Pay to Play Alive and Well

About a year ago, then city of Albuquerque Public Safety Director, Darren White, exerted his position as the city’s highest ranking law enforcement official at the scene of an accident involving his wife. Not that a husband shouldn’t be concerned if his wife is possibly injured, but when you are responsible for overseeing the operations of the very agency responding to your spouse’s care; one would expect a little bit of discretion. After all, the appearance of any impropriety by and of itself is enough to influence any objective investigation towards that of favoritism. Kind of like how Chief Schultz says the appearance of police misconduct is itself police misconduct.

We’re not saying that Darren White did indeed influence the investigation by now deceased Officer Al Walck, but we are saying there are times when because of your title and it means you don’t get all the rights a regular citizen has. In the case of what occurred with PSD Darren White, he should not have ever even arrived on scene and should have respected his position and waited for an update. It’s clear the scene was handled in a way much different than it would have been for any other citizen because of Mr. White’s presence. Mr. White then paid the price for this incident by “resigning” from his position with the City of Albuquerque.

But Mr. White did not have to worry about employment for long. His friend, Dan Mourning (of Capo’s restaurant on Lomas NW) quickly arranged to have White hired as Director of Security at Expo New Mexico's struggling Racino. Then, and as broken by the Eye, Mr. White was then promoted to “Project Manager” of the renovation of the casino located at the Expo. Despite not having any professional experience or a contractor’s license, Mr. White was given authority over a multi-million project. Now our Eye’s tell us, Mr. White is now the general manager of the entire Racino facility. We at the Eye are curious about this because aside from the obvious question “When does it end?” we wonder what Governor Martinez is thinking given Mr. White’s track record of quitting, resigning and failure.

As Governor Johnson’s Secretary of Public Safety, Mr. White was the focus of numerous no-confidence votes and objections by rank and file officers of the New Mexico State Police and the New Mexico Department of Corrections employees. In the midst of a total inability to manage his position (Mr. White redefines the term “overpromotion”) Mr. White then abandons Governor Johnson under the false assertions of protesting the governor’s decriminalization of marijuana campaign. Mr. White then rallies the Republican votes and is able to earn the position of Bernalillo County Sheriff. But again, he flirts with abandoning this position to run for Congress whereby he is solidly trumped by rookie politician Martin Heinrich by over 11 points. Shortly upon returning as sheriff, his department is stung by a class action lawsuit whereby the county had to pay millions because Mr. White’s authoriezed is deputies to seize funds illegally. Again with too much liability threatening him, Mr. White then abandons it again in favor of a position given to him by the new mayor of Albuquerque: RJ Berry. While Mr. White oversees APD, and oversteps his authority at the scene of his wife’s accident and again at the suspicious death scene of prominent lawyer Mary Han, Mr. White stirs up so much controversy that once again he abandons Mayor Berry.

Now Mr. White is the General Manager of Expo New Mexico's Racino. In the midst of an unfolding pay to play scandal that rivals the allegations against Governor Richardson, Mr. White is front and center of one of the State’s largest expenditures of public funds. Given that Mr. White's only gambling management experience is dropping a quarter in a slot machine and handling (or mis-handling) of the public's money, given that Mr. White's only construction management experience is putting a new roll of toilet tissue on the dispenser and the deconstruction of public safety agencies, we at the Eye have to ask; "Really???"

Today is Friday, July 20th,2012…anybody want to bet Mr. White will NOT be in the same position this time next year?????

Furlough

Furloughs are fashionable these days. Back in November, Big Bill ordered 20,000 state employees to take 5 days off - without pay. All of this sounds good and perhaps for your average administrative assistant, clerk, janitor, mid-level manager (or top-level manager for that matter) or political appointee it's a hell of a lot better than having to look for a new job.

Unfortunately, there are a number of positions affected by Big Bill's unpaid vacations that are important and involve public safety even though they're not employed by police or fire departments. One such position is MVD Hearing Officer.

These MVD judges review the case against the accused drunk driver and determine whether or not they will be allowed to keep their driver's license. Hearings must be held within 90 days or the driver gets to keep their license. Of course if the drive is found guilty, the criminal court may revoke their license regardless of the determination (or lack thereof) of the MVD hearing officer.

