The question remains, if Brandenburg consistently loses by wide margins in these unscientific polls why isn't the local media picking up on the story? It's pretty apparent that a large number of Eye readers have law enforcement ties. It's more than a little concerning that the general public has no idea just how much the law enforcement community seems to dislike our current DA.
We have received word that DA Brandenburg has agreed to debate hosted by the UNM Law School October 23rd. Of course, the debate won't take place until early voters have been voting for more than two weeks. The debate timing looks to us like another move by the Brandenburg camp to protect the DA from what could be a poor performance.
UNM School of Law Bernalillo County DA Candidate’s DebateThis week we train our Eye Poll back on the 1st Congressional District. You know the race between form councilor Martin Heinrich and Sheriff Darren White. Don't forget to vote!
October 23, 2008, UNMSOL, Room 2402, 12:30 to 1:15
45 comments:
"The question remains, if Brandenburg consistently loses by wide margins in these unscientific polls why isn't the local media picking up on the story?"
Because they're unscientific polls. Come on, don't assume the people reading this site are idiots. Unscientific polls are completely unreliable.
Only the dumbest person would ever consider unscientific polls to be a source of a story for any sort of media.
The answer to your question is simple, there is a group of good ol' boys that run River City, and their bonds transcend politics.
The Journal rarely prints anything against any of the good ol' boys.
Look as their coverage of the APS; perhaps millions of dollars are missing from the APS Finance Department and the Journal won't print the fact that the leadership of the APS refuses to answer any questions about the scandal.
Or about the scandal in their police department;
or about the scandal in their M&O division,
or about the trust and treasure that have been squandered at 6400 Uptown Blvd.
The Journal is corrupt.
No, the fact is - you may not like the DA and would prefer her opponent, who is neither qualified nor honest - but Kari Brandenburg has been endorsed but every law enforcement entity in Bernalillo County. Street cops like her and officers like her. Even the Rs like her - like Darren White. the Eye's cred is Zero.
Darren White is currently running a commercial designed to give voters the impression that he resigned in protest over Gary Johnson's views on decriminalizing certain recreational drugs.
He resigned, or should have resigned, over the fact that he had failed, abysmally, a vote of confidence among his subordinates.
It appears that if another vote of confidence were taken today in the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department, that he would fail again.
Martin Heinrich's failure to participate in public debates makes his candidacy suspect at well.
As usual, we have the choice of the lesser of two evils; in this case Heinrich.
Anybody but Darren White for congress.
Amen..ANYBODY but Darren White. I wish the BCSO would do a vote. Then people would see..what a LOSER White really is not to mention last two captains promotions.
Darren White does not support the United States Constitution. Who in a leadership position would encourage their subordinates to stop an automotive driver without “probable cause” (Re: 4th amendment of U.S. Constitution)? What leader would hold back treatment, or be adamant against an herbal-medicine that most medical experts say work better for some patients than the now legal “hard prescription drugs” (Isn’t it true that Marijuana was legal in the U.S. before 1936?)? Darren White may call himself an independent thinker because of his differences with Governor Gary Johnson, but I think he is more of a “yes-man” to those who stroke his ego rather than him standing up for what is right, and gaining respect through wise leadership! I will not be voting for Darren White based on his lack of compassion or understanding for people.
Well of course law enforcement supports Kari Brandenberg, she turns a blind eye to all of their criminal activities. I can see why they are big fans of hers...she doesn't question the drugs that go missing from the evidence room, the fact that APD takes field trips to other counties to muck up their crime scenes and cover up for their APD bretheren. Lisa Torraco may not be the brightest, but Kari Brandenberg is a scary, scary woman to have in power.
Political Forum between Torraco and Brandenberg at the FOP meeting on October 9th at 7pm. The meeting is at the Moose Lodge on Edith and Menaul just south. Plan on attending
Kind of funny that the CPOA and APOA endorsed Kari, she is a joke. Must of been another promise somewhere. Lets see if the FOP does the right thing and endorses Lisa. Be there to vote in the closed balot for endorsement on October 9th at the FOP meeting.
