The Truth?! Some Simply Can’t Handle the Truth

The Eye received this letter from Erika Bryan whose husband, Shaun Bryan, was at the center of an FBI investigation. During the investigation some claim that the FBI lied and falsified factual information and refused to obtain legitimate and bona-fide evidence that would have cleared former Albuquerque Police Officer, Brad Ahrensfeld, who was charged and prosecuted during the investigation.

As you read through Ms. Bryan’ letter, it alludes that this entire event was a result of political corruption within the City of Albuquerque. Ms. Bryan Claims that the “11th floor” did not want Darren White to become Chief Public Safety Officer. Most commonly, the “11th floor” is known as the Mayor’s Office. The Mayor at that time was Martin J. Chavez, who ran unsuccessfully against current Mayor Berry after filing a law suit that allowed him to run for a third term. Ms. Bryan also claims that two APD officers also played an intricate part in this fiasco.

The information below references “SID.” The acronym SID stands for Special Investigation Division. SID is a division that is part of APD.

The letter also suggests that Chief Ray Schultz had knowledge about this fiasco. After the fact, we can see that nothing was done by Schultz to investigate this matter appropriately.

Below is Erika Bryan’s letter:

As a citizen of this great city, a mom, wife, charity organizer, business owner this is the story of the facts so many of you want to know so here we go. On Sept 23, 2009, sixteen Federal agents showed up at our family business with a blank unsigned search warrant. Along with the illegal warrant two FBI agents, SA Drew Mcandless, and SA Marcus Washington sat in my husband’s office “while the rest waited outside” and told me and my husband that they had our mechanic on video “smuggling kilos of cocaine” using our inventory at our dealership to commit these crimes. At the time our business handled the SID “New Systems” (shell company name) contract in which we bought and serviced the SID cars. Immediately red flags went up. How could this be happening not only under our eyes but also under APDs eyes since we did the service for numerous undercover officers daily? Little did we know the FBI is allowed to tell you any lie they chose, and play by their own rules. Needless to say there was no video or drugs and in the course of Brads trial they admitted that this was a “rouge” and they lied in the name of justice.

That point aside the reason I write to the EYE today is not to discuss the gross misconduct of the US government in the way they set our family business up or the MANY ways that they tried and continue to try to ruin Brad Ahrensfelds life, I write today to discuss text messages.

Kathy, Darren Whites now-wife at the time this nightmare began was a close friend of mine. As soon as this nightmare began ” Kat” began texting me and updating me as to what was going on and being said. As best as I can recall, in the hundreds of texts that exist, kat tells the story as to what really happened to us and by proxy Brad. From the beginning she started sending that Darren was infuriated and was going to get to the bottom of what was going on. Quickly the nature of the texts changed from being upset to naming names. … starting with Chris Bakkus. Darren had found out that Chris was involved and according to Darren was openly bragging how he had set this whole thing up. Next in line was Ryan Buckner. As many of you know our home in a gated community in broad daylight was burglarized two weeks before this started, according to the texts from Darrens wife, Buckner was involved and was running surveillance on my family at that time and was involved in the invasion of our home. The texts also say Bakkus and Buckner were getting orders from the 11th floor to get to Darren before the upcoming election. The texts indicate that by setting US up, Darren would have political mud on him and not become the Chief of Public Safety. Kat repeatedly texted how Darren was going to take these guys down and they were going to pay for what they did and he and Ray would make things right. All the while Darren thought we were getting the correct information about the events surrounding this madness through our private investigator. To the best of my knowledge, Darren had no idea Kat was sending us the play by play of everything she knew and overheard. We were told by Darren to stay quiet and he would “RIGHT THE WRONG” and clear Brads name and ours. This went on from the beginning to exactly two days before the trial when Darren called Shawn and reiterated what he had said for months… that he knew he was target and to stay quiet because he would make it right at trial. Darren did not make it right. He made it worse. He said nothing.

After Darren played politics in Brads first trial and all but cut his throat and ours my husband met with the FBI and repeatedly told them to access my phone records and they would have the truth to this whole mess, but sadly they only wanted to have him give them information to prosecute Brad with and even told him “give us info on Brad and we will look into the phone records.” When my husband told them there was no info to give on Brad because he was innocent , that meeting was over and needless to say they never contacted me to obtain these records. So, here I am sharing the tangible truth they refuse to acknowledge that would exonerate Brad. Phone records can be produced “with proper warrants “ and would expose everything and clear Brad and hold the guilty accountable.

Thank you EYE readers for the support you have given to Brad, and to getting to the bottom of this mess. - Erika Bryan.

The Eye would like to thank Ms. Bryan for providing this letter. This letter may clear up some issues but Brad Ahrensfeld’s fate still lies in the hands of the courts. Based on this new information, an ombudsman needs to investigate this matter. This requires a Congressional investigation that should have absolutely no mercy on the offending person or parties. Also, one may see why all the local media has their tails between their legs.

Unclassified

The state calls them "exempt." The city calls them "unclassified." No matter what they're called they're employees who are beholden to the elected executive official that hired them. These employees can be hired and fired by the governor or mayor for just about any reason.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, Governor Richardson has 760 "exempt" employees - over 500 in the executive branch alone. Richardson's exempts became one of the popular targets of legislators in the recent emergency session.

There are 760 exempt employees in New Mexico government — about 500 in executive branch agencies — and the number has risen sharply during Richardson's two terms in office.

“The growth in exempt positions has been significant,” Cote said.

A similar proposal has also been introduced by Sen. John Ryan, R-Albuquerque.

Some legislators have criticized the growth in government spending under the Richardson administration — about 40 percent in the past six years — and the growth in exempt employee numbers in particular.

(ABQ Journal - Subscription)

One of the fun things about a transition of power is the transition shakes things up and tends to expose a few things that have been heretofore almost impossible find out. Once such thing is a complete list of all of the city's unclassified employees and how much they make - a list that fell smack dab into the lap of one of our Eyes.

The city of Albuquerque has 1427 "exempt" - or as the city calls them - "unclassified" employees. Understand that a large number of these unclassified positions are part-time or seasonal and pay between $7.50 and $19 per hour. But there are 124 full-time positions in Marty's unclassified world that earn more than $50,000 a year that's over $15,000 more than the state's median income for a single wage earner (view it here).

Combined those top 124 unclassified positions cost us $5,098.21 an hour, $203,928.40 a week, and $10,604, 276 a year. If you thought the mayor was the top dog, you'd be wrong. The top three unclassified wage earners are CAO Ed Adams, Fire Chief Robert Ortega, and Chief of Police Ray Schultz at $147,742, $140,733 and $140, 733 respectively.

The mayor's pay - previously set by the council and soon by some "independent" committee - makes a paltry $109,325 and only ranks 14th on the unclassified pay scale. Councilors by contrast, are at the bottom of the 1400 plus list earning a meager $5.26 an hour (based on a 40 hour week).

There are currently 6 director's positions that are either vacant (like Jay Evans who skedaddled back to Open Space and reportedly took his director's pay with him) or have "acting" directors whose pay won't show up on the unclassified list. Included in the list is soon to be former Transit Director Greg Payne whose salary and job will continue until November 30th.

You may be wondering why all of this matters. It's not really surprising that Marty's Minions were making shall we say... healthy salaries. They certainly were and in some cases the job justifies their pay. In other cases such as a position like say... director of senior affairs (a job Marty's paying $107,910 for) is really hard to justify. Do you really want your senior affairs person making more than your economic development person, your HR manager, or the director of finances?