The problem is that MVD hearing officers are overworked (and our Eyes tell us underpaid) as it is. There are 11 of them for the entire state and they struggle to keep up with the caseload in the best of times. Now they will be forced to take unpaid leave 5 times before the end of the state's fiscal year at the end of June.

The move makes about as much sense as furloughing firemen or police officers. If MVD hearing officers cannot hear an accused driver's case in the allotted time, they could be sending a driver with a serious problem back out on the street to be picked up again or much worse.

Richardson and his merry band of Democrats are using every trick in the book to attempt to cover a deficit created by their own out-of-control spending. They're even looking at borrowing the money!

The truth is the Governor and the Legislature need a 12 step program for themselves. The first step is to admit you've got a problem. The second step is to identify the root cause and change the behavior. Richardson and his cohorts won't admit they've got a problem much less make an effort to fix the problem and in the case of the MVD hearing office - they're actually putting the public in danger.

Swearing In

Ok... this thing's been all over the board. First Monday, then Wednesday, now today! For now, it appears that the new District 3 County Commissioner will be sworn in at 3:00 pm. Apparently, the new commissioner will be... (drum roll please) Maggie Hart Stebbins.

We don't know the soon-to-be commissioner and there doesn't seem to be much in the way of information on her aside from the fact she's a 1985 Harvard graduate. Who knows the way the Guv has been jumping around on this one it could be someone else. But it seems that most of the D blogs are reporting that Dan McKay is reporting (yeah, we know) that Ms. Stebbins is the winner. If not, we won't be the only ones swearing... this time.

Big Bill's Choice

It looks like The Guv is ready to make his choice. Our Eyes down at the county have it that Governor Richardson's staff is pushing to make sure that all of the remaining Bernalillo County Commissioners are present at today's 2:30pm MRCOG meeting. Rumor has it that Richardson is ready to announce his choice to replace the departing Deanna Archuletta.

The meeting of the Middle Rio Grande Council of Governments was scheduled so that Big Bill could tell various governmental entities in the Middle Rio Grande Valley how much of Obama's spending, uh... "stimulus," uh... recovery cash that they would have to play with. Apparently he's got something more in mind, because his is pushing hard to make sure that Commissioners Armijo, De La Cruz, Wiener, and Brasher attend the meeting personally.

Last week no fewer than nine commission aspirants interviewed for the position vacated by Archuleta. You can bet that there wasn't a single one with an R next to their name as the district (District 3) would be considered a safe Democrat seat.

----- Update -----
We got word this afternoon that we have some readers up in Santa Fe that weren't too pleased that the cat got let out of the bag before the big announcement today. As a result, the Guv and his staff decided to move the official announcement of Commissioner Archuleta's replacement to Wednesday.

The grapevine has it (not surprisingly) that the winner of the Commissioner 500 will be a Hispanic woman. If you were on the Guv's interview list and you don't fit that demographic, you're probably not the name that's going to be read come Wednesday. But who knows? That may change too... now.

On Another Plane

At a time when state employee travel is severely restricted, the State of New Mexico is in the process of purchasing another plane. The good news is that this plane is not another luxury jet, but a turbo-prop.

The State of New Mexico's General Services Department Aviation Services Bureau (the "Agency") requests proposals for the purchase of an aircraft. The aircraft's primary mission will involve the transportation of government officials within, but not limited to, the State of New Mexico. Secondarily, the aircraft will be available for use by State of New Mexico agencies, commissions, institutions and employees in the furtherance of state business as allowed by law. Appropriations totaling two million eight hundred thousand dollars ($2,800,000) for the proposed procurement were made to GSD during the Second Regular Session of the 48th Legislature.

- State of New Mexico General Services Department

The bad news is that we're spending $2.8 MILLION for a plane that will essentially replace the Beechcraft King Air C-90 that was sold in order for the Guv to get his jet. What's worse, we only got $500,000 for the Beechcraft.

The administration has sold the plane to make up the difference between $5 million provided by the Legislature to buy a state airplane and the $5.45 million purchase price negotiated for a new Cessna Citation Bravo.

-ABQ Journal (Subscription)

The state is in the middle of a half-BILLION dollar budget crisis brought on by out of control spending. We bought a train at the expense of roads (ABQ Journal -Subscription). Now we're buying another plane to haul state employees around the state at a time when non-essential travel has been forbidden.

