Eye Poll: Surprising Results

This week's Eye Poll double header featured the four way race in district 6 and the district 4 re-poll. In district 4 the results (which we believed were suspect the first time) showed a narrowing of the gap between incumbent Councilor Winter and challenger de'Pascal. However with 111 fewer participants due to more stringent voting rules, de'Pascal still ended up with an 8 point advantage with 54% to Winter's 46% (view the results here).

We always stress that this is an unscientific poll and we believe the increased voting security is at least partially responsible for the change in the poll results. One way or the other the Eye Poll shows a determination by the de'Pascal camp to get out their voters at least for the Eye Poll. It remains to be seen whether or not they will be able to muster enough votes on election day and during early voting which is now in progress.

Our featured Eye Poll took a look at the vacant seat of Councilor Martin Heinrich, district 6. This is a four way race between Rey Garduno (D), Joan Griffin (M), Blair Kauffman (D), and Kevin Wilson (R). Martycrat Joan Griffin took this one with 41% of the vote, Kevin Wilson was surprisingly strong with pulling 37%, Rey Garduno thought to be the odds on favorite only got 19% of the vote, and Blair Kauffman rounded out the group with 3% (view the results here).

Our unscientific poll showed surprising strength from Republican Kevin Wilson. He seems to have run a fairly high profile campaign, at least from the outside. It will be interesting to see whether the 2 Democrats and the Martycrat (registered as a D) end up splitting the vote enough to allow Mr. Wilson to slide into the seat.

This week we take a look at the last two candidates who are running for the district 2 council seat. Incumbent Council President is the odds on favorite, but it will be interesting to see what effect the Almighty Mayor's endorsement will have on the Martinez campaign; especially in light of the mayor's recent media problems. Don't forget to vote!

Parties to the City Election

This October's Municipal Election has got it all. We've got educators and a toy salesman, a retired housing advocate and a builder's advocate, an accused embezzler and an admitted larcenist, Democrats (D), Republicans (R), and Martycrats (M). If that weren't enough... District 9 is in a state of open rebellion and is on track to give their councilor the boot even though his replacement will be a card carrying Martycrat. It's enough to make you long for a good old fashioned partisan race.

(Sidebar)
Our Eyes tell us that Admiral Lowe and crew are pretty confident that the ethics hearing for Councilor Harris will reveal misdeeds that could amount to thousands of dollars in fines. To make matters worse for the embattled councilor, he'll be featured on the second page of the district 9 ballot, making the recall almost impossible to miss for the voters in his soon to be former district.
(End Sidebar)

If all of that isn't enough to make you a little bit crazy, 5 of the participants (Sticky Fingers Garduño, Honey Bee de'Pascal, Ad Guru Griffin, Toy Man Wilson, and Commissar O'Malley) are all fueling their campaigns with your tax dollars. If they are so willing to use money that has been forcibly taken from the taxpayer to run their campaigns, what do you think they'll do when they have the power to do it for themselves? Talk about larceny!

Fortunately we can't vote in every district (well without voter ID... maybe we'll give it a shot), but if we could it'd be very hard for one of the above candidates to talk us into spending our vote when they've already stolen our money. On that note, let's talk about who's not already taking your money.

Katherine Martinez(M) - District 2 (Challenger)
Frankly, we don't believe that Ms. Martinez has a chance to beat Commissar O'Malley whose long, deep family ties in the North Valley and her incumbent status make her almost invulnerable. The irony here is that we have a former (current really) housing advocate being challenged by a representative of people who know how to build homes.

Even though Ms. Martinez has been directly endorsed by the Almighty One and would surely be expected to vote the Marty line, we don't believe she'd take the position that the City of Albuquerque should become landlords to people who can't afford homes. There are many ways to help people buy homes, but they all need to include earning and ownership.

Brad Winter (R) - District 4 (Incumbent)
Councilor Winter is completing his second term as councilor. He has been effective for his district and more importantly hasn't spent his time as councilor or as a candidate sticking his hand in our wallets. Another point in his favor is that he's the only councilor that's done anything to try and fix some of the problems caused by the Red Light Scam-era system.

His opponent on the other hand, is accused of embezzling over $60,000, and is already being run by the Napoleon of the 11th floor. Despite the Honey Bee's attempts at claiming victim status, the only victims in this race are the taxpayers.

Blair Kaufman (D) - District 6 (Open Seat)
You know, we'd really like to be able to say something nice about this particular candidate. He hasn't taken any of our money for his campaign which could mean he respects the taxpayers and their hard earned money. But after reading the Journal's Online Chat (Subscription) we suspect that the only reason he isn't rolling in "clean" money is that he didn't qualify.

It's really disheartening for those of us who believe the government should spend less time in our lives and in our wallet to see each candidate trying to out spend the other. Not one of them talked about freedom, not one talked about personal responsibility (except Sticky Fingers Garduño after he'd been nailed for fibbing on his Journal questionnaire).

(Sidebar)
It's amazing how frequently candidates and politicians have a Michael Vick Moment after being nailed. They suddenly find Jesus, Allah, or head out to rehabracadabara. What responsibility does a candidate for elected office have to be truthful, even when faced with a "gotcha" question from the Journal?
(End Sidebar)

We really feel for the residents of District 6. There's not a bit of difference between the candidates. The Republican isn't, the two Democrats are all the same except for the larceny thing, and the Martycrat spouts the exact same big government crap that the other three are busy spewing. Personally, we believe Sticky Fingers will end up representing District 6, but it probably won't make any difference except to Marty.