Sandoval County, New Mexico, commissioners are speaking out about the uncivil behavior at their meetings often caused by election deniers, many of whom have recently made alarming statements during public comment periods.
“You’ve all committed treason,” said Joshua James, an Albuquerque resident, as he addressed the commissioners at a meeting in December, KRQE reported. “In fact, this man right here should have arrested you already for not obeying the laws on the books as you certified a fraudulent election.”
Sandoval County commissioners would like to move forward rather than address an election that is not disputed.
“I’m very concerned that we’re not able to focus on the business at hand that we need to be able to take care of because we are distracted by what is an onslaught,” Commissioner, Katherine Bruch, told KRQE.
James’s comments appeared to suggest that the commissioners deserved some form of violent punishment for doing their jobs.
“You’re blessed that the people here don’t know the Constitution very well because you should all be dragged out of your offices and taken down to the town square and handled exactly as the Constitution explains,” James said.
Anne Brady-Romero, the county clerk, said these comments are alarming especially with the recent violent attacks on homes and offices of other local elected leaders.
“The threat of taking us to the town square was concerning to me,” she said.
Despite any worries Brady-Romero may have, she said elected officials refuse to allow threats to deter them from doing their jobs.
“They want to instill fear in everyone so we can just throw up our hands and say we give up,” she said. “We’re not going to. We’re not going to give up. We’re going to do our job, the job that we’ve been elected to do.”
Bruch said physical threats are not acceptable.
“We will do everything we can to make sure the voices of all of our residents are heard,” she said. “But anyone who is behaving in that aggressive, threatening manner should not be allowed to continue.”
Brady-Romero said she lost staff members after they say they were mistreated during elections, according to KRQE. Sandoval County commissioners plan to review and discuss the rules on aggressive behavior.
