Two Down

This morning the Journal reported that Councilor Debbie O'Malley withdrew from the race for mayor because she would be unable to collect the necessary $5 contributions. This afternoon we're getting word that yet another Democrat is done... Councilor Michael Cadigan.

Like my good friend Councilor Debbie O'Malley, I have concluded that it will not be mathematically possible to meet the 3200 five dollar contribution threshold by the end of this month. Therefore, I am withdrawing from the race for the Mayor of Albuquerque.

- Cadigan Email to Supporters

Open and Ethical... two words that have nothing to do with the new publicly financed election scheme. Four years ago we were told that the scheme would take money out of politics - both candidates have dropped out because of money. We were told that scheme would be ethical - what's ethical about using city employees as a campaign force? We were told that the scheme would be open - the system has already limited our choices long before we ever got to make our selections.

We were wrong. We thought that at least one of the two councilors would be able to gather the necessary signatures and $5 donations. Now both are out of the race due to a campaign system that they both supported.

And Then There Were Four

Tuesday marked the fourth official entry into the mayoral sweepstakes. After November's Republican debacle, Democrats are lining up to take the executive chair of New Mexico's largest city. Richard Romero who ran twice (and lost twice) to Heather Wilson, has decided that his next office should be located on the 11th floor of city hall.

"These are truly the winds of change," Romero said as winds buffeted his podium on a blustery day.

He becomes the fourth candidate to announce a bid for mayor in the October election. Also running are City Councilors Michael Cadigan and Debbie O'Malley, as well as community activist Donna Rowe.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

All four of the announced candidates have pledged to run "publicly financed campaigns." In other words, there are four little piglets lined up to suck on the taxpayer's tee, uh... trough. And if you think the election's clean because voluntary contributions to candidates from individuals and businesses are verboten, think again. What do you really know about the candidates? How can you tell if you don't know who really supports them?

Richard Romero is a perfect example of hiding behind a bi-partisan past and selling his soul to a liberal future.

Romero also stressed his support for publicly financed elections and his record as a negotiator who works well with others, Republicans and Democrats alike. He said he would offer "a new way forward," drawing on his experience both as a legislator and as an administrator.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

Managing Romero's campaign this time is Neri Holguin, who went undefeated as a campaign manager last year against opponents that represented more than 50 years of experience in the Legislature.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

Neri Holguin is part of Eli Lee's Nefarious Network of Non-Profits that have been determined by the Attorney General and the Secretary of State to be acting as political action committees (read our take here).

Holguin, who was the campaigns director for Soltari, a local consulting group that no longer does campaigns, said her '08 clients include newcomer Tim Keller who is seeking the Dem nomination for the state senate seat held by ABQ incumbent Shannon Robinson... Eric Griego, the former ABQ city councilor who is challenging incumbent South Valley Dem State Senator James Taylor, and Tim Eichenberg who is a Dem contender for the ABQ NE Heights seat held by the GOP's Diane Snyder.

- joemonahan.com

If the names above look familiar it's because the incumbents were targeted by Lee's non-profits for "educational" campaign materials in last year's election. The strategy was effective and all of Holguin's clients won their respective seats. Consequently all of the newly elected officials owe their positions and therefore their votes to Eli Lee and company.

Richard Romero has sold his bi-partisan soul to Eli Lee's leftist non-profits in an effort to get back in the game. Thus, his claims to past bi-partisan cooperation with Republicans are null and void because of his association with groups who demand allegiance to their far left causes. Failure to comply results in targeting and removal. Just ask Democrats Shannon Robinson or James Taylor.

A candidate's associations are important. The new law banning business contributions not only prohibits business influence but forces candidates to run under the "Albuquerque Open and Ethical Elections Ordinance" that was approved by the voters four years ago and by doing so, effectively hides their supporters behind an election law iron curtain.

So why is that important? So far we've got four declared candidates (five if Marty doesn't get his dream job in Washington). Two are honest lefties, O'Malley and Rowe. Two are leftists claiming to be centrists, Cadigan and Romero. Without campaign finance disclosure, it's extremely difficult for the average voter to tell the difference.

[Sidebar]
Ok... so we probably have five mayoral candidates. But to date the Almighty Alcalde has only gone to court to get his term limit over-turned and filed for public financing. That can't mean he's running does it? Rrrrriiiight.
[End Sidebar]

Public financing as implemented in Albuquerque, is already serving to hide candidates behind a shadowy vale of propaganda. In addition, it's costing all of us money at a time when the city is admittedly running a $20 MILLION deficit.