It's clear that the Governor and the Legislature exist on another plane - one where money grows on trees. Down here in the real world, the money they spend comes directly from us - a result of our creative genius and hard work. Perhaps it's time to sell a $5.5 MILLION lightly used jet to pay for a new Turbo Prop? We could lower maintenance costs, pay for the new plane, and maybe - just maybe - have some money left over.

Justice Served? Hardly

Judge Pat Murdoch reversed himself Friday and sent Elton John Richard II home to his family with time served, a five year probation, and the bill for Daniel Romero's funeral. It was a step towards righting a wrong that started when Richard plead guilty to manslaughter and ended when Judge Murdoch initially sentenced Richard to 2 years in prison and four years of $500 a month restitution to Daniel Romero's family.

There were a lot of wrongs in this case starting with Daniel Romero who made the wrong decision to try to pay off a drug dealer by stealing a vehicle from the wrong man. Romero's string of wrong decisions continued when he refused to be taken into custody to wait for the police, when he attacked the Marine whose Bronco he had tried to steal and when he ultimately turned to attack him for the last time.

Daniel Romero wasn't the only one to make the wrong choices. District Attorney Kari Brandenburg made the wrong choice when she decided to prosecute a man who only did what any police officer would have done in the same situation. Billy Blackburn, a high power attorney (one of the best really) was wrong when he advised his client to take a plea rather than go to court. Judge Murdoch was wrong when he accepted the plea and doubly wrong when he imposed his initial sentence.

Finally after all of those wrongs, Judge Murdoch did the right thing by reducing Richard's sentence. The problem is one right doesn't undo all of the wrongs that preceded it.

We have to admit that we initially struggled with this story. No one wants to see a fleeing man gunned down. But as we looked into the story we became more and more convinced that Richard acted in the best traditions of law enforcement and the Marine Corps. He protected his family and the rest of us, while restraining himself from using deadly force until he felt his life was in danger.

Ultimately, the only way that all of these wrongs can be righted is for the Governor to pardon Richard. Mr. Romero is dead because he was continually in the wrong. Mr. Richard lost the life he knew because of the wrongs done to him. Governor Richardson has the power to return a man's life - he should exercise that power and right all of the wrongs that came before.

Choices

Life is about choices - big and small, the fateful and the inconsequential. After an unspeakable tragedy, we spend a great deal of time examining the choices that led to a fateful event. Most of the time, we’re trying to lay blame or attempting understand events by playing “what if” or “connect the dots.” Each dot is a pivot where the choices made could have led to a very different outcome. Thought’s like “if I’d just left a few minutes earlier I would have avoided the accident” or “if we’d just noticed a large number of middle eastern exchange students taking flight lessons with no real interest in landing a plane” become obsessions.

The Elton John Richard II case is a perfect example of what happens when someone arrives at one of these pivot points and fails to recognize the predictable outcome of a simple choice. It’s only fitting that we examine some of those points – points where different choices could have led to a far less tragic outcome.

It all started years ago when Daniel Romero chose to involve himself in activity that could only be described as risky and one that ultimately led to his demise at the hands of a determined Marine. Make no mistake - Daniel Romero sealed his fate when he chose a life of larceny. His family argued at sentencing that Romero had helped people along the way - it's probably even true - but the simple fact is Romero chose to make stealing from others a part of his life.

(Sidebar)
Folks, armed robbery should be a dangerous occupation. One should certainly give serious consideration before deciding to go into the field. Societies' mistake is that we’ve created a system of laws, legal precedents, and administrative rules that serve to protect offenders and endanger the rest of us.

If you’ve ever wondered why we’ve got such a huge problem with auto-theft in the Albuquerque area the answer is simple – APD is not allowed to pursue a criminal that is fleeing in a stolen vehicle. The result is predictable, somewhere around 600 vehicles are stolen every month. More importantly, criminals know about the policy. So what do you think they do when an officer attempts to pull them over… what would you do?
(End Sidebar)

Perhaps Romero's worst choice and biggest mistake was to try and steal from a man who had the training and the determination to protect his property and his family. His last choice was to try and flee from justice and the detention that he rightly deserved.

Now take a look at the actions of Romero's victim. Yes, victim. There's no other way to describe a man who will be serving a two year prison sentence for making sure that Romero would never pose a threat to society again. Remember, Romero is dead today because he chose to flee from justice – that choice cost him his life.

