The old days are just that — “the old days.”
When our elected officials realize those days of an iron-fisted dictator or one family, more politically powerful than most others, making decisions almost single-handedly and bestowing favoritism on their friends and families are part of a bygone era, then maybe Española and Rio Arriba County can grow and prosper.
We will see if an awakening is on the rise when at the next Rio Arriba County Commissioner’s meeting — which, according to the commission’s website, is scheduled for Oct. 26 at 3 p.m. — Rio Arriba County Commission meeting Chairman Alex Naranjo might be unseated as chairman. Commissioner Brandon Bustos has asked that an agenda item address whether or not Naranjo remains as chairman.
Naranjo has been running the county just like the old days when his uncle Emilio was practically a king, handing out patronage jobs and favors as if they were candy at Halloween. Alex has virtually taken over the waste authority which is still rotten to the core. He has been indicted for perjury by a grand jury empaneled to try to shine light on what should be called “waste mismanagement.”
He has brought back into county government the other person indicted for perjury in that probe, Tomas Campos. Some say he did that to keep a tight rein on Campos should New Mexico’s State Attorney Raul Torres ever get around to investigating the charges against the two men.
His uncle, Emilio, has been credited and remembered with being approachable and charismatic, along with powerful and sometimes vindictive. Those qualities and behavior worked back decades ago but with a demographic long gone in this county. Today the public is looking for intelligent governmental policies and an infrastructure that brings stability, growth and planning for improvements to life here. We need financial expertise in the city and county.
Naranjo has done nothing to help senior citizens, a desperate need here. When he took over as chairman a county nursing home project was in the works and bids were ready to be taken so construction could begin. There has been nothing done, and the project remains in limbo, stalled.
The new regime started downhill when Naranjo mastered the firing of then County Manager Lucia Sanchez, a person many say was the best and most qualified county manager the area has ever had. He then replaced her with Jeremy Maestas and the two have been like a wrecking ball on the staff, getting rid of persons in vital jobs, and replacing them with their cronies.
Is it possible our area and leaders — men — are afraid of smart and independent women leaders such as Lucia Sanchez?
And now Naranjo has sent Maestas adrift, blaming him for the Onate statue fiasco which has left one man shot at a courthouse demonstration two weeks ago and is in perilous health in the hospital. Once again many among us are at odds with one another in debates that have been waged for 400 years over land ownership and the role of Spanish rule back then.
Actually, the entire commission should be blamed for what was always a bad idea — putting the Onate statue in front of the courthouse. No one consulted the sheriff or engaged the Pueblos in the decision.
Leaving them out of the process paved the way for danger and opened the door for demonstrators from outside Rio Arriba to come here and disrupt an event that never even happened. Those folks blackened our eyes to the world one more time.
City and county government are archaic here.
Maestas, himself, in an email to the alleged gunman in the attack, wrote months ago that he and the commissioners were in favor of bringing the Onate statue out from mothballs.
He included all the commissioners in his email message.
The county has joined the city in showing how government is walking backwards. Budgets are a mess. Transparency does not exist. The city is being run much like the county. Already rumors are rampant that new administration at city hall is a throwback to the past. There is still no proof that a budget for the city sent to the state is feasible and workable. The council is made up of mostly men and women who are rubber stamps for a lousy, wobbly administration. There are amateurs everywhere and sense of a longer vision. Chaos reigns.
Even if there is change the county commission leadership, we still must be wary of those who try to build their own family dominance in local politics. Take a look at the make-up of our school board, and the Jemez Cooperative, the city council, and the commission. There are several people who serve on multiple boards and there are families who are all trying to gain power.
Jeremy Maestas is on the school board and running for re-election. Danielle Bustos is running. She works for the city. Her father, Manny, is on Jemez Cooperative, and her brother Brandon is on the county commission.
That’s the way it was in the old days, populate boards and commissions with family members.
And if those days are truly old then the voters in this city and council need to begin to bring us into the future at the polls and with the ballot box. Early balloting has begun. The general election is Nov. 7. Act now.
We need leaders and those leaders need to have vision and depth not just a need for power.