From the Desk of Former Senator Dede Feldman
June 5, 2020
Dear Valley Friends, Neighbors and Conservancy Constituents,
Why Is It Urgent to Vote for Karen Dunning and Joaquin Baca for the Board of the MRGCD June 8?
Friends and neighbors have been asking me why I feel so strongly about the Conservancy District election. Here’s why:
14 years ago a group of us, including environmentalists, neighborhood folks and legislators were sick of the Conservancy District and its lack of accountability to urban rate payers (who pay 3/4 of the taxes) when it came to ditch walking, Bosque preservation, and lack of cooperation with city, state and frankly any other local authority. The priority was irrigated agriculture in Socorro, Valencia and Sandoval Counties. The attitude of the Conservancy was that it owned the river from levee to levee, controlled the Bosque and all ditches and acequias – the public be damned. Elections were well-guarded secrets, held at odd times; absentee ballots required notarization and, of course, only property owners were allowed to vote.
The Chief Engineer, Subhas Shah was the highest paid public official in the state, earning three times what the Governor earned. He continued working after retirement, becoming a “double dipper.” The Board was largely a rubber stamp of his decisions. There were constant lawsuits vs. environmentalists, with Board members feuding and suing one another. Legislators from the Valley introduced bills to defund the district and even abolish it. It was bad.
In 2007 after the district voted to turn back an urban trail project that it previously supported, reformers organized to activate valley residents—non-irrigators, ditch walkers and Bosque preservationists—who pay 2/3 of the district’s taxes but get little in return. We elected Adrian Oglesby and Karen Dunning to bring the district into the 20th century. In the following elections, with your help, other reformers were elected—John Kelly, an engineer, Joaquin Baca, a hydrologist, Barbara Baca, a trails and recreation specialist, and Stephanie Baca, a young women who is both a farmer and lawyer in Valencia County.
Karen and Joaquin’s opponents, Scooter Haynes and Julia Maccini, who are running as a bloc, have different skill sets. They come out of commercial real estate and small business. Their supporters in the development community oppose cooperation with environmental agencies. I fear they will take us backward, not forward, to the day when large commercial agriculture and developers had the ear of the district at the expense of a more balanced approach to managing tax dollars.
Together, Karen and Joaquin have put the district on a more stable, transparent and balanced path, with a new, professional engineer, a collaborative attitude and a drive to balance water use in a time of scarcity. They plan with other partners, all with an eye to conservation—of water, the Bosque, wildlife, and the preservation of our unique quality of life.
So friends, it’s urgent that you act to prevent the errors of the past.
Vote Tuesday June 8 for Karen Dunning in Position 3 and Joaquin Baca in Position 4
Last Day to Vote Early at the Los Ranchos City Hall or MRGCD District Office Saturday June 5
Polling Places June 8
Los Ranchos City Hall
MRGCD District Office, 1931 Second St. SW
Valley High School
Alameda Elementary
I couldn't disagree with you more, Dede, in your allegations regarding Julia Maccini and Scooter Haynes. Yes, I too experienced the bad old days, but to allege that Mr. Haynes and Ms. Maccini would somehow favor developers and "big ag" shows a lack of research on your part. I have known these two for nearly 20 years. Ms. Maccini is a lifelong Democrat but could not get even an interview with your state party. One of their major complaints against the incumbents is their lack of communication and transparency. It seems you have more in common with them than the incumbents who I heard on candidate night. Platitudes, little information. Mary Beth Libbey
Posted by: Mary Beth Libbey | June 05, 2021 at 04:15 PM