Law enforcement does NOT support Kari, only a few members on the APOA and CPOA boards who unfortunately make decisions for over 1,ooo officers. Lisa Torraco is the better candidate.
Torraco knows NOTHING about the law and has no support even in her own party or law enforcement. Members of the law enforcement community complain about her stalking them. Would the three of you who support this idiot, give it up. Palin is a genius compared to Torraco.
Ask the SWAT and street cops if they support Kari and you will find out that what are saying is a load of crap. She has wide spread support all over the community and Torraco is a total JOKE !
lisa is a partner in crime with tom mescall jr. they are both liars and should be disbarred.
And Lisa's Loser's are going around town trashing Kari's signs. Are these her "law enforcement" supporters? Do you see the stupidity of her campaign - lying about her background, lying about her opponent, pretending to know when Kari took office but not really knowing, lying about the debates, having her minions knock down expensive signs...this is who want for DA - of all offices? Are you freaking kidding me?
OMG - "protect her from a poor performance" Did you hear Lisa on her 770 appearance? Kari will kill her in any debate or forum or whatever you want. The only issue here is that Kari works 60-80 hours a week for YOU, and Lisa barely has a job.
Trust me, Kari isn't worried about Torraco. She has more important things on her plate, like criminals and whatnot!
Who is Lisa? And just because you say she's the better canidate I should believe you mr/mrs anonymous?
Just one person...but I know Lisa will work hard to ensure the DA's Office runs right. She cares about the law and will fight to put criminals in jail. Don't critisize her for doing defense work...a person has to eat. She would gladly rather be running the DA Law Clinic if others wouldn't have shut it down. Just my 2 cents.
I am a APOA member. I asked why the APOA endorsed Brandenberg I was told by the APOA it was a political decision. So now the APOA MAKES POLITICAL DECISIONS. NOT THE WILL OF THE MEMBERSHIP. I guess that is no surprise.
Yeah right, elect Kari so the crooks can continue to roam the streets. I have been a cop with the PD for 19 years. Carry is way too liberal. Why dont you ask all the detectives within APD and BCSO that work the long hours in violent and property crimes. Everything is a plea bargain and does not go to trial because the DAs office has no experienced trail lawyers. That is a fact.
Hm, I see a lot of Brandenburg signs around so doesn't seem like too many are getting torn down, but I'm sure she can pay people again to put them up for her in any event. If they are getting torn down which I doubt, perhaps some of the family members of murder victims don't exactly have a great love for her--oh ya, the killer was out on probation, I forgot--or some of the other thousands of victims and family members of victims in this community have taken some token of revenge. Does Kari have any volunteers or are they all paid by her deep pockets? How many cars and houses does she have by the way? Would be interesting to find out.
Kari will embarass torraco in a debate. I don't think lisa should take that step but her decision. Kari needs more adas but she can't get the budget to make her office powerful.
Hey, Kari went after Daskalos, and so she's OK w/me!
Lot's of rhetoric about Torraco being the better candidate. I could go either way. Honest question: How is Torraco better?
Im a strong conservative but I have to be fair here. Lisa is not well known, nor did she really have a stellar performance during her brief tenure as an ADA. Kari, Lisa, whomever, it doesn't matter until they figure out a way to adequately staff and fund that office. Let's not kid ourselves, in a high enough profile case an indigent client can get a high dollar defense attorney and our tax dollars eventually pay for it. At the Prosecution table you only have a choice of about 6 attnys. in that office that are "lifers" as prosecutors and comitted to the fight.
I hate higher taxes but I would much rather fund a few extra ADAs than buy a trolley or a damn Panda bear for the zoo or get a light rail ride to Santa Fe.
