6% Raise and 100% Failure

A.P.D. officers are going to receive a 6% raise plus $5000.00 . Sounds good or does it ?  If you listen to Mayor Berry he will tell you that Police Officers have gotten 12%  in raises during, his time in office.  That is a lie but we expect lies from the Mayor.  In fact as reported by The Albuquerque Free Press during Berry's first term he froze Police pay and then made them take a 2.4%  pay cut in violation of the Police Contract. 

Do the math, Officers you are not getting 6%  AND YOU ARE OWED MUCH MORE THAN $5000.00! 

We at the EYE ask what about Officers that have left The Department are they going to be made whole?  We at the EYE believe they should.  We also ask about the remainder of The City, you know the faceless people that make this City run.  Where is their raise ?  They too were forced to take a pay cut.  We at the EYE believe that number was 3%.  So if you put your life in danger every day and your love ones fear you may not come home this is what liar Berry thinks your worth.  However if you sit behind a desk like the top brass and  they steal the rank and file money.

If you are part of The Berry Administration responsible for running This City into the ground you have it real good. As reported in The Albuquerque Free Press raises as follows: chief administrative officer 23.9%  raise, police chief 16.5 % ,CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER 14.9%, planning director14.1%, parks and recreation director 14.1%, animal welfare director 14.1% , human resources director 13.2% , municipal development director 13.1 % , city attorney12.3%, economic development director 10.4%, ALL MAKING WELL OVER 100,000.00 a year and people like Perry making $188,198.00 a year. 

We at the Eye know what you are saying, we have to take it, it's all we will ever get. SAD.

911 AND 911 AND MORE 911....

As reported on KOAT CH7, the national standard for answering 911 calls is ten seconds or less.

Well three years ago A.P.D. answered those 911 calls 97% of the time within ten seconds or less.  The number then dropped to 91% and now to 86%  to answer 911 calls in ten seconds or less.  When seconds count the most serious calls are not being answered within the ten second window. 

Think ten seconds is not long? Think how it would be for you Mr. Nobody if you were in a life or death situation to be on the phone just listening to it ring.  After that 911 call is finally answered a Police Officer has to be found to respond to that call. With about six hundred Officers, good luck with that.

But now for the big story.  When a talking head for the administration was questioned about this horrible situation by KOAT, he responded by saying that 911 calls have increased to six thousand more a month. WHAT?  This is an increase of seventy two thousand  911 calls a year more.  The talking head said A.P.D. will hire two additional 911 operators. 

Here is an idea for APD's Administration...how about getting crime under control!  This is all the proof you need for us "nobodies" that crime in Albuquerque is out of control and that The Police can not protect you.  All of us nobodies have to find a way to protect ourselves and our loved ones.  Trying to get the TRUTH from the City is next to impossible.  Sometimes, just sometimes, when the City is caught in a cover up a talking head will try to defend the City and the TRUTH will accidentally spill out....

Lies, Manipulation, and Deceit: Welcome to Albuquerque DOJ!

****UPDATE Part II****
This just keeps getting richer and richer. Below is a copy of a receipt forwarded to us by one of our Eyes for two 5-star badges disgraced former Albuquerque Public Safety Director Darren White had made for himself. He had a regular badge and a flat wallet-style badge. Since the APD chief of police had 4-stars, we'll leave the speculation to our readers what 5-stars means....

Darren White's Super-Chief Badge, ordered 1/8/2010

Our Eyes also forwarded us the complete unreleased IRO investigation concerning Mr. White. We found some very interesting statements. Since with this badge, Mr. White is holding himself as a law-enforcement officer, why would he be so concerned about "absolutely not" using his city issued unmarked car's siren? Why would Darren now distance himself from Ray Schultz whom he considered a "good friend?" As the super chief of the city's emergency services, why would he say, "Paramedics do not transport patients, they only transport City Employees?" Why would Mr. White call a witness to the accident "in follow up?"

****UPDATE****
In today's (4/6/14) "newspaper," Kent Walz and his board of propagandists go on to list out the causes of APD's problems. They also go on to assert that, of course, RJ Berry is the answer to these problems. In it they assign a whole lot of blame (funny, barely last fall they endorsed Berry's notion that APD is fine and one of the best department's in the country) including:

It's the APOA's fault
It's Marty Chavez's fault
It's hiring of all the officers in 2009 fault
It's APD sergeant's fault.

As Paul Heh said last summer, this is "bullshit." But even more, here is Schultz in 2014 when asked about DOJ:

This is Schultz's expression when asked about DOJ.

True accountability and responsibility for this mess rests with Ray Schultz, Allen Banks, Rob Perry, Darren White, and Richard "RJ" Berry. Make no mistake about it Kent, if not for these persons, APD would not be in the place it is today. If you had any grasp of understanding or intelligence you'd know that the APOA had been all but acting under the total direction and influence of Ray Schultz and Allen Banks. That Marty Chavez has not been mayor for over five years and the rampage of shooting you go on and on about commenced under Berry and White (and we are no Chavez fans for sure). That the vast majority of officers involved in the shootings were NOT hired during the hiring binge. And APD sergeant have no impact on discipline upon the officers when it's any significant incident of misconduct....that falls on the chief.

Berry, Perry, White, Banks, Levy and Schultz created this mess, let it fester, and now that it is clear how bad it is you giving cover to these people is nothing short of disgusting and reveals how truly corrupt you are. Anything for a buck for you and your brother huh Kent...

-----------------------------------

Ever since RJ Berry was elected mayor back in 2009, the city and it's beleaguered police department have been going from one scandal to another like a frog in festering swamp hopping from one toadstool to another.

We had Darren White from the outset letting Ray Schultz run amok while the new mayor got to test drive his new play-toy, a $1Billion dollar entity called the city of Albuquerque. And while under Schultz APD went on a rampage from unjustified shootings to historic civil rights abuses, White and new city attorney Rob Perry used the crime scene of murdered civil rights attorney Mary Han as a way to consolidate power and placate a defeated state supreme court justice and state Republican operative known as Paul Kennedy.  All while Berry's kids at APD were running and spinning things to distort the reality and conceal facts. Kids like Chris Ramirerz and TJ Wilham.

Oh Eye, that's quite a yearn you say. Surely it's not possible city officials like APD lawyer Kathy Levy and Schultz's public information officers would spin and twist truths would they. And for what reason, I mean DOJ is on our side aren't they?

Frankly, we at the Eye have a hard time "seeing" it as well. Take a look at some recent discussion that were forwarded to us involving former APD PIO Rob Gibbs and some other former APD officers including former Deputy Chief Mike Castro:

Aside from Mr. Castro's remarks aside, former Officer Gibbs (now of the Denver Police Department) confirms what we all know to the be the case. Berry and his pals don't follow rules, they do what they want and at their convenience.

And who would they be going to for guidance in this mess? How, after years of resisting the notion that APD has any problems and that DOJ is not needed because, as disgraced Ray Schulz said, "APD has its house in order" does Berry actually make the claim that DOJ needs to hurry up?

Easy, his highly paid election coordinator has been busy spinning things around. You see, Berry paid his pal Jay McCleskey almost $500,000 in just 2013 alone. You all remember Jason right?