If all five official and un-official candidates decide to officially take public financing and they all are able to qualify, then the city will be another $1.64 MILLION in the hole - and that's before the council races.

It's not unheard of for there to be three to four candidates for each council district. Each candidate that qualifies for the dirty money of public financing would be entitled to around $30,000. This year that means five districts with four candidates at $30,000. Add another $600,000 to the $1.64 MILLION and you've got over $2 MILLION forcibly taken from taxpayers and given to ambitious politicians - most of whom are not even good politicians.

The mayor's race is already shaping up to be a leftist vs. leftier race. With no true conservative or strong Republican throwing their hat in the ring, many will vote for the devil they know - even if that devil is as corrupt as the day is long.

On the other hand, if a solid conservative Republican that can teach and inspire comes to the fore, they would be hard to beat. Especially considering the three wanna-be centrists and the two socialists who are now in the race.

Whispers in the City Halls

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the electoral waters... it's time to start ramping up for not one but TWO elections in 2009. February features the little noticed (except by teachers unions) APS School Board election and coming in October is the first publicly financed mayoral fiasco.

It may be early but our Eyes downtown have ears and they're starting to hear the whispers of ambition echoing through the halls of city power. There will be five council seats on the ballot and The Almighty Alcalde will either have to defend his 11th floor office or ride into the green sunset.

Our Eyes have it that The Almighty Alcalde is hoping to land a high paid gig with the Greens in Washington. Apparently the Greens on the national tree haven't heard about Marty's flirtations (some might say collusion) with the development community - a partnership that came to a screeching halt once Marty decided to run for Governor... uh, Senat... aw hell mayor looks good.

Marty's leftward lurch was no doubt an effort to appease his more liberal detractors. The move doesn't appear to have worked as that's the very group that damn near dragged Tom Udall out of his northern Congressional district to make him New Mexico's next Senator.

Never one to be out of options, Marty made sure that he wouldn't have to rely on the Greens for employment by suing the city that he runs to overturn the City Charter's prohibition on third terms. In one of the most bizarre displays of court room unity the plaintiff (Marty), the City (defense attorneys hired by the city run by Marty) and the Judge all agreed that term limits were unconstitutional under the State Constitution. So... The Almighty Alcade has the option of becoming His Honor for life.

Our Eyes tell us that Marty has been heard to say that if District 5 Councilor Michael Cadigan were to run then the Greens would have to find another Washington lobbyist. We think that the Green thing and the whole Candigan ploy is hhhhhhogwash. Marty's running because no one else wants him and the Greens have probably figured out by now that the "greening" of the Q is more about the gaining of political power for The Almighty Alcalde.

Which brings us to Councilor Cadigan... The District 5 two termer is looking to move up to the 11th Floor and probably figures that after three terms Marty fatigue has got to have set in. He's also no doubt banking on the recent rejections by Democrats of the current 11th floor occupant to give him a leg up with city Ds.

Meanwhile, there's another unlikely whisper careening through downtown halls - Councilor Sally Mayer. Councilor Mayer has been consistently supported by the development community and who knows... if the Ds are busy duking it out in the Duke City she might just pull an upset.

Meanwhile down in the council chambers there are the echoes of two past councilors who could be seeking a return to city hall. Interestingly, both are current County Commissioners whose terms would end in 2010. Our Eyes tell us that Alan Armijo and Michael Brasher may have designs on returning to their respective council districts.

Thankfully, the 2009 election season is still a few months off. But, 2009 promises to be an intriguing year none the less even if it begins with a few whispers and not the thunderous explosion of Senator Domenici's cataclysmic retirement.

Eye Poll: Smoke'em If You Got'em

Last week's Eye Poll sent Councilor Cadigan's dream of a smoke free world up in smoke. Of course it doesn't surprise us that people resist government intrusion into their lives. Our only concern is that we let it happen so frequently anyway.

Eye On Albuquerque readers believed by over a two to one margin that the state statute already goes too far. In our unscientific poll 65% of readers said that statute goes too far, 31% said the statute doesn't go far enough, while 4% don't care (read the complete results here).

It's encouraging to see that at least our readers are beginning to see the steady but persistent growth of government power - power that is increasing stealing our liberty in the name of some "greater good." Of course politicians and government bureaucrats are the ones that not only decide what constitutes "greater good" but directly benefit from those decisions.

