GUEST COLUMN: Failed leadership does not deserve a promotion

As a retired lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force, I am honored to serve on the Military and Veterans’ Affairs Interim Committee. This unique committee has traditionally not been political because advocacy on behalf of New Mexico’s veteran community is not a partisan issue. Unfortunately, under the new chairmanship of state Sen. Harold Pope (D-Albuquerque), this committee has become toxic, dysfunctional and — you guessed it — political.

I was looking forward to serving with Pope, who is retired from the Air Force. However, within just a few months, he has demonstrated his inability to be an effective leader, and it comes at a cost to New Mexico’s veterans. Instead of collaboratively working together on solutions and results for our veterans, Pope has decided to use his chairmanship to score cheap political points with his progressive base. Recently, he decided to promote a blatantly political letter attacking U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas Collins and, by extension, President Donald Trump. The letter was not listed on the meeting agenda, and we committee members were intentionally given very little time to even review the letter before the chairman forced a vote on it. Republicans saw right through his scheme, immediately recognizing the bias and unfounded claims contained in the letter. When we pushed back, Pope threw a temper tantrum and called for a vote despite our sincere request to merely review and propose changes to the letter. I’ve never seen anything like that before.

So at the next meeting, I decided to present my own letter for consideration. To no surprise, Pope threw another fit and denied the committee’s consideration of my letter, saying the matter was not on the agenda and that the letter was given to the members without sufficient notice. Sound familiar? Furthermore, he lacked any sense of proper decorum and displayed unprofessional and frankly childish behavior. You can watch the video for yourselves, but any New Mexican, especially veterans throughout our state, will see this conduct entirely unbecoming of a leader.

Were this not bad enough for a committee chairman, Pope is now seeking election as New Mexico’s next lieutenant governor. This role demands sensibility, patience, decorum and the ability to work with others, like the current lieutenant governor, Democrat Howie Morales.

These recent events have revealed that Pope cannot even properly conduct a meeting of a committee with approximately 10 members… how much less will he be able to preside over the entire New Mexico Senate or represent the diverse views of all New Mexicans?

As an elected leader and a veteran myself, I simply could not allow the public to remain uninformed about his leadership failures and the danger of giving him even more responsibility should he be elected to higher office. Instead, New Mexicans — and especially our honorable veterans — deserve fair and thoughtful leaders who will work toward solutions that benefit all New Mexicans.