RGF’s “Democracy Protection Pledge”

The Rio Grande Foundation is New Mexico’s pro-freedom, free market think tank. We believe in limited government and the rule of law. As such, we have had serious concerns about legislation and the use of said laws which have empowered our Governor to declare an emergency during the recent pandemic and act unilaterally in ways that have had significant, negative impacts on ALL New Mexicans, especially small businesses and school children.

Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in recent legislative sessions that would at least partially address the issue. Unfortunately those bills have received scant consideration in the Legislature. The Rio Grande Foundation holds the rule of law and separation of powers in high regard and believes that such concepts MUST be restored in New Mexico. Thus, we are asking candidates for the Legislature AND Governor to sign the following pledge that they will address the issue in substantive ways if they are elected.

The following is being circulated to candidates for the Legislature AND Governor:

“I commit to balancing power in future emergency declarations. This includes: restricting “emergencies” to a fixed period of time, clearly defining “emergency” in statute, and requiring majorities in both houses of the state legislature to approve extensions of any “emergency” declaration.”

Candidates can add their names here: http://rgfnm.com/pledge

We will be releasing the list of supporters well in advance of the June primary and then again before the November election.