From all accounts Richard made every attempt to take Romero into custody – repeatedly ordering Romero to stop and lay on the ground. If Richard had simply wanted to execute Romero it would have been far simpler to shoot him in his yard. Richard chose to protect his property, he chose to protect his family, and ultimately he chose to protect the rest of us.

There were other choices along the way... The DA chose to prosecute, the defense chose to enter a no contest plea, and the judge chose to sentence Richard to two years in prison and order him to pay the family $500 a month.

This is where we believe Judge Murdoch erred. The admission of guilt inherent to the no contest plea gave the judge a tremendous amount of discretion. Unlike Romero, Richard chose to remain at the scene, he chose to enter a plea accepting the consequences under the law, and he chose to face a judge without remorse, accepting the consequences of his actions.

(Sidebar)
Is it just us or does it seem strange to pay the family of the deceased (not victim) $500 a month for five years when they're at least partially responsible for the choices that Romero made? It's kind of like life insurance for thieves designed to replace the income lost from their ill-gotten gain. Talk about theft - Richard kept his Bronco and thanks to Judge Murdoch now has to pay the family of a thief enough to buy them one.
(End Sidebar)

Now Governor Bill Richardson faces a choice. Whether or not commute the sentence of a Marine whose only crime is serving justice by attempting to detain for prosecution a convicted criminal. We think the choice is an easy one. Commute the sentence to time served and drop the AFLAC for felons provision. Crime shouldn’t pay - not for the criminal not for the criminal’s family.

It's too bad that Romero ended up dead. But the truth is Romero's record of armed robbery indicated that his fate would more than likely have been the same even if he'd faced a less competent adversary. More importantly, it's hard to predict how many innocent victims Romero would have created along the way and how many bodies might have been left in his wake.

As a society we need to take a very long hard look at the laws governing administration of justice by civilians. We as a people have a right and a duty to do everything within our power to protect our families and our property from people who would take them from us unlawfully. If we truly want to be safe, we need to take part in our own protection. The Constitution guarantees us that right and there’s little doubt that the founding fathers intended that we play a role and take responsibility for our own safety.

In the meantime, we need to address the immediate concern of Elton John Richard II. Under the law he may be guilty of a crime (and has admitted as much), but to us he's a hero that made all of us just a little bit safer.

----- Post Script -----
We've seen a couple of references to the lack of remorse that Richard showed at his sentencing. Why should this be an issue at his sentencing? It seems to us that Mr. Richard faced his sentencing in the same manner as he faced a felon attempting to steal his property and flee... with clarity of thought and without emotion. Otherwise, Mr. Richard would have simply shot the offender in his yard and avoided a mile and a quarter run.

You need to ask yourself whether or not a police officer involved in the exact same sequence of events would be required to feel remorse. First of all, he would have never been prosecuted, but should he have felt remorse anyway? We'd say absolutely not.

Remember, there's right and wrong and then there's the law and they don't always overlap. Mr. Richard may have been guilty under the law but in our opinion, his actions were not wrong and completely justified. We applaud Mr. Richard for facing his sentence without pretense and without a false display of emotion even knowing that such a display would more than likely have reduced his sentence. That takes courage and the conviction that you did everything right and shouldn't be held against him.

The executive powers of pardon, clemency, and commutation were meant for cases like this. The founding fathers understood that the law is not always applicable and created a safety valve to be used by executives to right a wrong in specific cases where the law cannot or should not apply. Governor Richardson wields that power here in New Mexico - he should use it to right the wrong perpetrated by the courts in the name of a law that should not have been applied.

Shuttering the Scam-eras

The Almighty stepped down from his perch on the 11th floor to inform the drivers of Albuquerque that they're safe from the scam-eras... for now (ABQ Journal - Subscription). Apparently the Legislature passed legislation that would take at least part of the recently reduced scam-era fines. So, the mayor - claiming that he can't afford to run the scam without taking in all or most of the loot without a state subsidy - has ordered the scam-eras shuttered.

Remember folks, this was all about public safety not about the profit... uh, "excess revenue" that the scam-eras generated. So, now that the city doesn't benefit from the misdeeds of your motor vehicle it's time for the scam to end.