Think I'm kidding about how "Nickle & Dime" that budget is I ask you this; can you think of one other big city DAs office where witnesses and on duty cops have to pay a 3rd party to park in their [the DAs office] parking lot?
Only in NM, where the former speaker of the house can get his felon brother a job in the county clerk's office while he's on parole, and then himself get indicted for [allegedly]cutting up an extra 4MIL. with his quates' on the building of a courthouse? No one in REAL power in this state likes the prosecution to win, simply because most all the real wealth in this area has been accrued, to some extent, in an illegal manner.
Just an FYI to the Torraco sycophants - excellent chance that she will be disbarred and disowned by the Rs before the election. She recently crossed way over the line on something. Not a bright lawyer or candidate.
BTW - the way "too liberal" Kari carries and trains with SWAT and has one house.
But actual cops know that already...maybe not the phoney blogger cops, though!
No phony blogger cops here you fool. The only reason Kari trains with SWAT is because she takes them cookies everyweek. You have got to be kidding me if you think she has done a good job. I have had dozens of MY felony cases plead away or Noli Prosi so crooks are back out on the street immediately. I am pissed that this is a reoccurence that has not been corrected. What I heard from Torroco on KKOB is that she is conservative. Why not give her a chance, we already kmow what Kari provides, absolutely nothing.
she trains with SWAT? my god is that hard?
Let's see. Because Lisa lies about the cases she has done, lies about her background, lies about her opponent, runs to the press everyday with wild accusations that even the press role their eyes at, she has NO credibilty in the law community - that should be enough in and of itself - folks we aren't talking about a political job here that people can hide in. We are talking about DA - and integrity and knowledge and not just needing or wanting a JOB. Lisa Torraco is the LAST person that you want in that position. Ask her former students, colleagues, or even people who worked in her campaign who left because she is unqualified.
That being said. This has become tedious. OUT.
Can't we please get Schwartz to change back to Republican [again] and run? Please Bob??
Yeah, well how hard can SWAT actually be--Jessica Garate from News 13 trained/qualified with SWAT also! Skinny bitches rule!
first off, they did not train and qualify with swat... its was more of a ridealong. SWAT is extremely difficult and neither jessica nor kari could do it
Kari trains at the tactical range with the trainers when she has time. Now ya happy?
I didn't think SWAT was an option for a ridealong.
APOA endorses marty all the time even without a membership vote and we have been endorsing candidates for at least 15 years.
I have to agree with many comments about Torraco: she's not great and it's unclear whether she'll do a "better" job than Brandenberg (such a relative term, given where we're at now). But I've had enough of the devil we know, I'm ready to try one we don't. I know that the people who work for Kari aren't happy, and that turnover in the DAs office is high, which results in cases falling through the cracks and most trials being an absolute joke. I watched a murder trial last year that would have made me laugh if it hadn't made me so sick. And then the DAs had the nerve, after bumbling the whole thing, to tell the victim's family, "We did our best." If that's their best, I'd like a law student to prosecute should anyone in my family ever come to harm. As a defense attorney, I would LOVE to have Bob Schwartz back as DA, he's smart, knows the law, follows the law, is a great trial lawyer and all around person. However, he's on the bench now and can't do both. Believe it or not, defense attorneys want good prosecutors, too -- it would make my job a LOT easier if the other side actually knew the law, knew court rules and followed them. If prosecutors could assess their cases better, the serious cases would get the attention they require while the ridiculous cases could be disposed of. Right now, the system is SO clogged up with silly cases, we can't get trial settings for murders and rapes. Meanwhile, the supreme court denies rule extensions out of frustration and time runs out on cases. Kari Brandenberg isn't working. I'd just as soon have a cocker spaniel in that office.
