Desperation or Dementia?

This late in any campaign things start getting strange particularly when an incumbent who has never been seriously challenged finds herself on the downside of an election. In Tuesday's Journal incumbent DA Kari Brandenburg commented on the fundraising disparity between herself and challenger Lisa Torraco. It seems that Torraco has outraised the incumbent by over $50,000.

Brandenburg went on to question some of Torraco's donations - specifically ones that the challenger for District Attorney received from eight bail bondsmen.

Brandenburg said she has never accepted contributions from bail bondsmen and calls doing so unethical."I would not take money from bondsmen. That is a clear conflict of interest," Brandenburg said. "(Torraco) has been out on the campaign trail promoting low bonds. That raises potential conflict.

"Is she going to be the law-and-order district attorney that wants what's best, or is she going to be promoting low bonds because she has support from the bail bondsmen?"

- Albuquerque Journal (Subscription)

There are a few things that are just odd about that statement. First, the Journal reported that the total amount of the contributions to Torraco's campaign from all 8 bail bondsmen was $1,600. We don't know what the individual contributions were but that average is $200 each.

Second, how is accepting donations from bail bondsmen any different from accepting donations from attorneys? They both have criminals for clients and they both get paid for their services.

People who donated $1,000 or more to Brandenburg's campaign include attorneys Sam Bregman, Randi McGinn and Charlotte Rich; the law firm of Sanchez, Mowrer, & Desiderio; and physician James R. Shiveley.

- Albuquerque Journal (Subscription)

More than $23,000 — nearly half — of Brandenburg's contributions came from attorneys. [emphasis added]

"It's clear I have support from a lot of attorneys," Brandenburg said. "They are familiar with the system and are in the position to understand the job I have done."

- Albuquerque Journal (Subscription)

What's clear is that Brandenburg is trying to create the illusion of impropriety by trying to link Torraco to our local Dog the Bounty Hunters. As one of our Eyes pointed out today, if Torraco wants to lower bonds she wouldn't be doing the bail bondsmen any favors.

You see... Bail bondsmen are really a kind of insurance. Bondsmen put up the court ordered bond in exchange for certain personal and financial guarantees. In addition, they charge a fee - generally about 10% of the court ordered bond.

If the accused shows up, the bondsman keeps the fee and releases any financial guarantees made by the defendant or on the defendant's behalf. If the accused chooses to jump bail, the bondsman hires a bounty hunter to deliver the defendant to the court and collects on any financial guarantees. If the bounty hunter fails to find the fleeing felon, the bondsman is forced to fork over the court ordered bond - not something they are fond of doing.

The point here is lowering bonds are not in the best interests of bail bondsmen. A lower bond means a lower fee and believe it or not, these guys aren't running charities.

Which brings us back to the question - is it desperation or dementia? It's desperation if Brandenburg is simply making a ham fisted attempt to tie her challenger to one of the seedier industries in society. It's dementia if Brandenburg really believes that bondsmen want to see bonds reduced and would donate the astronomical sum of $200 in order to influence a potential DA. Hey, you decide. But after Brandenburg's comments about dancing in the office and root beer float day...

Endorsement: Torraco

We don't often agree with the Albuquerque Journal's Editorial Board. However, this time we find ourselves in complete agreement. Tuesday, the Journal officially endorsed Lisa Torroco to replace incumbent DA Kari Brandenburg.

Crime stories have been stealing the headlines in recent months, making it clear the district attorney is a key position in local government, and the race for the top prosecutor slot a critical question on the ballot.

The Journal endorses Lisa Torraco for the job.

Torraco, a Republican, says one reason she is running is because she sees resources squandered on cases that should not be prosecuted — resources that could be used to manage Bernalillo County's huge caseload more effectively, reducing delays and increasing the conviction rate.

Her candidacy is motivated by cases that shouldn't be prosecuted, but are. Charging DWI when breath tests fall below the presumed level of intoxication can often fall in that category. Torraco thinks there's plenty of work to be done at the .08 limit and above.

Worse is the injustice committed against a young man with an IQ of less than 65. He should not have lost 24 of the 32 months he spent in jail awaiting trial for murder, while all the DNA evidence pointed to another person who went unidentified until June.

Then there are cases that should go to trial but are plea bargained, she says, like the career criminal who, thanks in part to a deal, was adding to his list of homicide victims instead of being in custody.

And, in too many of the cases selected for trial, the conviction rate indicates prosecutors don't have the evidence — or the trial skills — to prevail. Torraco argues these examples are symptomatic of poor assessment of cases presented to the DA.

