BY MARK MITCHELL
Los Alamos
Democrat Melanee Hand is seeking re-election to Los Alamos County Council. Regardless of your political beliefs, sending Hand back to our County Council would be a huge mistake. Here in Los Alamos County, both the local Democratic Party and the local Republican Party rely on their state party platforms, or stated values. According to the New Mexico State Democratic Party Platform (https://www.nmdemocrats.org/platform):
“Every American, especially people of color, women, and other marginalized communities, has the right to a job that provides for adequate food, housing, clothing, health care, recreation, and protection from the economic fears of old age, illness, or accidents.”
It goes on to state that they affirm that:
“All jobs must pay a living wage.”
According to the values espoused by the Republican Party of New Mexico (https://newmexico.gop/about-rpnm/ ), regarding economic freedom:
“Republicans support government policies that do not limit what Americans can achieve economically by placing unnecessary and burdensome regulations on American Businesses.
Republicans view the enactment of a minimum wage as burdensome to American
business.
At the time of this writing, the MIT Living Wage Calculator
(https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/35028) lists the minimum living wage of a single wage earner in Los Alamos County having no children as being $25.29 per hour. Currently, established at the state level, the minimum wage in Los Alamos County is $12.00 per hour.
This rate falls well short of a living wage in Los Alamos County. Also according to this calculator, the living wage of a two wage earner family in Los Alamos County having no children is $17.37 ($34.74/2) per hour, with both members working.
This rate is lower than that for a single wage earner due in part to the fact that the expense of housing is shared by two individuals. Again, the current minimum wage in Los Alamos County falls well short of a living wage. On February 6, 2024, the Los Alamos County Council considered raising the local minimum wage to $15.00 per hour
(https://ladailypost.com/council-votes-down-proposed-minimum-wage-increase/).
However, a motion to implement this rise incrementally over time was defeated 4 to 3. The four county council members that voted against raising the minimum wage were Theresa Cull [D], Melanee Hand [D], Keith Lepsch [D], and David Reagor [R].
In the months leading up to this vote, several letters were written to the County Council sharing the writer’s views on raising the minimum wage. One such instance, dated February 5, 2024, was authored by a member of the local Republican Party. In it, she wrote:
“The vast majority of our workforce is paid far above minimum wage. This proposed hike specifically targets those small business owners who cannot afford the additional payroll expenses and lower-skilled workers who are at risk of having their hours cut or losing their jobs. It would all but guarantee no future business owners would buy Daniel’s Cafe or Ruby K’s, if and when she sells. It’s embarrassing to think we’ll have an increase in our visitors due to the Oppenheimer movie in the coming months and we have no place for them to eat!
“When I moved here from Texas in 1990, I thought Los Alamos was the most horrible place I’d ever been. But today what we have business wise is nothing compared to what we had in 1990. I won’t bore you with the list of businesses we have lost here. County Council members, you are obviously not business owners. Please stop hampering our businesses in Los Alamos.”
On February 6, 2024, Councilor Hand responded as follows:
“I understand what you are saying and my husband is a business owner in Los Alamos, who shares your sentiment. His family have been business owners in Los Alamos too since the 1980’s and we have seen the change in Los Alamos over the decades. I thank you for taking the time to write to Council on this important issue.”
Councilor Melanee Hand has a financial interest in a local business. I think that by voting for or against this hike, Councillor Hand violated the Los Alamos County Charter with respect to conflicts of interest. The Charter states:
“Any elected official, county employee, committee member or advisory board member who has a financial interest in the outcome of any policy, decision, or determination shall not vote or act on the issue in which he has an interest.”
To make matters worse, back on October 4, 2022, during a question & answer session with then candidate for County Council Hand, conducted by the Los Alamos Daily Post
(https://ladailypost.com/daily-post-qa-with-council-candidate-melanee-hand/ ), she was
asked:
“Do you think you have any personal or professional relationships that could become a
conflict of interest while serving as a Council member?”
To which, candidate Hand responded:
“I am associated with two small manufacturing and machining businesses in Los Alamos County and this information has been disclosed to the County Human Resources department as required. I conduct ethical behavior and understand what conflicts of interest are since I was involved in many ethics’ trainings at LANL and through the planning profession (American Planning Association). I will disclose any potential COI as subjects come up and recuse myself of any decision making in those situations. I am sensitive that it is the optics as well as the reality that drive public opinion.” [emphasis added]
I think that by voting on an issue in which Councilor Hand knew that she had a financial interest not only violated our county charter, she violated her promise to us voters to recuse herself from such decisions. This appears to prove that she doesn’t conduct ethical behavior and that she doesn’t care one iota about the optics of such behavior.
Councilor Hand is running for reelection to the county council as a Democrat. If you agree with the State Democratic Party Platform, that all jobs must pay a living wage, I ask that you please do not vote to reelect Councilor Hand. Instead, consider voting for Democrats Joseph Granville, and/or Steven Lynne. If on the other hand you agree with the State Republican Party values, that enacting a minimum wage equates to placing unnecessary and burdensome regulations on American Businesses, you could vote to reelect Councilor Hand, but I believe that you will be much happier voting for an actual Republican candidate. For instance, consider voting for Republicans Jason Chappel, and/or Eric Stromberg instead.
Regardless of your political views on raising the minimum wage in Los Alamos County, the citizens of Los Alamos County deserve to have ethical county council members that keep their promises to us voters. It is time to hold Councilor Hand accountable for her actions. The only logical action for us voters to take in this situation is to give Councilor Hand the Boot!
Editor’s note: The Los Alamos Reporter has not fact-checked the contents of this letter.