Well between him, and his MMA cheerleader, disgraced Albuquerque Public Safety Director, Darren White they've been very busy pushing Berry this way and that way....

And let's not forget, when it comes to lying and spinning, the silly public figure that just can't do enough to carry the water for these people, is none other than deputy city attorney Kathy Levy. It seems she's been caught in yet another lie (shocking we know). While the Redwine shooting video and the APD Keith Sandy lapel camera video are hot ticket items, Levy has been busy saying she can't release the video because the FBI said no. Of course it's now come out that the FBI said no such thing. Why is it Berry is so quick to say he want's DOJ to hurry up out of one side of his mouth, yet on the other they are continuing to hide and conceal public information?  Liar Levy in a recent press conference...

Lies, spin, ommission, and deception by the leaders of the city of Albuquerque. Business as usual.....This should be an interesting week....

Your Tax Dollars at Work

An "events center" or a performing arts magnate school... what is the real future of the First Baptist Church building on the corner of Central and Broadway? The Albuquerque Public Schools - awash in bond money approved by voters back in February - has put in a bid to buy the church for $11.3 MILLION. APS wants to turn the facility originally built in 1927 into a performing arts magnate school (ABQ Journal - Subscription).

Meanwhile, the city is watching its dream of an arena, uh... "events center" exit stage left. So the city council in a 7-1 vote with Councilor Lewis objecting and Councilor Winter recusing himself, resolved to urge the mayor to try and negotiate a deal with APS to allow the two governmental entities to share the site (ABQ Journal - Subscription).

The real question is what are either of these two taxpayer paid for entities doing spending our tax dollars on a school for the performing arts or an "events center?" Both the city and APS are in the middle of what can only be called a serious budget crisis. Layoffs and cuts are rampant at both but don't worry, you'll have an "events center" or a magnate school to go to even if you can't afford the tickets or pencils.

[Sidebar]
Notice how the unpopular arena has become an "events center?" Like global warming - now climate change - the arena has become increasingly unpopular with the public. So we'll build an "events center" not an "arena" - a distinction without a difference. Or more like a boondoggle by any other name still stinks the same.
[End Sidebar]

The problem is that money for capital projects like this purchase come from the sale of bonds. They're essentially loans supported by taxes. Sometimes money will come from various federal programs like the spending package euphemistically known as ARRA - The "American Reinvestment and Recovery Act." But in the final analysis all of the money comes from us.

More importantly, the completion of these monuments to entertainment will require operational money that comes from already depleted general funds. Remember, both APS and the city are cutting salaries and laying off personnel.

In short, there are a number of very compelling reasons not to build either project. The school board looks like it's got $617 MILLION burning a hole in its pocket courtesy of a tiny tilted turnout. The city doesn't have the $400 MILLION it wants for an arena, but if or when it does you'll be the one paying for it.

This isn't about economic development and it's not about education. It's about spending every dime provided by taxpayers regardless of the long-term consequences. By the way, today - June 30th - is the last day you'll be paying 6.625% on purchases. Tomorrow you'll be paying 7% in Albuquerque - sending even more of your tax dollars to "work" so that bureaucrats and politicians can play. 

When You Can’t Attack the Content

The Chavez administration - according to our Eyes - was obsessed with finding "The Eye." Now it seems new (and a few of the old) power brokers have launched a campaign against an individual they think is the Eye. While the attention may be flattering, the question is why does it matter?

“Thus, an ingenious attacker makes the defender at a loss how to defend; an ingenious defender makes the attacker at a loss how to attack.” Zhang Huimin

The individual formerly known as the Almighty Alcade died a slow political death of a thousand cuts. Eye on Albuquerque along with a number of other sites and media outlets, simply presented the issues and information as they were occurring. In truth, most of the cuts were administered by the Almighty Alcade and his minions themselves. Painful for a man with an Ivy League Education I know, but he must have missed the history class about Marcus Junius Brutus. (More on this later.)

As you watch politicians on the news, they will often use a common device. When they cannot answer a question they employ a distraction or avoidance technique. If they cannot evade, they attack the messenger. Again this is a normal political tactic.

One would hope they would be smarter than that. Recently our sources tell us that some city power brokers have become “concerned” and have tried to entice reporters to write articles about The Eye on Albuquerque. Yet, there are new posts and even new contributors. Priceless!

In my opinion it was more entertaining watching the chess games being played with the Almighty Alcade. When some of the new members stepped in, the games turned from chess to checkers. A good quote or sound bite is rarely a substitute for a sound strategy and never a substitute for honesty and integrity.

A bombastic nature is truly one of the greatest assets that can be developed in the media and provides for great entertainment. It can also be utilized to effectively distract the public.

You (as citizens) should ask some serious questions. We have a new administration that ran on a platform of lean government, transparency, and fighting crime. If this is true why do we have almost the same APD leadership? Why do we have a new public safety Czar? What does the position truly bring to the City of Albuquerque? What are the citizens getting for the salary? Why was this position kept when there are so many budget shortfalls? Was this a political payback, and if so for what?

Eye on Albuquerque was and is intended to be anonymous. Not to hide, but to allow a river of communication to emerge. It has emerged; in fact there are now thousands of posts and comments. This provides for something called content. It would appear the administration (past and present) has been unable to find a way to stop citizens from reading and posting about the issues that concern them.

Now some power brokers think they know who they should attack. Again, with vigor and zeal they march forward not knowing or understanding who or how to attack. Worse they have no concept of the stage on which they will be forced to perform.

Is the content so disconcerting? Is the message so dangerous?

Who am I? Who we are we? I am a shadow, one that is always there, one you will never see. Nice try, but you‘re not even close. As far as the content, Eye on Albuquerque will continue to post what we see, and let the readers decide. Remember you will always have a Shadow.

Eye Told You: About Time

We've been telling you about The Formerly Almighty Alcalde's Eco-Folly for two years now. Marty's move to the green was designed more to capture headlines than to save the planet and Albuquerque taxpayers got to pay for it.

Finally, after two years of telling you about the damage and the cost of E85 Eco-Fool, the Berry Administration has pulled the plug on the program and moved the city back to good ol' unleaded.

"It's no longer cost-effective for us to run on ethanol," said John Soladay, director of the city's Solid Waste Management Department.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

And Ford's failing fuel pumps?

Police Chief Ray Schultz said in some cases, the fuel pumps on police cars failed in the early morning hours, with no way to get them fixed immediately. The administration also said some sedans in the Fire Department fleet were unable to respond to emergencies.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

Chief Schultz didn't do the problem justice. Our Eyes tell us Marty's Eco-Fool program caused fuel pumps to fail about every 2,000 miles. With 700 plus vehicles - a large portion of which are Ford Crown Victorias - it's pretty easy to see that there were a large number of vehicles out of service at any given time.

It's about time common sense broke out at the city hall and the Berry Administration deserves credit for making the right move. What was even more shocking is that even Councilor Benton is on board.

City Councilor Isaac Benton said he isn't concerned about the switch, especially because ethanol takes a lot of energy to produce.