Wait a second... Wasn't the city contractually obligated to continue scamming motorists through 2009? Now that the legislature has taken Marty's largess there's suddenly a way out of the contract? Something is not adding up here.

Don't get the wrong idea, we're thrilled that the scam-eras won't continue to prosecute malicious motor vehicles, but we suspect that Marty's announcement has more to do with manipulation. The mayor seems to be attempting to put pressure on Big Bill almost daring him not to veto the legislation.

Think about it... Governor Richardson indicates his willingness to sign legislation stripping the City of Albuquerque's largess, so the Almighty Alcalde calls a news conference to announce that there's no way the program can continue without the ill-gotten gain or at the very least a state subsidy.

Those who are foolish enough to give up their due process rights in the name of the illusion of additional safety are going to be emailing and calling the governor telling him their very lives depend on the continuation of Marty's red light scam. Never mind that they very well may be facing one of the fictitious violations with absolutely no way to prove their innocence. They need these scam-eras to feel save.

This has never been about public safety. It has always been about the money that these electronic eyes bring in and your inability to effectively defend yourself against their charges. It would be more honest to simply charge every driver $150 every year because they might run a red light, stop sign, or exceed a speed limit at some time during the year. Think of it as a kind of traffic indulgence.

Make no mistake... Marty is trying to out maneuver the legislature and the governor. Marty can win by forcing the governor to veto the state takeover, or by getting the state to subsidize his scam. He only loses if the governor calls his bluff by signing the bill ending the program and proving once and for all that the scam-eras have always been about the money.

Monopoly

When was the last time that the consumer benefited from an absolute monopoly? The answer is simple - never. That's why we have anti-trust laws to keep any one company from becoming the only provider for a good or service.

Competition has always been the cornerstone of high quality and low cost. If there were only one grocery store (or grocery store company) here in Albuquerque, that store could set the price of its goods at whatever level they chose. Fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, just about anything with a shelf life would sit longer because consumers wouldn't have a choice to purchase better fresher produce somewhere else and the stores lose money when they have to dispose of spoiled goods.

It's called the market and it's really quite intuitive. If you were able to sell some product or service that was in demand and you were the only one able to produce that good or service, you could pretty much charge whatever you wanted. Food is certainly one of those items that every one of us needs and must buy - so is health care.

Yesterday, the House Health and Government Affairs Committee passed unanimously a single payer health care scheme that would in essence create a state run monopoly on health care in New Mexico (ABQ Journal - Subscription). How does the saying go...? If you think health care is expensive now, just wait until it's free.

Nothing, we repeat... nothing is free. We all pay for health care. In fact right now, in addition to our own health care we pay for indigent care with our tax dollars. Currently, every emergency room must treat patients regardless of their ability to pay. How much more "universal" can you get?

What so called "universal" health care schemes do is create a government run health care system complete with all of the coercive influences and legislative power of the state. It would be similar to centralized control of the economy. The state is not equipped to make the millions, even hundreds of millions of decisions required to keep an economy moving, much less healthy.

(Sidebar)
The 70 year Soviet experience proved our point. Shortages were the norm and the quality was so poor that when they finally started to open their markets, McDonalds had to build their own meat processing plant in order to obtain high enough quality ground beef. We're talking McDonalds here. Not that we have anything against them but their ground beef isn't exactly filet mignon.
(End Sidebar)

Hospitals are complex operations (pardon the pun) that require thousands of decisions that directly affect quality and cost. More importantly, theses decisions often have life or death consequences.

We are often told that the goal of "universal" health care is to get those who can't afford health care out of the state's emergency rooms. Single payer healthcare plans won't get the poor out of emergency rooms (or their "universal" scheme equivalent); they'll simply put the rest of us in there with them.

Long lines, poor care, shortages of doctors, nurses, and staff, not to mention strikes will be a very real part of our health care future should a single payer scheme be implemented. Governor Richardson's plan would be better than a single payer scheme but would bring the full weight of government to bear on doctors by forcing them to accept all insurance plans regardless of whether or not the payment covers their expenses.

Once you get past the class envy - do you really believe that doctors should or would work anywhere for free... would you? We already have a problem keeping or getting doctors in this state, it simply makes no sense to create a health care system that covers everyone but results in a situation where there are no doctors and nurses to cover them.

