It's been a bad week for councilor Harris. First his foes in district 9 qualified to place a recall on the ballot in October. Second, his legal challenge fell flat as we predicted. Now, Eye On Albuquerque readers have panned him in this past week's Eye Poll. That's three strikes in just a week and while the councilor may not yet be out he certainly looks like he's headed that way.
Folks, this was never even close with 60% of Eye readers disapproving of his job performance, 19% approved, 17% didn't know and 3% didn't care. Remember, this was an unscientific poll but the results certainly don't bode well for a councilor facing a recall where there are few compelling reasons for those not involved in the recall effort to vote.
Our Eyes theorize that Councilor Harris will try and convince his fellow councilors to hold a special election instead of placing his recall on the same ballot as the currently scheduled municipal election. Unfortunately for Harris, 2 of his fellow councilors could be hurt in their own re-election bids if they voted to spend taxpayer money on a special election just for Harris; which might make it hard for his foes to garner enough votes to recall the councilor.
Our guess is that the council will generally be unsympathetic towards the beleaguered Harris and will place it on the ballot along with the Councilor Protection Act and Increased Pay charter amendments.
19 comments:
get in bed with marty...this happens.
Like a hooker with the clap
Is there any doubt Harris needs to go. He is crooked. No one goes from $6000 in debt to raising $30,000 in a night. Look at his current contributors, corporations wanting fat government contracts. Taxpayer money to fill their coffers with Harris doling out the the dough. Even public safety is not above his politics. To punish perceived opponents, he has stopped a funded and universally desired bike path. He has gone after neighbors and City employees alike. And he now wants a pay raise. Don't let him mask the real issues with distractions like speed humps and rubber stamps. He is just after power and money.
do these councilors make a lot of money? do they really have a lot of power? was wondering....
Maybe I am from the poor side of town, but $30,000 in one night seems like a lot of money to me, especially when it is used to repay "personal loans" to his campaign. But maybe it was just really good pasta at Scalos. As for power, he has already made it clear you must pay to play for his patronage. He has fired or removed good people from the government and government boards. It is too bad the right thing rarely has a lobbyist.
Apparently he didn't stay bought by the mayor, who arranged his fundraiser. But if the recall succeeds, the mayor gets to appoint his sucessor. Since several important votes have been 5-4, that one vote on the council could make a big difference in city policy.
Be careful of what you wish for; you might get it. Surely the group that is pushing for this recall must have some inclination of who the mayor will appoint. If not, then maybe, Don is at least the devil you know. My oppinion is that he should be taken to the 'wood shed' instead of removed.
Maybe, just maybe, he'll mend his ways with his constituents. There are surely others, one in particular, who deserve removal more than he.
This rubber stamp defense is not the real issue. Harris does not oppose the mayor on the "right" issues. Thus, the fund raiser. In fact, Harris is more hostile to the environment and other green (and blue) issues than the mayor. He is ultra right conservative. He is not a bulwark against the excesses of the mayor. The truth is anyone appointed by the mayor would be a more moderate/centralist councilor than Harris. Unless you don't like the mayor because he is too liberal (not a charge I ever heard), Harris is not your candidate.
"He has fired or removed good people from the government and government boards." - Say what? Since when does a single city councilor have such authority? Don't work that way. Give some specifics, Anonymous, or withdraw your unfounded statements.
Harris had a council policy assistant(a full time staff assistant) terminated from her job. He also blocked the reappointment of a very dedicated volunteer to the Open Space Advisory Board who had spent countless hours making the Open Space a better and safer place. Both was in his power to do so. As for why I remain Anonymous, I have no desire to be retaliated against by Harris. Is is a surprise that the largest contributor to keepdonharris is a company with a large multi million dollar contract before the City. The second largest is the anti-speed humpers in Four Hills.