"Even though it's made from agricultural products, it could be a problem in and of itself," Benton said in an interview. "I know there have been real questions about the mileage per gallon you see with ethanol. I don't really consider it to be a sustainable product."

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

 Not sustainable... Eye've been tell you that for some time (read it here). The simple truth is that when an "alternative" fuel costs more and requires over a gallon of fossil fuel to produce a gallon of the alternative fuel - not to mention some 1,700 gallons of water - it really isn't much of an alternative.

Immigration - Einwanderung - (名) 移住; 出入国管理; 移民 - Immigrazione - иммиграция - Inmigración

Believe it or not, it's possible to send the entire Industrial Media-Progressive Complex into apoplexy with one single word... "(名)  移住; 出入国管理; 移民" or more commonly known in the English speaking world as "immigration." There are two types - legal and illegal.

Until 1927, there really was only one form of immigration - legal. Those were the heady days of "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." The doors through which most immigrants passed were held wide open just like the American West where many risked life and limb in order to find a new life - a free life.

These immigrants may have passed through Ellis Island, crossed over an imaginary desert line in the sand, or fled the Great White North of Canada (eh), but they all came here understanding that nothing was guaranteed and that they would have to largely take care of themselves.

FDR's New Deal began an inevitable march toward government dependence that added a new and dangerous incentive to immigrate to the US - entitlement. Social programs designed as a safety net became a staple and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free became the masses looking for free things.

Don't misunderstand, there are those hardworking immigrants who only want an opportunity to better themselves and provide a better life for their family. The difference today is entitlement. Regardless of an immigrant's motives, their very presence here makes them eligible for all sorts of government goodies paid for by citizens and legal immigrants. Enter the new Arizona immigration law.

Arizona is broke. So broke in fact, that the state held an auction in January to sell off government buildings (read it here). It's estimated that Arizona is home to some 470,000 illegal immigrants - all of whom are eligible for some form of state funded assistance despite their less than legal status. Then there's the crime that is often associated with illegal immigrants. Phoenix has become the kidnap capital of the U.S. It's hard not to draw a correlation between the abductions in Arizona and the kidnappings in the Kidnap Capital of the World - Mexico City.

There's little doubt that crime and entitlement led to the new Arizona law - a law that is more rhetorically reprehensible than actually a threat to civil liberties. In fact, the law has at least one very positive effect - it makes Arizona immigration policy uniform.

Uniformity in law enforcement is imminently desirable. In Bernalillo County alone we have at least two different enforcement policies - one for the Sheriff's Department and one for the Albuquerque Police Department. And despite the mayoral campaign promises, our Eyes tell us that there has been no change to the APD SOP regarding illegal immigrants. Officers are prohibited from contacting federal authorities unless the suspected illegal is accused of a violent crime (read it here).

[Sidebar]
We understand that filling a $20 MILLION budget hole only to have to fill a $64 MILLION hole takes a large shovel and a lot of time. But, Mayor Berry needs to make good on his campaign promise and direct Uber-Chief White and Chief Schultz to make the promised adjustments to the APD SOP.
[End Sidebar]

Look... everyone in this country - including American Indians - came from somewhere else. Whether trekking across the Bering Strait, braving the Atlantic, or wading across the Rio Grande, all of us are or came from immigrant stock. Most of us came legally. But since 1927 the federal government has restricted immigration and if they won't enforce the laws they created, it's up to the states to do so. More importantly, in today's entitlement society it's economically unsustainable to continue to support those who have chosen to ignore our laws and enter this country illegally.

A War on the Public

WAR! Screams the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees. Apparently the union believes that its members will be irreparably harmed by Mayor Berry's proposal to cut city wages by a whopping 3%.

"Please understand that we are at war, a war of survival and a right to exist, and we will not go lightly into the night," [Andrew] Padilla wrote in a recent AFSCME newsletter. "Everyone must be prepared to assist the union in this most dire of situations."

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

 Sounds a lot like a line from the movie "Independence Day." More importantly, the highly charged rhetoric is ill-advised and factually inaccurate. First and foremost, Mayor Berry is not challenging AFSCME's "right to exist." In point of fact, the union's existence isn't being challenged or threatened in the least, but rather public employees' ability to continue living as if the Great Recession didn't exist.

Three years ago, Albuquerque's unemployment rate was 3.4% according to Workforce Solutions. Now, the Albuquerque's unemployment stands at 9.2% (New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions). In three years Albuquerque has gone from what is considered to be full employment to almost 10% unemployment. So what has been happening in the public sector workforce over the last 12 months?

Government added 1,100 new jobs for an increase of 1.3 percent. The lion’s share of the growth came from federal government, which was up 700. Local and state government gained 200 jobs each. Many of the new federal government jobs have come from the decennial census. 

- New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions

Other winners during the current economic disaster are health care workers and you guessed it... teachers. Educational & Health Services added 600 jobs. Meanwhile, construction (-2,100); manufacturing (-1,500); professional & business services (-3,000); retail trade (-1,200); transportation, warehousing & utilities (-800); financial activities (-100); and miscellaneous other services (-200).

It's clear that the private sector has been hemorrhaging jobs while the public sector not only enjoys job stability but increases. Now, instead of being thankful for relative stability of their members' jobs - the organization charged with representing these lucky workers is marching to "WAR!"

Hmmm... we wonder just how well AFSCME's "war" will go over with the public when almost 1 in 10 of them are out there trying to find a job?

Like it or not, government workers do not create wealth. Government workers consume wealth created by others in the private sector. Each government job depends on the healthy existence of hundreds of private sector jobs. At a time when the private sector is shrinking, it's morally wrong and fiscally unsustainable to increase the burdens placed on a shrinking number of private sector workers and businesses.

They say it's wise to pick your battles. With 9.2% unemployment and 18 months of negative job growth, AFSCME is simply outnumbered. Mayor Berry and the City Council would do well to stand with the public that elected them and pass the mayor's proposed budget. This is a battle that AFSCME is unlikely to win in a "war" that should never be fought.

The Golden Rule

It's the public sector equivalent of the Golden Rule. No, not the one about treating others as you would be treated - the one about having the gold and making the rules or the parachutes as the case may be.

High ranking public officials are allowed to bank their vacation and make substantial withdrawals upon retirement - that is if you are high enough on the proverbial ladder.

The top two leave payouts in recent months went to deputy chiefs in the Albuquerque Police Department who retired in December. Michael Castro received a $141,000 payment, and Kevin McCabe collected almost $126,000. 

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

Leonard Garcia, who headed the Solid Waste Management Department, received $116,000, and former Fire Chief Robert Ortega $114,000.
       
Six other employees received payments topping $78,000, including retired Cultural Services Director Ray Darnell and Chávez press secretary Deborah James.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

Your average, everyday city employee lives under a cap that limits the amount of accrued vacation and sick leave. While the specifics vary, our Eyes tell us that most government employees have to use it or lose it after they've accrued about 10 weeks of leave. 

Caps are simply good business and so is providing adequate time off. The former limits the amount financial liability when an employee leaves and the latter makes for a more productive employee.

Mayor Berry has rightly ended the practice and City Councilor Brad Winter intends to make sure that future mayors don't reinstate the practice.

