Late on Friday night, the New Mexico House Rules Committee met to hash out new rules for the 2021 Legislative Session, with Democrats claiming COVID-19 warranted a complete overhaul of the years-long grandfathered-in procedures.
However, Democrats, hungering for more power, did not budge in ther rules changes of forcing members of the chamber to go through their party leadership to make a point of order, forcing all members to be on Zoom, despite Republicans being in the chamber. At the same time, Democrats refused to remain there, and a completely virtual online voting system, which Democrat Speaker Brian Egolf insisted was “doubly encrypted.”
During the debate late Friday night, Republican Leader Rep. Jim Townsend (R-Artesia), said “The majority is hesitant for the public to see the optics of the minority on the House floor doing what they were elected to do and the other side of the chamber empty,” adding, “That is the real issue.” He said the move was to “fool the public” since Egolf’s Democrat members were refusing to stay on the House floor for debate.
Triggered by Townsend’s words, Egolf claimed he was “dangerously close” to “denouncing the reputation of other legislators,” despite not much of a reputation to uphold after Egolf has repeatedly corrupted the House chamber for his own political gain, repeatedly ramming through radical left-wing legislation despite House rules forbidding these practices.
“There’s nothing embarrassing about empty Democratic seats on the floor,” Egolf interjected, claiming, “That’s something we should be proud of.”
One far-left member, Rep. Daymon Ely (D-Albuquerque), claimed it was “dangerous” for legislators to show up to do their jobs on the House floor. He said, “The more members that are on the floor and the longer they are on the floor, the more dangerous it becomes.”
Democrat Leader Sheryl Stapleton added to the fear-mongering, saying, “Maybe some of us will end up with COVID,” and “Some of us, or one or two of us, may end up dead as a result of being in that room.”
Republican Whip Rep. Rod Montoya (R-Farmington) quipped, “The ones not on the floor are the ones acting responsibly.”
Democrats are likely to ram through as many left-wing partisan policy items this 60-day legislative session as possible, including abortion up-to and after birth, legalized recreational marijuana, assisted suicide, new “terrorism” definitions, higher taxes, more handouts private businesses will be forced for fork over, among other things.
Here’s an example of Hosue Speaker Brian Egolf’s actions as speaker:
Has the fence surrounding the capitol been taken down yet or is it there in anticipation of backlash from some surprise the Democratic controlled legislature has in store for New Mexicans?