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Messing with minority voting rights is no small thing
Michael Corwin
If Steve Cabiedes or Cara Valente-Compton can show our facts are wrong about his voter ID lawsuit, then we will make the necessary corrections.
“Shadowy group,” “smear campaign” – phrases uttered by Susana Martinez, her political team and the N.M. GOP whenever Independent Source PAC exposes their wrongdoing.
Now Cara Valente-Compton, primary opponent to Sheryl Williams Stapleton for HD 19, is using the same Republican language to attack ISPAC.
Valente-Compton also called dedicated, effective Democratic legislators “status quoers”—another phrase straight out of Martinez’s GOP messaging machine.
This is not surprising when considering that her campaign manager, Steve Cabiedes, knowingly and willingly joined with Republicans to engage in voter suppression of minorities and financially disadvantaged voters.
Those voters he tried to keep from the polls uniformly support Democratic issues such as protecting working families and minority voter rights.
There is no other way to spin his actions.
Show that our facts are wrong
Cabiedes initiated his lawsuit of his own free will, knowing that his actions would harm Democrats. The court documents are posted right here on our website for anyone to read.
No Democrat should forget that Cabiedes targeted groups such as ACORN, America Votes and Moving America Forward. These groups were dedicated to increasing minority voter registration and turnout.
Cabiedes joined forces with a Republican who constantly cried “voter ID fraud” because he viewed such allegations as the best “wedge issue” Republicans have to undermine Democrat votes.
This same Republican forced out David Iglesias, a Republican, who refused to participate in finding voter fraud where there was none.
If Cabiedes or Valente-Compton can show our facts are wrong about his voter ID lawsuit, then we will make the necessary corrections.
A strong advocate
Williams Stapleton has been a strong advocate for all minority voters.
Williams Stapleton serves on the advisory board of Emerge, a group dedicated to encouraging women to run for office. Valente-Compton is a graduate of that program. Why choose to run against a board member of the same group who is also the highest-ranking woman Democratic legislator?
Cara Valente-Compton has complained that our literature is a personal attack on her. However, anyone who has read our literature will clearly understand that it is not a personal attack against her at all.
But there are legitimate questions that need to be asked: Does Valente-Compton know about Cabiedes’ actions in targeting minority voters, yet chooses to work with him anyway? Or is she so politically inexperienced that did she simply does not know about his past efforts to harm minority voters and working families?
Cara Valente-Compton must know all about Susana Martinez’s attacks on Sheryl Williams Stapleton. No other Democratic legislator has been attacked so hard by Martinez.
This is because Williams Stapleton has the political experience to use her position as majority whip to keep Martinez’s anti-working family and anti-public education agenda from moving forward.
The bottom line
Yet rather than supporting Williams Stapleton, as all Democrats should, Valente-Compton is echoing Susana Martinez’s attacks in her campaign against Williams Stapleton.
In doing so, doesn’t it appear that Valente-Compton is helping Susana Martinez weaken one of the strongest voices for working families and public education?
Michael Corwin is the executive director of Independent Source PAC and a licensed private investigator.
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The bottom line is Stapleton should have resigned from her seat months ago. This article is horrendously hypocritical in the fact that it advocates for someone that has “been a strong advocate for minority voters.” Yes she has – only when it seems to benefits herself.
Her comments about Martinez were reprehensible. You cannot pick and choose when you want to be pro-minority yet turn around and racially smear someone when they do not agree with you on the issues. Susana Martinez never attacked Stapleton – it was the other way around. It makes you wonder if Emerge would have encouraged Susana Martinez when she was a young Hispanic girl who had aspirations of public service to follow her dreams. Perhaps not if they would have known she would be a Republican.
The issue here is that even the most die-hard liberals (Valente-Compton said she was herself) are sick and tired of the status quo that people like Stapleton and others have given New Mexicans in the legislature. It is not about political ideology, it is about the behavior of Stapleton and her cronies. This is the reason why many veteran Majority members of the legislature have been “primaried” by fellow Democrats. I would venture to say that I would personally never support the issues that Valente-Compton advocates for; but I applaud her for taking on Stapleton.
Mr. Corwin, your comment that “all Democrats should” support Williams Stapleton is disturbing. Nobody should have to do anything. That is why we have a democracy.
The website says:
“Independent Source Pac investigates and exposes the hypocrisy and corruption of conservative political candidates, office holders and interest groups. We speak directly to the people bringing forward hard hitting evidence in document and video format because politicians and office holders must be held accountable to all people, not just a “special few”. We operate as an independent expenditure committee and do not coordinate with any campaign, candidate committee or party committee.
Michael Corwin, Executive Director and Lead Researcher.
Michael Corwin has worked as a professional investigator since 1988. He operates the Albuquerque, New Mexico firm Corwin Research & Investigations, LLC. Since 2002, Corwin has provided investigative services in over 150 political races on behalf of Democratic candidates running in local, statewide, congressional and presidential races. In 2004, Corwin ran for the New Mexico State House of Representatives. Using his investigative skills Corwin significantly outperformed the historic Democratic candidate performance by double digit percentage against a candidate who raised five times the money.”
So carefully worded, amazing.