But banking vacation time isn't just for the City of Albuquerque. Last year, KRQE's Larry Barker exposed the Shah of the Rio Grande - Subhas Shah - for running the sever-retire-rehire scam (watch it here). Part of Shah's payout was almost $250,000 in, you guessed it... vacation.

[Sidebar]
Despite the furor over The Shah of the Rio Grande and his scamming of the system, Mr. Shah is still employed by the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District as its Chief Engineer and CEO. Sometimes even sunlight fails to cleanse government corruption.
[End Sidebar]

Meanwhile over at Bernalillo County, county managers and a few directors are busy filling their vacation banks with an unlimited amount of unused vacation to be cashed in at retirement. And we'd be willing to bet that there are numerous other high ranking government employees that are cashing in at taxpayer expense in the dark corners of the state's governments.

The public sector version of the Golden Rule... He who controls the taxpayer's gold makes the golden parachutes. Golden parachutes, they're not just for Wall Street anymore.

Mixed Messages

54.6 MILLION dollars - that's the hole that Marty dug for the City of Albuquerque taxpayers - it's the legacy of unchecked ambition. Mayor Berry stuck with a $54 MILLION pit and not enough dirt to fill it.

The first thing Berry did when building his team at city hall was ask most of the new appointees to take a 10% to 20% pay cut. As a result the Berry administration is about 13% leaner at the top than the Chavez administration was. The problem is Berry is sending mixed messages to the public and to city employees by hiring a few select positions at considerably higher salaries than their Chavez era counterparts.

Worse... Berry seems to be protecting former CAO Ed Adams who along with his $147,000 a year salary was transferred to DMD where he is a "special projects manager" (whatever that is).

[Mayor Berry] rejected a council resolution that would have forced the city to legally challenge the $147,000 annual salary drawn by former top administrator Ed Adams.

Berry said although he disagrees with the salary, the legal expenses and the possibility of a countersuit make going to court a bad deal for taxpayers. He proposed amendments making it clear no similar salary deals can happen again.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

Berry is right that the council needs to clarify the city's ordinance regarding unclassified political appointees returning to classified positions and the commensurate salary. But that will never fix the Ed Adams situation.

Right now we're paying for two CAOs (actually more than two since CAO Campbell pulls down $159,000 a year) and getting the work of one. Over at DMD the city gets to pay for a CAO that does "special projects." All of this at a time when Berry would like city employees to accept a pay freeze.

Berry's mistake is only considering the legal cost of defending Adams' pay reduction. What about the cost of having to fight the city's public safety unions over a pay raise that - like Adams' sweetheart side deal - was agreed to by The Almighty Former Alcalde?

Berry took on union President Diego Arencon and successfully returned the firefighter to the pay of a firefighter. What's the difference between a firefighter and the former CAO? Nothing.

They both had side agreements with Marty. The message that Berry sent with his veto is that high ranking administrators have a different set of rules than rank and file employees. How much long-term trouble has Berry bought by "saving" a few bucks on legal fees?

Hopefully, the council will save Berry from his own misguided veto. Otherwise the mayor's mixed messages will land him in stormy seas at a time when he needs calm waters.

----- Correction -----
I have been rightly chastised for mixing up my union presidents. In point of fact the IAFF local President is Diego Arencon not Joey Sigala, Segalla, Sagala the APOA President. It has been corrected above.

Is our Eye red! Yet another correction. Uuugh! First Joey now Diego. Not Joey not Garcia. The IAFF union President is Diego Arencon. Really, really, we've got it right this time!

Protecting the Scam

Red or green, stop or speed, city scam-eras will make you pay. Last week, District Court Judge Theresa Baca struck down the green. Video from the city's green light scam-eras have been ruled inadmissible in the case of Joel Widman vs. the City of Albuquerque.

In a state Appeals Court case, N.M. v. Henderson, justices ruled that a particular photo was admissible, but they set out certain standards for permitting such evidence. They ruled that photo evidence can be admitted if the photo "speaks for itself" or if someone with personal knowledge can testify that it's a fair and accurate representation of what occurred.

Widman argues that traffic-camera videos don't meet that standard, at least for speeding violations. In his case, for example, he said the video simply showed his vehicle driving down the street. It wasn't clear he was speeding, Widman said, and no one would have personal knowledge that he was.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

Admittedly, this is a hole in the scam that we hadn't considered. The video in and of itself is not proof of speeding. The system uses ordinary speed radar to detect the speed of a vehicle. Unlike the radar's criminal cousin, there's no one present to testify to the green light scam-era's calibration or even which vehicle actually triggered the violation.

Frankly, we're surprised that the city even let this thing go to District Court. Our Eyes tell us that the city's first and best defense of the scam has been to dismiss the citations of those who are determined to appeal scam-era "court" to real courts with real judges. In fact, the city's trying to remedy the Widman problem by retroactively dismissing his citation.

The city dismissed Widman's citation "because of issues with the record" that were entirely unrelated to his appeal.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

"Issues with the record?" Reeeeeaally? The issue with the record is that the city and City Attorney Bob White got their, uh... hind quarters handed to them by Judge Theresa Baca. (Yet another example of White's legal prowess.)

It's clear that the city DOES NOT WANT a real court to set a precedent that would shutter the scam-eras and they'll do anything protect the scam - even re-write history.

Bluff?

It's been quite a while since we talked about Marty's Scam-eras. Since that time, the tireless mechanized shutterbugs have been snapping away at Albuquerque drivers. Sunday night, KOAT reported that the scam was owed some $8 MILLION because it seems that according to the city some 25% of drivers are either ignoring the tainted tickets or aren't receiving them in the first place.

City Attorney Bob White told KOAT that the "tickets" will be turned over to a collection agency and that failure to pay would result in potential harm to the owner of the vehicle's credit rating. Remember, scam-era citations are sent to the owner of the vehicle not to the driver of the vehicle - seemingly under the theory that you are your Chrysler's keeper.

Understand that the scam has been running since 2005. Over the past 5 years 25% of drivers have simply ignored the shutterbug citations leading to $8 MILLION in unpaid fines. While the city claims that unpaid citations are sent for collection - and they may be - we have yet to hear of a case where a collection agency has sued on behalf of the city in order to collect an unpaid scam-era fine.

You see... the city and any collection agency have a number of a problems when it comes to collection of fines alleged by scam-eras - not the least of which is proving that the violation ever happened. The debt alleged by the city has never been acknowledged by the owner of the vehicle or proven by the city in court - even to the lower civil standard of preponderance of the evidence. The owner of the vehicle has not contractually agreed to pay the fine and there is no civil version of implied consent. There's not even any proof that the owner of the unruly vehicle received notification. In short, the city doesn't have a case.

Just try taking your neighbor to court over an unpaid debt without any proof whatsoever that your neighbor ever borrowed your money or even knew about the debt in the first place. That's the predicament that the city finds itself in when vehicle owners don't respond to the citations.

There are also a number constitutional questions regarding the constitutionality of underlying nuisance abatement ordinance - the ordinance upon which the scam-era program is built. But suffice it to say, the city's enforcement of scam-era citations has relied on voluntary compliance and the threat of attacking someone's credit rating.

