Achieving a Fair Political System Conference Santa Fe Community College April 28, 2018

Transcription

1 Achieving a Fair Political System Conference Santa Fe Community College April 28, 2018 Final Conference Report Contents Conference Overview Keynote Speaker Conference Program Conference Findings Conclusions Sponsored by New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics, The Max & Anna Levinson Foundation, New Mexico Highlands University and the Santa Fe Community College 1

2 Conference Overview Achieving a Fair Political System Conference Santa Fe Community College April 28, 2018 Final Conference Report On April 28, 2018, New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics (NMMOP) produced an all-day coalition building conference at Santa Fe Community College. The Max & Anna Levinson Foundation, New Mexico Highlands University and the Santa Fe Community College co-sponsored the event. The overwhelming influence of Big Money in our political system leaves the average citizen having little or no impact on public policy. Consequently, the mission of the Achieving a Fair Political System conference was to convene a broad spectrum of organizations and individuals to explore how New Mexicans can work together to remove the corrupting influence of money in politics, and achieve a fair political system that ensures our government equitably represents and serves all the people of our state. Approximately 100 people attended the conference. The attendees represented over 15 groups ranging from the Navajo Nation and the Albuquerque Tea Party to the New Mexico Indivisible Congress and New Mexico Open Primaries. Despite some challenges, which will be addressed later in this report, most conferees thought the conference was a success. Here are a few of their comments: Maria Perez, Director, Fair Vote New Mexico: my background in coalition building and collective impact have me agreeing with the approach of forging partnerships with unlikely partners, as long as all partners can truly get behind working together towards a common goal, no matter how narrow that goal may be Graham Bartlett, President, Albuquerque Tea Party: I thought the exchange of ideas was great I learned a lot. I think you and your team should be proud of yourselves for a job well done. Bob Perls, President, New Mexico Open Primaries: Keep up the good work and remember that if speakers don t challenge us and challenge your participants, then all we are doing is putting ourselves in an echo chamber where what we hear is only opinions with which we agree. 2

3 Keynote Speaker Doug Nickle, Director of Development for the Bridge Alliance, gave the keynote address: Building a Broad-based, Grassroots Coalition to Revive Democracy in New Mexico. Among his comments, he offered this valuable advice: 1) We must work together across traditional ideological lines to empower our fellow citizens to mitigate the influence of big money in politics; and 2) We must show a respectful willingness to engage with others in honest coalition building strategies. Nickle also offered an invaluable lesson for the attendees. That is, for true coalition building to occur, we must set aside our single-issue advocacy and focus on areas of agreement. He emphasized that we need to avoid the hot button issues that divide us. He did not, however, advocate that people give up their primary policy concerns. Rather, he explained that we must leave them at the door so we do not allow our differences to get in the way of working together on where we can agree. Nickle later commented, I honor and appreciate that many people have passionate opinions on specific issues, and I also know that we will not progress as a country if we only focus on those issues, especially if that focus prevents advancement in other areas. In an ironic illustration of the difficulty of adhering to Nickle s warning, a few conferees infringed on the alliance-building spirit of the conference by challenging him personally when they learned that he was a member of the NRA. One participant questioned how he could be a positive voice for bridging the divide between the NRA and those opposed to gun violence. During the afternoon plenary panel discussion, Nickle recounted these encounters and noted: I choose to find areas of commonality, and I leave it up to anyone to choose whether or not that is the right strategy for themselves. When I mentioned that I was a member of the NRA, it was only to sound a note of caution to those attending the conference that we can choose to continue the debilitating strategy of identity politics, or we can choose a different strategy of working together- on a human level- regardless of individual associations, memberships, positions on various policies, etc Overall Nickle was well received by the conference participants. He scored an average rating of 4.33 out of 5 from the 25% of conferees who returned their conference evaluation 3