The more one analyzes the list of unclassified employees, the more you begin to see Marty's pattern of rewards for loyalty. Pay and responsibility often have nothing to do with one another.

Let's face it - there are some positions that will simply go unfilled if the pay isn't adequate. Take the city attorney's office for example. A good attorney can make upwards of $150 an hour. You can't just pay $35k a year and expect to fill the position - at least not with a competent attorney.

The point here is that Mayor-Elect Berry has an opportunity to save the city money by removing unnecessary positions and adjusting pay of necessary positions to more accurately reflect the position's responsibility.

A new mayor should have the opportunity to surround himself with people they trust and people that they feel are best qualified for needed city positions. After all, the mayor should and will be judged not only by his performance but the performance of those he surrounds himself with .

Mayor Berry has the opportunity to make some real structural changes to his unclassified list that will make government more transparent, more efficient, and save all of us money at a time when money is hard to come by.

Promises, Packing and Dancing with the Devil

The mood on the 11th and 5th floors has been a cross between desperation and depression. The Almighty Alcalde has been busy promising the Chief's job to any commander who will drag their officers to the polls and vote for him. Yes... that means that Marty is repaying Chief Schultz for his undying allegiance - an allegiance that extended to politicizing a police investigation - with a pink slip.

Apparently, the current holder of the 11th Floor throne is promising to fire Ray Schultz if he manages to stay in office. Our Eyes tell us that Marty blames the current state of affairs on Chief Schultz and APD.

We would take issue with that assertion and humbly suggest that the man most directly responsible for Marty's mayoral desperation is none other than The Almighty Alcalde himself. Not to say that Ray and his merry band of sycophant DCs haven't royally screwed the pooch on multiple occasions, but the Mayor of Albuquerque has direct responsibility for the actions and job performance of the Chief of Police and those the chief surrounds himself with.

Further, Marty has annexed APD as a part of his political machine - a despicable act by any mayor. The Albuquerque Police Department depends on the trust and faith placed in it by the public in order to function effectively. Martin J. Chavez has abused that trust and shaken the faith of the public by repeatedly using APD for his own personal gains.

If you happen to be one of the Commanders who have been promised the chief's job, consider for a moment how The Almighty Alcalde repays loyalty... one of his loyalists is busy packing up his office. And should Marty somehow win this contest consider this - "when you dance with the devil you don't change him, he changes you."

Has-Beens and Desperation

Marty in the Middle's desperation is showing. The Almighty Alcalde was humbled by the 2nd (and maybe even 3rd) place showing in Sunday's Albuquerque Journal poll and now he's pulling out all of the stops.

Prior to the release of the Sanderoff poll, Marty had been aiming all of his vitriolic might at R.J. Berry. Since Sunday, Marty's Minions have been alternating attacks between Romero and Berry. Monday featured an email from Councilor Ken Sanchez aimed at trashing Romero by associating him with Republicans.

Yesterday, Howard Dean hit the phones with Democrats on behalf of the beleaguered mayor and today, former Councilor (and card carrying Marty-crat) Craig Loy was pestering Republicans.

So what's this all about? Until Sunday, Marty believed that at the very least he was in 2nd place. The Journal poll shocked The Almighty Alcalde by showing that not only was he in 2nd place, but could very well be in third behind Richard Romero - which would put Marty out of any possible runoff.

The sudden change of strategy indicates that Marty is desperate to find a way to at least hold on to 2nd place. Right now, it doesn't look as though anyone will be able to reach the magic 40% even though with 19% undecided it's certainly possible.

Marty not only needs to bring down Berry, but he needs to put some distance between himself and Romero. The only problem with his new approach is that unlike previous years, Marty has finite resources. If he splits them, he may not be able to achieve either objective and may be (or perhaps already has been) overtaken by the hard charging Romero campaign.

With only 5 days left in the campaign, a single mistake could cost any of the three candidates the election. Bringing in a couple of has-beens like Loy and Dean and attempting to attack both opponents may very well leave Marty on the outside looking in.

Burned

KOB TV reporter Jeremy Jojola has been poking around APD recently. What's got the TV reporter asking questions – and a bit miffed – is information he received that APD has placed officers Ron Olivas and Brad Ahrensfield on administrative leave pending an investigation. The problem is APD won't say what the two officers are being investigated for.

After numerous phone calls and emails to city officials, Albuquerque Police spokesperson John Walsh finally told me today (Monday) that Officers Ron Olivas and Brad Ahrensfield are on "paid administrative leave pending an internal affairs investigation."

Walsh told me the two officers were placed on leave sometime last week.

-JeremyJoJola.com

According to our Eyes, the two APD officers were placed on administrative leave for allegedly burning a federal investigation into a Valley used car dealer that was dealing in more than used cars. Apparently, Ahrensfield knew the dealer in question and received information from Olivas that the FBI was about ready to make arrests in the case. Allegedly, Ahrensfield tipped off his dealer buddy who promptly changed the emphasis of his dealing activities back to automobiles.

The 5th Floor has gone into what can only be called an apoplectic fit over the possibility that the allegations against the two officers might find their way to the public or into the media. (Oops!)

In case you haven't noticed... there's an election going on and the boss ain't fairing so well. Stories on yet another APD scandal won't help The Almighty Alcalde in his bid to keep his seat on the 11th Floor – particularly since the leak came from the Special Investigations Division (SID).

SID was the source of the Reserve-gate scandal where APD officers were falsifying civilian time sheets and sending Reserve Officer David Young out undercover illegally. Ron Olivas – the immediate Past President of the APOA – received his assignment to the unit only recently and rumor has it that Olivas got the assignment as a reward from The Almighty Alcalde for his “help” with the union.

Remember, Chief Schultz threw the entire reserve program under the bus rather than admit that a couple of his favored senior officers falsified time sheets and illegally paid a reserve officer for police work.

The 5th Floor doesn't want news of yet another investigation out before the election. And don't look for the FBI to do anything that might influence the election.

Since the whole Senator Ted Stevens debacle where the Justice Department was very publicly chastised for prosecutorial misconduct, the DOJ and FBI are extremely reluctant to file charges right before an election. The DOJ eventually dropped the indictments and Stevens' conviction was overturned. But the damage to Senator Stevens' political career was done and he lost his seat in the U.S. Senate.

Burning an FBI investigation is never a good idea – and understandably the Feds are none too happy. It's a particularly bad idea when the match is struck by a couple of law enforcement officials who not only should know better, but should probably do everything in their power to stay away from "friends" who are the target of an FBI investigation. If the allegations against the two are true, Olivas and Ahrensfield could even be charged criminally.

In addition to burning and FBI investigation, the two officers may have burned Marty's chances of closing the gap with mayoral challenger R.J. Berry. For years now APD has made a habit of sweeping it's dirty laundry under the rug. Now theirs more dirt than rug and the public is beginning to get the idea that it's time for a good cleaning - starting with The 11th Floor.

Marty in the Middle

Last week's Eye Poll started out with R.J. Berry holding a significant lead over the incumbent Alcalde. By the end of the week, Marty moved to within one vote of the leader. In our unscientific Eye Poll Berry and Chavez both sat at 39% with Berry holding a 1 vote lead. Meanwhile the other challenger Richard Romero, rounded out the poll with 23% of the vote (view it here).