We all live in fear of some miscreant stealing our identity and ruining our credit. Restoring one's credit takes an inordinate amount of time and can prevent us from obtaining credit to buy a home or a car, and can even prevent someone from getting a job.

Just imagine the liability of the agency that attacks your credit rating on behalf of the City of Albuquerque based on a claim of an outstanding debt with no supporting adjudication or shred of evidence that the accused received notification of said debt. If someone was prevented from getting a job because of an action alleging an unverified or adjudicated debt, exactly how much would a jury award the victim?

Sunday night's story on KOAT just smells bad. Our Eyes tell us that while overall the number of scam-era unpaid scam-era citations is 25%, the current number is around 33%. That means that the number of people voluntarily paying citations is decreasing. Further, our Eyes tell us that most of the scam-era revenue comes not from red light violations but from green light speeding violations.

[Sidebar]
Our Eyes also tell us that falling revenue from scam-era intersections has become problem. As a result, The 5th Floor has lowered the triggering speed from 10 mph over the posted speed limit to 4 mph over the posted speed limit. Remember, this is supposed to be about public safety.
[End Sidebar]

The scam-era system has been built on the false premise of law enforcement and fueled by the voluntary cooperation of the general public. In our opinion, The 5th Floor was using KOAT in an effort to scare the public into voluntary compliance knowing full well that their scam can't stand. In other words, it looked a lot like a bluff.

Barking Up the Wrong...

Threats, guns, the law, even incarceration don't intimidate determined criminals. However, a police dog and his handler strike fear into the most hardened criminal.

APD has a well-trained K-9 unit. It's police dogs and the officers that handle them work on a daily basis to clear buildings and capture suspects. Police dogs are dedicated, unstoppable, and generally non-lethal. More importantly, police dogs keep officers from having to go into dangerous situations to apprehend dangerous criminals. In short, police dogs save police officers' lives.

Unfortunately, whenever force is employed there is the potential for collateral damage. If an officer must fire his weapon to protect his life and the lives of civilians there's the potential that some innocent bystander will be injured or even killed. When a police dog is used to find and apprehend a suspect, there's a possibility that the suspect, a bystander, or even another officer will be hurt.

The case of Officer George Gabaldon is one such example. Officer Gabaldon was injured by an APD police dog while apprehending a suspect.

In November 2006, Albuquerque police officer George Gabaldon and a fellow officer pulled over a truck on Candelaria that had careered around a corner in the wrong lane, nearly hitting Gabaldon's police cruiser head-on.

The truck was riding on its rims, and it turned out to be stolen.

Although Gabaldon called for backup to make the arrest of the two men he had seen inside the truck, he told a judge Wednesday that he didn't expect an APD canine unit to show up.

And Gabaldon certainly didn't expect that he would be the one that "Doc" sank his teeth into, sending him to the hospital with a severe bite wound and keeping him off the job for weeks.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

It's important to understand that Officer Gabaldon was injured in the line of duty. The City of Albuquerque has an obligation to make him whole. However, Gabaldon is suing the city not just for his injuries but for an order that requires the city to muzzle its police dogs.

Muzzling police dogs will not only endanger the dogs by removing their only defense, but will endanger officers who will have to engage criminals without effective backup from their K-9 partners.

Ultimately, were all in greater danger if police dogs and police officers are muzzled. Officer Gabaldon deserves compensation. However, by attempting to muzzle his K-9 counterparts he's endangering his fellow officers, himself, and the citizens that he's sworn to protect. In other words he's barking up the wrong... tree.

Letters to The Eye: Albuquerque Firefighters Deserve to be Heard

As most reader know, we've been critical of IAFF 244 Union President Diego Arencon. Unions are not all that different than governments in that they have the power of coercion when it comes to taxes or dues. How they use those funds are extremely important to those they represent.

We recently received a letter from Firefighter and Union Steward Matt Blanchfield seeking to correct an article published in the Albuquerque Journal. As you can see from our forums, it's our policy to put all of the information out there (along with our humble opinion) and let our readers decide and even mix it up.

Albuquerque Firefighters Deserve to be Heard
by Matt Blanchfield, IAFF 244 Steward

I am writing to address facts missed by the Albuquerque Journal in it’s front page article on Monday, January 28th, 2010 and other articles run by the Journal recently about Mr. Diego Arencon, the President of IAFF Local 244. IAFF Local 244 is the union which represents all but one of the firefighters in the Albuquerque Fire Department and all but one of the firefighters in the Bernalillo County Fire Department. It is my hope that the Journal will publish this letter in the spirit of fairness to fully inform the residents of Albuquerque.

I will begin with a quote from Monday’s article, ”The union took the matter to court after Berry objected to the higher salary.” This statement is absolutely not true. The prohibited practice suit Filed by IAFF Local 244 was filed prior to Mr. Arencon having confirmation that his pay was going to be reduced in violation of the current memorandum of understanding or MOU with the city.

IAFF Local 244 filed a prohibited practice suit in Bernalillo County District Court when Mr. Diego Arencon was ordered to report to Fire Administration for assignments to be determined by the Albuquerque Fire Chief, which would not include conducting union business 40 hours per week. Removing the president of IAFF Local 244 from his daily union duties was in direct violation of the long standing practice of city bargaining unit president’s working full time on union business and our current contract. Our current contract states in plain english, “To develop a more cohesive relationship between the Union and the Albuquerque Fire Department ,upon request of the Union President, to place the Union President on a 40 hour work week for union business.” I was present when the information was first given by the Albuquerque Fire Department administration to Mr. Arencon that Mr. Arencon was to have has his ability to conduct union business while on duty removed. It is my opinion, that AFD Administration had no desire for Mr. Arencon to be removed from his long standing union duties, but that decision was not theirs to make. The decision to remove Mr. Arencon from his contractually agreed upon right to conduct union business came from the Mayor’s office.

IAFF Local 244 filed the prohibited practice suit to stop the Mayor’s Office from hobbling our union by inhibiting our ability to conduct day to day business. The city contended that it believed a bargaining unit president receiving his or her regular salary to perform union business was in violation of New Mexico statute. So my question is this, if that is the case why was only AFD’s union president ordered to stop conducting union business while the other union presidents employed by the city continued business as usual? If the Mayor’s Office believed it was against state statute for union presidents to receive their regular pay while conducting union business shouldn’t the Mayor’s Office have ordered all their employees to cease such activities?

The Mayor’s office was attempting to test the waters to see how far they could push IAFF Local 244 by effectively removing AFD’s union president from his ability to represent the union. The Mayor’s Office has attempted to combine the issues of the contractual right of IAFF Local 244’s union president to conduct business with the publicly unpopular idea of paying a union president in excess of his or her regular salary to conduct union business. These are two entirely separate legal issues. It is just a devious strategy on a part of the Mayor’s office to combine the two issues. The city is attempted to conceal their real motives, which are to weaken the city unions. If the city had succeeded in it’s effort to take away IAFF Local 244 president's contractual right to conduct union business while on duty, they would undoubtedly have done the same with the other city union’s presidents.

