The Piercing Truth

This is right from the dictionary and seems to describe Albuquerque, Berry and Schultz. Fascism (f ash ,izem) noun An authoritarian right wing system of government and/or social organization. (in general use) extreme right wing, authoritarian, chauvinistic and/or intolerant views or practices. Fascism tends to include a belief in the supremacy of one group over another, national, ethnic, especially social strata or monetarily; a contempt for democracy, an insistence on obedience to a powerful leader, and a strong demagogic approach. Compliments of one of our Eyes

Dec 22, 2009

The Small Things

Mayor Berry is leading by example. The Albuquerque Journal is reporting that Berry declined the city's offer of a new mayor mobile.
Instead, Berry wanted a used vehicle out of the city's fleet.

"These things don't get you $50 million" in savings, Berry told the Journal recently. "What they do is set the tone."

The mayor ended up in a 2006 Chevrolet Tahoe LS. It has about 41,000 miles.
The mayor is absolutely right... every employee and every citizen looks to the mayor to set the "tone." If the mayor is driving a brand new set of wheels while having to slash the bloated budget, people have a hard time believing that the cuts are necessary. More importantly, people rightfully question his integrity.

The other element is consistency. Sure... taking a vehicle from the city motor pool is the right thing to do, but people won't forget the $12,000 a year raise he gave the new CAO. David Campbell makes roughly $12,000 a year more than his predecessor Ed Adams - who also managed to keep his $147,000 a year salary due to a backroom deal with the recently departed Almighty Alcalde.

The good news is that by saving the city some $40,000 plus, Mayor Berry just about broke even with Campbell and all it cost him was a new car.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Berry is a millionaire who gets paid 100k for being mayor. Campbell is a millionaire who gets paid 150k for being CAO.

So why are we supposed to be impressed that these two fat cats are only driving used city vehicles? Why aren't they driving their own cars?

Sell the city cars and use the money to buy police vehicles that would replace the POS the rank and file have to drive. That would be impressive.

Anonymous said...

Glad to see it. To bad Mayor Swissstack and his staff in Rio Rancho haven't caught on to the idea. Then again, we have some off Albuquerque's old highrollers working for us now.

Greg Smith said...

I would be more impressed if the Mayor bought and drove his own car, like the rest of us with jobs have to do.

Anonymous said...

Those cars get free gas and maintenance. What does the free gas cost taxpayers? What does it cost the city to maintain an older model car versus a new model?

This is a cheap PR stunt. Get rid of the cars if you want to save money.

Alb Interfaith says APD/AFD lied said...

Mayor Berry, you should have APD/AFD and all their non "Mission Critical" employees turn the keys in to their take home cars.

Both Departments have employees who make over $70 Grand a year and have take home cars... for what?

You can save on maintenance, oil, and gas if you made them drive their own vehicles to and from work.

Some of these employess are computer techs, radio guys, Deputy Chiefs/Captains who are on 40 hour work weeks who otherwise would NEVER be called out for service outside their normal work shift or week, CIP, Constituent Services....

The list is long, but they will try and convince everyone that their no less than $10 thousand dollar a year perk of a take home car on top of their $70 Grand a year is a NEEDED item.

IT'S all a lie, and a deception hung on the back of "Public Safety"!

Your the Mayor if anyone should get a new vehicle it's you, not the Police Chief, not The Fire Chief or anyone else for that matter.

Mayor Berry if you decide to take these steps don't worry about it.

It's not like they are gonna resign their positions and move on.

Mayor Berry if you want a new Tahoe look at APD/AFD they've got some very nice new ones that non "mision critical" employees are driving, if they don't like it ooh well.

To the Victor goes the Spoils.

Anonymous said...

This is such bullshit !!
Ahhh.. what a shame that these two are suffering so much. That article in the paper was just BS that was supposed to give the rest of us some assurance that they are doing right by the rest of us. Fact: average car payment on a vehicle such as this is about $500 per month.
Gas is another $300 per month. Insurance, maintenance, at least another $200 per month. Are we supposed to feel good that these two are suffering so bad, when the defecit is 30 million.
Folks, the total benefit on this package alone is $1000.00 per month.
Add that to their salaries and that equates to $12,000.00
additional per year.
I would love to drive a car that had 40,000 or 90,000 miles if it were free. Who else in this administration would like us to feel sorry for them.
Screw You !!!!

Anonymous said...

What a change from that little tyrant Farty!

It sure is great to see a Mayor that is not just concerned with his own self improvement and one that cares about the employees for a big change!

We are so very glad that loser Marty Chavez is gone. City hall is sure a very nice place now! No more arrogant little troll!

Anonymous said...

DUMP THE DOUBLE DIPPERS WITH TAKE HOME CARS.

Anonymous said...

I think the cops should drive their own vehicles too (drive to work each day & pick up a company vehicle to use) .... What's good for the goose is good for the gander

Anonymous said...

Free vehicle Free maintenance Free gasoline and how is he helping ?????

Anonymous said...

