Looking for The Eye

Our Eyes on the Inside tell us that the almost constant stream of information coming from the city about Tortillagate - which was dutifully posted on this site yesterday - has steamed some high ranking APD officials (Deputy Chief Castro you know who you are). So much so that they've assigned Captain Dave Depies the task of finding out who we are. (We addressed the issue of Anonymity here.)

We want to remind those on the 5th floor that investigating individuals for political and not criminal reasons is illegal, not to mention a serious misuse of department resources. Freedom of speech, particularly political speech, is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Our founding fathers believed that we should have the absolute right to criticize those that govern. Like it or not, Mayor Marty, APD, the City Council, and every other department fall into that category.

It's this type of stuff that makes us hoppin' mad! You may work for a politician, you may answer to a politician, but you are not his personal geschtapo charged with investigating the Almighty Marty's or your own detractors. That's a breach of public trust, and a waste of your time and our money. We would recommend that instead of trying to hide your dirty laundry... clean it up and start investigating crime.

On that note, if you are one of our readers down at City Hall, be aware that using a city owned computer through a city owned and operated Internet gateway, your activity can be easily traced by the city's IT department. We would recommend that you view the Eye at home on your own computer and through your own Internet gateway, particularly when posting comments that Big Brother (or Little Brother) doesn't want to see.

Tortillagate Heating Up or Cooling Off?

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.

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?