In the final analysis, government intrusion into health care is dangerous at best - and would more likely be a complete disaster. What we need for government to do is to create an environment where competition can flourish and the consumer can make informed decisions about the health care plans available. Comparison and choice are the heart of competition - something a single payer health care scheme cannot and will not provide.

Getting in on the Scam-eras

Tuesday Governor Bill Richardson announced that he's got a hankerin' for some scam-era cash (ABQ Tribune). We figured that it would only be a matter of time before Santa Fe got into the act and tapped the new revenue stream that the Almighty Alcalde has created. With oil and gas tax revenue dwindling and state roads crumbling due to the Rail Runner raid on the state's road fund, we guess it was only a matter of time before Big Bill and company succumbed to the scam-era tax temptation.

Gov. Bill Richardson has added Albuquerque's controversial red-light camera program to the agenda of state legislators, with an eye on using some of its revenue for DWI prevention.

-ABQ Tribune

During last year's legislative session we were hopeful that Governor Bill would sign legislation that stripped the city of its prize "excess revenue" cash cow. After all, Marty said last year that he would have to end the scam-eras if the state got hold of his red light booty.

Senate Bill 780, unanimously approved by the Senate last week, would require the city to give the state $74 for every citation issued by the traffic camera program.
"This bill is a program killer," Chávez said. "This is very unfortunate. The state's largest city comes up with an innovative program to improve public safety, and the legislators just see green."

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

It's amazing how a year and two failed attempts at higher officer have changed The Almighty One. Now it seems that the city and Mayor Marty are ready to share and in a courageous statement made by Marty's political, uh... police chief, Marty embraced the Guv's idea.

"The mayor would welcome the opportunity, as of course would the Albuquerque Police Department, to work with the governor and the Governor's Office to utilize this excess revenue for traffic awareness and enforcement on a statewide level," Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz said Monday.

- ABQ Tribune

Note the repeat of the phrase "excess revenue," known to the rest of us as profit. The scam has raked in over $5 MILLION in pure profit thus far. Marty has already used part of its largess to balance the city budget and Bill is moving to get his share just like Bill's neighboring gubernatorial colleague and Sandia High School graduate, Janet Napolitano.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano says the deployment of new photo radar or other speed enforcement technology on state highways is all about public safety. But her proposed state budget counts on the anticipated speeding fines to help erase a projected revenue shortfall.

- Breitbart.com (Hat tip Eye Reader)

We had that AP story emailed to us over the weekend and couldn't believe our Eyes. Governor Napolitano came right out and nearly screamed "it's all about the money!" At least the Arizona Scammer-In-Chief is being honest about her desire to balance the state budget on the backs of scammed drivers. Our own Governor is trying to pass off the state's monetary pursuit as a philanthropic venture benefiting DWI prevention programs.

It's a new twist on a "sin tax." Eventually, we can sell prepaid scam-era indulgences to people who don't drive so well or just want to be careless for a week or two. Perhaps we can encourage participation by giving bulk discounts - buy a pack of ten and get one free. Just think - we'll all be able to sleep better knowing that we've already paid for something that we haven't done yet since we haven't got a chance to prove that we didn't do it in the first place.

In the final analysis, Governor Richardson is doing nothing to address the program's underlying injustices; he's merely providing yet another justification for continuing it. The scam was bad enough already with a mere 20 fixed locations and a couple of scam-vans participating. Just think if the state gets into the act spreading a couple hundred scam-era locations and ten or twenty scam-vans across the state. Public safety? Rrrrright.

Infidelity

Mayor Marty announced that 1,200 jobs would be headed to Mesa del Sol as Fidelity investments agreed to a deal that would bring the jobs to Albuquerque (ABQ Journal - Subscription). So, what's the problem?

Well you see, Marty went and jumped the gun announcing the announcement before the announcement was to be announced. More importantly, it was none other than Big Bill himself that was to make the announcement. Marty's premature uh... revelation violated a written agreement with Fidelity, the county, and the state, drawing Governor Richardson's ire to say the least.

We think this is actually pretty funny. The man who would be governor, then senator, then mayor again, crossed the governor who would be president and now is governor again. Bill's not likely to be in a very good mood after leaving an almost two year campaign trail that ended unsuccessfully, a fact that failed to register with a mayor that can't seem to do anything right of late. The result is bound to be that if Marty wants it - Bill will make sure that he doesn't get it.

