Bullshit

At a candidate forum, one where the incumbent RJ Berry actually reared his head  and hosted by Berry friendly commercial real estate and construction firms, candidate Paul Heh layed Berry on the mat.

In response to a statement RJ made when he alleged crime is down in Albuquerque, Mr. Heh said "I call bullshit!" Heh went on to detail how in his own experience as a cop and the very same FBI reports (which Berry can't seem to read) actually show there is more crime in Albuquerque now and for each successive year Berry has been in office.

In 2012 there were almost 4,000 additional felony victims in Albuquerque as compared to 2011. But RJ says crime is down.

Yesterday, the New Mexico Court of Appeals ruled on the police union's lawsuit against the city in a way that all of our Eyes have been telling us it would rule. Judge Garcia of the court said the district court was in error and reversed the decision of the lower court.

In essence, the Berry administration had a duty to contractual obligations first and before discretionary obligations and Berry violated that duty and violated the contracts. But RJ thinks this is a politically decided decision and vows to appeal the ruling to the NM Supreme Court. Where city's across the country have been ordered to honor raises, only here in New Mexico does Albuquerque get to kick the can down the road for the next administration.

Yesterday the APOA also released a well crafted video detailing and documenting many of the personnel shortage emergencies in APD. But because the facts are true, RJ labels the video as a "waste of time and resources" which Rj is an expert in this area. 

(See the video here: http://nmapoa.com/apoa-gang-video/)

Berry then goes on to blame the APOA for the 3 1/2 years of stalled negotiations when in fact the APOA has been at the table everytime and all the time it was Berry's negotiator, John Martinez, of (yep you guessed it...a third party contractor) Management Associates blocking the negotiations. By the way, Management Associates has been paid close to $200,000 taxpayer dollars since being hired by RJ to represent the city.

Then of course there was yesterday's debate where Berry failed to respect his public safety employees and again hid.

 

Calling the Public Safety Forum a "sham" and a place where he "only heard them tear down the police department and the city" Berry stayed in comfortable quarters with his contractor friends at the Paseo/I-25 project which is largely federally funded and of course almost two years delayed because of Berry's ineptitude.

But on Wednesday night there was a forum dealing the RJ's ABQthePlan idea for destroying much of what keeps the Bosque great. Over 500 citizens attended at the city's own library and facilitated by the mayor's staff.

The forum was organized by RJ's office, not unions. It was hosted at a city facility, not a union hall. It was attended by Albuquerque citizens, not city employees. It concerned an issues affecting all citizens of Albuquerque, not AFD, APD, or other city employees.

Yet RJ hid from this forum also and did not attend.

Under RJ's bizarre and weird view of the world, unless you are in agreement with him, his failed policies, horrible leadership, and unlawful conduct, you are the one simply wrong.

To that, we at the Eye call bullshit on you RJ. It is YOU that has torn down the police department and the city. Dinelli and Heh want to restore and build it up.

But please, let us know how you did all of this fiscal belt tightening (aka tearing the city down) without a reduction in services, please, pretty please, say that again....