By an overwhelming margin, respondents to our extended Eye Poll felt that Elton John Richard II should be either pardoned or have his sentence commuted to time served. Only 30% of our readers felt that Big Bill should not intervene, while 12% felt that a commutation is in order 56% (almost 2 to 1) felt that the Richard should be pardoned outright (read it here).
We tend to agree with the outcome of our poll. We believe that Mr. Richard is serving a sentence for making every attempt to detain a criminal for lawful prosecution. Unfortunately, Romero chose to attack a determined marine just one too many times. As we've said before, this is the type of case that the executive pardon was made for.
There's been a lot of heated debate going on around here concerning the new APD contract, the APOA and the handling of the contract's ratification. It's good to see such strong feelings from both sides. So, just guess what the Eye Poll is about... Yep, whether or not the APOA should re-vote on the contract after all of this fine debate and after everyone has had a chance to actually review the contract themselves. Don't for get to vote!
Apr 7, 2008
Apr 6, 2008
APD Contract Rally
Off Duty Officers to Rally in Front of City Hall
The recent brouhaha has APD in an uproar. Monday night at 5:30, off duty officers will be exercising their rights to free speech and assembly by rallying in front of city hall. Our Eyes tell us that the idea is to ask the City Council to reject Marty's proposal that divides the department and is detrimental to any officer that stays with the department. As we understand it, since the contract is a multi-year deal it requires council approval.
Our Eyes tell us that sergeant Paul Heh is organizing the event as part of his quest to have the contract reviewed by the entire membership. If you're an officer that would like to be part of the event show up at 5:30pm at city hall and let the council know how you feel.
The recent brouhaha has APD in an uproar. Monday night at 5:30, off duty officers will be exercising their rights to free speech and assembly by rallying in front of city hall. Our Eyes tell us that the idea is to ask the City Council to reject Marty's proposal that divides the department and is detrimental to any officer that stays with the department. As we understand it, since the contract is a multi-year deal it requires council approval.
Our Eyes tell us that sergeant Paul Heh is organizing the event as part of his quest to have the contract reviewed by the entire membership. If you're an officer that would like to be part of the event show up at 5:30pm at city hall and let the council know how you feel.
Apr 4, 2008
Your Union Dues at Work... and Play?
Officers for the APOA have a few perks - one of them is a "company" credit card. The card is conferred upon the elected officer to pay for union related expenses. We assume that those cards are not issued to be used for personal gain or for some sort of compensation.
Our Eyes sent us the Bank of America credit card statements for three of the APOA's officers from mid January through early may of 2007. It's interesting reading to say the least. In fact, from the expenditures on the statements it looks as if there were at least a few shall we say... questionable purchases.
Let's take a look at APOA President Ron Olivas. In the four month period covered by the statements he spent $9,712.92 averaging $2,428.23 a month, that's over $29,000 a year.
There are a couple of things that jump out at you when reviewing the statements. The first is that President Olivas loves his coffee. With 27 trips to various coffee houses it's apparent that coffee is an important part of his day. His favorite coffee house appears to be the Tazza Coffee Bar.
In addition to coffee, Olivas seems to be spending an awful lot of union money on food and beverages with over $3,000 spent at places like Capos, The Flying Star, Bravo, DG's Deli, Conrad's, The Standard Diner, the Carom Club, and even McDonald's.
In addition to the curious use of union credit cards for food, beverage, and coffee, President Olivas bought 7 airline tickets to Las Vegas for $246.80 each and apparently 5 rooms at the Flamingo Hilton for $147.15. Curiously, there were seven airline tickets and only 5 rooms... We'll let you draw your own conclusions here.
After reviewing the credit card statements it looks an awful lot like Mr. Olivas is using his union credit card to support his everyday life. Things like trips to Wal-Mart, food, and coffee are almost daily occurences. We understand that part of the job description of union officers is to schmooze elected officials. However, we have a hard time believing that schmoozing includes multiple trips to the Tazza Coffee Bar or $497.23 outings to Conrad's.
APOA members have a right not only to know what their elected officers are spending their dues on, but to make sure that these expenditures are in fact union related. From the looks of the four months of credit card statements that we've gotten a look at, it appears that Mr. Olivas, Christopher George, and Benjamin Baker have been spending union money on non-union goods and services.
We believe that in light of these somewhat questionable expenditures, it might be wise for the APOA membership to dig deeper into the use of union funds by APOA office holders. If they can't be trusted to steward union dues, why should they be trusted to negotiate member contracts? After all, they're your union dues and the membership should determine whether they are used to work or for the board members to play.
-----Update-----
Yesterday we didn't post the documents that we reviewed for this post. There's something about posting credit card records that makes us uncomfortable - even when those records are not our own. After further review, we've come to the conclusion that there's no information in the statements that would allow some unscrupulous soul to use the information for their own gain. So... we'll let you decide whether or not the elected representatives of the APOA have already used these credit cards to fill more than just their coffee cups (review the documents here).