A member of the bar since 1991 who has worked on both sides of the criminal justice process and taught prosecution skills at the University of New Mexico, the challenger has experience.

Just as important, Lisa Torraco has the potential to shake up the District Attorney's Office.

-Albuquerque Journal (Subscription)

The District Attorney's job is to protect the public... not to protect the system. Kari Brandenburg's obsession with her early plea program may have reduced the number of cases that judges and juries have to hear, but her inability to tell the difference between a first time offender and a serial killer have cost the lives of far too many. Lisa Torraco not only has the experience to prosecute criminals, but the will to see criminals kept safely away from their potential victims.

----- Correction -----
For some reason we just can't seem to spell Lisa Torraco's last name right or even the same way twice. We spell it with one R or two Cs, an O instead of an A - all in the same paragraph! We apologize to Ms. Torraco for the continued mutilation of her last name. We hope we have at least four years to get it right.

Torroco

In our second poll of Eye readers, Candidate for 2nd Judicial District Attorney Lisa Torroco once again trounced her opponent, incumbent Kari Brandenburg, by 34 points. In our unscientific poll 31% preferred Kari Brandenburg, 65% Lisa Torroco, and 3% didn't know (view it here). The results mark a slight trend towards Brandenburg as Ms. Torroco received 71% of our readers support the last time around (view it here).

We've had a number of posts asking where law enforcement stand on this race. Our Eyes tell us that the rank and file everyday officer on the street is either voting for Torroco or against Brandenburg - despite the Brandenburg endorsement by their unions.

In the case of the APOA, the endorsement is determined by a board and not the rank and file. In addition the APOA's endorsement came way before anyone knew there was a for real DAs race. The FOP endorsement on the other hand was a recent event involving the membership of the Sheriff's Office. Our Eyes tell us that Brandenburg won by a razor thin 4 votes and that the endorsement meeting was well attended.

The bottom line here is that the incumbent DA is under siege by an under funded opponent and that by itself should give you pause. Brandenburg's performance in office should be judged by how well she has protected the public not by how she has reduced the burden on the judicial system.

To date we have virtually ignored the race for PRC. There are two candiates running for the position - incumbent Jason Marks (D) and challenger Tim Cummins (R). The Eyes have it that County Commisioner Cummins enjoys a slight lead over the incumbent, what say you? Don't forget to vote!

Terrible Job

Chief Schultz has never done well with Eye readers and last week's Eye Poll was no exception. 70% of readers felt that the unpopular chief doing either a not so good job or a terrible job, while only 20% felt he was doing either a good or excellent job. Those are not the kind of numbers that any politician or government official would like to see if they plan on staying in their job.

In our unscientific poll of 359 people, 13% felt the chief was doing an excellent job, 7% a good job, 8% a fair job, 13% a not so good job, 1% didn't know, and a whopping 53% thought that the chief was doing a terrible job (view the results here).

This week we take another look at the race for district attorney. There have been a lot of stories lately on the activities of incumbent DA Kari Brandenburg. We have a hard time believing that Torroco could improve upon the 70% that she received earlier, but most of the publicity hasn't been exactly flattering for Brandenburg (or her stuffed animals). But one thing is sure, the DA's race is now receiving the attention that it deserves. Don't forget to vote!

Questionable Judgement

After the arrest but before the courtroom District Attorney's are charged with making decisions about who will be prosecuted and who will not. We got our Eyes on the motion filed yesterday by alleged murderer Clifton Bloomfield... you know the one charging DA Kari Brandenburg with prosecutorial misconduct. It's interesting reading to say the least, but it all boils down to this claim:

The Statements Provided by Clifton Bloomfield were Provided in Furtherance of Plea Negotiations and are Barred from Disclosure by the Prosecution, yet some of the Contents were Leaked to the Media, in Violation of the Rules of Evidence and Professionalism.

-Liane Kerr, Attorney for Clifton Bloomfield (Request for Dismissal)

According to the filing, inadmissible and confidential information concerning three murders was leaked to the media in violation of a confidentiality agreement covering plea negotiations. Further, Kerr's motion alleges that Brandenburg kept changing the terms of the plea agreement.

We all know that District Attorney Brandenburg has a history of heading straight to a plea bargain - do not pass a judge, do not see a jury. But Clifton Bloomfield is suspected of as many as SIX MURDERS - at least two of which have DNA evidence linking him to the killings. If Bloomfield is guilty of killing even one person - he shouldn't be in prison he should be under it.