Historically speaking, it's not above supporters of The Almighty Alcalde to push a poll. In fact, we've had it happen before (read it here). In this case, we don't have any evidence of 11th Floor tampering but we wouldn't be shocked if it occurred. We're quite sure that Marty and his minions are more than a little sensitive about any poll these days.

In case you missed it... The Sunday Journal featured an above the fold story on the most recent Sanderoff poll that showed R.J. Berry leading in this year's mayoral derby by 6 points with 31% of the vote. Chavez followed Berry with 26% followed closely by Romero at 24%. 19% of respondents in the Journal poll were undecided and the margin of error was a rather large plus or minus 5 points (ABQ Journal Subscription).

The fact is that despite the Journal headline - "Berry Has Slim Lead Over Chávez, Romero, With Days To Go" - R.J. Berry is that at worst leading Chavez and Romero by 1 and 2 points respectively. On the other hand, Berry could be leading Chavez by as much as 11 points.

There are a healthy number of undecided voters - in this case 19%. If the undecideds break hard for either Chavez or Romero, Berry could see his lead evaporate quickly. However, it looks as if the majority of undecided voters come from the NE Heights - traditionally a Republican stronghold and the wellspring of Marty's past victories.

Meanwhile, Romero is drawing Hispanic votes and Democrats (particularly liberal Democrats) away from The Almighty Alcalde.

None of this is particularly surprising. Politics is often situational. From the beginning, the situation favored R.J Berry - a Republican - since Democrats Chavez and Romero would tend to split the D vote.

In the end it will come down to turnout. Romero with the backing of the Eli Lee machine will effectively get their vote out. Marty will work his city hall machine between now and the election to make sure that every employee both votes and knows that their career is in his hands.

But in the end, the election will be decided by Republicans - many of whom have faithfully if misguidedly supported The Almighty Alcalde in the past. For the first time in a long time, Marty is being squeezed making him - in a statistical sense more than in a political one - Marty in the Middle. If independents break hard for Berry, Albuquerque's unemployment rate will go up by one.

Bode Back on the Radar

Last February, Bode Aviation filed suit against the City of Albuquerque and Mayor Martin Chavez. The suit alleges misuse of public funds, safety issues created by city actions, and well... extortion. In addition, Bode alleges that the city has failed to recognize their right to extend their lease. You can read the complete filings here and here.

The complaints tell an interesting story that starts with the company's refusal to provide free air service to provide free or discounted air service to the Almighty Alcalde's Senate campaign - that is before his own party ran him out of the race. According to the complaint, Bode Aviation had notified the city of their intent to extend their lease when they were approached by the would be Senator Chavez' campaign to provide the free or discounted service to candidate and his campaign.

Bode refused to provide free services - which if provided, would have placed them in squarely in violation of federal campaign law. A short time later, a number of safety concerns arose out at the Double Eagle II Airport as well as concerns that the city was misusing FAA grant money.

At a meeting on August 21, 2007, Plaintiffs were told by representatives of Defendants that because of concerns raised by Plaintiffs about the charter school, the “mayor’s gotten involved, and you guys are back on the radar,” and that Plaintiffs were “back at risk.” When Mr. Bode asked, “at risk for what,” he was told the Defendants were considering “another FBO” at the airport. These representatives also reminded Plaintiffs that the representatives had “been successful up to now keeping the politics out.”

- Bode District Court Filing

The above claim is supported by surveillance video recorded by Bode - video that is now all over the web. And we just hate to be left out so here it is.



The above clip was edited by the Romero campaign, but it's no less damning for all that. In the clip you can clearly hear Aviation Director, Nick Bakas and Planning Manager for Business Development Jack Scherer discussing the unwanted attention that Bode was receiving because they were back on the mayor's "radar."

Now our Eyes tell us that The Almighty Alcalde and his brain trust including the aforementioned Nick Bakas, have approached Doug Christian CEO of Enchantment Helicopters to take over as FBO at Double Eagle II.

There's only one problem with all of this... Well, OK there are a lot of problems with this whole thing. In fact, this whole thing stinks. Bode has a contract that the city lead by The Almighty Alcalde refuses to honor because Bode refused to be extorted and raised legitimate concerns over safety and the use of public money.

Folks, none of this would have happened if Bode had been willing to tote the mayor around the state on their dime. None of this would have happened if they wouldn't have raised a red flag over security problems at the airport. And none of this would have happened if Bode had looked the other way when public money was being misspent.

Pay to play is alive and well in Albuquerque and Bode's back on the radar because they decided not to play.

Phone Slime

Since last week's KNME debate, two different "polls" have been spewing slime all over those unfortunate enough to pick up the phone. It's not like these things are really polls. They're not even push polls. They're autodial phone messages masquerading as a poll by asking the poor unfortunate souls who are stuck listening to this garbage to press 1 or press 2 depending on how much of a scoundrel you believe RJ Berry is.

The problem is, there's no mechanism for collecting the response. The auodialer's message barrels on regardless of the answer.

Poll: "5 a : a questioning or canvassing of persons selected at random or by quota to obtain information or opinions to be analyzed b : a record of the information so obtained"

-Merriam-Webster.com

So, according to Merriam-Webster a poll requires that data be collected - without it there's nothing to analyze. Therefore, these "polls" aren't polls they're campaign communications. And in this case, they're unidentified campaign communications - a violation of the City of Albuquerque's campaign laws.

KOB-TV is reporting that all 3 campaigns are denying any knowledge of the illicit phoners. We think we can absolutely rule out the Berry camp - as they're the target. And to date, Romero hasn't been targeting Berry. By process of elimination, that leaves Uncle Marty and his merry band of campaign cronies as the most likely culprits.

The polls used some information, sometimes nearly word for word, from a Chávez hit piece — a mailer — questioning Berry's reputation as a fiscal conservative, among other things.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

The funniest part of this whole thing was the Chavez campaign's response from spokesperson Joan Griffin.

Chavez campaign spokesperson Joan Griffin repeatedly said they didn't know whose poll it was, but at the end of the message she added:

"I believe that polls are not required to have disclaimers,"

-KOB-TV

So, according to Ms. Griffin - we don't know a thing about whose "poll" it was, but if we did it was legal because polls don't have to have disclaimers. Read it again. That's what she said... Really! (We'll now pause for you to finish laughing...)

The lack of disclosure violates city election and campaign codes, interim City Clerk Randy Autio said Monday. Autio's office should have been given transcripts of the calls, and whoever is doing them should have registered as a measured finance committee — the city's version of a PAC.

-ABQ Journal (Subscription)

Lying to the public isn't exactly new for the Chavez administration. They've been fibbing about the number of officers on the street, the effectiveness of the red light scam-eras, and spewing noxious emissions about greenhouse gas. So... who don't you believe here? Press 1 for Berry, 2 for Romero, or 3 for Chavez.

More importantly despite the fact that the Chavez cronies made every attempt to block the caller ID of the party making the illegal autodialers, our Eyes tell us that there's evidence that the source of calls was the same as the source of Chavez' other identified campaign phone communications.

Let's review... the calls sound like Chavez radio ads running on local stations. They are denied, but defended by Chavez spokeswoman Joan Griffin. Chavez has a history of, well... bending the truth. And, there's evidence that the calls came from the same source as other Chavez campaign phone ads.