4 forms. Moreover, following the conference Nickle concluded, I felt the conference was a success, with plenty of cause for optimism and excitement toward working together on many substantive issues facing New Mexicans- and our fellow Americans...I m confident that the goals of Saturday s conference can be met, regardless of any distracting single-issue advocacy groups. I sensed a real appetite for coalition building on Saturday, and I m hopeful that we can keep the momentum going. We must. Conference Program Following Nickle s remarks, the morning plenary panel, Big Money s Impact on New Mexico took the stage. (See attached conference program for the conference agenda with the list of panelists and breakout session leaders.) The panelists represented a wide variety of issue groups from the Indigenous People s Ecological and Environmental Policy to the Sierra Club to New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence. Their discussion addressed two issues: (1) How does Big Money impact each of their organization s ability to reach its goals? and (2) What can we do together to overcome the undue influence of Big Money on our organizations programs and New Mexico s political system, all while maintaining our effectiveness in our respective organizations or initiatives? Five breakout sessions on developing goals followed the morning panel. One panelist co-led each of the sessions with another community leader and a facilitator. The breakouts focused on the panel s second question noted above. Each session examined this issue from a different Initiative Area perspective: Education and Media, Local, State, National and Movement Building. While the morning program centered on goals, after lunch the emphasis shifted to strategies to achieve those goals. The afternoon panel consisted of leaders of organizations focused on democratic process issues like open primaries and campaign finance reform. The same breakout sessions from the morning s goal-setting sessions met again following this panel discussion to explore collaborative strategies to achieve a fair political system. The conference evaluations gave the two panels high marks, an overall rating of 4.25 out of 5 in the morning and 4.31 in the afternoon. While the panelists were informative, motivating and often inspiring, for the most part the morning panelists addressed how Big Money impacts their specific organizations, rather than how they could work together. As the keynote speaker had cautioned, the panelists had some difficulty moving beyond their single 4

5 issues and exploring collaboration to overcome the undue influence of Big Money, which they all agreed adversely affected their organizations efforts to accomplish their goals. The afternoon panel had an easier time of finding common ground as they were all working for the same basic purpose: improving the democratic process. They agreed that developing a coalition or alliance to achieve a fair political system would be a positive step forward. At least one conferee noted that the biggest takeaway from the conference was that coalitions and collaborations are more powerful and effective than divisive competition. Conference Findings The breakout sessions following the plenary panels provided the conferees and the panelists the opportunity to work together to develop specific goals and strategies. While conferees felt the facilitation of the breakout sessions could have been stronger and the connection between the morning and afternoon sessions could have been framed more clearly, they did find the sessions rewarding, giving them a good grade of 4.29 out of 5. The following is a summary of the main findings from the five breakout sessions. (Note: A number of participants attended different breakout groups in the morning and afternoon. This unanticipated lack of continuity resulted in perhaps more freedom and less structure than might have been.) A. Education and Media Initiatives 1. Goals a. Regular and consistent coverage in local media of the role of money in politics. b. All opinions and political groups covered by local media. c. Media literacy and critical thinking taught in every New Mexico school including a focus on money in politics. d. A mechanism to make dishonest politicians accountable. 2. Strategies a. Develop a single informational sheet in Spanish and English with political definitions and no editorializing for general distribution. b. Create a civic literacy campaign focused on local issues. c. Establish a constituent services office for each state representative district. 5

6 d. Conduct monthly community forums run by high school student governments to monitor politicians and issue scorecards to the media. 3. Follow up Five members of this breakout session agreed to continue meeting to work on strategy 2.d and possibly other strategies. If you are interested in working with this group, contact Hannah Burling at B. Local Initiatives 1. Goals a. As recommended by the Santa Fe Ethics and Campaign Review Board (ECRB), amend the Santa Fe public campaign-funding ordinance to allow candidates to receive private donations limited to $100 per donor, which would be matched 2 to 1 by the city s Public Campaign Finance Fund. b. Fund civic participation office for neighborhood engagement. 2. Strategies a. Educational outreach through pamphlets and postcards. b. Host public education forums on money in politics issues at churches and schools. c. Work with the ECRB to pass their proposed amendment. 3. Follow up a. Paul Biderman is a member of the ECRB, which is proposing the amendment to the city ordinance. Contact newmexico.mop@gmail.com if you would like to work with Paul and NM MOP in promoting this change to Santa Fe s Public Campaign-funding ordinance. b. Miguel Acosta is working on the civic participation office proposal. He may be reached at miguel@earthcarenm.org. C. State Initiatives 1. Goals a. Engage youth in the political process. b. Increase transparency and good governance. c. Prohibit lobbyists contributions to state legislators. d. Provide a salary for state legislators. e. Establish citizens referenda and recall. f. Increase voter participation. g. Establish independent redistricting commission. 6

