Rep. John Block

‼️ Yesterday, in the NM House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, Rep Stefani Lord and I were disrespected, silenced, and Rep. Jimmy Mason was treated terribly by the committee chair Joanne Ferrary. She: 1️⃣ Complained and scolded us that the House GOP had a caucus, which delayed the committee, and complained about us having to meet although the GOP ALWAYS waits for the Democrats’ caucus. 2️⃣ Pushed ALL of our Republican bills that were ahead on the agenda to the very bottom — even though Rep. Mason had experts waiting all day. She let all the Democrats hear their bills first. 3️⃣ Silenced Rep. Lord from debating a bill although she was on the list of people to ask questions and then only after we made points of order did she relent (at that one interval). 4️⃣ Encouraged the audience’s disrespectful noises and comments during my line of questioning on a bill that I had legitimate questions about. 5️⃣ Constantly interrupted Rep. Lord as she asked Rep. Mason questions, demanding that she only ask the one question, “Does this bill repeal a section of law” although the bill did so many things that the public deserved to hear about. 6️⃣ Allowed constant interruptions from Rep. Liz Thomson while I was speaking, which was another flagrant violation of order. 7️⃣ Cut off debate on Rep. Mason’s bill and only allowed me 10 minutes to ask questions, then threatened to go into recess. After the vote (where Democrats tabled the bill), the chair made the committee go into recess and did not hear Rep. Andrea “Andy” Reeb’s bill that she was waiting for four hours to hear. Lastly, I was told after I made a personal point of privilege following all of this unnecessary drama that I would be addressing the speaker about this flagrant disregard of the rules. Ferrari callously snapped back, “Yeah, good luck with that.” Shame on this detestable way to treat colleagues. This abuse of WE THE PEOPLE must stop NOW.