Take a look at the pictures above, because like it or not, these persons are in control of what is happening in Albuquerque. They control what the city is doing and not doing, and they control what is being reported and not reported. And if you you think coverups and corruption by these people is limited to our little bubble of the state, think again.
And it's about money and control. Period.
"Oh Eye, we've heard this all before nothing is new" you might say. Well, this is new, and if this doesn't illicit outrage and investigation, than I guess the notion of "a bad government is better than no government" is really what's holding things in place.
Because it's not competence, as the city and the state are much much worse than they were years ago.
Starting from the left, we have Jerry Walz. He is the principal owner of the Walz & Associates law firm.
Then we have Kent Walz, Jerry's brother. He is the editor in chief of the Albuquerque Journal.
In the middle is Steve French, principal owner of the French & Associates law firm.
Then of course city mayor RJ Berry, his CAO Rob Perry, and city attorney David Tourek.
In the last 4 years, Jerry Walz and his law firm has received over $531,578 from the city of Albuquerque.
Over the same time period, Steve French and his firm has received over $1,174,891 from the city.
If the Albuquerque Journal were to truly be objective in any analysis of the city, we all know how Berry would fair. He'd be shown for the utter disgrace and failure he is. But given that Kent's brother brings in hundreds of thousands in cash, and the fact that Perry would pull the plug on that just like he tries to intimidate citizens at city council meetings, it's clear the Journal would never touch Berry or Perry.
And French? Well that's even easier. You see he's married to city attorney David Tourek's sister, Katherine E. Tourek. And David's other sister, Lisa Mack, is also a lawyer at French's firm.
Faithful readers, we're not going to bother posting the statutes, ordinances, and ethics rules, these relationships seem to violate. You decide for yourself if you are ok with the editor of the state's largest paper omitting or only softly covering Berry in his paper because his brother makes so much from the city and Berry. You decide for yourself if you are ok with direct and in-law family members making so much money from the city and Berry because they are related to the city attorney.
You decide for yourself if you are ok with the city's former police chief taking a high paying position with a company he had just finalized at multimillion dollar contract with before leaving the department while it's under a DOJ investigation and is hemorrhaging at the seems.
For once, quit shrugging and act like this is your home, because like it or not, these people are taking it from you.
****UPDATE****
Kudos to one of our Eyes who forwarded us the information below. It seems that despite Berry and Perry's statements of being fiscally conservative, it seems there was no amount of money spared in support of their favorite paper run by the Walz brothers. Is it just a coincidence that in an election year the Berry administration paid the paper almost 2x as much in fees than the years before?
****UPDATE 2****
We just can't keep up. In case you missed it, today the PRC rightfully lost a lawsuit where none other than his royal legal contractness, Steve French, represented them and a wrongful termination lawsuit. The jury found in favor of the former employee and awarded him $110,000. (See the story here: http://krqe.com/2014/03/06/former-prc-employee-wins-lawsuit-over-firing/). It seems lawyer French is trying to keep pace with city lawyer Levy. Not only did he lose this case, but he actually helped the plaintiff. You see back in November, the court awarded monetary and procedural sanctions against French for his conduct in this case when he, we know this is shocking, withheld information he was required to produce....Hmmm, another tactic learned by Levy: why produce when you can wait and be required to and just pass the buck to the taxpayers!
37 comments:
It's like a perverse version of the Brady Bunch kids grew up and occupied the city of Albuquerque. And they even have a bastard illegitimate child in the form of baby RayRay.
As the saying goes: follow the money. The Eye has failed to include the Kennedy Brothers, Paul and Joe, who have made close to $4 million dollars, if not more, settling cases with the City over the last 4 years. The connection with the Kennedy brothers is Rob Perry and Kathy Levy. Paul Kennedy has been seen on more than one occasion with RJ Berry having dinner and Paul Kennedy did a fund raiser for RJ Berry. Rob Perry had offices with Paul Kennedy before becoming City Attorney. And Levy simply does what she is told and does not defend cases. Paul Kennedy was the legal partner of Mary Han. Rob Perry and Darren White were all over Mary's Han's house after she was found dead with the Journal not questioning why they were there or making an issue of it in the first place. Also, Steve French is now DEFENDING the city in the lawsuit filed by Mary Han's estate against the City, no doubt thanks to his brother in law David Toureck. How much is Steve French getting paid to defend the Han lawsuit that was labeled by Toureck as frivilous? Do not forget the hundreds of thousands of dollars the City pays the Journal to publish arrested DWI offenders pictures which give Perry and Berry further leverage over the Journal.