7 2. Strategies a. Use social media as well as other media to engage youth and increase their participation. b. Work to pass SB 96 on campaign funding transparency in the state legislature. c. Keep people informed of legislative committee meetings on favored bills. d. Establish a cross-partisan task force to study open primaries in New Mexico. e. Re-submit and support legislation to establish automatic voter registration and an independent redistricting commission. f. Diversify leadership to include more youth, Native Americans and Hispanics. 3. Follow up a. Contact newmexico.mop@gmail.com if you want to work on these state initiatives. b. Contact Bob Perls, President, New Mexico Open Primaries, at perlsbob@gmail.com, to work on open primaries. c. Contact Paul Gibson, Co-founder, Retake Our Democracy, at paul@retakeourdemocracy.org, to work on increasing voter participation. D. National Initiatives 1. Goals a. Enactment of a 28 th Amendment to reverse Citizens United and related Supreme Court cases in order to limit campaign contributions and expenditures. b. Enactment of national popular vote for president. c. Enactment of proportional representation in presidential elections. 2. Strategies a. Coordinate grassroots efforts with national efforts to promote constitutional amendment. b. Create contact list of group leaders to allow networking among organizations. c. Voter education and access to enhance engagement and turnout. d. Develop messaging to engage more people in the political process. e. Identify common trends and goals among groups to develop more inclusive messaging. 3. Follow up a. Sheila Burns from Wolf-PAC will co-ordinate meetings between groups. Contact her at sheburnz@gmail.com. b. John House (sfjhouse@me.com) will co-ordinate the effort for NM MOP. 7

8 E. Movement Building 1. Goals a. Improve civic education and engagement in schools and among groups. b. Facilitate collaboration by improving communication among groups. c. Support policies that expand voter participation, e.g. automatic voter registration. d. Form an alliance for a fair political system among groups seeking to improve our democratic process. 2. Strategies a. Facilitate small group discussions. b. Reach out to other groups by attending their events and inviting them to your events. c. Move beyond identity politics. d. Advocate for civics education at school board meetings. e. Create a social media platform to bring groups together and build consensus. f. Expand radio program in Albuquerque that gives voice to marginalized groups. g. Advocate for sister schools in New Mexico to reach tribal groups and other underserved populations. h. Lobby for automatic voter registration in the state legislature. 3. Follow up a. Convene meeting to build an alliance. b. Contact newmexico.mop@gmail.com if you wish to work on building a movement or alliance for a fair political system. Conclusions The Achieving a Fair Political System conference initiated a process for New Mexicans from across the political spectrum to work together to remove the corrupting influence of money in politics and ensure our government equitably represents and serves all the people of our state. The conference succeeded in identifying many worthwhile common goals and strategies along with various means of continuing the effort following the conference. Consequently, a number of the political reform organizations represented at the conference are planning to meet to develop the foundation for an alliance for a fair political system. 8

