I, ___, having been (appointed or elected) to the office of ___ in the (County of ___), State of New Mexico, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution and the laws of the State of New Mexico, and will faithfully discharge the duties of said office to the best of my abilities, so help me God.
County commissioner oath of office
The New Mexico County Commissioner Handbook,December 2022 Edition
Sierra county’s three commissioners; Travis Day, James Paxon and Hank Hopkins all spoke the words of oath to the constitutions of the United States and the State of New Mexico when they took office. Now they are proposing to sign ordinance 23-004 that will give them and all future commissions the right to decide which of the State laws will be enforced in Sierra County.
The entirety of the proposed ordinance is available below. The meat of the ordinance, however, is:
“Sierra County will not recognize nor enforce any State Law, Mandate or Order that violates or is contrary to, the provisions of the Enabling Act for New Mexico”. Further, “any Law, Mandate or Order issued by the Government of the State of New Mexico or agent thereof that is contrary to the Constitution of the United States is void and not enforceable within the boundaries of this County”
The enabling act for New Mexico was a 1910 act of the 61st United States Congress to “enable the people of New Mexico to form a constitution and state government and be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states”. With that act, the territory of New Mexico was given the authority to frame a constitution.
The constitution that resulted from the New Mexico constitutional convention was signed by delegates on November 21, 1910 and New Mexico became a state on Jan 6, 1912. Since enactment of the constitution the People of New Mexico have made numerous amendments. The original constitution and ALL subsequent amendments comprise the state constitution that elected officials make an oath to support.
The proposed resolution appears (the address in the first “whereas” is for Valencia county) to be cobbled from a similar resolution passed by Valencia county in October this year.
Sierra county residents will be given the opportunity to provide public comment on the proposed ordinance before the regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday December 19. Those comments may be presented orally at the public meeting or may be sent via email to county Manager Amber Vaughn (avaughn@sierraco.org) or Executive Assistant Jessica West (jwest@sierraco.org). Emails must be received in the manager’s office no later than 5:00 pm on Monday December 18. Those comments will be read into the record at the commission meeting.