Looks to us like the slime coming from your phone originates over at the Chavez campaign office. But given the history of the Almighty Alcalde the source of slime isn't all that surprising... is it?

Eye Poll: Not Safer

Apparently, the only person in Albuquerque that feels safe is Chief Sergeant Schultz who seems to know nothing about the paper work he signs and even less about how dangerous Albuquerque has become. In our unscientific Eye Poll, 71% of readers don't feel as safe as they did just four years ago. 27% of Eye readers felt safer than they were four years ago and 3% didn't know.

The truth is that Albuquerque is a more dangerous city, particularly if you are a woman. While the number of murders per year hover between 34 and 53 per year, forcible rape has gone almost straight up since a 2004 eight year low of 234. Last year there were 370 forcible rapes in Albuquerque an increase of almost 60% in four years.

Our Eyes tell us that there have already been 38 murders this year - not counting the 12 Westside serial killer victims. Armed robbery is up 28% since 2003 with 1,350 incidents just last year. Meanwhile, burglary is up 13% and motor vehicle theft is up 15% since 2002. These numbers aren't a national secret - they're available from the FBI.

Crime is becoming the signature issue in this year's election - as it should be. Since the Chief of Police is an at-will employee of the mayor, the mayor is directly responsible for his performance or lack thereof.

Not surprisingly Marty won't take responsibility, but he's more than willing to show up at the next ribbon cutting sporting his smarmy smile.

This week, we're taking our second look at the mayor's race. Let us know who you want to be Albuquerque's next mayor!

Politics As Usual - Marty Misleading... Again

We've been amused to hear some of The Almighty Alcalde's recent radio ads defending some of his core positions and of course, claiming that his opponents are "desperate." As usual, claiming the other guy is desperate is a sign of your own desperation. As usual, defending long held and widely unpopular positions in an Ad usually results in an ad that's full of sh... uh, distortions.

Note the first claim that The Almighty Alcalde doesn't support a Trolley. Trolley is a term that opponents have used to characterize what Marty and his streetcar minions call a "modern streetcar" - and Marty has a loooong record of supporting one. It may be true that Marty has never referred to the streetcar as a trolley and therefore has never supported a "trolley," but Marty will do anything to get a "modern streetcar" - voters be damned.

The second li... uh, misleading statement is that The Almighty Alcalde supports a "modern light rail, but only if passed by the voters." Marty may very well support a "modern light rail" if approved by the voters, but a light rail system is not the trolley or "streetcar" system that Hizzz Honor, Marty the Misleader and his accomplices has been trying to get past the public since November 6th, 2006 (read our take here).

Why not a Light Rail system?

Unlike light rail, which requires the entire reconstruction of underground infrastructure to support the weight of the heavier light rail cars, streetcar rail is embedded into the street. Because of the lighter weight of streetcars, most modern streets can already support a streetcar. Construction of a streetcar line can be as basic as removing enough concrete in the road for the rails to seat, less disruption than repairing a simple underground water line.

-City of Albuquerque Website

What's worse is that Marty knows the difference as evidenced by the city's own website and is trying to make you believe that any Central streetcar or trolley will only be built after the public votes on spending $30 to $50 MILLION per mile.

Next in the litany of li... uh, distortions in Marty's radio ad is an attempt to deny Marty's mandate that turns the City of Albuquerque into a defacto sanctuary city. The current APD Standard Operating Procedure - which was changed twice on August 14th 2007 - states: "Officers shall not inquire about or seek proof of a person's immigration status unless the person is in custody or is a suspect in a criminal investigation."

So... If you're an illegal immigrant and an officer pulls you over for say, suspicion of drunk driving and you have a New Mexico drivers license thanks to Big Bill's stupidity, and when your drivers license is run it doesn't come up with a social security number (which often happens with illegals), and you speak with a heavy Gaelic accent, but you're not intoxicated - you're free to go and the officer is restrained from even asking about your immigration status.

Now we understand that our little illustration is a bit farfetched - after all a sober Irishman?! But, Albuquerque has a problem with illegal immigration and crime - property crime in particular. According to FBI statistics, incidents of property crime rose 9% from 2007 to 2008 - a 6 year high.

[Sidebar]
Our Eyes report that The 5th Floor is playing a little game with the numbers. As of August our Eyes maintain that there had been 38 murders in Albuquerque. Well... sort of. You see, there had been 38 murders if you don't count the 12 serial killer victims found back in February. According to the preliminary FBI statistics for 2008, there were 38 murders in Albuquerque all of last year.

The 5th Floor brain trust has decided not to report the 12 Westside murder victims until after the election. But even if you don't count the murder victims of a serial killer, Albuquerque is well on its way to another 6 year high. This is just another example of Marty and his minions cooking the books (read it here).
[End Sidebar]

In Marty's little misleading radio ad, Marty talks about truth - something he has yet to be acquainted with. The truth is that Marty is feeling pressure from an opponent who is making crime, immigration, and little Marty's trolley campaign issues. These are long held positions by The Almighty Alcalde and it's simply insulting to think that he believes that we're dumb enough not to remember the positions he took and the beliefs he still holds. Talk about politics as usual!

Rampart APD Style

Almost a decade ago, the Los Angeles Police Department was rocked by yet another scandal. This one involved the Rampart Division's CRASH (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums) program. CRASH was an anti-gang initiative created by Chief Darryl Gates in the 1970s.

CRASH officers were required to get to know gang members--their names, habits, friends--to keep on top of gang activity. The units were successful, city-wide, in reducing gang related crime. But some critics, especially after Rafael Perez's allegations surfaced, believed that CRASH administered rough street justice--harassing and abusing suspects and falsifying reports.

- PBS Frontline

Our Eyes have maintained for some time that APD's Special Investigations Unit (SID) - the unit where David Young was playing detective and fondling hookers - was out of control and bore a striking resemblance to the Rampart CRASH unit at LAPD.

According to Our Eyes, last week Nick Riccardi from the Los Angeles Times was poking around APD. Apparently, he met with Chief Schultz and others involved and is preparing a three part series for the LA Times. Word is, Riccardi found numerous similarities between the Rampart scandal and the SID debacle.

Should the Times run with the story they'll bring national attention to APD and the mayor who is directly responsible for their actions (or lack thereof). The worst thing for the Almighty Alcalde would be for the story to break before the October election. Should Marty manage to keep his police department out of the headlines until after the election and should voters choose to send him back to his perch on the 11th floor, he'll be in a far better position to defend himself and he'll be in direct control of at least one investigatory agency.

The Rampart story and subsequent investigation by the Feds was triggered by a story in the LA Times. Since it seems as if the FBI is already looking into the allegations and cover-up over at SID, a national story would serve to put pressure on a Justice Department still smarting from the very public political payback of dropping the indictments against Governor Richardson and his shakedown artists.

The Eyes have it that Chief Schultz believes that he has cut a deal to keep Riccardi's series out of the Times until after the election. However, their information is that the story will run before the election as early as this week.

If you think about it, there's no reason for the LA Times to throw a bone to the Chief and his boss The Almighty Alcalde. They're a national paper that doesn't have the cozy relationship that Marty enjoys with The Journal. They don't depend on Marty for access so there's very little that The Almighty Alcalde can do to hurt them. And sitting on this kind of story increases the chances that some other paper will pick it up and beat them to their own story.