9 At the same time, the conference exposed challenges in the coalition-building process, which must be addressed if New Mexicans are to work together and achieve a fair political system: 1. Greater preparation and relationship building are required to develop a strong, ongoing coalition. More extensive relationship building prior to the conference might have ensured that all participating organizations were fully committed to focusing on the specific goal of how to collaborate to build a fair political system. We cannot assume that all people and organizations are ready to effectively work together and stay focused on areas of commonality just because they agree to participate in a conference. 2. Single-issue groups and democratic process organizations are not readily compatible collaborators in this work because their emphases are very different. Therefore, it may be best to initially bring only political reform groups together since they are all working on changes in the political process. Once the political reform groups have agreed on a framework for a fair political system, then single-issue groups may be better able to join in this effort as, hopefully, it will become more clear to them how supporting such a framework would increase the likelihood of success with their particular issues. Nevertheless, for effective collaboration, once included, these groups must commit to leaving their single issues at the door. Ongoing facilitation may be necessary to maintain the critical focus of this work. 3. While the breakout sessions produced important goals and strategies, stronger guidance and facilitation are required to keep participants focused on the task at hand. Firm ground rules and highly skilled facilitators can help attendees stay on track and not lose sight of their common purpose. A stronger emphasis on continuity, i.e. having attendees stick with one initiative area for both morning and afternoon sessions might have strengthened the process. 4. Greater diversity among the conferees in terms of ethnicity, age and political ideology might have added to the effectiveness of the conference. While the conference succeeded in convening panels with a good amount of diversity, the conference organizers needed more lead time to expand their outreach efforts to encourage more minorities, youth and a broader range of political groups to attend the conference. 5. More time needs to be allotted for networking among the conferees and interacting with the panelists. A rich part of any conference is the informal discussions in the halls where people get to know each other better and exchange ideas. 9

10 Overall, the conference was a success despite the fact that it was an initial effort with a few missteps. Building relationships is a critical first component that takes time. Thus, a smaller group of democratic reform groups will convene to begin developing the foundation for an alliance for a fair political system. These groups should be chosen carefully in order to reflect the diversity of the New Mexico community. Once such an alliance has developed an agreed framework, it will expand to reach other groups. Finally, New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics and the other conference sponsors are very grateful for the time and energy everyone put into this project. We are especially thankful for the tremendous efforts of the conference organizing committee: Hannah Burling, Robert Cordingley, Herb Faling, Debra Helper and Gregg Manoff. We see this gathering of interested and passionate New Mexicans as a positive beginning, and look forward to growing, learning and continuing with the important work of building effective relationships and working together in coalition on our common goals in an ever-stronger alliance. Bruce Berlin, President New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics Chair, Conference Organizing Committee July 19,

11 Achieving a Fair Political System Building a Grassroots Coalition To Revive Our Democracy April 28, 2018 Santa Fe Community College Santa Fe, NM Sponsored by; New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics, The Max & Anna Levinson Foundation, New Mexico Highlands University, Santa Fe Community College 11

12 Saturday Morning Agenda 8:00 am Registration 8:30 am Welcome by Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber 8:35 am Opening Remarks Bruce Berlin, President, New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics (NMMOP) 8:45 am Keynote Address Doug Nickle, Director of Development, Bridge Alliance: Building a Broad-based, Grassroots Coalition to Revive Democracy in New Mexico 9:15 am Q & A 9:30 am Panel Discussion Big Money s Impact on New Mexico Moderator: Bruce Berlin President, NMMOP Panelists: Issues: 10:20 am Q & A 10:35 am Break Miguel Acosta Lead Organizer, New Energy Economy; Co-director, Earth Care Camilla Feibelman Director, Rio Grande Chapter, Sierra Club Eric Griego State Director, New Mexico Working Families Party; Fellow, Center for Health Policy, University of New Mexico Donna House Navajo Consultant for Indigenous Peoples Ecological and Environmental Policy Miranda Viscoli Co-president, New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence 1. How does Big Money impact your organization s ability to reach its goals? 2. What can we do together to overcome the undue influence of Big Money on our organizations programs and New Mexico s political system while maintaining our effectiveness in our respective organizations or initiatives? 10:50 am Breakout Sessions Developing Goals Issue: What goals can we agree to work on collaboratively to overcome the undue influence of Big Money on our programs, our organizations, our government and the political process in order to create a fair political system in New Mexico? The following breakout sessions will address this issue in their respective Initiative Areas: A. Education and Media Initiatives Room 410 Camilla Feibelman, Sierra Club and Bianca Sopoci-Belknap, Earth Care/New Energy Economy B. Local initiatives Cafeteria Lounge Miguel Acosta, Earth Care/New Energy Economy and Rev. Gail Marriner, Santa Fe Unitarian Church C. State Initiatives - Room 412 Miranda Viscoli, New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence and Colin Baillio, Health Action New Mexico D. National Initiatives - Room 414 Donna House, Navajo Consultant and Michele Korri, New Mexico Indivisible Congress E. Movement-building initiatives Jemez Room Eric Griego, New Mexico Working Families Party and Graham Bartlett, Abq. TEA Party 12:00 pm Lunch 12

