June 26, 2017
I take great umbrage by the attack on my integrity, regarding Latinx delegate appointments.
Here are the facts. Tony Affigne sent me two emails, which I mistakenly forgot about, asking to be appointed to the extra delegate role.
The first was on March 2, when he “volunteered to represent the caucus.” Screen shot follows. The screen shot is a “resend” because I neglected to answer his first email on March 1 with the same topic.
Darlene Elias (now the sole caucus co-chair) and I started to discuss the second delegate spot. I asked her if she had objection to appointing Damian Gonzales “for now.” We also appointed Darlene “for now.” Screen shot follows.
Then, Tony Affigne sent me another email on June 11, again asking to occupy the second delegate spot.
At this point, I realized I had forgotten completely about his first email, and I had also neglected to inform Darlene. Tony raised the issue that there should now be “elections,” but strangely enough, he was only concerned about replacing Damian. He was willing to accept my “authority” and the process, so long as he got to become the delegate. I assume he wanted to also appoint a new delegate for Rhode Island.
You can also see that I immediately offered to hold elections. The commitment for elections was made AS SOON AS the issue was raised.
Now, I don’t claim to have a really great process here, but several things are true in this situation:
- the caucus bylaws call for a steering committee of 9. At our last meeting in Houston, no one stepped forward to serve, understandably, because we’re all busy.
- because there were only Darlene and I, we comprised the steering committee.
- Every decision to appoint was made in full collaboration with my other steering committee member.
- I never suggested these appointments to be anything but temporary, partly because Tony is the one always agitating (rightly) that the caucus delegate votes.
It appears on the surface that Tony believes I acted without integrity and that I acted alone. Nothing could be further from the truth, and the only mistake I made here was completely forgetting he had asked me about being appointed delegate before. Note that he did not call for elections at the onset of his request. All along, he is satisfied with an appointment, and he’s even satisfied about serving with Darlene as an appointed delegate…but he isn’t satisfied when someone else had been appointed.
At this point, I have a resignation from the caucus altogether on the table. I have demanded an apology from Tony for the insinuation about my integrity.
My record of working on behalf of this caucus stands on its own. Not only was I the workhorse to finally get approval on the caucus, I have further accomplishments on behalf of the caucus, after having written the proposal for and lobbied to make caucus delegates permanent, after writing a proposal to remove caucus delegates from apportionment, and further, to provide provisional caucus status to caucuses in formation (I have punted that proposal over to the Diversity committee, as I am refusing authority any longer to act on behalf of Latinx).
I will be grateful for any support on the NC listserv from people who understand that I maintained integrity throughout this situation.
Andrea Mérida Cuéllar
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