Mayor Marty moved quickly to try and move yesterday's Michael Padilla Tortillagate story from the front page to as deep into the Metro Section as possible. You see Marty brought in the big guns to quell the natives, assigning both Bruce Pearlman and Pete Dinelli to fix the problems over at the 911 call center. (ABQ Journal - Subscription Required).
The Chavez administration has a history of working the media in order to shift public perception and kill a story. They worked this way with the APD Evidence Room scandal and the ABQ PAC fiasco. It typically works because the public perception is that the administration is moving to fix the problem and the public has a notoriously short attention span.
The bad news for the 5th floor is that according to our Eyes, two of the women who filed EEO complaints have in the police vernacular, lawyered up. The Eyes have it that prominent Albuquerque attorney Mary Hahn has been retained by the pair. The news is particularly bad for the administration because it may mean that Tortillagate could end up on the front page... again.
Showing posts with label Sexual Harassment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sexual Harassment. Show all posts
Apr 17, 2007
Apr 16, 2007
More 911 Fallout
The City of Albuquerque's version of the Imus story just continues to snowball. It seems that Tortillagate has claimed another victim, this time Deputy Chief Michael Castro. Our Eyes are telling us that DC Castro has been removed from his responsibilities with regard to overseeing the operation of APDs 911 call center and that his is none too happy about the move.
Since being elevated to his current rank, DC Castro has been in charge of overseeing the police academy, the IT department, and the 911 call center. As of 8am today, he was reassigned to overseeing just the IT department and the academy. We haven't heard a specific reason for the move, but we can't help believing that it is related to the Michael Padilla situation.
Speaking of Mr. Padilla, our Eyes started buzzing when the Journal reported that he "he plans to stay in Albuquerque and build a small consulting business." (ABQ Journal - Subscription Required) The word out of our Eyes is that Mayor Marty has already agreed to hire the fledgling consulting firm to run the 911 unit as soon as the furor over Tortillagate subsides.
From what we've heard, Mr. Padilla did a very good job over at 311 and the Mayor has decided to implement Padilla's recommendations over at 911. However, is it really wise to rehire - even as a consultant - the same person who was accused of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment?
Since being elevated to his current rank, DC Castro has been in charge of overseeing the police academy, the IT department, and the 911 call center. As of 8am today, he was reassigned to overseeing just the IT department and the academy. We haven't heard a specific reason for the move, but we can't help believing that it is related to the Michael Padilla situation.
Speaking of Mr. Padilla, our Eyes started buzzing when the Journal reported that he "he plans to stay in Albuquerque and build a small consulting business." (ABQ Journal - Subscription Required) The word out of our Eyes is that Mayor Marty has already agreed to hire the fledgling consulting firm to run the 911 unit as soon as the furor over Tortillagate subsides.
From what we've heard, Mr. Padilla did a very good job over at 311 and the Mayor has decided to implement Padilla's recommendations over at 911. However, is it really wise to rehire - even as a consultant - the same person who was accused of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment?
Apr 13, 2007
Protecting the Golden Boy?
Michael Padilla Update
Our Eyes on the Inside just got some new information on the Michael Padilla sexual harassment case. (Read Marty's Minions: Michael Padilla) According to our Eyes, 911 Director Pauline Sanchez, one of the women who filed a complaint with the city's Employment Equity Office, has been transferred out of the unit by Chief Schultz. Our Eyes also tell us that she did not request a transfer, which could easily be taken to mean that it is a direct result of her EEO complaint.
We don't know whether it is or not, but you can bet the city will have cooked up some excuse to move her. Could it be retribution or is it a case of protecting Marty's $4,000 golden boy? Either way, it's a dangerous move by the city that could end up costing us all some money.
Our Eyes on the Inside just got some new information on the Michael Padilla sexual harassment case. (Read Marty's Minions: Michael Padilla) According to our Eyes, 911 Director Pauline Sanchez, one of the women who filed a complaint with the city's Employment Equity Office, has been transferred out of the unit by Chief Schultz. Our Eyes also tell us that she did not request a transfer, which could easily be taken to mean that it is a direct result of her EEO complaint.
We don't know whether it is or not, but you can bet the city will have cooked up some excuse to move her. Could it be retribution or is it a case of protecting Marty's $4,000 golden boy? Either way, it's a dangerous move by the city that could end up costing us all some money.
Apr 12, 2007
Marty's Minions: Michael Padilla
For the past few weeks we had been hearing rumblings from city hall about 311's golden boy Michael Padilla. Our Eyes told us that Padilla had been suspended for an undisclosed reason. Today's Albuquerque Journal shed some light on that development. Turns out that Padilla had been accused of sexual harassment and of making sexist remarks. (ABQ Journal - Subscription Required).