13 Saturday Afternoon Agenda 1:10 pm Panel Discussion Achieving a Fair Political System to Revive Our Democracy Moderator: Panelists: Issues: 2:05 pm Q & A 2:20 pm Break Rebecca Álvarez, PhD New Mexico Highlands University, NMMOP Board of Directors Viki Harrison Executive Director, Common Cause New Mexico Doug Nickle Director of Development, Bridge Alliance Maria Perez Director, Fair Vote New Mexico John House Co-chair, 28th Amendment Comm., NMMOP Board of Directors Bob Perls Founder and President of the Board of Directors, New Mexico Open Primaries 1. What are we doing to achieve a fair political system? 2. What strategies can we employ in collaboration to achieve a fair political system? 2:35 pm Breakout Sessions (con t) Developing Strategies to Achieve Our Goals Issue: What strategies can we employ in collaboration to achieve a fair political system in New Mexico? Breakout sessions will continue working together to develop effective strategies for implementing the goals they set in their respective Initiative Areas in the morning. A. Education and Media Initiatives Room 410 Maria Perez, Fair Vote New Mexico and Dr. James Webster, New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence B. Local initiatives Cafeteria Lounge Viki Harrison, Common Cause New Mexico and Tom Taylor, Abq. TEA Party C. State Initiatives Room 412 Paul Gibson, Retake Our Democracy and Bob Perls, New Mexico Open Primaries D. National Initiatives Room 414 John House, NMMOP and Sheila Burns, Wolf-PAC New Mexico E. Movement-building initiatives Jemez Room Doug Nickle, Bridge Alliance and Kendra Pinto, Navajo Community Organizer, Dine Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment 3:45 Plenary: Where Do We Go From Here? 4:30 pm Close of Conference 13

14 Speakers and Panelists' Bios Miguel Angel Acosta, Lead Organizer, New Energy Economy; Co-director, Earth Care. Miguel has been community organizing with underserved populations for over 40 years. A former Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education member, he helped establish The Community Schools Partnership. Rebecca Álvarez, PhD, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice, New Mexico Highlands University, and a member of the board of directors of New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics. Her work on representation in social movements has appeared in Critical Sociology, among other publications. Colin Baillio, Director of Policy and Communications, Health Action New Mexico. Colin s policy areas include Medicaid, affordability, prescription drug prices and dental care. He is a former Fred Harris Congressional Intern and temporary Legislative Correspondent for US Senator Martin Heinrich. Graham Bartlett, President, Albuquerque TEA Party. Graham is a partner in Integrated Quality Group. He worked at Sandia National Labs for the last 15 years as a contractor assisting them in quality, production, and inventory management systems. Bruce Berlin J.D., Founder and President of New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics. Author of Breaking Big Money s Grip on America, Bruce previously served as a senior ethics attorney with the New Mexico Public Education Department. He is a former Peace Fellow with the U.S. Institute of Peace. Sheila Burns, Wolf-PAC New Mexico Organizer. A former private sector financial manager, Sheila is the owner of Account Ability, a business consulting firm. She also has served as a board member and volunteer advocate for the Solace Crisis Treatment Center. Camilla Feibelman, Director, Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club. Former National Director of the Sierra Student Coalition and Deputy Press Secretary for Diversity Programs, Camilla was a 1998 Fulbright Scholar. In 2014, she was appointed to the Udall Foundation s Board of Trustees by President Obama. Paul Gibson, Co-founder of Retake Our Democracy, an organization designed to support advocacy at state and local levels. Previously he co-founded SantaFe4Bernie and Retake the Roundhouse, where he partnered with Working Families Party, Progressive Democrats of America and other grassroots groups. Eric Griego, State Director, New Mexico Working Families Party and a Fellow at the Center for Health Policy at UNM. Eric is a former Albuquerque City Councilman and New Mexico State Senator, where he sponsored among other measures, a one-year ban on lobbying after serving in the legislature. Viki Harrison, Executive Director, Common Cause New Mexico. Viki directed several major reforms: leading the coalition to make New Mexico the first state to pass a bi-partisan fix to public financing laws; passing and effecting online voter registration; and becoming the 2nd state to oppose the Citizens United ruling. Donna House, Consultant and Researcher for Indigenous People s ecological and environmental policy. Donna works to protect Indigenous People s health and ecosystems locally and nationally. She was a key designer of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington. 14

