How Government Grows and Politicians Prosper
The Evidence Room scandal should be a long time in our rear-view mirror. The problem with scandals like this is that they have long-term consequences. If you remember, Sergeant Cynthia Orr and Captain Marie "Sisi" Miranda came forward with accusations of misconduct in the evidence room. Evidence was missing, reports gone, cases placed in jeopardy, and all going on right before the 2005 Mayoral Election. The Mayor promised that heads would roll and Chief Gill Gallegos got the axe.
In order to restore confidence in APD and provide cover for the administration, Mayor Marty hired retired Bernalillo County Sheriff Joe Bowdich to serve as interim chief while a search for new APD chief. The administration worked quickly to hire a new Chief and brought in (or back) Ray Schultz to fill the post. Once Chief Schultz was hired Joe Bowdich stayed on as Schultz's 2nd in command and holds the title of Deputy Director, a civilian position making somewhere around $100,000 a year. (ABQ Journal - Subscription Required)
Our Eyes on the Inside tell us that Joe Bowdich is hearing the call of retirement once again. After all he was called out of retirement and has since done his duty to god and country. Now he probably wants to do the things that retired people do, like well retire. So we're going to have a high paying job opening up for a civilian... what to do?
Well if you're in politics, you hand the job to an ally and if necessary you re-write the job description in order to make it fit. That's exactly what our Eyes are telling us is going on with Joe's position in order to fit recently retired APD Captain Rob Debuck. The real question is, how many chiefs does APD really need?
Maybe you can make an argument that creating a permanent position for Joe Bowdich was a good idea... maybe. But we've got 3 Deputy Chiefs, a Deputy Director and a Chief AND Deputy Chief Administrator Nick Bakas. How many Chiefs do we really need? This is how government grows and politicians prosper. Create a position with a big title, bigger paycheck, and limited responsibilities, then stick a friend in it. The beauty of it all is everybody wins... except us.
Here's an idea... in light of the projected $22 Million budget shortfall, ($15 Million is attributed to increasing payroll costs) perhaps we should just eliminate the position? Government gets smaller, we save around $100,000 a year AND the Mayor avoids allegations of cronyism. What do you bet it doesn't work out that way?
3 comments:
Here, Here!!! That's for sure. This mayor needs as many people in his pocket as possible to help cover his illegal activity!!! What better way to do it than ensure you've got crooked cops! You have "stuff" on them and they have "stuff" on you and as long as everyong keeps their mouths shut no one ever finds out. This is exactly what Albuquerque and New Mexico are all about! Corruption!!! When does it end and when do the people win!
This city is heading for a rebellion of sorts. The crooks that are elected (or in some cases stole their elections) will be put behind bars and the people will just say, NO MORE! This day is coming. I guess ALL of Marty's thugs should have 5 body guards as well. What is he afraid of? Does he have that many enemies? I think they all do. What a legacy. TO BE HATED BY THE CITIZENS YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO SERVE. Anyone Remember Benito Mussolini?
I wish I would have found your Blog earlier-- a high ranking official accused of DV is a recently retired Deputy Chief. There was a police report filed at the time his girlfriend reported the felony DV and a tape recording of her was tagged into evidence- but it was the tape of her recanting.(which, by the way, is the case in almost 80% of DV cases). Since the tape went into APD evidence, it may not even exist anymore and the report most likely has been purged. The FBI should investigate this becuase the detective that handled the case said she (the victim) was credible after hearing the first tape where she made the original allegation. This was reported by the victim on numerous occassions to several APD officers who did nothing>>probably out of fear. In short, the DC made his girlfriend out to be a crazy, jealous, unstable women and the case was unfounded. --This appears to be Standard SOP for DC's who commit violent acts and then hide behind their badges.
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