Paul Kennedy is not contracted with the city. He is with Martinez though (or am I not supposed to say that to the ethnic pc police lurking on this site?). And his brother is anything but a friend to these criminals in Albuquerque.
you forgot the big one gov martinez and jay
What $$ and why did the city pay Jerry Walz as just one of the five outside counsels (morons) to contest/appeal the Ken Ellis 10.3 million verdict. They were unprepared, just as Kathy would have been, in front of Judge Bacon who lambasted Jerry along with the other four morons...
Stevie French.....10-23r if I ever saw one.....and what is up with the Waldo twins....a double serving of loserhash
12:22 nailed it. Joe Kennedy is the enemy of all these evil scum bags. His firm wins cased because they take true battle worthy cases and kick the piss out of the city for wrongdoing. He and his wife win because they are good, period. All these other unethical corrupt bastards can't hold a candle to those two. As a matter of fact, all of the other hacks should be their couriers and lunch gophers. And stick a fork in that fat greasy hag Levy. Her career is over. I heard she is relegated to cleaning toilets and pulling hair clogs out of drains. They are only keeping her around for a couple of cases where her misconduct was so disgusting that none of the other attorneys want to get prosecuted for, or lose their BAR card for being involved with.
Bunch of bloated douchebags. Except for Burry. He got him a purdy mouth.
The Kennedy Brothers do not have to be contracted with the City to make the millions paid to them by the City. Berry and Rob Perry changed the "no settlement" policy that before forced the Kennedy's to prove their cases before juries. Before the change in policy, they had to go to court and work very hard to prove their cases and where they often failed before a jury or got reduced judgments. Joe and Shannon Kennedy are interested only in their own pocket book and look good only because of the very, very, very poor quality of the City Attorneys office. Why try a case and prove damages when you got Rob Perry who has a blank check book account with taxpayer money where he can push through settlements on behalf of people who sue the city even on frivolous claims. You got to wonder how often have Joe and Shannon Kennedy made more on their federal cases in attorney fees than their own clients did in damages. Rob Perry himself use to sue the city, was a plaintiffs lawyer, and his true loyalty is not with the City or its taxpayers.
As I have recently discovered, the only place to get the REAL story about Albuquerque is the EYE. We need to expand this to the whole state of New Mexico because what happens in Albuquerque, doesn't stay in Albuquerque. This arrogant and lawless culture has spread like a virus throughout this state. The Tea Party has been handing out their tea and people are drinking it. Their putting drugs in that tea to make you believe their deception and lies. I drank it too but stopped drinking it after what I've seen with my own eyes. They did it in AZ and now they've infiltrated here. If you don't believe me, do a google search on what's been happening in AZ for the last 10 years with their government. The attorney general lost his license to practice law but he’s still thinking about running for governor. Law suits being filed against judges and sheriff’s, between counties and the AG’s office. This cost the taxpayers millions and millions of dollars in AZ. Even Jan Brewer realizes that international attention on their radical politics can't go on forever based on her latest decision and threats by large corporations. Look at the economy and reputation of Arizona nationally and internationally and you'll see what's happening to us. Don't drink the tea and you'll start to wake up out of your apathy New Mexicans.
Many, many citizens are being damaged here. There are police shootouts and children dying daily because of their total disregard for the law and irresponsible government. AND THEY DON’T GIVE A DAMN as long as they keep lining their pockets. It's no surprise that it's "run" by a bunch of arrogant lawyers. Don't be fooled by Martinez's grandmother costume either. I wouldn't want anyone to move here without knowing the infested, filthy rat hole that they are moving to. This place will only get worse before it gets better. The question is since we are already at the bottom of so many rankings, how much lower can we get? We've made national and international news for how inept and lawless we are. Good going Tea Party! You succeeded in your infiltration in AZ and now you’re destroying NM. We'll see how long it lasts before Governor Martinez and Berry realize that their charade is not only hurting the citizens of this state but also affecting their pocket books and political reputation. Is it any surprise that it's an AZ company that all of the health provider's contracts were transferred to without due process?
DON’T DRINK THE TEA!
Thank you "Eye" for showing us what the top of the shit pile looks like.