I totally agree with the Anonymous commentor above. Don Harris may not have all the power he claims, but he certainly threatens people like he has all the power in the world. The funny thing about all this Recall business is that the entire City Council knows what Don Harris is doing to people in District 9. They have seen directly what he is capable of, yet they defend and protect him. If any of the other 8 Councilors had a grain of integrity, they would speak out against Harris, but alas none of them do. The other 8 Councilors only care about saving their own behinds and covering up for Mr. Harris. If only people would wake up. Ms. O'Malley is worthless and needs to be defeated. Of course she won't be, but she should be. I don't imagine you will ever see her sorry ass at a Walmart where the rest of us shop. With her government payoffs and kickbacks, she can afford Whole Foods. Oh, and don't tell me the whole Osuna property thing was about the Balloon Fiesta, she only pulled that one out of her butt when everything else she tried failed. She is a liar and is complicit with Don Harris.
For more information on the effort to recall Councilor Harris, please visit RecallHarris.org
Hmmmm. Don Harris' assistant deleted emails from his constituents, and deleted phone calls on his council office phone mail because she 'was above' this type of job. SHe didn't like dealing with issues like the HEART ordinace, or grafitti or noisey neighbors. She admitted that she did not keep track of constituents requests and refused to follow through on job assignments. SHe complained about her position so much, that the other 8 staff support, were in a bind over having to pull her weight. Ms. Lorena alledges that she would be a good assistant but she was not a team player. She was an at will employee and should not have been hired. She was the one who chose to leak information about council business and cause some problems within the neighborhoods. Lorena was not good for Albuquerque, or for District 9. She should have kept her personal issues regarding her release from her job to herself, but since she obviously told people how miserable she was, perhaps you should call Dianne Trujuque at the Council Office, and get the real reasons Lorena was let go. Just because she said she was let go for X reasons, does not mean she should not have been let go sooner. Don Harris spoke with her dozens of times regarding her issues,as did Ms Trujeque and other staff members; and Ms Patton chose to leave rather than working within her job description.
Council Members makes less than 10K a year, and some perks. Its a part time job with full time headaches. Its PART time and people expect these councilors to do all things for all people, and have a real job too. Its very hard to be 'good for Albuquerque' when people know only the one side of a story and not the other, and then make ideas, like recalls relevant because they don't like the councilors use of funds for projects they don't agree with, and think that 'raising 30k is something to be looked into'. Marty Chavez tried to make nice with Don Harris, as Chavez supported the incumbent and Harris beat her in both the primary and runoff election. Marty knew he had to help pay off debt that was incurred because he backed the loser and Harris was in need of cancelling his personal debt (let me know what you think he spent inappropriately, and I will tell you otherwise, truthfully). Marty plays the game to win, and thinking he could buy off Harris was not a good idea.
Marty tries to buy everyone. Mark my words. EVERYONE.
Hire Lorena yourself. Run for office yourself. YOu will learn more than you thought you were capable of learning at this stage of the game. Politics is a Marty Party deception. He is out for all of us to kill one another with our bites and ideas, and that will leave him KING, as he had planned all along.
Good for you Albuquerque? Hardly. Stop your biting and jump into the game like it really mattered to you. Personally, I hope Harris bites the ass off the Mayor on October 2, in a regular election so you can all be amazed at his real goal, which is to hang in and fight for the District 9 which Marty wants for himself. Harris doesn't need a special election. He needs people who care enough about Albuquerque to prevent the mayor from getting one of his minions in place so that we don't have to live in a state of Chavez, and bow to the King of Albuquerque. Marty is in this for himself alone. And anyway he can create divisive constituents, is good for him. Email Don Harris at his council office, use your tax dollars in a way you seem to feel is 'correct' to get answers from him. You might realize he is just a guy who made some very risky freshman choices and now is paying for his choices. He knows what he has done wrong, and what he has done right. He is not so proud as to not admit this. But unlike the Mayor, Harris will carry on in COuncil for the people. Hopefully, the next few months will be productive for Harris and District 9 and we will continue with a good guy for our councilor.