Even funnier is that this is the mayor who our Eyes say, is keeping a Washington lobbying job in his hip pocket just in case his elected days are behind him. Maybe he could take some classes in how not to offend the most powerful politician in the state.

Tax Crunch

While everyone was out doing their last minute shopping and enjoying their family, friends and a well deserved eggnog, the governor's Task Force on Mortgage Lending weighed in its report on how to fix the subprime lending "crisis." The Christmas Eve story in the Journal is a perfect example of how government tries to slip a story past the public at a time when they are distracted by more pressing concerns. The last time we saw this type of chicanery was when the Almighty Alcalde tried to slip his trolley past the voters while we were focused on the 2006 mid-term elections.

According to the Journal, the Task Force's mission "was to evaluate the potential local impact of the subprime lending crisis and to come up with ways to protect consumers against abusive lending practices. (ABQ Journal - Subscription)." First of all, beware any time the government starts trying to "protect" the public, especially when it has to do with your money. Generally the result is your money being sent somewhere you don't want your money to go.

Strictly speaking the subprime mortgage "crisis" is not a crisis at all. It's the logical result of over-eager lenders making money available to people who shouldn't be getting it in the first place. The result is a tightening of the money available by the very people who were practically begging you to take out a loan just a year ago. The reality is that not everyone should own a home; there are those whose financial position is better suited to renting at least for now.

Back to the governor's Task Force... Since the subprime "crisis" was created by over-zealous lenders and brokers, you'd think that the recommendation of the task force would be some sort of restrictions on lending (not that we'd like that much either). Nooooo... The task force's recommendation is to make all private home sale prices public. Why? Because the task force blames the "crisis" on "unscrupulous appraiser[s]."

"One of the problems in the mortgage meltdown were loans based on inflated values," said task force co-chair Michael Loftin, who is executive director of Homewise, a nonprofit home ownership organization in Santa Fe. "So if you make more transparent what the values (home sales prices) are, it makes it harder to cook an appraisal."

- ABQ Journal

First of all, the market has a perfectly functional mechanism for taking care of unscrupulous appraisers who either over-value or under-value property - lenders stop using them. Lending institutions rely on accurate appraisals to determine risk. When appraisals are inflated, lenders run the risk of having to foreclose on a property that cannot be sold at a price that allows them to recover their investment.

Second, the Journal story implies that appraisers have no access to sales price data and are somehow working in a vacuum seemingly coming up with prices based on some kind of gut feeling or something. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It's safe to say that most houses in Albuquerque are sold by Realtors using their private Multiple Listing Service. Every house sold through the MLS is recorded along with its sales price. Appraisers use this data (and have for years) to determine comparable prices or comps for a specific property. Since most homes are sold through the MLS the comps are usually very accurate.

So what is all of this really about? Since 2004 New Mexico has required that all sales prices be reported to the county assessors. That data was not to be used for assessing value. Of course if they have the data they will find a way to use it. Before 2004, property owners could choose to provide the sales price but weren't required to do so.

(Sidebar)
The Bernalillo County Assessor's office used to send out a very official letter to new homeowners that asked them to report the sales price. The letter was constructed in such a way as to make you believe that casual observers would believe that they had to report their sales price. In other words, before 2004 the county assessors would trick you into reporting your own sales price.

(End Sidebar)

Of course this whole thing isn't about protecting anyone from predatory lending; it's about separating you from your money. Requiring every sale price to be reported will allow the assessors to easily increase your property value and therefore increase your property taxes.

Before you start thinking "it's only fair that the assessed value track the market," remember that there's a very real possibility that people who have lived in a home for an extended period of time will be taxed right out of their home. In addition, our assessment system was taken into account when our property taxes were set so changing the assessment method will simply result in increased revenue not originally planned for. In other words, a tax increase where the hardest hit will be those on fixed incomes. (How's that for progressive taxation?!) Plus, you know that the sales data will be used to support an increase in assessed value and won't reflect market corrections when they occur.

With the state facing a substantial reduction in new revenue, we'd bet that Governor Richardson sees fit to put this on his upcoming legislative agenda. Make no mistake, this is about money not consumer protection and should New Mexico become a disclosure state we'll be filling state coffers on the backs of people who can least afford it.