Not too terribly long ago, Padilla was the rising star at city hall. He had successfully started up the city's very popular 311 call center and was reveling in the praise being heaped on him by the public and the media. (ABQ Journal - Subscription Required)
The 311 call center was so popular and successful that Padilla was tapped in January to revamp the city's 911 call center that had drawn criticism for poor performance. (ABQ Journal - Subscription Required)
Today's article got us wondering... where did Padilla come from? And why was such a young man chosen to develop the 311 call center in the first place? That's when one of our Eyes popped up and noted that according to campaign financing reports, 28 year old Michael Padilla contributed $4,000 bucks to none other than Mayor Martin Chavez in his first 2005 campaign report.
The timing looked a bit suspicious to us, so we ran down a few things and it turns out that the 311 call center opened July 1, 2005. Marty's campaign report was due July 15, 2005. Since the call center opened July 1st, work had to have begun on the center at least 30 to 60 days prior to opening. Padilla's contribution was made somewhere between April 15th and July 15th of that year. Further, Padilla claims that he worked for Altivus CRM Solutions, LLC at the time of the contribution. Yet somewhere in that 90 day period he got a job with the city and successfully started the 311 call center.
Forgive us if we're a bit skeptical... A 28 year old coughs up $4,000 dollars and gives it to the Mayor of Albuquerque and just happens to get a job running a new city department. That donation puts Padilla in the top 4% of contributions to the Almighty Marty's campaign going back to the 3rd quarter of 2004. Of 77 total contributions of $4000 or greater, he's in a group with only 21 other individual donors. That's a pretty select group with names like Don Chalmers, and Will Ferguson; and companies like Premiere Distributing, Brad Francis Ford Mercury, Jason Daskalos Properties, and Hunt Uptown LLC.
When we were 28 we didn't have $4,000 sitting around and even if we did we weren't going to drop four grand on something like a mayoral candidacy unless we were sure to get something out of it. Can you say quid pro quo?
"Ten supervisors, including 911 director Pauline Sanchez filed a complaint with the city's Employee Equity Office claiming Padilla had created a hostile work environment.Don Imus has nothing on this guy... but where are Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton when you need them?
A three-week investigation conducted by the office determined Padilla told some of the center's employees that "it may be 2006 out here, but in my house, it's 1969 and the women make tortillas, take care of the kids and clean the house."'
Not too terribly long ago, Padilla was the rising star at city hall. He had successfully started up the city's very popular 311 call center and was reveling in the praise being heaped on him by the public and the media. (ABQ Journal - Subscription Required)
The 311 call center was so popular and successful that Padilla was tapped in January to revamp the city's 911 call center that had drawn criticism for poor performance. (ABQ Journal - Subscription Required)
(Sidebar)Padilla claims that it's his work to reform the 911 center that has created these claims not his actions on the job, telling the Journal "[t]here is a team of folks here who have worked here a long time who are circling the wagons."
Running a customer service call center is far different than running an emergency response center. For one thing, calls are considerably longer as operators need to stay on the line to help direct responders to the location. For another, someone can quite literally die if they screw up. Other than using a phone their mission is totally different and telling callers to "have a nice day" when some crazed maniac is trying to kill them, probably won't help.
(End Sidebar)
Today's article got us wondering... where did Padilla come from? And why was such a young man chosen to develop the 311 call center in the first place? That's when one of our Eyes popped up and noted that according to campaign financing reports, 28 year old Michael Padilla contributed $4,000 bucks to none other than Mayor Martin Chavez in his first 2005 campaign report.
The timing looked a bit suspicious to us, so we ran down a few things and it turns out that the 311 call center opened July 1, 2005. Marty's campaign report was due July 15, 2005. Since the call center opened July 1st, work had to have begun on the center at least 30 to 60 days prior to opening. Padilla's contribution was made somewhere between April 15th and July 15th of that year. Further, Padilla claims that he worked for Altivus CRM Solutions, LLC at the time of the contribution. Yet somewhere in that 90 day period he got a job with the city and successfully started the 311 call center.
Forgive us if we're a bit skeptical... A 28 year old coughs up $4,000 dollars and gives it to the Mayor of Albuquerque and just happens to get a job running a new city department. That donation puts Padilla in the top 4% of contributions to the Almighty Marty's campaign going back to the 3rd quarter of 2004. Of 77 total contributions of $4000 or greater, he's in a group with only 21 other individual donors. That's a pretty select group with names like Don Chalmers, and Will Ferguson; and companies like Premiere Distributing, Brad Francis Ford Mercury, Jason Daskalos Properties, and Hunt Uptown LLC.
When we were 28 we didn't have $4,000 sitting around and even if we did we weren't going to drop four grand on something like a mayoral candidacy unless we were sure to get something out of it. Can you say quid pro quo?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)