A former senior editor at the state-run New Mexico Magazine has filed a whistleblower lawsuit accusing the state Tourism Department of forcing her out because she spoke out about attempts to pull a story from the magazine for political reasons.
Alicia Inez Guzmán says in her complaint, filed Wednesday in state District Court, the controversy arose after she contracted with noted Chicana author, playwright and stage director Denise Chávez to write a story for the magazine titled “Libros para el Viaje,” or “Books for the Journey,” about the rich histories of travel across El Camino Real and New Mexico’s southern border and the healing power of books for readers of all backgrounds.
The story was ultimately published, but Chávez said Thursday she believes it only ran because she and others, including members of the public and Southern New Mexico legislators, pressured state officials to publish it after word got out the story was going to be killed.
Chávez, who is from Las Cruces, said she thinks the Tourism Department objected to her piece because it referenced the plight of refugees along the state’s southern border, which wasn’t in keeping with the image the department wanted to portray of New Mexico as an enchanted place “where nothing can go wrong as long as you can have a green chili cheeseburger and we can go skiing.”
“They do not want people to see the other side,” Chávez said. “The reality of the struggle we are having in our state, whether it’s the Oñate statue, children in cages or the Otero County prison [where the coronavirus is running rampant]. … It’s about the human condition and New Mexico Magazine did not want to see that.”
A spokesman for the Tourism Department declined to comment on the pending litigation Thursday.
Chávez submitted the story in early February, Guzmán says in her lawsuit, and interim Editor-in-Chief Kate Nelson and New Mexico Magazine CEO Edward Graves reviewed and approved it for publication in the April edition.
But a few weeks later, Graves told Guzmán the article would be pulled and something else would need to take its place, according to the lawsuit.
Guzmán says she complained that pulling the story “not only impinged on editorial integrity but was also an act of censorship,” and she asked for an explanation. According to the lawsuit, Graves told her the article “was not middle of the road enough.”
When she pushed for more information, Guzmán’s lawsuit says, Graves told her that “he could see how a legislator from southern New Mexico might not like the article’s content and thus withhold department funding” from the Tourism Department, which runs the magazine.
Guzmán said in her complaint that when she told Chávez the article was being pulled, the author was “livid” and said she’d contact Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. Chávez also contacted her state representative, Angelica Rubio, D-Las Cruces.
Rubio provided a copy Thursday of a letter she and other lawmakers sent Feb. 17 to Tourism Secretary Jen Paul Schroer, expressing concern about what they’d heard from Chávez and asking that the department “please reconsider publishing Ms. Chávez’s article about the reality of our border region in the New Mexico Magazine.”
“We thought it was beautifully written and said so in the letter,” Rubio said.
That same day, Guzmán’s lawsuit says, she drafted a letter of resignation based on her “firm belief that the article’s censorship and misuse of taxpayer money arose from illegal and improper and unethical conduct motivated by politics.”
“She listed her potential last day as April 17, 2020,” the lawsuit says.
Within hours, Guzmán said her company email, access to the building and work computer were all “disengaged.”
Guzmán said in her lawsuit she was called into a meeting with an “angry” Graves and HR representative Benito Garcia and told to amend her resignation so it would take effect immediately.
She initially refused, according to the lawsuit, but was told if she did not make her resignation effective immediately, the agency wold initiate an investigation that would have the same effect as if she resigned.
Guzmán’s lawsuit says Garcia and Graves “mandated” she amend her resignation letter to be effective March 2 and told her she would be placed on administrative leave until then and “she would need to pack her things and clear her office in the next hour.”
Guzmán said the department made working conditions so intolerable for her that she was constructively discharged.
Guzmán says in her lawsuit she later met with Garcia, who told her, “ ‘The big issue was all of the blowback from across the street,’ referring to the reaction from the Governor’s Office to rescind Ms. Chavez’s article.”
A spokesman for the Governor’s Office declined to comment on the litigation but said he was “confused by the allegation” given that the story was published.
Guzmán said in a phone interview Thursday she was told 10 minutes after resigning the article would be published after all.
According to her lawsuit, she tried to rescind her resignation, but Schroer denied her request.
Guzmán, who is from Truchas, said Thursday that as a woman of color, one of her goals as an editor at the magazine was to publish stories from communities of color “that felt authentic and truly represented the voices of those communities.”
“After this, I really felt those voices, particularly voices of color, are not welcome,” Guzmán said.
Chávez said her story was published as written in the April edition of New Mexico Magazine. But she was brokenhearted that the controversy resulted in Guzmán’s departure from the publication, calling Guzmán “truly representative of New Mexico” and “the best thing that ever happened to New Mexico Magazine.”
Guzmán seeks “double damages” for her lost wages, plus legal fees.