Big Bill's Boy: Martin Heinrich

Yesterday, the governor's favorite blogger (Joe Monahan) announced that Albuquerque City Councilor Martin Heinrich was the Guv's pick to run against Congresswoman Heather Wilson. By this morning KOB, KRQE, and the Albuquerque Journal (Subscription Required) were all reporting the "report" by Joe Monahan.

Heinrich could be considered the darling of the left side of the Democratic party. He's young, well spoken and extremely, uh well... "progressive." He's the type of candidate that would be hard to beat in a Democratic primary. It makes perfect sense that the Guv would implicitly endorse Councilor Heinrich as Richardson is in the process of wooing the same group of "progressives" that Heinrich represents, for his (Vice) Presidential bid.

Democrats believe that Congresswoman Wilson is vulnerable because of her narrow victory over former AG Patricia Madrid. They also hope to stoke the David Iglesias non-story for the next year and a half, further weakening the congresswoman. What they have failed to calculate is that Wilson's victory over Madrid can also be seen as a sign of strength and even with the aid of Chuck Schumer and Joe Monahan (who seems to be able to make everything about David Iglesias) in the end, the David Iglesias story is a story about nothing.

Madrid also had a number of things that Councilor Heinrich does not. First, she had incredible name id. Second, she had no real legislative record that could be hung around her neck. Third, she was riding what turned out to be a wave of discontent with the Iraq war and Republican mismanagement of congress. Madrid failed, narrowly to be sure, but failed none the less.

Despite serving as city council president, Councilor Heinrich isn't well known outside of his district. We'd argue that half of his own constituents in District 6 would have a hard time naming him (not that it's that unusual for a city councilor). Councilor Heinrich also has a long legislative history of supporting things like the minimum wage and the use of condemnation to further his environmental goals (some of you make think that it's noble... we think it's a tyrannical abuse of governmental power).

Lastly, who knows what will happen in Washington or Iraq for that matter... The Democratic leadership seems determined to press the position of troop withdrawal and have tied their future to an anti-war position. This could easily backfire. Terrorist attacks at home, a nuclear Iran, or general instability in the Middle East could leave the Democrat leadership holding the bag. And if they don't succeed, they'll be held accountable by party leftists who are already unhappy that the troops haven't started "re-deploying" stateside.

Either way the DCCC and the Democrats are busy fighting the last election with a potential candidate that couldn't have won that one either. The only difference... 11 seconds. Heinrich will not be caught with his mouth open and nothing intelligible coming out.

Let's See If It's About Public Safety

Here's a big surprise... The Red Light Camera program's future depends on how the numbers come out after a "crunching." Almighty Marty told KOB-TV that they're "crunching the numbers and seeing what we have, and then we’ll go forward."

You see the legislature finally passed a bill or two that address the red light toll program instituted here in The Eye's home city. One of them caps the civil fines at $100 and requires that 1/3 of that amount go to courthouses and drivers education programs. The cap also has the effect of stealing the cream from the cash cow by putting a fork in the rapid fine acceleration and making the 2 year citation period moot. So after a little number "crunching" of our own, we find that about $65 either goes to the state or to Red Flex and Marty gets about $35. (Read our analysis here.)

Of the $35 the city should be able to pay for its Hearing Office ($15.65) and officer review ($9.60). Marty will end up taking home a cool $9.75 profit per citation. If you figure roughly 80,000 citations a year then the city will actually turn a profit of $780,000. That's a far cry from the $5 MILLION that they're bagging now... but this is about public safety right?

We're not fans of this program... and the bills headed to the Governor's desk (the second bill requires warning lights or rumble strips before intersections) don't address the serious problems that we have with the process. You will still be charged and tried by people who work for the Almighty One (Mayor Marty), but at least some of the profit motive will be removed and we won't be kept on a two year leash designed to keep us feeding city ambitions with our hard earned cash.

We would encourage Governor Richardson to sign both pieces of legislation and let's see if it's about public safety, or as we suspect... it's all about the money.

If you'd like to see the Governor reign-in the Imperial City, you can call him at (505) 827-3000 and let him know you'd like to see him sign both red light camera related bills.

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You can find more information about the two Red Light Camera Bills passed by the Legislature here.