The Journal also failed to report that Mr. Arencon volunteered to give up his additional pay and the city refused his offer. Instead the city insisted on attempting to get a ruling that it was against state statute for Mr. Arencon to conduct union business even without his additional pay. Albuquerque tax payers would have appreciated knowing that information. And what happened during the hearing? Judge Baca found no discrepancy between New Mexico statutes with union presidents doing union business while receiving their regular pay.

Union business is city business and the city benefits from union business. The Mayor, the CAO, Darren White, the Chiefs of both AFD and APD, the heads of every department and all city managers conduct business with city unions everyday. By the city’s argument all of the before listed individuals would be in violation of state statute when they received their regular pay while addressing any business having to do with unions. The city obviously did not think that to be the case.

IAFF Local 244 members work for the community on and off duty. Our members recently stood with the community in front of the City Council, all of them off duty, to work towards getting a new paramedic rescue unit added to District 8. IAFF Local 244 helps keep city employees safe by assisting the city maintain a safe work environment and assuring safety equipment is provided and kept up to national standards. IAFF Local 244 members sit on the Albuquerque Fire Department Safety, EMS, Accident Review and various other committees helping the department meet all of it’s goals. One of our members was on television just last night receiving recognition from the Mayor for saving the city two hundred and fifty thousand dollars annually!

The city’s unions insure fair representation to city employees, due process, good benefits, fair wages and much more. IAFF Local 244 members coach and sponsor children’s teams in Albuquerque, volunteer their time, found organizations such as Random Acts. This organization provides amazing community services on their own time and with their own money. The contributions made to the City of Albuquerque by the men and women who belong to unions and work for the City of Albuquerque are huge. The City of Albuquerque is the largest employer in Albuquerque. The city’s unions help the economy which could never be more important than now. Five thousand employees making good wages and having job security contribute a tremendous amount of financial stimulation to the local economy.

The Journal seems to be of the opinion that Mr. Arencon and our former Mayor, Martin Chavez had some sort of secret relationship that was contrary to the best interests of the City of Albuquerque. This assumption could not be farther from the truth. During the years that Mayor Chavez and Mr. Arencon worked together there was not one single issue which came before the local or state labor boards, or before a court; Not one! This absence of expensive litigation is unheard of with a union the size of IAFF Local 244. Mayor Chavez understood that the City of Albuquerque is it’s people, and more than five thousand of it’s people are city employees. Mayor Chavez also understood that he could accomplish a better working relationship with the city’s employees by bargaining in good faith with their unions. Mayor Chavez experienced that by bargaining in good faith with the city’s unions that the city’s employees desired to work with the city on any issue. During the former administration when there were issues that needed to be dealt with, city management and IAFF Local 244 sat down and honestly and openly hammered things out. It appears those days are over.

Since coming into office, Mayor Berry has contracted with Management Associates. Inc. I would like to ask the residents of Albuquerque if they have any idea what Management Associates, Inc. is. I am willing to bet that there are sitting City Councilors who don’t know either. Management Associates, Inc. is a firm known around the State of New Mexico as being an anti-labor, union busting firm. Mayor Berry has contracted with this firm to “negotiate” with the city’s unions and to advise his administration. The residents of Albuquerque don’t know about this because the Mayor has been giving interviews for television telling the people of Albuquerque he wants to sit with the leaders of the city unions and ask us for our ideas on how to address the City’s budget problems. He must have just forgotten to mention that he had already contracted with the most anti-union organization in the state to “discuss” our ideas. The Mayor also didn’t mention that his CAO has canceled multiple meetings with Mr. Arencon. Mr. Arencon has made multiple appointments to do exactly what Mayor Berry stated he wanted to do with the unions, sit down with us and discuss solutions for the city’s financial short falls. IAFF Local 244 wants to work with the city to address the needs of the city, the fire department and union members. The city has thus far refused to meet with IAFF Local 244, but that is not what Mayor Berry is telling the public.

Mayor Berry also failed to mention that he contracted with Management Associates, Inc. for $55,000, which is the limit the Mayor is allow to spend without the City Council’s approval. When Management Associates, Inc. has burned through $55,000 of the city’s money, the Mayor may extend another $20,000 of city funds without the Council's approval. Is that fact something the Mayor desires to keep secret? Management Associates, Inc. has no vested interest in the City of Albuquerque and the unions working together to solve Albuquerque’s budgetary problems. The opposite is in Management Associates’s, Inc’s. self interest. They make money when management and labor fight and that is exactly what they have accomplished in two short months after many many years of positive relations between management and labor in the Albuquerque Fire Department. IAFF Local 244 has never distrusted City Hall more than now. This atmosphere of mistrust is a detriment to the residents of Albuquerque.

I can assure the residents of Albuquerque that the administration of the Albuquerque Fire Department and the Executive Board of IAFF Local 244 want to work together. We are brother fire fighters. We have risked our lives together to protect the residents of Albuquerque. All of us want nothing more than to expand on the excellence of the Albuquerque Fire Department, to better serve the residents of Albuquerque and to be good fire fighters. Chief Breen and every Deputy Chief in AFD were members in good standing in IAFF Local 244 prior to being appointed to their current positions. Actually, one Deputy Chief was an Executive Board member. The unions problem is not with the administration of the Albuquerque Fire Department. IAFF Local 244’s problem is with City Hall and even more specifically with Management Associates, Inc.

The public should also know that since the new administration has taken office, every single workers comp claim filed by an Albuquerque firefighter has been denied. One was denied to a firefighter after being approved by the former administration. Albuquerque is self insured which means the City of Albuquerque approves or denies it’s own workers comp claims. One of our brothers was burned in a house fire this past week. I wonder if the City of Albuquerque will deny his claim? Maybe not after this article! Is this one of the new Mayor’s ideas as to how to balance the budget, by denying the workers comp claims of firefighters? How are we supposed to react to this kind of outrageous situation? What am I supposed to tell my brother and sister firefighters when the physical injuries they sustain on the job are summarily denied after a new administration takes office? What would you think if you were in our shoes? How much would you trust your boss if he was on television saying he wanted to work with you while his people refused to meet with you or even answer your calls, if he contracted with the most well know anti union firm in the state, if he removed the leader of you organization and misled the public as to why he had done so, if he had denied your friend’s medical claims for injuries they received while serving their community? What would you do?

What I did was write this letter to ask for your help. Mayors come and go. The Albuquerque Fire Department has been here one hundred and ten years! The men and women of the Albuquerque Fire Department will respond to your emergencies no matter what the Mayor’s office and Management Associates, Inc. does to us. I ask you to call City Hall and to call your City Councilor to demand that the city use city employees to manage the city. City administration should work with the city’s unions not a legal team who profits from turning our unions against the Mayor. The damage already done with the advise of Management Associates, Inc. is grave. Continuing to do business with Management Associates, Inc. is not the way to handle labor relations within the City of Albuquerque.

I also ask the Journal to give IAFF Local 244 the opportunity present our side of things when it comes to the current and on going struggles between the Mayor’s Office and labor. By doing so the public will be far better informed.

----- Post Script -----

For the record, we don't agree with Albuquerque taxpayers paying for a full-time employee of the union and we never agreed with Mr. Arencon's uber-pay deal cut with Marty Chavez. No other union president receives similar treatment and the position isn't supposed to be full-time.