What a bunch of Whiners. I retired from APD along time ago and the take home car program was nice. It was the least the city could do with the payscales being so low. A cop in LA or Denver makes $70 to $ 90k a year. Get freaking real. Most Cops work hard for every dollar they make, and knew the pay was low from the get go. "Berry drives a used car" Berry drives a 2006 because he did not want Chavez' 2005 with probably over 100,000 miles. Get your facts straight. Besides, Berry is the Mayor and deserves nice wheels despite being a millionaire.

Anonymous said...

The city has to many people who are not public safety who take home cars. The Mayor needs to review the policy of take home cars. Reel em in Berry.

Anonymous said...

I thought they fired G. Smith and D Kimberley?

Anonymous said...

It's nice to see Mayor Berry leading by example. I think the new administration should look at all city vehicles and to whom they are assigned. Secretaries and assistants on 40 hour weeks are driving city vehicles to and from home, not to mention the endless errands before and after their workday, in addition to the personal use on the weekend. These employees are not assigned a city vehicle for city business. They are assigned a city vehicle as their own personal car. Consider the fuel, maintenance, and FUEL. City inspectors are driving city vehicles to and from home??? Are they not able to drive to the office in a personal vehicle, then get in a city vehicle to conduct city business? Consider the savings just from the fuel bill over Mayor Berry's 4 year tenure.

Anonymous said...

BARBOA FOR MAYOR HE CAN FIX ANYTHING. FORGOT HE GONNA FIX VIOLENT CRIMES WITH ALL HIS LIES. GET READY YOU DETECTIVES NO MORE WORKING OUT AND NO MORE COFFEE SHOP

Anonymous said...

MAYOR BERRY WAIT UNTIL YOU TAKE YOUR VEHICLE TO PINO OR 6TH STREET, IT WILL REALLY BE KNOCKING WHEN YOU GET IT BACK. BOTH SHOPS HAVE KEPT MY CRUISER FOR TWO DAYS FOR A SIMPLE OIL CHANGE. CONTRACT THIS MONEY PIT OUT!

Anonymous said...

Take home vehicles: 34s, yes and the Mayor, yes. Radio techs, computer personnel, secretaries, assistants, CIP, NO WAY!! This is a disgrace. Use your own vehicles like the rest of us "average joes". If, as an employee, there's no chance of you getting a call out in the middle of then night or if you don't do shift work that requires you to show up at work whenever, you should NOT be entitled to a city vehicle. Why can't this be put to the voters? It's our money their wasting.

Anonymous said...

BARBOA CRAZY IF HE THINKS THE CIB DETECTIVES ARE GOING TO BEND TO HIS TYPE OF RULES. WE ARE SEASONED AND WILL NOT BE MANIPULATED LIKE HIS LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS IN THE SE. WE DONT CHASE 23ERS ALL DAY.

Anonymous said...

Does Ed Adams have a take home car? Hmmmm.....somehow I think he does. If he does, someone needs to look at his contract, now that he's not CAO, there's no reason for him to have one.

Anonymous said...

I would like to see the Mayor's Office publish a list of everyone who gets free parking in the city structures. The public will be surprised how much money is being given away. Come on News Media get on it. Channel 7 where are you..........

Anonymous said...

the only reason you have to complain about barboa is that maybe certain detectives in that unit will actually start having to do your job and not have the luxury of being a sgt. pet! Barboa would make excellent change and maybe get that unit where it should be..leaving the half ass complainers in the dust if they cant handle doing their job.

Anonymous said...

Barboa is a sorry excuse. We will be a better dept. without him.

Anonymous said...

Right, becasue Agyeta (Sp?)who is on his 3rd marriage and his 20 affair is so much better of a leader!

If him and Mike and Frank spent as much time on their cases as chasing tail all day then maybe they would deserve to stay!

Anonymous said...

Speaking of take-home cars; Why is Dave Young able to have an SID take home car? (Ford Explorer that he purchased @ auction) He's not on call and his "ONLY" job should be taking care of the vehicle fleet. After all, he's not even a reserve officer anymore is he???How about giving the detectives who have arresting powers and are qualified to carry a gun, a real car Dave. He gets a new car for himself about every 2 years while other detectives drive cars for sometimes 3 years and get someone else's assigned vehicle because Dave has his "pets" at SID that he takes care of

Anonymous said...

Gary Barboa was asked by someone high up to come to Violent Crimes. Someone has to clean it up since it's been a mess that's getting worse and has been over the last 2 1/2 years. Now that Argueta is gone for awhile, whatever will some of the Violent Crimes personnel do !!!!!!

Anonymous said...

gary was asked by someone high up?
i think you meant to say, gary was asked by someone high.

Anonymous said...

watch out: barboa is the worst thing that can happen to you.
hold on to your values. he has none!don't let him work you over to his way of thinking. he may know how to get arrests but he doesn't know how to respect others and their values. he will drag you down. he will teach you to be a liar. and maybe even a cheat. so watch out. do your job but don't get close to him. he is the worst thing that can ever happen to you.