Since the primaries are just around the corner, it's time to take a look at the biggest race here in Eyeland - the race to replace Heather Wilson in the First Congressional District. This week we're looking at the Dems. It's really the only race in play with no less than four candidates vying for the right to challenge either Republican State Senator Joe Carraro or Sheriff Darren White for the open Congressional seat.

Democrats will be choosing from former City Councilor Martin Heinrich the early favorite and first of the four in the race, Michelle Lujan Grisham, Robert Pidcock, and Rebeca Vigil-Giron, Rebecca Vigil-Giron (since her famous spot you always have to say her name at least twice. Don't worry you can only vote for her once. Don't forget to vote!

----- Correction -----
Our apologies to Rebecca Vigil-Giron - Rebecca Vigil-Giron. We misspelled her name of all things, spelling it Rebecca Vigil-Jiron - which since it's incorrect you only have to say or type once. Thanks to an Eye reader we have corrected our error above.

Eye Poll is Back with a Burning Question

As you have probably noticed by now, we've taken a bit of an Eye Poll hiatus... Well this week the Eye Poll is back and we're taking on the issue of Councilor Cadigan's most recent foray into private businesses O-08-29 (read about it here).

Apparently the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act that bans smoking (a legal activity) just about everywhere humans can go except outside, isn't enough for the fiery councilor who has tried no less than five times to remove any kind of designated smoking areas in "public" places. We have a problem with this concept of a "public place" being anywhere the public is invited to do business in a private establishment. In our opinion the definition is just another way for government to regulate private property and transactions, but I digress.

Since Councilor Cadigan is attempting to insert his legislative nose in private businesses yet again, it's time to let everyone know what your thoughts on the issue are. Don't forget to vote!

How Far is Too Far?

Since anti-smoking groups have changed their tactics and made smoking a matter of public safety they've been able to make incredible gains in reducing the amount of smoking in "public" places. Of course "public" now includes private businesses.

Regardless of whether or not you prefer smoke free bars and restaurants, the anti-smoking movement and their relentless pursuit of "public safety" should concern you. No one has ever been forced to frequent a smoke-filled establishment and no one has ever been forced to work in a smoke-filled environment.

Anti-smoking groups have created an excuse for government to quite literally stick their legislative noses into the private affairs of businesses who are abiding by the law. That's where Councilor Cadigan comes into this little post. According to Saturday's Albuquerque Journal, Councilor Cadigan has decided to take up for an unnamed business that has taken exception to Monte's cigar club (Subscription).

(Sidebar)
A little disclaimer here... we are not a smoker per se. We have been known to indulge in an occasional cigar from time to time but the number of cigars put to the fire in any given year could be counted on the fingers of one hand. We also weren't too thrilled with the Dee Johnson Indoor Air Act - not because it required restaurants and bars to prohibit smoking, but because it set a dangerous precedent for government interference in private establishments.
(End Sidebar)

The Journal reports that despite being cleared by the fire marshall, other businesses have complained about being able to smell (presumably) cigar smoke from the adjacent cigar club. Councilor Cadigan has proposed a city ordinance that would prohibit smoking in cigar shops. Currently cigar shops are exempt from the smoking regulations.

Despite the exemption, Monte's has been fitted with a specialized ventilation system to minimize aromatic invasion. That doesn't seem to be enough for the adjacent business so Cyrano Cadigan is extending his prodigious governmental nose into the dispute.

Our question is how far is this thing going to go? It's now illegal for businesses to allow smoking in their private establishments. What the intrepid councilor would like to do is prevent shops that sell cigars from allowing patrons to smoke them there. That would be like prohibiting patrons of bars from consuming their purchases on site.

More importantly, government is now inserting itself in almost every facet of our lives. They're not only protecting us from external threats and criminals, they've taken it upon themselves to protect us from ourselves.

Like it or not, smoking is a legal activity. Just because you can smell a cigar doesn't mean that you are being exposed to hazardous carcinogens or that your health is in any jeopardy. Besides, we don't believe that politicians should be the arbiters of science and health related safety.

We ask ourselves how far is too far? Our answer is that we've gone too far a long time ago. Government should stay out of our lives and businesses. The Monte's case shouldn't involve the Albuquerque City Council in the first place and it's terrifying that councilors believe that they should insert themselves into a olfactory offense. What's next, bad cologne?

