Eye on the Grapevine: Perlman on the Way Out?

There's a rumor going around city hall that Albuquerque Chief Administrative Officer Bruce Perlman is on his way out. Our Eyes have yet to confirm the report, but at the very least it's interesting timing.

If you'll remember, Mr. Perlman was hip deep in Marty's ABQPAC. In fact, the city's current CAO was the head of the infamous mayoral slush fund (read it here). Marty originally appointed Mr. Perlman back in 2005 - safely and conveniently after the last mayoral election (read it here).

At the time, the Almighty Alcalde was just past what was thought to be his third and last election to the office of mayor. There were calls for him to run for congress (read our take here) and his own announced ambition to run for governor... again. After jumping from the gubernatorial derby and stumbling out of the gate in an aborted senate run, the mayor took the city charter's term limits to court and had them struck down. At the time he claimed that he was just keeping his options open... rrrrriiiight.

It will be interesting to see if there's any substance to the rumor of Perlman's departure. If the CAO does hit the highway, is it a move by the Almighty One to jettison some ABQPAC baggage that is sure to come up in next year's mayoral contest?

We'd think so. After all, it took some serious testicular fortitude for Marty to put the man in charge of his disgraced slush fund in charge of the city. Can you say payback? But then again, stranger things have happened around here.

So... Who to replace a departed Perlman with? Perhaps the Captain (AKA Transportation Director Greg Payne) would like a change of pace. Or since former Chief of Staff Barry Bitzer won't be serving in the state senate after being trounced by Senator Komadina in the primaries, Bitzer's sure to be looking for a new gig. Who knows? Maybe the Almighty One owes someone else a $100,000 a year job. Don't you just love city intrigue?

----- Correction -----
We want to apologize to Mr. Perlman for misspelling his name in our original post. We originally spelled it Pearlman and we were rightly chastised for the mistake. It has been corrected above.