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.

Dumb and Dumber

Two of the Foolish Four were back at it today claiming that Councilor Winter made some sort of back room under-handed deal with the devil to gain his seat as President of the City Council. According to Harris, Winter sold the three water authority appointments to the "liberals" in order to obtain their support for his presidency (ABQ Journal - Subscription).

Meanwhile Dumb's sidekick Councilor Mayer was busy insisting that there was some nefarious scheme afoot since Councilor Winter's wife Nan Winter works for the Water Authority and has for some time. Mayer is quoted as saying "I don't think it passes the sniff test... It just doesn't seem right" (ABQ Journal - Subscription).

(Sidebar)
The councilor ought to know something about stinky situations as her admitted ex-boyfriend and real estate partner continues to receive $50,000 a year contracts from the False Alarm Reduction Unit to do... well, something anyway. If you'll remember, the false alarm ordinance was sponsored by none other than The Mayer herself.
(End Sidebar)

Granted, the appointments to the Water Authority are important but their claims make the two Capo's Councilors look foolish and petty... again. Councilor Winter made them look even dumber-er when he named his first appointment - newly elected councilor and founding (and hopefully ex) member of the Foolish Foursome Trudy Jones.

(Sidebar)
As we've noted before, we don't think there should be a Water Authority. This quasi-governmental agency has an awful lot of authority to bond debt, set rates, punish water evildoers, and stymie economic growth. Councilor Cadigan said just last week that the board should stop extending service to new areas even when water wasn't an issue (read our take here).

Not to be out-done, last month former Councilor and Congressional Candidate Heinrich wanted to use aerial photography and drive by inspections to tell consumers the amount of water that they should be using (ABQ Journal - Subscription). Heinrich insists that the $20,000 pilot program would simply be giving advice on how much a particular household could save (ABQ Journal - Subscription), but it's a short step from should to must and we don't want any government agency peeking over our wall telling us the amount of water we are allowed to use.
(End Sidebar)

Let's face it folks, there's a reason that Mayer and Harris faced recall uprisings in their respective districts - they don't seem to be able to learn from their mistakes. You'll notice that Councilors Sanchez and Jones aren't out making themselves look like idiots (again) by giving legs to a story that had essentially gone away. You can also bet that neither of these two brain donors will be serving on the water board anytime soon.