powers, freedom of speech and equal justice under the law.”

Burkett’s motion was also approved unanimously by the council.

Now it reads: “the Village of Corrales Council acknowledges the unconstitutional consolidation of power in the Executive Branch by Executive Orders.”

Burkett added that the systemic issues have been there with previous administrations in the U.S. but that the current administration is just at a higher degree than previous ones.

Fahey also spoke up, stating he introduced this because it had been “bothering me for about three months.”

“I felt like we needed to say something, and it all starts down here in the small communities,” he said.

He recognized that he doesn’t get a vote but that his signature appears on the proclamation.

“I can certainly feel comfortable with it, but you know, for those of us my age who have served the military and did their duty and have been around a long time and have seen things change, not for the for the good sometimes. We’ve become too polarized. It’s very unfortunate,” he said.

To read the full proclamation visit corrales-nm.org, navigate to the village meetings tab, click on recent meetings and click on the Sept. 9 agenda packet. The proclamation is on page 41 of the packet.