We'd argue that it's her job to try the case not to plead it - particularly when the accused has such a long criminal record and most people would consider him nothing less than a serial killer. There's little doubt that Clifton Bloomfield is a danger to society and should be permanently removed from society. In addition, we'd argue that he's the type of career criminal that the death penalty was meant for.

Now, because a DA in a hotly contested election leaks information to the press there's a possibility that a serial murderer could go free. It reminds us of another DA in another jurisdiction using a racially charged rape case as a vehicle to victory.

Brandenburg may even be playing fast and loose with the facts in order to save her political career. In a recent New Mexico Bar Association Forum she made two claims that our Eyes tell us were not factual regarding the Elton John Richard case. The first that the fleeing felon Daniel Romero was shot in the back and the second was that before being shot he was yelling "put down the gun."



You'll notice in the video that Brandenburg uses "back" and "under the arm" interchangeably. With all due respect there's a huge difference. If Romero was shot in the back he was fleeing. If on the other hand he was shot under the arm, then it's far more likely that Romero was lunging for Richard at the time he was shot.

The other problem with Brandenburg's statement at the Bar Association Forum was the claim that Romero was yelling "put down the gun." There were no witnesses at the scene of the shooting that could have heard any statements by either party. Brandenburg seems to be playing a game of spin the facts to make them fit her actions in order to justify prosecuting a Marine whose actions made us all safer.

Challenger Lisa Torroco made the argument that if the evidence showed that Richard chased Romero a quarter of a mile and shot him in the back - Richard should have been charged with 1st degree murder. On the other hand, if Richard chased Romero for a quarter of a mile attempting to detain the felon and shot him under the arm defending himself, then the case against the former Marine should have been dropped.

Whether it's the case of mentally retarded Robert Gonzales who sat in jail for 3 years for the murder of an 11 year old girl despite exculpatory forensic evidence, the case of a decorated Marine defending himself and his family, or the case of an alleged serial murderer (subscription) who could be set free due to questionable actions by the DA herself, Brandenburg's head-long rush for an easy conviction is punishing the innocent and endangering the lives of all of those who reside in the 2nd Judicial District. Questionable judgment? Absolutely.

----- Update ------
Yesterday, Clifton Bloomfield cut a deal with the DA's office and his attorney withdrew her motion to dismiss. In the deal, Bloomfield admitted to killing five of the six people he was linked to murdering (ABQ Journal - Subsription).

DA Brandenburg called it a "deal with the devil," and in this case we agree. The question remains, if Bloomfield did it why are Lee and Rowley still in jail? If Lee and Rowley were part of any of the six murders, why didn't the plea agreement include testimony against the pair? APD announced there would be more arrests next week, if that's the case we're talking a real criminal enterprise here.

If Lee and Rowley were involved, they need to have a date with a needle. If holding the two and promising more arrests is a ploy aimed at job security then the DA is playing with Constitutional fire that could burn her even if she manages to hang on to her job.

----- Correction -----
We initially named a Richard Gomez as the mentally retarded man accused of rape and murder. Thanks to a reader who sent us an email correcting our mistake. The accused was Robert Gonzales. It has been corrected above.

KNME Debate Back On

We received word that the on-again off-again KNME televised debate between DA Kari Brandenburg and challenger Lisa Torraco is back on. Kevin McDonald over at KNME told us via email that the debate will be taped Sunday, October 19th at 10:00 am and will air the following Friday, October 24th at 7pm. McDonald also told us that he plans to post the debate at NewMexicoInFocus.org as soon as possible after the taping but before the program airs the following night.

We still think the Brandenburg folks are trying to keep their candidate sealed for as long as possible, but at least there will be some opportunity for the voters of the 2nd Judicial District to see the two candidates before they cast their votes.

----- Correction ------
We really ought to consult our calendar before posting. The debate will be taped on Sunday not Thursday as originally posted. Keven McDonald sent over an email setting us straight. The debate will be posted for nearly a week before the airdate. Thanks for the correction!

Not Even Close

Last week we ran our Eye Poll on the 2nd Judicial District Attorney's race. It wasn't even close. Challenger Lisa Torraco ran away with the voting taking 71% of the 239 votes. Incumbent Kari Brandenburg received 25% and 4% didn't know (view the results here). Our results mirror a poll that was run by the APOA three weeks ago where Ms. Torraco received 70.54% of the votes (read it here).

The question remains, if Brandenburg consistently loses by wide margins in these unscientific polls why isn't the local media picking up on the story? It's pretty apparent that a large number of Eye readers have law enforcement ties. It's more than a little concerning that the general public has no idea just how much the law enforcement community seems to dislike our current DA.

