Corona Insanity in New Mexico

By Charles Sullivan

Recently, I was hiking with four friends in the Sandia Mountains, just east of Albuquerque. I didn't think about it at the time, but because there were five of us, technically, we were a "mass gathering" under one of New Mexico's many Wuhan virus public health orders. Had the hike taken place on state or private land, we could have been subject to a whopping fine of $5,000 each. Fortunately, the hike took place on federal land, so the state public health order did not apply.

How did N.M. arrive at a point where hikers in the woods could be subject to a $5,000 fine if there were five or more of them on non-federal land?

The Wuhan virus crazy season officially began in N.M. on March 11, 2020, when its diminutive governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham (MLG), signed an executive order declaring a public health emergency. As New Mexicans would soon discover, in 2003, its Democrat-controlled state Legislature and its Democrat governor, Bill Richardson, had created a surprise for their residents. That surprise came in the form of a statute (NMSA 12-10A-5) that provided that the governor, and the governor alone, has the power to declare a public health emergency and to keep that public health emergency order in effect as long as he wants. T

here is no provision for judicial or legislative review. The only limitation on the governor's power is the requirement that he has to confer with his appointed secretary of health prior to issuing the order and that the order expires after 30 days if not renewed. There is no limitation on the number of times the order may be renewed. Violation of an order relating to the declared public emergency calls for a punitive civil penalty of $5,000.............. To Read More