15 Speakers and Panelists' Bios John House J.D., Co-chair, 28th Amendment Committee, New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics (NMMOP) and member of the Board of NMMOP. A semi-retired attorney, John is a Local Leader for American Promise and a participant in its Writing the 28th Amendment" Project. Michele Korri, New Mexico Indivisible Congress Leadership Team, the statewide organizing group for Indivisible. Michele has served as an organizing model facilitator for an Indivisible training workshop and continues to study and practice values-based organizing. Rev. Gail Marriner, Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Santa Fe for the past 7 years. She is past president of the Interfaith Leadership Alliance. Doug Nickle, Director of Development, the Bridge Alliance, and founder and Executive Director for Dare To Be United, a nonprofit organization focused on increasing citizen engagement in creating a more responsive government. He also founded Make California Count, an Electoral College reform organization. Maria Perez, Director, Fair Vote New Mexico, a non-profit organization seeking to make democracy fair and more representative. Maria is an organizer, facilitator, health care practitioner, advocate, coalitionbuilder and firm believer in the power of people coming together to address complex social problems. Bob Perls, Founder and President of the Board, NM Open Primaries, and Senior Vice President at Visual Health Solutions. As a former NM state representative, Bob worked to create rural jobs in renewable energy. He also served as a U.S. Diplomat in Germany, Canada, Pakistan and The Gambia. Kendra Pinto, Navajo Community Organizer with Dine Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment. Kendra has addressed the adverse impacts of natural resource extraction felt by her community with members of Congress in Washington and the Bureau of Land Management. Bianca Sopoci-Belknap, Co-director, Earth Care and Associate Director of New Energy Economy. Bianca works with young people of color, low-income youth and their families to organize for their rights and the protection of the Earth. Bianca is the former Chair of the Sustainable Santa Fe Commission. Tom Taylor, Albuquerque Tea Party Board of Directors; President, Thermogenics, Inc. A businessman who holds numerous patents, Tom developed an advanced waste to energy system and a water treatment system that promise to produce fresh water with a great reduction in costs of operation and performance. Miranda Viscoli, Co-president of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence. Miranda has worked with schools, school boards, police departments, legislators and city councils to implement gun violence prevention measures. She serves as a regional board member for States United Against Gun Violence. Alan Webber, Mayor of Santa Fe. Founder of One New Mexico and the business magazine, Fast Company, Alan has served as a policy advisor to Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis and as Special Assistant to Secretary of Transportation Neil Goldschmidt in the Carter administration. James Webster, MD, MS, MACP, New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence Board of Directors. As President of the Chicago Board of Health, Jim helped reduce gun violence and improved health coverage for minority populations. He also was Executive Director of the Chicago Institute of Medicine. 15