I was unaware of the other three besides Berry and Perry. I suspect 2014 is going to be a very interesting year.. See ya'll at the City Council meeting!! HA HA!!
Update #2 hit the nail on the head for me. Levy screwed me in obtaining evidence. I kicked ass in the case anyway....she has been on my radar ever since and I can't wait to hear that the only BAR she has anything to do with is the one she drinks herself to death in. Hope of hopes it will be in the Angry Wife Brewery out in Santa Rosa....
So lets see now, $1.7M+ spent on outside attorneys most likely due to city attorneys being tossed out of court due to conflict of interest, but then again, even if that wasn't so... the city attorney(s) can't even write an air-tight ordinance for a fucking power pole or read their own residential building codes before handing out (illegal) permits for remodeling. Lawsuits in both of these case yet to come... Looks like the city attorney's office and the city council are not only a waste of tax dollars, but a huge liability for the taxpayers.
Then we have the city website and $27K a month going out the door for GOV.TV... both seemingly useless in getting out information... so they toss $2.8M+ at the Journal...
I've never seen so many people with their heads up the asses gathered in one place at one time before... And they are all in a tizzy about COPS exposing the shit hole ABQ has become... Pull out a mirror dickwads...you are the shit holes...
Do you have grapes between your ears? The difference is French is on contract with the city. He gets paid no matter what. The kennedy brothers have earn their pay. But let's be real, while Joe has earn it with judgments, nosferstu Paul gets it given to him by his buddy Rob Perry.
They are afraid of COPS because they don't want the world to know how close to Breaking Bad this town really is. Only now Public Safety is on the verge of collapse and the criminals are taking over, from the street corners to the highest seats in this land.
People with a lot of money are driving this trainwreck about to occur. What's going to happen when you run out of manpower to staff chiefs overtime position's or grant overtime spots. People just may start talking. How are you going to fix this?? Mandatory overtime like MDC has operated on for years. The sun is coming up you fucking cockroaches.
The tizzy they are in over COPS coming to town is all about control of any and all cameras out there. And it falls right in line with PerryBerry violating an existing contract with Quote-Unquote all because they couldn't control those cameras (independent public shows critical of them) and so they got Perry's boy at UPublic in there to turn the public cable channels black. Talk about another payoff for a FOP/FOB...$27K a month, for no content, and hundreds of thousands of $$ in tax payer owned production equipment either disappearing or collecting dust in private hands over at the UPublic offices. And top that off with UPublic's boy, Adrian, double dipping as their onsite content (camera) overseer at the city's own production studio. Another lawsuit waiting in the wings for its court appearance this year folks...It will be quit enjoyable to see hours of city council meetings where Perry runs interference (holds his hand) for the moron running UPublic whenever the council has called on him to explain why the public TV channels are dark... Can you say TWO BREACHES OF CONTRACT, on Perry's doorstep??? Sure you can...
Speaking of overtime. How about some of you smart journalists find out how much each of the six Area Commands have spent in the last year bringing in cops on overtime just to answer calls for service. Why would you pay $40 an hour, or Lt's pay to a patrolman to take calls. Because they dont have enough cops, figure it out people. There's no morale problem either, huh Eden?
This community should recall the District Attorney, the entire city council, the New Mexico Attorney General and the worthless mayor.
They all have abdicated their positions. When you call their office to complain about the obvious criminal nature of the Taser contract and Schultz being given a job by Taser they say the same thing,
"WITHOUT A COMPLAINT WE CAN'T LOOK INTO IT"
Who made up this rule? No one. It doesn't exist. Using this mentality a crime could occur in front of these people and they would say "well we can't do anything about it until I have someone else make a complaint". Worthless, all of them.
KRQE and the EYE have done your work with Taser and Schultz. It is obvious he only got Taser the $2,00,000 contract in exchange for Taser giving Schultz a high paying job. This 30 41 1 Corruption and Kickbacks. Why won't any of these elected officials do their jobs and order an investigation and suspend Taser's contract until it is done.
Are they all corrupt? Are they all scared? Are they all lazy?
Recall the entire bunch. Please Department of Justice do the job that our local officials refuse to do. Investigate Schultz and Taser for Corruption and Kickbacks
Self Destruction.
Schultz and Taser
French, Walz and Richard Berry
This is why the city is in shambles. So much corruption. So many kickbacks. It seems all of our elected officials are in cahoots. Isn't there any where for the citizens to turn for relief. And where is the outrage? Citizens should be protesting on Civic Plaza demanding Berry suspend the Taser contract. Suspend the French and Walz contracts. Until an investigation is complete. But where our the elected officials and where is the citizen outrage?