Scam-era Contract Shenanigans

We know that you've been waiting for us to GO OFF on today's revelations about the Redflex contract. Frankly, none of this should come as a surprise to anyone. The Almighty Alcalde has been defending this scam from the very beginning like his life depended on it. The only exception being when the scam-eras became a political liability during his recent aborted U.S. Senate run; that's when he formed his task farce.

All things considered, finding out today that the council approved a significantly different contract than the one that was eventually signed wasn't exactly a surprise (ABQ Journal - Subscription). Councilors Winter, Jones, Cadigan, and O'Malley called it a "bait and switch," we call it unethical and potentially illegal. The mayor entered into a contract (which he has the authority to do) that our Eyes tell us never went out to bid and then made significant changes to a contract without informing the council of his actions.

Right now, the mayor is not required to go to bid for any contract that is under about $50,000 (You'd be surprised how many of those are being handed out). This Redflex contract has the potential to bring in MILLIONS of dollars and in essence, was a sole source contract.

Just this past Tuesday night, Councilor Harris threw a TIDD party that drew in a couple of hundred citizens. In addition to the lengthy TIDD presentation, a couple of Redflex representatives made a presentation "explaining" how the red light scam-eras worked. In addition they put on a little scare show that showed what can happen when a driver runs a red light. According to our Eyes the presentation contained enough gore to make the producers of the movie 300 proud, but failed to fully explain how red light scam-eras prevented these gory accidents.

What was more interesting than the Redflex propaganda presentation were a couple of questions asked by Bernalillo County Commissioner Michael Brasher. Apparently, what the commissioner wanted to know was whether or not Redflex had retained the service of a lobbyist and whether or not they had made any contributions to any political office holders. Their answer... "we don't know."

In light of today's bait and switch contract revelations, the commissioner's questions take on particular importance and we have the answer to at least one of those two questions. The Eyes have it that yes - the folks over at Redflex have retained a local lobbyist to protect their interests. Knowing that, it's hard to believe that Redflex didn't throw a few bucks at Marty in at least one of the campaigns he's been involved with over the last few months.

Now listen, it's not illegal to support a politician who supports your point of view. It's also not illegal to obtain the services of a lobbyist. That's the way the system is supposed to work. Our problem is with the very dubious claim of the Redflex folks that they didn't know anything about contributions or lobbyists. It makes things look dirty; which Marty's scam-era contract shenanigans seem to confirm.

Wrap It Up!

So says Mayor Martin Chavez. You see the Chavez administration has entered into an open-ended contract to wrap city vehicles with a vinyl wrap that would transform them into... well we're not really sure actually.

We've spotted some of Transportation Director Greg Payne's city buses cruising around town sporting the GEICO Gecko. We've assumed that the city is charging GEICO (or any other advertisers) for the wrap AND hopefully for the ad space on the city buses. Now, the mobile billboard company and perhaps the other outdoor advertisers might have a problem with the city entering their domain, but we don't as long as the advertiser is paying for the service.

In fact, it's certainly a better way to subsidize a mass transit system. After all the advertiser is paying for a service that he deems valuable and the city is presumably using the money to offset the cost of mass transit so that we taxpayers aren't left holding the bag (or at least not all of the bag). That's how the free market is supposed to work.

What we're curious about is what the city plans to put on say... garbage trucks. As an advertiser do you really want your company associated with garbage? What about all of the other city vehicles? What are they going to put on the zoning inspectors car or Animal Control paddy wagon?

At a minimum of $2,000 per vehicle (garbage trucks may cost up to $7,000), there ought to be a darn good reason to put wraps around them; something like the vinyl wraps add 50 years to the vehicles useful life. As it is, the council doesn't like the idea of the unilateral decision to spend taxpayer money on wraps that don't seem to serve a purpose and that haven't been approved by the council.

Councilor Cadigan in a prepared statement, characterized the expenditure as "the most frivolous waste of taxpayer money [he has] seen in [his] six years on the City Council." As a result, Councilor Cadigan and Council President O'Malley have asked the City Auditor to look into the contract and see whether Mayor Marty has the authority to issue a contract that will potentially be worth MILLIONS of dollars without council approval. You see contracts of over $50,000 are typically subject to a competitive bid process and council approval.

There's no doubt that this is yet another shot in the escalating war between the 11th floor and the council. In our opinion, discord between the two is actually good for the public. If those two get along, the rate at which the city gathers power to itself and freedom from the rest of us is truly terrifying. Plus we'd hate see all of the city vehicles looking like this!