We have received word that DA Brandenburg has agreed to debate hosted by the UNM Law School October 23rd. Of course, the debate won't take place until early voters have been voting for more than two weeks. The debate timing looks to us like another move by the Brandenburg camp to protect the DA from what could be a poor performance.

UNM School of Law Bernalillo County DA Candidate’s Debate
October 23, 2008, UNMSOL, Room 2402, 12:30 to 1:15

This week we train our Eye Poll back on the 1st Congressional District. You know the race between form councilor Martin Heinrich and Sheriff Darren White. Don't forget to vote!

Playing Defense

It's a time honored tradition for candidates to avoid exposure to public scrutiny when riding a political wave or defending their seat. Two years ago Patricia... uh, uh, uh... Madrid lost an election when she debated Heather Wilson and couldn't answer a simple question on taxes. Madrid's eleven second gaff more than likely cost her more than the 700 or so voters that eventually became Heather Wilson's margin of victory.

Campaign managers will do everything in their power to keep an incumbent away from the public and the press because there's little chance of improving their situation and a huge potential for a fatal mistake.

District Attorney Kari Brandenburg finds herself in that exact situation. According to our Eyes, the incumbent DA is playing defense and has just recently canceled a scheduled debate with challenger Lisa Torraco. The debate was to be taped today at PBS affiliate KNME TV (channel 5).

Brandenburg's cancellation marks the second time the DA has backed out of a debate with challenger Torraco. The first time Brandenburg didn't even bother to call ahead she simply failed to show up.

Meanwhile, our Eyes tell us that the District Attorney is making the local small meeting circuit where she can talk to groups, look official, and never be challenged. According to our Eyes, DA Brandenburg loves to tout her plea-bargaining program where offenders are almost instantaneously offered a plea. The DA claims that some 60% of these plea offers are turned down, but that means 40% are accepted.

Brandenburg's rational is that by offering an early plea she is reducing the burden on an already overburdened court system - which may be true. But her primary function as DA is not to reduce the burden on the courts but to make sure that criminals are prosecuted for their crimes.

We have always maintained that jail time isn't about punishment or rehabilitation - it's about keeping criminals who would victimize the innocent out of society. Prison gives a kind of absolute protection for the rest of us. Qui Feng Chen found out the hard way what can happen if criminals are allowed to run loose.

In July, Ms. Chen was allegedly killed by Donte Power, who our Eyes tell us had been arrested May 19th for DWI and cocaine possession. We wonder whether a quick plea ultimately cost Ms. Chen her life.

What we're talking about here is judgment. A district attorney has a tremendous amount of discretion when it comes to prosecution. If a DA feels that there's not a strong case, then it will never see a grand jury. In our opinion, District Attorney Brandenburg has a number of questions to answer about cases that she either chose to prosecute or chose not to.

I. Ms. Brandenburg pursued mentally retarded Robert Gonzalez for three years despite over 60 scientific tests that failed to link him to the crime scene and two APD officers disputing parts of Gonzalez' "confession" - a confession that was thrown out by the court. Ultimately, the CODIS system found a DNA match to Mexican national Israel Diaz and Gonzalez was released after serving 3 years in jail (Subscription).

II. In the Elton John Richard case, DA Brandenburg insisted on prosecuting a decorated Marine for attempting to detain Daniel Romero - a convicted felon - after Romero attempted to steal Richard's Bronco. Unfortunately, Romero died in the altercation when he attempted to attack Richard one too many times. Our first post on the story was called Choices. We maintained that Romero chose to attempt to steal Richard's, he chose to flee justice, he chose to attack Richard that last fatal time, and Brandenburg chose to prosecute Richard to the fullest extent of the law regardless of the circumstances.

III. Initially, the DA's office chose not to pursue charges against former officer Ben Kirby for his role in the Jason Daskalos DWI paddy wagon escape attempt. A year later, just after Kirby filed suit to get his job back the DA's office indicts the dismissed officer. No matter how you slice it Brandenburg did the City of Albuquerque a favor (and perhaps The Almighty Alcalde) by indicting Kirby (read it here). It's hard to sue to get your law enforcement job back when under indictment.

IV. DWI and Domestic violence charges are the only misdemeanor offences prosecuted by the DA's office. Our Eyes tell us that DWI cases - even aggravated DWI cases - are routinely dismissed because the DA's office fails to prosecute the offenders within the required 6 months.

V. The case of Dr. Michael Flax whose DWI arrest was plead down to careless driving even though he'd been involved in an accident and blown a .08/.07 after failing a field sobriety test. Dr. Flax it turns out was also Kari Brandenburg's doctor (read it here).