WOW! It's pretty telling that all you anonymous blog posters in support of Bradenburg would NOT wish to share your identity with the rest of us. Ms. Torraco is a genuine woman who deeply cares about the saftety of Bernalillo County and she is NOT solely concerned with keeping defense attorneys happy. Do you really think that her office of hacks has really done anything to prevent or reduce crime in the county? Granted, she kicked Jeff Romero out of office--he was an idiot and the worst DA we have ever had to endure. Has Kari taken any responsibility for the number of DWI dismissals, bungled prosecutions and her failure to act in major investigations???
Lisa Torraco brings a fresh approach--not a millionaire's sense of entitlement into the DA's race. She is a solid attorney with much of that experience either as a prosecutor or TEACHING prosecutors. Brandenburg only seems to be able to find the courthouse when she has a slam dunk case and she wants face time for purely political reasons. Any of you who have negative and hurtful things to say about Lisa Torraco obviously have never even bothered to take the time to meet her or get to know what she stands for. WHAT A SHAME!!!
Jose, Talk about a HACK ! Brandenburg has taken on the most difficult cases in her office and WON them! Gang murder cases, capital cases,and for winning these and putting away countless dangerous criminals she has received no thanks from you and numerous death threats from NMs worst gangs. Lisa has so little credible experience that she makes Palin look good. She has recently been telling people about all of the judges that support her, but if you ask these same judges face to face, they say that Lisa is a scary person and that they would NEVER support her. One of her last public presentations was described by those in attendence as VILE ! No DA can stop DWI because people will drink and drive. But Kari has fought the good, hard fight on this, meth, gangs, truancy and much more, while Torraco sits around basically unemployed. VOTE BRANDENBURG !
What "gang murder" cases and capital cases are you talking about that Kari has won? I'm a criminal defense lawyer and I've seen her set foot in court only a handful of times, and then only as an observer. She isn't the one trying ANY cases, unlike former DAs who actually put themselves in the courtroom. Kari does nothing more than put ridiculous policies into place and then threaten to fire anyone who doesn't follow them. The reality is, she has no way of knowing what policies will work and which will not because she doesn't go to court! She doesn't have a caseload. Don't throw out there these vague ideas of cases she's prosecuted, name the cases. On the other hand, here are the cases her office has bungled: Robert Gonzales, a mentally retarded man, sat in jail for THREE years for a crime he didn't commit, despite the fact that the evidence pointed to someone else. This man very nearly went to trial and could have received the death penalty and he was INNOCENT! Nice work, Kari. Great job upholding the Constitution. Or how about the officer accused of raping a 14 year old -- after the hung jury, did Kari go after him again? Of course not. She let that predator go. Hope your kids are locked up nice and tight. So come on, Brandenberg supporters, give me some REAL cases where SHE has done something good. Meanwhile, take a field trip down to district court and see the circus of which she is ringmaster. Recently the gangs division (who the Brandenberg supporters seem to praise -- or maybe those posters work for that division??) got a hung jury on a murder case for the SECOND time. I wonder if they'll try to bungle it up again, or if they'll finally pack up their bags and go home and let Gary Mitchell's client be done with this once and for all. Yeah, they're doing a great job. VOTE TORRACO.
IF you are an attorney, which I seriously doubt and you do go to the courthouse then you know that Kari has tried and won rape cases, the Cuban gang that accidentally shot a child through a wall, all of the hearings on the Astorga cop killing case....where were you fake lawyer? ....while Lisa has been unemployed....NO clients.....lies about the 200-300 DWI cases she tried....BULLSHIT Lisa...that she was a law professor - BULLSHIT Lisa, and ask her about how she went to the Journal with informantion on the Yi case......illegal, unethical....she isn't an attorney ANYBODY can trust and obviously neither are you because you support this ridiculous excuse for a lawyer.
In addition to the cases just mentioned, she tried the Mario Chavez case and got a first degree murder conviction plus guilty on additional crimes from the jury. It was a long, hard-fought case against an extremely capable defense attorney. Kari clearly demonstrated that she is an excellent, ethical and highly persuasive trial attorney.