Worse for Mayor Marty and his Minions, they won't be able to count on the cover so freely given to Richardson because besides being drummed out of not one but two elections by his own party last year, The Almighty Alcalde backed the wrong horse in the last election. Should allegations become indictments, you can bet that these indictments will go forward regardless of whether or not Marty is still mayor.

----- Update -----
Is our Eye red!!! We sat on the story about the story longer than the LA Times sat on the story itself! You can read Nick Riccardi's story here.

Our understanding is that there are two remaining parts... we shall see. By the way Sergeant, uh... Chief Schultz, it's not October.

For those of you who might have information for the LA Times' intrepid reporter, you can reach him by email at nicholas.riccardi@latimes.com.

Playin' Ball

If you're a police officer with the Albuquerque Police Department and you happen to find yourself at Isotopes park this evening, take a gander at the mayor's luxury suite. Besides spying the dictator of the 11th floor Martin "Hugo" Chavez, you'll see members of the Executive Board of APOA.

Our Eyes tell us that the Executive Board was invited to take in an Topes game from the luxurious confines of the mayoral luxury suite. The event includes free food and boo, uh... adult beverages. Apparently a luxury night at the ballpark is what you get for playin' ball with the mayor. Remember the tickets to this particular game were bought with the membership's endorsement even if the membership never agreed to the price.

The Alcalde Files: A Sense of Entitlement

Plagued by scandal but blessed with a forgetful constituency, The Almighty Alcalde seems to have found ways to fill his pockets - at least until he gets caught. Of course, Marty's punishment is generally a slap on the wrist rather than an indictment. The 2002 ABQPAC scandal was one such incident.

After taking back the Alcalde's chair from Jimmy "Carter" Baca to begin his 2nd term as mayor, Marty decided that this whole mayor thing was costing him too much money and that the $90,000 or so a year that he received for the position just wasn't covering his expenses. The easiest way to cover those expenses was to pass the hat and ABQPAC was born.

Mayor Martin Chávez is using thousands of dollars donated by private contributors to defray family expenses, ranging from his wife's telephone bills to the cost of taking his family on a goodwill trip to Japan.

Money has been donated by high-ranking city employees, real estate developers, lawyers, bankers and other supporters to a political action committee known as ABQPAC, formed during Chávez's first week in office.

-ABQ Journal (Subscription)

The ABQPAC scam was simple - shakedown a bunch of contractors, businesses, and city employees. Their "voluntary" donations would go to the Alcalde's laundry where Marty could then pick-up his cleaned cash to be used any way he chose. It's a neat trick more worthy of mobster than a mayor.

At the time Marty defended the use of his personal PAC slush fund by claiming that spending donations from the PAC saved the taxpayers money.

Using a political action committee "seemed to be the most proper way" to raise money, [Chavez] said, because there is public disclosure and it does not depend on government funds.

It saves money for taxpayers, he said, because it involves the use of private donations to cover some expenses that might have reasonably been charged to city government — such as certain travel costs and his cell phone.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

There are a number of problems with the mayor's logic. First and foremost, receiving "donations" from city employees, contractors, and those who have business with the city is prohibited (even waaay back in 2001) by the City Charter - even if the money had been laundered through the ABQPAC laundry. As it turns out, some of the donations to the PAC were on checks written to "Mayor Martin Chavez."

Some checks in the files of ABQPAC were written to Mayor Martin Chavez personally, not to the committee that he has said provided a buffer between him and contributors.

-"PAC Checks Made To Chavez.(Final)." Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, NM). 2002. AccessMyLibrary. 11 Aug. 2009

But attorney Jerry Walz, whose law firm has a city contract, says he didn't know ABQPAC even existed when his firm paid $125 through a check made out to "Martin Chavez."

Walz said he was later dismayed to learn how the money was used and wouldn't have contributed "if I would have had full and complete knowledge."

-"PAC Checks Made To Chavez.(Final)." Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, NM). 2002. AccessMyLibrary. 11 Aug. 2009

In addition, there were a number of city employees that thought giving a few bucks to the boss to defray his personal expenses was a good idea. People like former Chief of Staff Teri Baird, Deputy Fire Chief Ron Bustos, and Fire Chief Robert Ortega all gave at least $1,000. You can't believe that high ranking city officials "voluntarily" cough up a THOSAND DOLLARS plus if they don't believe they have to (theblueflier.com).

We've got to hand it to Marty this time. When the story broke and it was apparent that the whole "saving taxpayers money" thing wasn't going to work, The Almighty Alcalde ate some humble pie and and two weeks later offered to repay "every dime."

"All monies expended by ABQPAC regarding travel, phones and even campaign-loan reimbursement will be tallied and repaid by me personally," he said. "I will have no association financially with ABQPAC. Every single dime will be repaid."

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

Folks, that's a little bit like the bank robber offering to repay the bank after he's already stolen the money. A crime was committed and even if all of the money is recovered the criminal should still be prosecuted.

At the time, Attorney General Patricia Madrid - a political ally of The Almighty Alcalde - did what she always did when it came to New Mexico corruption... nothing. And the council - taking the AG's lead - followed suit and voted not to request the AG's involvement after fierce behind the scenes lobbying by the mayor and his staff.

The argument at the time was that the ethics board should be allowed to do its work without being "poisoned" by a criminal investigation. Since when does a non-criminal proceeding take precedence over a criminal proceeding? There's little doubt that a criminal investigation of ABQPAC was not in Marty's best interests. The ethics board can rule on whether or not Marty violated the City Charter's ethics regulations, but doesn't have the authority to determine whether or not Marty broke state law.

Predictably, Manny's in-law at the time got by with a slap on the wrist from the City of Albuquerque Ethics Board which found:

Chávez accepted gifts from people with an interest in city affairs, failed to report certain campaign contributions and failed to abide by a legal limit on the size of those contributions.

Chávez received nearly $60,000 in assistance from ABQPAC, a political action committee that raised money from city contractors, city employees and others. The money helped pay for Chávez family travel and other expenses.

He voluntarily refunded the money when the issue sparked controversy.

-ABQ Journal (Subscription)

This whole ABQPAC thing is remarkably similar to Marty's more recent mayoral thuggery - Bode Aviation. In a recent deposition, John Bode of Bode Aviation claims (among other things) that the mayor tried to get free services for his senatorial campaign and free trips to Mexico.

It's hard not to believe Mr. Bode since Marty has a history of shaking down businesses in an effort to fill his mayoral pockets. Unlike ABQPAC, it appears that the FBI is interested in taking a look at Mr. Bode's claims and Bode's federal lawsuit is going forward. This time The Almighty Alcalde won't have the political influence to guide or stop either proceeding. This time The Almighty Alcalde's sense of entitlement may cost him an election and maybe even his freedom.

Eye Poll: Marty's Biggest Scandal

We've been taking quite a bit of flack for not publishing the results of our early summer Eye Poll. One poster claimed that we were "pissed-off" by the results. Actually, concerned is the word we'd use but in either case, we hadn't posted the results due to some rather pressing vocational issues.

So here they are... According to May Eye Readers the biggest mayoral mishap over the last 8 years was (insert drum roll here)... coming in with 26% of the vote, exaggerating red light camera statistics! The ABQ PAC, Evidence Room, and Bode Aviation Scandals each came in with 10% of the vote, Marty's greenhouse gas got 8% and 2% didn't know.