Be that as it may, yesterday a judge ruled in favor of both parties who subsequently declared their individual victories. Mayor Berry got the money and President Arencon got the time.

The president of Albuquerque's firefighter union isn't entitled to a higher salary because of his role as a union leader, according to a decision issued this week by state District Judge Theresa Baca.

Instead, the president, Diego Arencón, should be paid according to his regular rank as a firefighter first class. The ruling changes his salary from about $81,000 a year to roughly $49,000.

Baca's ruling also says the city must permit Arencón to devote his full 40-hour weekly schedule to union business, as called for in the firefighters' union contract.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

On point lost in all of this is that the IAFF 244 president doesn't just represent firefighters in the city, but also those in the county. Yet the city is footing the bill for a full-time union president whose benefits are shared by the county.

Unclassified

The state calls them "exempt." The city calls them "unclassified." No matter what they're called they're employees who are beholden to the elected executive official that hired them. These employees can be hired and fired by the governor or mayor for just about any reason.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, Governor Richardson has 760 "exempt" employees - over 500 in the executive branch alone. Richardson's exempts became one of the popular targets of legislators in the recent emergency session.

There are 760 exempt employees in New Mexico government — about 500 in executive branch agencies — and the number has risen sharply during Richardson's two terms in office.

“The growth in exempt positions has been significant,” Cote said.

A similar proposal has also been introduced by Sen. John Ryan, R-Albuquerque.

Some legislators have criticized the growth in government spending under the Richardson administration — about 40 percent in the past six years — and the growth in exempt employee numbers in particular.

(ABQ Journal - Subscription)

One of the fun things about a transition of power is the transition shakes things up and tends to expose a few things that have been heretofore almost impossible find out. Once such thing is a complete list of all of the city's unclassified employees and how much they make - a list that fell smack dab into the lap of one of our Eyes.

The city of Albuquerque has 1427 "exempt" - or as the city calls them - "unclassified" employees. Understand that a large number of these unclassified positions are part-time or seasonal and pay between $7.50 and $19 per hour. But there are 124 full-time positions in Marty's unclassified world that earn more than $50,000 a year that's over $15,000 more than the state's median income for a single wage earner (view it here).

Combined those top 124 unclassified positions cost us $5,098.21 an hour, $203,928.40 a week, and $10,604, 276 a year. If you thought the mayor was the top dog, you'd be wrong. The top three unclassified wage earners are CAO Ed Adams, Fire Chief Robert Ortega, and Chief of Police Ray Schultz at $147,742, $140,733 and $140, 733 respectively.

The mayor's pay - previously set by the council and soon by some "independent" committee - makes a paltry $109,325 and only ranks 14th on the unclassified pay scale. Councilors by contrast, are at the bottom of the 1400 plus list earning a meager $5.26 an hour (based on a 40 hour week).

There are currently 6 director's positions that are either vacant (like Jay Evans who skedaddled back to Open Space and reportedly took his director's pay with him) or have "acting" directors whose pay won't show up on the unclassified list. Included in the list is soon to be former Transit Director Greg Payne whose salary and job will continue until November 30th.

You may be wondering why all of this matters. It's not really surprising that Marty's Minions were making shall we say... healthy salaries. They certainly were and in some cases the job justifies their pay. In other cases such as a position like say... director of senior affairs (a job Marty's paying $107,910 for) is really hard to justify. Do you really want your senior affairs person making more than your economic development person, your HR manager, or the director of finances?

The more one analyzes the list of unclassified employees, the more you begin to see Marty's pattern of rewards for loyalty. Pay and responsibility often have nothing to do with one another.

Let's face it - there are some positions that will simply go unfilled if the pay isn't adequate. Take the city attorney's office for example. A good attorney can make upwards of $150 an hour. You can't just pay $35k a year and expect to fill the position - at least not with a competent attorney.

The point here is that Mayor-Elect Berry has an opportunity to save the city money by removing unnecessary positions and adjusting pay of necessary positions to more accurately reflect the position's responsibility.

A new mayor should have the opportunity to surround himself with people they trust and people that they feel are best qualified for needed city positions. After all, the mayor should and will be judged not only by his performance but the performance of those he surrounds himself with .

Mayor Berry has the opportunity to make some real structural changes to his unclassified list that will make government more transparent, more efficient, and save all of us money at a time when money is hard to come by.

Taking Leave out of Administrative Leave

Administrative leave has always been an annoying. A city employee is accused of wrong-doing or even criminal behavior and we tax payers get to pay them for doing nothing. Officer Levi Chavez is the most famous admin leaver. After his wife's untimely demise, Chavez was placed on administrative leave. As of last May, Chavez was still collecting a paycheck while the investigation into his wife's suspicious death continues.

Apparently, the Chavez administration has decided that if they're paying an employee then they ought to be doing some work. According to our Eyes, they've decided that when a city employee is placed on administrative leave they'll be expected to pull weeds or even clean out kennels even if pulling weeds or cleaning kennels are not part of their job description.

[Sidebar]
You may have read some of our posts about Levi Chavez. Our argument that Mr. Chavez should be terminated stemmed from the evidence found at the scene - in particular, a stash of marijuana which the last time we checked was an illegal substance. At the time, Chavez was a probationary officer and we'd call possession of a controlled substance a violation of that probation.
[End Sidebar]

We're pretty sure that the move would be generally popular with the public... at least until they think about it. Admin leave is used to get an employee out of the way until the allegations against them can be fully investigated. You know the whole innocent until proven guilty thing.

The Chavez administration has never been too concerned about due process. To wit, Marty's red light Scam-era program. Now the mayor wants to expand his guilty until proven innocent theory to administrative leave.

Let's say that you're an administrative assistant, a cop, a bus driver, or any other city employee whose job doesn't include weeding or cleaning kennels. If you were placed on administrative leave, you probably wouldn't appreciate having to muck out a kennel or be seen on the street pulling weeds. You might even consider it a form of punishment.

Now don't get us wrong... we need people to pull the weeds and clean the kennels and they're honest jobs. But forcing someone on administrative leave to join the city chain gang doesn't make sense and may not even be legal.

We doubt very seriously that the employment contracts of those not hired to pull weeds or clean kennels include that kind of service to the city. So, forcing city employees into alternate service in a different department is probably not going to happen.

Our Eyes Behind the Badge believe that the new policy is targeted directly at men and women of APD. Police officers deal with people on a regular basis and no matter where they're needed there's generally at least one person who's less than happy to see them arrive. As a result, police officers more than any other city employee generate complaints that can result in administrative leave.

The move makes it easy for The 5th Floor to punish officers without bothering to investigate or even finding a reason for administrative action. APD already has a track record of using never ending IA's as a weapon against officers who aren't in favor with the administration. Now they're going to have one more tool in their toolbox and this one can be used against any city employee.

Livin' the Dream - Paid to Not Work

Back in January we told you about the impact that the downturn in the economy has had on the city's building inspectors. Actually, the inspectors were probably not complaining as they were being paid to not work (read it here).