An Insider. KeepDonHarris.org
Anyone who pushes a bill through City Council to put a four lane road down the Tijeras Arroyo, through City Open Space land should go. 5 neighborhood associations and other groups worked against this ridiculous proposal. The council only passed it when the study area was expanded to include the area up to Central Ave.
This guy is a menace to our many neighborhoods and our associations.
Now he has invited the neighborhood to work toward opening a dead end road as an access to the neighborhood. Is the man nuts? Take a quiet residential street and allow all the traffic of the neighborhood to dump onto it. And then decide push a fire station onto the end of the street to push the issue of opening the road.
Dump the chump! Don't let other weasily councilors move his recall election from the general election date.
So "Insider," Let's get this straight. Harris raises 30k in a night and it goes straight into his pocket "to pay himself back." And that makes him independant and for the people who didn't pay him 30k. Right.
Insider says: No, he didn't put it back in his pocket cause it was never there. It was borrowed money, like most of the councilors. Only Harris thought there was a point where he and the mayor could get along, but when Harris stood his ground, and pissed off the Mayor, NM for Democracy and a few others decided that they could jump in and harrass Harris too, just for the record. I am not saying that Harris has a good record, just that he is trying, and willing to put up with the recall and such, to make things right. The people in four hills are not getting a road 'opened' up for the masses, they are getting a safety road with a Fire Station at the end of the road. The only way the gate will open, is if Fire and Safety have on their sirens and the gate can open (like many areas of Albuquerque). Harris didn't raise the 30k, the mayor did. There will be a televised hearing on that subject, and the people can be heard there. if you check the records, there is a limit for donations, and the few who did donate, could only give 'so much'. Can't buy much campaign with 960.00 per donor. Harris rescinded his road study/road to Tijeras Arroyo. Just because he supported it, and now does not, you can see that his mind can be changed. Unfortunately for Albuquerque, we have been treated poorly by many in government. I don't think that Harris is your trouble spot, there are others on council who are more problematic and dangerous, with no ideas of their own or support that comes with a 'Made By the Marty Party' sticker.
Insider continues: it was less than 15K, I asked Harris myself... the money was for flyers, mailings and to pay a person who helped run the campaign. Marty promised him 30k, and only 'got' Harris 15K. Let me know when all of you are running, and I will help you and donate to your campaign.
That's just nonsense. The money from the fund raiser was funneled to Harris for his personal use, i.e. it went into his pockets. The campaign was over and he made sure to the victor went the spoils. The use of creative accounting may(or may not)make it legal but it is not right and even he admits he took the money. Then he fails to report it. As for only getting 15k when he was promised 30k, if he is going to whore himself out, he should get the money up front. Having dealt with Harris he is a rude slight unmeritable man and he needs to go. Nor does he deny blocking the appointment to the Open Space Advisory Board for any other reason than vindictiveness.
Well who are you that had to 'deal' with him? He didn't fail to report anything. He is being audited and he will be vindicated. What will it take for people to stop bitching and actually run for council yourself. Its a horrible job, where listening to everyone is a necessary part of the job, and when the minority doesn't win, and there is a bashing, its just wrong. Harris is trying, trying, trying. He blocked the OSPB for the member blocked freaked out in court and was unable to handle herself. Don Harris is not a whore, if anything, he is a gullible sap who thought he could do something good, but ends up being bashed by you people who sit at the computer and find it easy to talk out loud to a screen, yet not show up to help run a city (paid or not) because its an easier option. So, were you at the fundraiser? Have you supported your OWN choice for council? Have you risked your OWN pride for the city to run for a near-volunteer job? What is Harris going to get out of all this trouble? A headache, and some debt. You are barking up the wrong tree. Its the mayor who is vindictive and unmeritable. A devil in disguise. Mark my words. Don Harris is not your problem.
KEEPDONHARRIS.com
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