We've been hearing the rumblings from District 9 for months now. A councilor with a seemingly unerring ability to alienate just about everyone has left some in District 9 longing for Tina Cummins and her bolero (ABQ Journal - Subscription Required). Now at least a few of his constituents have decided they would like to see the back of him (ABQ Journal - Subscription Required).
Councilor Harris was elected in a run-off election against incumbent councilor Tina Cummins. One of the primary complaints about the former councilor was that she was too aligned with the main man on the 11th floor, Mayor Martin Chavez. Harris, after wracking up debts in two successive elections almost immediately jumped on Marty's money train allowing the mayor to host a $500 a plate fundraiser in early 2006 to help pay off the afore mentioned campaign debts.
It looked to our Eyes that Mayor Marty had just bought himself a councilor and no doubt his highness thought so too. His honor was disabused of that notion when Councilor Harris voted against Marty's trolley. Of course the Mayor still had the necessary 6 votes to pass the Transportation Infrastructure Tax extension and true or not, many suspected that Harris was allowed to vote against the trolley in order to placate his more conservative constituents.
Meanwhile Councilor Harris has been busy making a name for himself with legislation aimed at everything from public comment to cell phone towers. In addition, he's irritated almost every neighborhood association in the city with his plan to re-write the city's neighborhood association recognition ordinance. They all believe that he's out there with his ad hoc committee and is determined to stick his nose into their associations.
Most recently, the councilor that couldn't step straight was featured in an ad that condemned him for voting against Marty's January 1 tax cut in favor of a July 1st, 2008 tax cut.
In short, Councilor Harris has been so inconsistent in his voting and his legislation that no one seems to trust him. That's a real problem for an elected official who is supposed to represent any group of people. Harris has become the George Costanza of Albuquerque politics.
Complicating matters for George... uh, Don, is the relatively small number of signatures needed to force a run-off. Just 922 valid signatures is all it would take according to the Journal and if the recall effort is well funded and organized it wouldn't be all that hard to get the required signatures in 60 days. Remember, that's just a couple of hundred more than were required for Harris to qualify for the ballot in the first place and our Eyes tell us that some of the people involved in the recent radio ad campaign are from Harris's District 9, so funding is probably not an issue.
To our knowledge, there has never been a city councilor recalled. Councilor Cadigan faced a recall shortly after his first election and last year Councilor Mayer survived a challenge. Will Councilor Harris survive? Who knows... but this could be the most winnable recall that we've seen.
If recall proponents are successful in their efforts to oust Harris, they had better remember that they will definitely get a councilor who is a card carrying member of the Party of Marty as his honor will be selecting their next councilor. One way or the other, the next couple of years will be interesting for District 9.
5 comments:
Please visit http://RecallHarris.org for more information.
Sorry, I didn't include the link...
Please visit http://RecallHarris.org for more information.
Just visited the above web site. I'm not sure that by the list of grievences that we're going to oust anyone. Afterall, Sally Mayer was all and more that was listed and the ignorance of District 7 still kept her in office. In fact it discribed her to a tee.
Harris has a way of dealing with people that is very arrogant. He threatens (although) he calls it "deal making." He also constantly says, "my supports won't like this or that." Harris is such a fool that he doesn't understand that he represents District 9, not the few people that gave him money for his election campaign. He is pathetic and needs to go.
The RecallHarris web site cites the waste of $18,000 on the study of the speed humps. Since the speed humps were rammed down our throats by a small minority of the homeowners in Four Hills and as the study shows were clearly not necessary for safety, where was the real waste of taxpayers money? I doubt the fact that this recall started just as this study was being finished is a concidence.
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