Self Destruction
Cincinatus
6:34,
Ding. Ding. Ding...... We have a winnahhhh!
1153....omg u got that right!!
Will someone give Eden a history lesson and buy him a roadmap out of town, pleeese!!!!!! We have no need for another clueless tic.
By all rights the City Council meetings should be packed with outraged citizens! Asking questions and DEMANDING answers! Its way past time the change the course of Albuquerque.
1:57 Other than a road map how about this. Now we are hearing that Eden was picked for the position weeks before the California company got the search job. Can this Mayor do anything good for the City?
NAACP protesting outside of Brandenburg's office.
The rest of us should do the same next Friday for Tasergate. Demand an investigation into Schultz and Taser. How do we set it up?
5:06 Not surprising. I've seen all 43 resumes that were submitted and there were at least 10 other candidates from outside the state that Eden couldn't hold a candle to. The whole thing was a setup from stem to stern. Eden's resume was 13 pages of BS appointments to this and BS appointments to that, plus a laundry list of classes he attended...BFD!!! Nothing that he had really ever done on his own... He may as well be a hibiscus..
How about a photo lineup of the LEA board and Jonesy. Not one of those fuckers are calling for an emergency meeting to fire Jonesy, secure the LEA records, and have Jonesy brought up on charges for threatening to destroy public documents.
Talk about a cabal, we've got so many now we have to start giving them names... Let's call this one the KKK...King, Korn, and Kassetas...
You just can't make this shit up...this must be the Twilight Zone...Or is it just Nature at Play in the Gordon of Eden without a Roadmap.... Shit, I knew I should have turned left in ABQ!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8TUwHTfOOU
Don't forget about the city's huge contacts with Robert Caswell Investigations (RCI).
Add the poster boy of this idiot family to the mix please: Joe Wolf and Jack Jones. Only buffoons like those two would support less training for police cadets.
Do an online protest webpage. Let each victim of this corrupt government (both in ABQ and NM) post what happened to them anonymously so they don't get killed (and I mean this literally based on all of the people who have already died trying to fight for truth and justice.) Use the Eye format. The only way to succeed at getting something done about this mafia is to post it on the internet and get publicity. MAKING THE TRUTH PUBLIC will let the whole world know TO STAY THE HELL OUT OF ALBUQUERQUE including businesses and travelers. The money dries up, which has only just started, and they will ultimately lose their power. Keep up the good work Eye! Your persistence, time and energy is very much appreciated and we should be prepared for a long, hard battle to eradicate the corruption.
@ March 7, 2014 at 3:03:00 PM MST - I would agree with you but the City Council is part of the problem, at least I know for sure Don Harris is. He's already had one recall attempt. Wished I knew then what I know now about him. I would have voted to kick him out when they tried to recall him
@ March 8, 2014 at 10:40:00 AM MSTI I understand they are part of the problem but we can create a lot of public pressure on them. People like Tourek and Perry are there too. Of course Berry isn't because he is always hiding.
Hey fraud media why don't you do an investigative report on why Small Fruit Berry is never at one city council meeting for his own city. It's because he is a pussy who hides from the citizens who would publicly pull his pants down on the issues that he knows he has no answers for but lies. Do a story on a punk mayor who hides like a BALLESS coward. I would have more respect for a failure that faces the music than I do a corrupt lying coward who can't look the public in the EYE in person at public meetings.
Berry, your parents failed you. When they found out that you were born without testicles, they should have bought you some. Maybe the lack of balls is what made you light on your feet mister track star. Track.... Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...
The Anti Eye says;
Come on Eye, this is 100% crap, who the cares about this. You have all this curruption going on, and your reporting about a stupid contract regarding RCI. You do know RCI is a bunch of retired 34's who actually got another job thats not at APD. I have delt with them a couple of times and they seemed cool. I knew some of them. If RCI doesn't do the work, someone else will have to.
Come on Eye, get your shit together. How about reporting on the delayed bid, issues with copperdfire, no one on the streets to take calls, anything on our new Chief, good or bad.
Did you also know Stephen French's nephew was homecoming king at Sandia high school this year ... Coincidence? I think not!
I hear they also control the weather and wrote the screenplay to Glitter!
Post a Comment