A young democratic man ask why is this such a big deal? It
was not as if he had sexually assault the young women. Yes, he had entered the personal
space of a young female state central committee member. As they say he had gotten in her face in a aggressive manner. He had been aggressive in demanding that she vote for him at the state central meeting. He had threatened
her by telling her that he would know her vote and that there would be negative
consequences to her actions once he was elected. He did this at a party where there were more then one witness to his behavior. Why could they not just work
it out in private with a disingenuous apology.
The act of making State Central Committee member’s votes
public was not so a candidate who wins could punish those who did not vote for
him or her. It was so the people who elected that person to the seat could then
hold them accountable. A young woman who steps forward to be active in the
party should never be threatened by a candidate. She should never be made to feel
threatened or fearful by a candidate.
A young man who does not understand what he did wrong has
some serious problems to overcome before he can be a good leader in the
Democratic Party. Somewhere and somehow he was not taught that being rude and
aggressive toward a woman in public was wrong and crossed a line when it comes
to social behavior. Young men do not understand that they cannot act in an
aggressive manner toward women their own age. Party leadership requires that
leaders not only treat all people with respect but they are humble in their
interactions with the State Central Committee members and the public in general.
I am not saying that we are all well behaved 100% of the
time when it comes to our interaction with other party members. We have all had
that moment when we disagree passionately with someone and feel very strongly
about the issue. We all must learn to forgive each other’s mistakes in a
reasonable amount of time. The problem arises when a candidate for the
leadership of our state party makes this same mistake more than once.
I myself saw him act in a not too kind manner toward a woman
who was calling out Hispanic names at the Bernalillo County Central Committee meeting.
Yes, it was offensive for her to continue to mispronounce Hispanic names of
county central committee members. The issue is there is always a more diplomatic
way to deal with situations. He should have gone to the new chairwomen unobtrusively
and ask that the women be given assistance with the process. To scream at the
poor women in front of all those people watching the count was discourteous and
not becoming of a young man who wants to help lead our party.
While Israel Chavez is not the worse human being in the
world now is not the time for him to become vice-chairman of the Democratic
Party of New Mexico. He first must learn the hard lesson of humility. He must
learn that being elected to a public seat means public service. You serve the
public and you are not entitled to demand anything from the people you are
asking to vote for you. You are never allowed to threaten a voter because they
might not support you but you can make a positive case for why you would be a
good person to vote for in the first place. And above all else he must learn to respect women and treat them with respect always.