Lisa Torraco never has tried a capital murder case to a jury has she? If so I'd sure like to know about it. Ms. Torraco is full of irresponsible talk and no substance at all. I certainly wouldn't trust her to handle any serious felony trial.
Mario Chavez was TWO years ago. How long can Kari rest on those laurels? Kari was an OBSERVER for most of the Astorga hearings, and did not participate during the trial of Nestor Vargas, who was aquitted of helping to harbor Astorga after the shooting (that would be ADA Troy Davis from the gangs division who lost that case).
I really don't care whether you think I'm a real lawyer or not. I suspect you have close ties with Brandenberg, otherwise why are you taking my opinion so personally that you feel the need to attacke ME personally? This is a debate, or so I thought. At least be adult enough to stay on topic.
As for the Yi case, do Kari supporters really want to go there? Do you really want to talk about how Kari's tactic is to charge and prosecute the easiest target, even if the DNA comes back to someone else and the confession is coerced? Meanwhile, had she done a more thorough investigation, perhaps Clifton Bloomfield (whose DNA matches the crime scene) would have been off the streets sooner and Scott Pierce would still be alive. And perhaps it's time for Kari to release Michael Joseph Lee and Travis Rowley since there are no connections between them and Bloomfield, nor does the forensic evidence pan out. I'm having deja vu of Robert Gonzales, with these two men staying in custody for YEARS because Kari won't admit that she was WRONG, or even might be wrong. Ever heard the saying that it's better for a thousand guilty men to go free than for ONE innocent man to be wrongfully punished? Well, Kari's approach is in direct opposition to that founding principle of the American legal system. Yet, the streets of Albuquerque aren't safer.
I've said repeatedly, I'm not thrilled with Torraco. But Brandenberg is a nightmare. The injustice (to both the wrongfully accused AND to the community who suffers because the REAL criminals are still on the loose), the ineffectiveness of her policies and her inability to assess cases properly have led me to the "other" choice, not even caring much what that "other" is. We need to do something different.
Again, I would urge anyone here to go to court and take a look at what is going on there. I speak to jurors after trials, and they frequently feel frustrated that their resources, both in tax dollars and in their time, are being wasted prosecuting ridiculous cases because Kari's policy is to charge everyone she can and then do everything she can to get a conviction, even if it's a petty misdemeanor plead down from a FIRST DEGREE FELONY. Yes, that happens on a regular basis, but Kari still gets to report that as a "conviction." If she's so proud of her record, she should give a detailed accounting of what those convictions were, not just the fact that they were convictions. But I digress. Go to court, see for yourself what these past years of the Brandenberg policies have done to our already overburdened system.
This supposed defense attorney or public defender (alleged attorney)siding with Torraco means I should vote for Brandenburg.
OK. Now I get it. You're a defense attorney!
Why else would you draw such unsupported conclusions about a case which is still under investigation? Which one of these criminals do you represent anyway?
Anyone with any doubt about which candidate should be DA should have attended today's Albuquerque Bar Assoc. candidate forum. Ms. Torraco clearly demonstrated that she has NO concept of how to successfully run a DA's Office. What she proposes would result in total chaos and a waste of time for everyone involved. Having her at the helm would result in a total meltdown, which I guess is a defense attorney's fondest dream. It would be a disaster for our city unfortunately.
Just to let you all know, the FOP heard from both candidates last Thursday, and Kari Brandenburg was their clear choice for endorsement! That's a clean sweep of endorsement by all our local law enforcement agencies.
So much for your unscientific polls!
Yes to Kari Brandenburg!
Well, all is said and done. Kari was the winner, but lets face it she is a loser. She lost the triple mountain murder, she lost the Camacho case... on and on. She loses most of her cases. and if she doesn't lose her case is a mistrial. Office of the Courts gives her now only a 17% win rate at trial. She is too busy getting face lifts to care about crime. Now THATS a loser! ANYONE would do better!
Kari lost Daskalos!
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