What has us concerned (and what more than likely our pernicious poster wanted brought out) was that 36% indicated that they didn't care (view the results here). We suspect that Marty's Minions were busy clicking away at the only selection that they could vote for. And obviously if your job is dependent on Marty remaining on the 11th floor throne, it's in your best interest to not care.

Apathy is what got us to this point - locally and nationally. Too many people don't take the time to judge the content of the character of the people they elect. Multiple scandals that are brushed under the rug by election time are an indication of a character flaw - one that's easy to miss if you don't take the time to care.

Eye Poll: Berry

As summer begins to wane and the election season begins, Eye readers have chosen who they would like to be the next mayor of Albuquerque. In our unscientific poll, Richard "RJ" Berry took the honors with a solid 45% of the vote. The Almighty Alcalde came in 2nd at 28% edging out Richard Romero by 1 point at 27% (view it here).

Granted the Eye Poll is unscientific and our readers tend to be of the center-right variety, but these numbers have to be a concern for the Chavez campaign. After all, Republicans - particularly Northeast Heights Republicans - have been largely responsible for keeping Marty in the Alcalde's chair.

If Marty's numbers slip with Republican voters and Richard Romero mounts a credible challenge, it's pretty easy to see the mayor held below the magic runoff line. Should Marty be held below 40%, Berry could very well end up the new mayor. Of course Berry needs to run a solid campaign of his own, otherwise the beneficiary of a Chavez 40% failure would be Richard Romero.

In either case, if Chavez is kept below 40% the likely beneficiary would be the other guy that's left standing for the runoff. They would likely receive all of the anti-Marty / Marty-fatigue vote making them the new occupant of the Alcalde's chair.

This week we're looking at another race where the two Ds could split to put an R in office. That of course is the District 5 race where incumbent (and former mayoral candidate, then out of politics, then back in the council race) Michael Cadigan is trying to defend his seat against two opponents - Republican Dan Lewis and Democrat Jeremy Toulouse.

This race is interesting because the Republican is on the public dole (and you know how we hate public financing) while the two Democrats are earning their way with voluntary donations from contributors. We have a regulator, a candidate already feeding from the public trough, and a third candidate that probably can't raise enough money to make a serious challenge (unless there are enough District 5 voters on Facebook and MySpace where we're all cooler 'cause we're on line).

This is an interesting race folks and don't be surprised if there are a few surprises before the final votes are tallied in October. Don't forget to vote!

Shrewd Move

Wednesday night's "Heart of the Heights" mayoral forum ended in a two-fer for The Almighty Alcalde - he dodged questions from a hundred constituents and managed to get a little payback from former loyalist Councilor Sally Mayer.

The story in a nutshell is that The Mayer invited the mayor and his challengers R.J. Berry and Richard Romero to her semi or sometimes monthly constituents meeting. The meeting is routinely promoted by the city using email and postcards paid for by, well... all of us. Of course the two challengers agreed to attend, but the candidate, who wasn't a candidate, but is a candidate now didn't respond until late Wednesday evening.

Predictably, The Almighty didn't descend from his perch on the 11th floor to communicate directly with the councilor, but sent a message through PR flack Joanie Griffin. According to our Eyes, the mayor (through Griffin) asserted that the use of taxpayer funds to promote a political event was an ethics violation and that one would be forthcoming. As of this morning, no complaint had been filed.

As many readers may know, we've been critical of Councilor Mayer on a number of occasions for a number of reasons. If Wednesday's event is a violation, then any appearance by any elected official promoted using city resources is an ethics violation because a politician cannot be separated from politics.

Actually, the whole non-affair is pretty funny. Think of it. Martin Chavez, the man whose face graces every city billboard, every city television commercial, every ribbon cutting, and park opening, is worried about a few hundred bucks used to promote an event where some of his constituents would have a chance to question him and his competitors.

Marty certainly didn't worry about spending HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars on the city's Tri-Centennial Celebration - which he conveniently turned into campaign events by starting the celebrations a year early. As every city logo proudly declares, Albuquerque was founded in 1706. A majority of Marty's Tri-Centennial Campaign, uh... Celebration events took place in 2005 - coincidentally, an election year.

The truth is, attending a forum where an incumbent is on stage with their opponents carries with it a significant risk - a risk that most campaigns will want to minimize. That's because the only way for an incumbent to go is down.

At the same time, The Almighty Alcalde was able to damage Councilor Mayer by generating the specter of an ethics violation. That move benefits his choice for District 7 - challenger Michael Cook.

Two years ago, Marty got heavily involved in the council elections. All of his Martycrat candidates - Katherine Martinez, Paulette de Pascal, and yes... Joan Griffin - were soundly defeated. This year the mayoral hand has been a bit more subtle, but that doesn't mean that he isn't trying to influence a couple council elections.

Our Eyes tell us that this time around the mayor is working through attorney and political strategist Doug Antoon. Mr. Antoon is running two candidates - District 5's Dan Lewis and District 7's Michael Cook, and is associated with Marty's Fundraiser-in-Chief and ABQPAC Bagwoman Terri Baird.

Mr. Antoon first cut his teeth in Republican circles back in 2007 when he ran the successful recall defense of Councilor Don Harris. He also served on the Executive Committee of the Bernalillo County Republican Party in 2008. Oddly enough, according to OpenSecrets.com Antoon contributed $200 to the Martin Heinrich campaign while ostensibly promoting Republican candidates in the 2008 election. Our memory may be a little fuzzy here... but we're pretty sure that Heinrich wasn't a Republican and we're damn sure he wasn't the Republican nominee last year.

Antoon's duplicity concerns us. Even though $200 is a piddlin' amount - particularly in a Congressional race - his responsibility while serving on the Bernalillo County Republican Party Executive Board was to support Republican candidates.

The District 5 race and the District 7 race feature either a filed ethics complaint or a threatened ethics complaint. We don't believe that it's a coincidence that Mr. Antoon is involved in both of those races.

Ironically, Antoon had to deal with an ethics complaint against his client two years ago when he represented Councilor Harris. Apparently, he's learned that an ethics complaint generates a fair amount of earned media. Earned media is the name of the game when you're tied to a fixed amount of taxpayer provided money.

All in all, Marty's refusal to attend Mayer's Wednesday forum was a shrewd move. It protected him from uncomfortable questions and from himself, while advancing the campaign of one of his confederates. It looks like The Almighty Alcalde was campaigning Wednesday after all...

----- Another Thought -----
Just like any citizen, Mr. Antoon has the right to support what ever candidate he chooses, in what ever way he chooses. Our criticism is about his choice to support a Democrat in an important race over a well qualified Republican at a time when he held a partisan position in the Republican party.

We would have the same criticism if a member of the Democratic party chose to support a Republican candidate. At issue is the job they volunteered to do and the appearance of giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

Working for either county party carries with it the obligation to support the slate of candidates selected by the party. If nothing else, it looks bad to have an executive committee member supporting a candidate from the other side.

Just this week, Democrats removed Robert Aragon from his position as a ward chairman after he endorsed Republican Jon Barela in next year's 1st Congressional District race. If you hold a partisan position of leadership, expect the troops to be a little put out when you support a high profile member of the other team.

The same goes for elected officials. Everything is partisan at one point or another and a partisan challenger may make an issue out donations that cross the isle. However, elected officials represent constituents from both parties while party executive committee members are elected to serve the members of their own party exclusively.

