MLG ousts GOP commissioner who dared challenge eco-left narrative

Far-left Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has abruptly removed Republican state Game Commissioner Sabrina Pack of Silver City in what many see as a politically motivated attack engineered by radical environmental groups.

Pack — appointed to the commission in 2024 to represent rural southwestern New Mexico — was informed Wednesday she was out, after left-wing activists at the Western Watersheds Project used public records requests to accuse her of a “conflict of interest” over her employer’s work on a marketing campaign supporting more flexible management of the federally protected Mexican gray wolf. Ironically, this comes after the governor appointed her own brother to be a regent at New Mexico Highlands University, a massive conflict of interest, which forced her brother, Greg Lujan, to withdraw.

The governor’s office offered vague allegations that Pack “failed to disclose a conflict of interest” and didn’t recuse herself from unspecified “pertinent votes,” according to spokesman Jodi McGinnis Porter. Notably, the administration has yet to identify a single actual commission vote on wolves.

“I did not take any votes related to Mexican wolf management and would have recused myself from future votes,” Pack told The New Mexican, adding her employment with SkyWest Media was discussed in detail with the governor’s office before her appointment. She stressed she is not an owner of the company and that her professional role is “entirely separate” from her volunteer service as commissioner.

Pack said she was “saddened” by the decision, noting her work to bridge divides on the contentious wolf issue: “I’ve worked really hard to listen to all sides… and really try to bring people together who are from opposing sides.”

The campaign in question — “Wolves Among Us” — aimed to highlight the real-life impacts of wolf reintroduction on rural residents through social media and video storytelling. Rural leaders say it sought to bring balance to a conversation long dominated by urban environmentalists and dark-money eco-groups like WildEarth Guardians.

Tom Paterson, president-elect of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, called Pack “an outstanding advocate to represent the voices of rural New Mexico” and rejected the idea she had any conflict. “There has never been a Game Commission vote on wolves,” Paterson said. “It’s clear… the wolf advocates don’t want the public to know what it’s like to actually live among wolves.”

Former commissioner Roberta Salazar-Henry — who served in Pack’s seat from 2019 to 2022 — also doubted the justification for removal: “I have a hard time believing that was so egregious to remove her… She’s a good commissioner. We liked her down here.”

The move comes just months after Lujan Grisham line-item vetoed a bipartisan provision in Senate Bill 5 that would have restricted the governor’s power to summarily remove commissioners. Lawmakers had sought to require “cause” such as incompetence, neglect of duty, or malfeasance. Without it, commissioners remain subject to the governor’s whim — a fact critics say the governor exploited to purge a Republican voice on the panel.

WildEarth Guardians wildlife program director Chris Smith, whose organization has taken extreme anti-grazing, anti-hunting stances, openly cheered the removal, citing his “red flag” concerns about Pack’s work. The group is part of the eco-left’s well-funded dark money network that has long targeted rural livelihoods under the banner of “wolf recovery.”

While the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — not the Game Commission — controls the wolf reintroduction program, Lujan Grisham’s decision ensures one fewer advocate for rural New Mexicans at the table. For many, it’s another example of the governor using her office to silence dissenting voices and reward the demands of radical environmental special interests.