Friday January 8th, 2021

Chairman Steve Pearce

Republican Party of New Mexico

5150-A San Francisco NE

Albuquerque, NM 87109

(steve@gopnm.org, anissa@gopnmnm.org)

Dear Chairman Pearce,

Given the dangerous and incendiary situation now engulfing our nation, Common Cause New Mexico is calling upon you, as the leader of the Republican Party of New Mexico, to renounce the behavior of Republican County Commissioner and founder of Cowboys for Trump, Couy Griffin, and other Republican officials who threaten violence to overthrow both national and state governments.

In recent days Commissioner Griffin, a participant in Wednesday’s disgraceful mob action in DC, has used social media to encourage more violence at the inauguration ceremony on January 20th, invoking Second Amendment rights to bring arms to the event and indicating that, “we will do anything to get our country back” and threatening to, “unleash a whirlwind.”

“Keep your powder dry for January 20^th,” he said in a Facebook video broadcast to thousands of people. “It’s going to be a sad day because there is going to be blood running out of that building (the Capitol).”

We hope that the Republican Party of New Mexico does not endorse such insurrectionary rhetoric and will clearly signal to its members that it values the preservation of our democratic system based on the rule of law, not upon the action of mobs inspired by rumors and conspiracy theories.

To remain silent is to be complicit.

Sincerely,

Heather Ferguson

Executive Director

Common Cause New Mexico