The whole thing is more than a little annoying. Republicans are not going to have substantive gains in New Mexico until they can figure out what team they're on. We've heard more than one Republican say that they'd support Cadigan over Lewis, or Chavez over Berry. Frankly, we would prefer Lewis and Berry to win. But if Chavez wins, we don't want Lewis to be another councilor in Marty's pocket.

The Almighty Alcalde owes his 12 year occupation of city hall to Republicans. He has masterfully manipulated the Rs on the council and in the public. At this point, all indications are that the man behind the D5 and D7 curtain is no Doug Antoon but Marty Chavez by way of Doug Antoon.

Term Limits

We were wondering when term limits would become an issue in the race for mayor. We've long argued that term limits for the executive branch are not only advisable but necessary. Last year, the Almighty Alcalde challenged himself in court in order to overturn his term limit (read our take here). Now we're being subjected to a potential 4th term and it looks like Chavez has a FDR like retirement in mind.

If you ask us, this is the issue in the mayor's race. Do we really want a 4th helping of the Almighty Alcalde or any mayor for that matter? Chavez is gathering power to himself on a scale reminiscent of that other Chavez named Hugo.

----- Correction -----
When we wrote this post we forgot to go back and add a link to our original post on The Almighty Alcalde's term limits victory. Thanks to an astute Eye reader it has been corrected above or you can just click here.

----- Another Thought -----
In the above KOB story, Stewart Dyson indicates that Marty took his term limit challenge to the New Mexico Supremes. There's no indication that The Alcalde's challenge ever went beyond District Court. In fact, the council term limits challenge never went beyond the Appellate level.

Term limits for city councilors were struck down following a 1995 challenge by former councilors Vince Griego, Alan Armijo, Steve Gallegos and Marion Cottrell. That case was decided by the New Mexico Court of Appeals. The state Supreme Court declined to review the ruling.

- Albuquerque Journal (Subscription)

It looks to us as if a new mayor (we know the current mayor can't seem to get another job) would be able to appeal Judge Vanzi's ruling in order to reinstate term limits for the city's executive branch. It's a torch that one of the challengers can and should pick up.

AFSCME Endorsement Furor Eerily Familiar

The New Mexico Independent has been doing some pretty good reporting on the controversy brewing in halls of AFSCME Local 624. For the first time the union that represents the city's blue collar workers has endorsed The Almighty Alcalde.

Historically the union has shunned mayor-for-life Chavez in favor of shall we say... more liberal candidates like former councilor and mayoral candidate Eric Griego. But something changed this year when the Local 624's parent union AFSCME Council 18 endorsed non-candidate Chavez - who didn't bother attending their mayoral forum - back in May.

It appears the blue collar workers want their voices to be heard on the question of who they think should be mayor.

So the blue-collar workers are going to poll the workers and then release the results to see who they truly think should be running the city.

Every time I hear about the AFSCME endorsement of Chavez, I remember back to the mayoral candidates forum where Chavez sent a representative instead [of] appearing himself.

-NMFBIHOP

It all came to a head last Thursday when two union leaders apparently came to blows (or blow) and APD was called.

According to Sanchez, the union needed 10 percent of its members to vote last Thursday in order to make the vote a legitimate representation of the membership. Ultimately, 91 members voted out of a total of 850 members.

Things got heated, Sanchez alleged, when the local’s president, Steve Griego, tried to impede the effort by calling members and telling them the voting would be over by 3 p.m.

- New Mexico Independent

After the vote was completed and the police reports filed, 100 or so members of Local 624 had cast their votes. Wednesday night those votes were to be counted, but union President Steven Griego shut it down.

“It’s gotten out of hand,” Griego said, referring to his fellow union members. Some of those members shouted angrily at Griego as he walked out of a large conference room without acknowledging their taunts.

- New Mexico Independent

The vote wouldn’t have amounted to an official endorsement, or lack thereof, by Local 624, but it would have allowed members to express themselves on the mayor’s race.

“I said let’s get the members, let them have a voice,” said local 624 treasurer Lawrence Mora.

“It’s our local. They’re shanghai-ing this thing,” Jake Romero, another member, said referring to Council 18.

- New Mexico Independent

The endorsement furor reminded us of the "fix is in" attitude over at the APOA. Our Eyes tell us that APOA President Joey Sagala has decreed that His Almightiness "will receive" the union's endorsement.

Like AFSCME, endorsements at the APOA are generally determined by a political action committee. The sizesof these committees vary, but the general membership has no input on the final say so.

The APOA political action committee has traditionally held interviews with candidates to determine which candidate will receive their endorsement. And this year was no different... except that the interviews were held back in January when there was but one announced candidate - Michael Cadigan.

According to our Eyes the only candidate interviewed that is still in (or not yet in) the race is one Martin Chavez. Apparently, union President Sagala told committee members that he would send out candidate questionnaires, but to date no one has seen the questions or the answers.

More importantly, the endorsement vote was held in the union offices with but a few hours notification. Even committee members don't know who was present, how many voted and for whom even though the vote was supposedly "unanimous." But it seems that having a fair and accurate vote is less important to current President Sagala and Past-President Olivas than making sure that the endorsement goes to Marty.

[Sidebar]
We've been hearing allegations for years that the path for a police officer without rank to a comfortable position with the city is through the APOA presidency. Consider Lawrence Torres who used to negotiate contracts for the union, now negotiates on behalf of the city or Ron Olivas receiving a "cush" job over at SID.

It's too bad that term limits have been ruled unconstitutional. The longer an executive sits in office the more power they garner to themselves and the more self-seeking and unscrupulous people try to curry favor.
[End Sidebar]

Looks like a couple of union votes have been shanghaied so far and our Eyes tell a tale of similar happenings over at the Albuquerque Fire Department where they've endorsed un-candidate Chavez, yet many of the rank and file are reportedly supporting Berry.

So... when you see the smiling faces of the APOA's Joey Sagala, Albuquerque Area Fire Fighters' Diego Arencon, or AFSCME's Steven Griego, understand that even in the best of times their union endorsements don't represent the opinions of all of their members. In this case, in this election year, it seems as if the fix is in and the endorsements they present to the public are nothing more than the result of a rigged process designed to favor a mayor that would be king.

----- Correction -----
We originally spelled APOA President Joey Sagala's last name "Segalla." The error has been corrected above.

Common Sense Breaks Out at MRCOG

While Marty pines away for his personal choo-choo, it looks like common sense has broken out over at the Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG). The Albuquerque Journal (subscription) is reporting that the group's Metropolitan Transportation Board has directed MRCOG to apply for a federal TIGER grant - a part of the stimulus bill passed by Obama's Congress - to pay for the $350 MILLION interchange.

It is also about fixing a "failing intersection" that connects the east and west sides of the metro area and sits in the middle of a major job center.

About 170,000 vehicles a day pass through the I-25/Paseo del Norte interchange, and "there are 6,000 jobs that are accessed daily from this intersection," according to MRCOG.

- Lawrence Rael, Executive Director MRCOG (ABQ Journal - Subscription)

Amazingly, the state DOT supports the move. So do we. After all, 170,000 vehicles a day, 200,000 plus people per day, and 6,000 jobs make the interchange an integral part of the city's infrastructure.

