CONTACT: Whitney Potter (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003, Cell (505) 507 9898
ALBUQUERQUE, NM—The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico sued NM Senator Rod Adair today for denying Roswell resident Virgil Beagles his lawful right to attend legislative hearings during New Mexico’s recent legislative session. The suit was filed in federal court.
On February 16, 2007, Adair verbally accosted Beagles as he sat in a hallway of the Capitol building, yelling and pointing his finger at Beagles and demanding that Beagles exit the building. At Adair’s insistence, Senate security prohibited Beagles from entering the Senate side of the Roundhouse and from attending committee hearings on bills that were of special interest to him.
“Senator Adair clearly misunderstands his power as a legislator if he thinks he can boot whomever he wants out of the Roundhouse,” said ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson. “No one--not a legislator, not the Governor, not even the President--has the authority to interfere with a citizen’s right to legally participate in the political process. This case should remind Senator Adair, and any other legislator who would behave similarly, that the Constitution trumps their ability to pick and choose who lobbies and who doesn’t during the legislative session.”
Beagles makes little secret of his antipathy towards Republican politicians in the Roswell area. He regularly authors letters to the editor in the Albuquerque Journal and the Roswell Daily Record criticizing Adair for his political positions. At a June 6, 2006 Democratic Party function, Beagles told Chavez County Commissioner Alice Eppers that she was not welcome at the table where he was sitting, prompting Eppers to file a report with Roswell police falsely alleging that Beagles threatened her.
In his tirade against Beagles, Adair called Beagles an “evil person” who had “threatened a County Commissioner.”
To Beagles’ knowledge, the Roswell police never pursued the complaint.
Simonson said, “Party politics may provide the backdrop to this case, but a bigger principle lies at its heart: the right of every citizen to express themselves without fear of retaliation. Senator Adair interfered with that guarantee and we’re going to see that Mr. Beagle’s rights are restored.”
Cooperating attorney for the ACLU of New Mexico F. Michael Hart and ACLU of New Mexico Staff Attorney George Bach are litigating the case.
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