So you see, the DA has a number of questions to answer - questions that are most properly asked in public and during an election. However, Brandenburg has decided to play defense and avoid uncomfortable questions. Since Albuquerque's media doesn't seem particularly interested there's little chance that she'll be required to answer any of them.

Race Against Crime

It's a fact that Albuquerque has a crime problem. We're not talking about dastardly Dodges running read lights, or cell phone addicts. We're talking about violent crime.

Just last year an analysis by the Albuquerque Journal revealed that Albuquerque ranked in the top 13% for property crime (ABQ Journal - Subscription). When asked about the Journal's findings Chief Schultz replied "I feel safe" and went on to blame all of us for reporting crime too often (read our take here).

Our Eyes behind the badge told us last year that the real problem with high property crime rates is that they're a leading indicator of violent crime. Sure enough, just one year later according to the FBI's Preliminary Uniform Crime Report, Albuquerque has seen an across the board increase in violent crime over last year. Murder alone is up a whopping 38%.

It's easy to target Chief Schultz when he's busy making idiotic statements and make no mistake the Chief and his boss The Almighty Alcalde bear quite a bit of the responsibility. But there is another elected official that should also shoulder their portion of the blame - 2nd Judicial District Attorney Kari Brandenburg.

We told you about Ms. Torraco's entry into the race back in February (read it here), but we really hadn't heard much about the race until our Eyes told us about an unscientific poll being run over at the Albuquerque Police Officers Association website. The poll simply asks, "[w]ho would you support for the District Attorney in the upcoming election?" To our surprise, Ms. Torraco beat out the incumbent by a margin of almost 3 to 1 (Brandenburg 25.89%, Torracco 70.54%, Other 3.57%).

Granted, this is an unscientific poll but you've got to take into account who visits this website on a regular basis. It seems that the men and women of the Albuquerque Police Department - the rank and file - are sending a loud and clear message that it's time we did something about crime in this city. After all these are the people that deal with the DA's office on a regular basis. These are the officers who see their cases plead down or dropped. These are the officers who've become frustrated that no matter how hard they work, criminals are sent back into the community where they continue to endanger the people that the officers are sworn to protect. For that reason and that reason alone, this poll means something.

As frustrated as we are with the 5th Floor and The Almighty Alcalde, they are just part of this problem - a part that we as voters cannot do anything about until next year. However, there is a DA's race this year and it's a race against crime.

Torraco Enters DA Race

We've been critical recently of the actions of DA Kari Brandenburg. It seems that her prosecutorial motis operendi is to grab the low hanging fruit, prosecute those protecting their families, and plea bargaining for convenience despite pledges to the contrary.

We were glad to hear that Tuesday Lisa Torraco announced her intention to challenge DA Brandenburg in the upcoming race for District Attorney of the 2nd Judicial District. It's time to have a District Attorney who will work with law enforcement and prosecute crime.

Welcome to the race Ms. Torraco. We've posted her campaign announcement below.

TORRACO SEEKS OFFICE OF DISTRICT ATTORNEY

It's time for strong leadership in the District Attorney's Office.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Lisa Torraco today announced her candidacy for the office of Bernalillo County District Attorney.

"I can not in good conscience stand by and watch as our legal system continues to fail those it is designed to protect and prosecute those whose greatest crime is protecting their families and property from criminal predators," Torraco stated during a press conference on the steps of the District Court.

At a recent Crime Convention Conference sponsored by the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, it was noted that everyday 17 houses are broken into and every 95 minutes a car is stolen.

"Crime is an ever increasing problem in our city," added Torraco. "Yet, the District Attorney's office is focusing their efforts on sending message to law abiding citizens that it is not okay to protect their families by throwing a decorated Marine behind bars for protecting his family from being burglarized by a twice convicted felon.

"The DA zealously pursues cases against law abiding citizens and dismisses others against repeat offendors – there seems to be no rhyme or reason." Torraco adds "The police are doing their jobs, we deserve a District Attorney that does hers.

"I am stepping up to the plate to do the job that needs to be done. I live here, I'm raising my children here, and I will fight to throw criminals, not heroes behind bars."

Lisa Torraco is a 1991 graduate of University of New Mexico School of Law. Upon graduation Torraco worked as an assistant district attorney for the Second Judicial District. In 1993, she worked for the Santa Fe District Attorney's office where she was appointed to lead the Child Abuse Division for Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and Los Alamos Counties. A career prosecutor, Lisa Torraco has prosecuted all levels of felony and misdemeanor cases and was awarded "New Prosecutor of the Year" in 1993.