When you compare the interchange renovation ($350 MILLION) to Marty's trolley ($240 to $300 MILLION) to the Rail Runner ($450 MILLION) and the number of people and jobs this interchange serves daily, the Paseo/I-25 project just makes sense. That's why it will never, ever happen.

The Obama administration and his bobble-heads in Congress are dead set against anything that emits carbon. 170,000 vehicles burn a lot of gas and emit a lot of carbon. Plus, it's the type of "stimulus" that creates an immediately useful, tangible, object that has a relatively small long-term fiscal impact on local budgets. Again, it makes too much sense.

Look, we believe it's fundamentally wrong to use borrowed money to "stimulate" the economy which is made up of people who ultimately have to repay that money. But if Obama and Company are going are dead set on wasting borrowed money, at least let it go to something that is eminently useful and won't create huge future demands on local taxpayers.

For now, we'll hold on to the good feeling that there seems to be some common sense breaking out somewhere in government and forget about the fact that it follows incredible stupidity.

Coming Home...

After a vocationally enforced hiatus (yes, we have a real job), we're back in the saddle or rather on the keyboard. There's a lot going on both nationally and locally. On the national scene Congress is trying to tax our energy and destroy our health care system. Locally, The Almighty's sanctuary city chickens have come home to roost.

Almost a year ago San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome was forced to rescind their sanctuary city policy after illegal alien Edwardo Ramos killed three innocent people (read about it here). Last Saturday, three illegal aliens stormed a Denny's and took something far more valuable than money... an innocent life.

You'd think that The Almighty Alcalde in the middle of an election year would immediately reverse course and correct his earlier mistake. If you did, you'd be wrong. Instead of admitting that the mayor had hamstrung his police officers through a misguided SOP, he's trying to shift the blame to the federal government.

Deborah James, spokeswoman for Mayor Martin Chavez, said blame in the Denny’s case lies with federal immigration authorities, who are supposed to check the immigration status of every person arrested and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center, which is run by Bernalillo County. In the case of Ortiz, that apparently didn’t happen, she said.

“The mayor has asked them to have someone there on a more full-time basis,” James said. “We don’t have any authority over the jail. We make the arrest, but if immigration authorities aren’t following through, or if the courts let them go, we have no jurisdiction.”

- New Mexico Independent

The fact of the matter is that every person who has sworn an oath to protect the public and who wears a badge should be concerned about enforcing all of our laws. Jail officials are not on the front line... APD officers are.

Our Eyes behind the badge have always told us that they stop illegals on a daily basis. Marty and the 5th Floor have simply made it impossible for officers to use their discretion when they have a reasonable suspicion that the individual that they have come in contact with is in this country illegally.

Officers shall not inquire about or seek proof of a person's immigration status, unless the person is in custody or is a suspect in a criminal investigation for a nonimmigration criminal violation and the immigration status of the person or suspect is pertinent to the criminal investigation.

-ABQ Journal (Subscription)

The concept that a suspected illegal must be the subject of a nonimmigration investigation or violation, and have their status be pertinent to the criminal investigation is precisely what prohibited officers - who came into contact with two of the suspects (Meglar and Ortiz) when they were arrested for DWI - from contacting immigration authorities.

[Sidebar]
Have you noticed how hard it is to find The Almighty Alcalde these days? Whenever there's a crisis Marty simply disappears. He'll send his minions out to spin the facts and try to shift the blame, but he rarely makes his mayoral self available for questions. It doesn't matter whether it's thirteen bodies on the west side or a brutal murder at Denny's... he's nowhere to be found.
[End Sidebar]

We're not saying that APD's SOP is directly responsible for the murder of Stephanie Anderson. We're saying that the SOP removed an opportunity for APD officers to prevent an act of violence by making a simple phone call.

Yesterday, R. J. Berry held a news conference down at Civic Plaza to address his plans for APD's SOP with regard to illegal immigrants. As expected, Marty's minions were quick to play the fear-mongering race card.

A city of Albuquerque official said Wednesday that the allegations by the Republican Party of New Mexico are "appalling" and compared proposed Republican policy changes to "racial profiling."

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

The truth is illegal immigration and racial profiling have nothing to do with one another. It makes little difference where an illegal comes from. What matters is that they came into this country illegally. An illegal immigrant's point of origin has nothing to do with it.

Since the Journal buried Berry's statement, we're gonna publish his full press release here.

Berry Will End “Sanctuary City” Policy in Albuquerque

Candidate for Mayor says police must be allowed to enforce all
the laws, will work to repeal driver’s license law

Albuquerque, NM – June 24, 2009 – Richard Berry vowed today that if he is elected Mayor, he will end the “Sanctuary City” policy put in place at the Albuquerque Police Department by Mayor Martin Chavez, and he will keep up the fight to end the state’s policy of giving New Mexico driver’s licenses to people who are in the United States illegally.

Berry says Chavez’s directive at APD prevents police officers from enforcing all the laws, and when used in combination with the state’s policy on drivers’ licenses, it severely hampers APD’s ability to keep our city safe.

“Our police officers are doing an incredible job fighting crime in this city considering they are being told by the Mayor to do it with one arm handcuffed behind their backs,” said Berry. “Politics has gotten in the way of the police department and it’s gotten in the way of common sense, and this must end.”

The Albuquerque Journal reported today that the men suspected of robbing a Westside Denny’s and murdering a female cook are not only in the United States illegally, but were once in the hands of local law enforcement, and then released.

"I want to be very clear that the people responsible for this latest tragedy are the three thugs who committed this horrible crime. Period. But as policy-makers, we must look at what common-sense steps we can take to help law enforcement get criminals like this off our streets," said Berry.

Berry empathized with law enforcement, saying he couldn’t imagine how frustrating it must be for an officer on the street to pick up someone on a violation, not have the authority and support to run them through the system, watch them go free because of politics and misguided policies, and then turn around one day to see that same criminal commit a heinous crime like this.

“It’s the combination of laws and policies that are failing our officers, and the people of Albuquerque,” said Berry. “As Mayor, I will do two things. I will end this policy at APD and I will work with the legislature and the new administration in Santa Fe to change the current state law on driver’s licenses.”

Berry, a two-term legislator, who voted this year in support of a statewide anti-profiling law, has opposed the state’s driver’s license policy since its inception.

“As Mayor, I will put in place an APD policy that will dovetail with the one that is currently in use by the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department, which will leave the discretion for law enforcement up to the officer on the street instead of the politicians at City Hall.”

Policy for the Bernalillo Sheriff Department reads, “Deputies shall not stop and question, detain, arrest or place an “immigration hold” on any persons not suspected of crimes, solely on the grounds that they may be deportable immigrants. When arrest is necessary for the violation of State Law or County Ordinance, deputies shall notify their Field Supervisor immediately if it is suspected that the person may be an undocumented immigrant. At that time, the Supervisor will begin the notification process.”

“I’m going to change this policy and then I’m going to stand behind my officers,” said Berry.

-BerryForMayor.com

It's amazing what one word can do. Deputies are prohibited from scooping up suspected illegals for being illegals, but they are not prohibited from contacting appropriate authorities when a suspect is in custody for any offense. More specifically, deputies are directed to notify their Field Supervisor "immediately if it is suspected that the person may be an undocumented [illegal] immigrant."

Policy decisions have consequences and bad decisions have a way of coming home. In this case, a few simple words may have prevented officers from taking two brutal murders off the street and there's only one person ultimately responsible.