Apparently city pay for nothing has spread to the Human Resources Department. KOAT-TV is promoting a Wednesday story by Target 7's Melissa Vega on "City Workers Getting Paid for Doing Nothing." It's pretty obvious that with the economic downturn and the utter failure of Obamanamics, departments that thrive during a healthy economy would see a drastic reduction in work.

Unfortunately, our Eyes tell us that pay for nothing has spread to the specialized units of the Albuquerque Police Department. It seems that a number of these units have begun a practice of having early briefings, going home for a few hours, and then returning to work the remainder of their shift. In some cases, they'll even clock over-time when their jobs take them into the wee hours of the morning.

We can almost understand why HR personnel and building inspectors are left with nothing to do. When there's no work to do, there's no work to do. That doesn't mean that we should pay for workers to do nothing. In fact, the practice is a colossal waste of taxpayer money.

However, there is no excuse for officers in these specialized units to be riding and hiding especially during challenging economic times. Shifts for APD's specialized units need to coincide with the times when they are expected to be needed. Briefings should take place immediately before the rush hours and should we all be lucky enough that they're left with nothing to do - they should make themselves available to take calls for service. After all, these are sworn officers being paid to do a job we shouldn't be paying them not to work.

Double Dippin' and Poltical Pay-Offs

Last week Double Dippin' Gate exploded through the city's blogs and airwaves. We've been watching the controversy with a fair amount of interest because the stories and debate have all mixed legitimate return to work and what we believe to be simple fraud.

The first story from KRQE's Larry Barker targeted what we would call fraud. Powerful government officials from different agencies using their position to orchestrate return to work deals
for favored employees - a.k.a. cronies.

The problem here is not that city employees retire and then come back. The problem is that they either come back to the same job that they supposedly retired from thereby receiving both their salaries and the pension, or they receive cush jobs unavailable to those around them. The practice depends solely on the willingness of a well placed supervisor or elected official and requires absolute loyalty to the patron dolling out the benefit.

In the cases of Vickie d Herrera and Felicia Giron, that patron was none other that the Almighty Alcalde himself.

KRQE-TV reported on Friday that City Hall had been rehiring retirees — in some cases through a "temporary agency," apparently an attempt to skirt the 90-day rule. In other cases, employees worked as volunteers during the 90-day period.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

As you can see it benefits you to become one of Marty's Minions. If you can't afford to take off the required 90 days, they simply shift your position to a temporary agency where you permanently take the position.

There are a lot of problems with this system. Most importantly, the mayor and other public officials use the PERA retirement program as a political patronage program. If you are eligible for retirement and would like to almost double your pay, you better be a card carrying member of Marty's Minions. Otherwise, you'll end up like former Officer Dennis Patrick or former Lieutenant Steve Tate... denied.

Of course if you're one of Marty's buddies (Nick Bakas) or Chief Schultz' running pal (Rob Debuck), you'll find yourself with a job making more money that you ever have in your life regardless of whether or not you are qualified to hold the position.

(Sidebar)
Our Eyes tell us that the 5th Floor is concerned that it will come to light that over 10% of the current force is made up of rehires. That means that some 80 to 100 officers are "double-dippin."
(End Sidebar)

Look... we don't have a problem with someone earning their retirement, retiring, and then going back to work - private sector executives and workers do it all the time. That is of course, providing that the person in question acutally retires. Our problem is the system of using taxpayer money to pay-off political cronies. It's certainly in the long tradition of New Mexico corruption and pay-to-play governance, but it's certainly not in the best interests of the taxpayers and those governed.

Trouble in the Air

Wednesday, the Albuquerque Journal ran a story on a recently filed lawsuit. Apparently, the city and Bode Aero aren't playing well in the Double Eagle Airport sandbox. Among other things, the lawsuit alleges that the Almighty Alcalde made some shall we say... inappropriate demands last year when he was running for Gov, uh... Senate.

Bode Aero Services claims the retaliation occurred after it "declined to provide free or discounted air service" to Mayor Martin Chávez for his brief senatorial bid in 2007. The suit doesn't provide any specifics about the claim.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

All of the Bode hubbub got us thinking about other Aerospace legal proceedings. In this case bankruptcy proceedings involving Eclipse Aviation. You know we've always wondered about the viability of a company built on the concept of selling personal jets. It's not like jets were ever an everyday purchase for your average family. But hey, if there's a market... But apparently there really isn't.

In any case, a few weeks back we received documents from the Delaware bankruptcy proceedings involving Eclipse Aviation. A little disclaimer here. We have been unable to independently verify these documents but they appear to be authentic and if they are the city and the Almighty Alcalde have a lot of splainning to do. (You can view the documents here.)

You see according to these court documents, Eclipse Aviation is holding a large amount of property owned by the City of Albuquerque. What's most disturbing is that much of the listed items seem to our admittedly untrained eyes to be specialized equipment that the city has no business owning. For example a $128,496 MTS for fatigue and metals testing, a $56,472 LPT laser projection system, and the coup de gras, three paint booths worth over $2.5 MILLION. And those aren't even the highlights.

From these documents it appears there are millions of dollars of equipment in the possession of bankrupt Eclipse Aviation that appear to be owned by the city - much of it specialized equipment.

It looks to us like there are two possibilities here. One is that Eclipse is using a whole bunch of specialized equipment courtesy of the City of Albuquerque (that's all of us who pay taxes in Albuquerque) or two, Eclipse is using the city to shelter assets from creditors in a bankruptcy proceeding. The latter could be criminal, the former... could be criminal -either way, there's a lot of trouble in the air and a lot of splainning to do.

----- Update -----
This is the best explanation that we've heard (or shall we say read):

Those are the items purchased with Industrial Revenue Bonds (gross receipts tax free). The City has "bare legal" title to them under the IRB system, but does not really own them. They will likely be sold to pay off Eclipse's creditors.

-Anonymous

All of which makes perfect sense, except... we don't see the bond repayment listed in the creditors section. If the city has "bare legal" title, then the city has ultimate responsibility for repayment of the bond.

Eye Poll: Wrong Direction

A couple of weeks ago Marty's Minions were circulating a poll - paid for by them and without the poll questions attached - whose conclusion was that the Almighty Alcalde was unbeatable. We weren't buying it. Let's just say we were suspicious considering the source.

The big question that Marty's folks cited was the wright/wrong question. Generally, this is a good indicator that voters are either contented or at least apathetic, or they're in a mood to throw the bums out. For incumbents the former is great - the latter, not so much.

So... with all of Marty's supposed glowing poll numbers staring us in the Eye, we decided to see if they were really as shiny as they were portrayed. In last week's unscientific poll, Eye readers overwhelmingly rejected the idea that the city is headed in the right direction.

67% of participants indicated that the city is headed in the wrong direction, 28% in the right direction, and 5% didn't know (view it here). We've been very critical of the current holder of the 11th Floor throne, so it wouldn't surprise us if we're a bit oversampled on the detractor side. However, a 39 point difference is significant even in an unscientific poll.

All recent indications are that the city's crime problem is deepening. Today's story on the recent take down of a sophisticated Mexican meth ring here in the Duke City demonstrates our vulnerability (ABQ Journal - Subscription). Do you feel safer today than you did four years ago? That's the question in this week's Eye Poll. Don't forget to vote!