Remember, an elected union board can be just as corrupt as any elected government official. In fact, some union officials have even been connected to organized crime. It really doesn't matter whether or not they're wearing the union label. Anyone that has access to your money needs to be monitored and monitored closely lest they take the opportunity to make their cup runneth over.
Our Eyes sent us the Bank of America credit card statements for three of the APOA's officers from mid January through early may of 2007. It's interesting reading to say the least. In fact, from the expenditures on the statements it looks as if there were at least a few shall we say... questionable purchases.
Let's take a look at APOA President Ron Olivas. In the four month period covered by the statements he spent $9,712.92 averaging $2,428.23 a month, that's over $29,000 a year.
There are a couple of things that jump out at you when reviewing the statements. The first is that President Olivas loves his coffee. With 27 trips to various coffee houses it's apparent that coffee is an important part of his day. His favorite coffee house appears to be the Tazza Coffee Bar.
In addition to coffee, Olivas seems to be spending an awful lot of union money on food and beverages with over $3,000 spent at places like Capos, The Flying Star, Bravo, DG's Deli, Conrad's, The Standard Diner, the Carom Club, and even McDonald's.
In addition to the curious use of union credit cards for food, beverage, and coffee, President Olivas bought 7 airline tickets to Las Vegas for $246.80 each and apparently 5 rooms at the Flamingo Hilton for $147.15. Curiously, there were seven airline tickets and only 5 rooms... We'll let you draw your own conclusions here.
After reviewing the credit card statements it looks an awful lot like Mr. Olivas is using his union credit card to support his everyday life. Things like trips to Wal-Mart, food, and coffee are almost daily occurences. We understand that part of the job description of union officers is to schmooze elected officials. However, we have a hard time believing that schmoozing includes multiple trips to the Tazza Coffee Bar or $497.23 outings to Conrad's.
APOA members have a right not only to know what their elected officers are spending their dues on, but to make sure that these expenditures are in fact union related. From the looks of the four months of credit card statements that we've gotten a look at, it appears that Mr. Olivas, Christopher George, and Benjamin Baker have been spending union money on non-union goods and services.
We believe that in light of these somewhat questionable expenditures, it might be wise for the APOA membership to dig deeper into the use of union funds by APOA office holders. If they can't be trusted to steward union dues, why should they be trusted to negotiate member contracts? After all, they're your union dues and the membership should determine whether they are used to work or for the board members to play.
-----Update-----
Yesterday we didn't post the documents that we reviewed for this post. There's something about posting credit card records that makes us uncomfortable - even when those records are not our own. After further review, we've come to the conclusion that there's no information in the statements that would allow some unscrupulous soul to use the information for their own gain. So... we'll let you decide whether or not the elected representatives of the APOA have already used these credit cards to fill more than just their coffee cups (review the documents here).
Remember, an elected union board can be just as corrupt as any elected government official. In fact, some union officials have even been connected to organized crime. It really doesn't matter whether or not they're wearing the union label. Anyone that has access to your money needs to be monitored and monitored closely lest they take the opportunity to make their cup runneth over.
Apr 3, 2008
CAD Chaos
In light 5-8s and a controversial new contract that has split junior officers from their more experienced counterparts, you'd think that the brain trust on the 5th floor would have waited a little while before installing a new Computer Aided Dispatch system, particularly one that seems to have an incredible number of unforeseen problems.
A few weeks back APD installed the Tiberon CAD system. We don't know what the reason for replacing the old system was and frankly we don't care (unless of course they happen to be large donors to certain politicians). However, since APD plays a pivotal role in our safety we expect the system to work.
Our Eyes behind the badge tell us that there have been a huge number of problems with the system ranging from training to support to technical problems that make the system in its current state dangerous.
Last week Chief Schultz told Bob Clark that the reason that the system was having some problems is that officers didn't pay enough attention during training. Whenever an organization makes a technological transition there are always training issues. A lot of them come from the simple fact that most of us hate change - particularly when it involves a piece of technology. Of course the training officers would need to have a password for the new system before attempting to train other officers - which our Eyes tell us, did not happen in many cases.
The problem is that in this case there are a number of functional problems with the new system that have nothing to do with training. For example, our Eyes tell us that their old system would display in their vehicle all of the pertinent information on a particular license plate when that information was radioed to dispatch during a traffic stop - things like the type of vehicle and whether or not the vehicle had been stolen or not.
In short, an officer knew instantly the kind of situation they were getting into before they approached the vehicle. With the new system, the officer is required to run a search on the tag in the field after they have made the stop. Meanwhile, the subject has plenty of time to, well... arm themselves should they decide that they don't want anything to do with the law.
Other functional problems include license plates, warrants and court dates failing to come up. In addition, the system will log off officers for no apparent reason. Our Eyes tell us that when contacted about the problem Radio will make every attempt to log them back in but when their attempts fail they tell officers that the problem is a lack of bandwidth.
Basically, officers are placed in a situation where they are relying completely on their radios to get vital information. Now that's OK if it's an emergency or if it's law enforcement 1973, but today it simply puts officer's lives at risk.
The other complaint that our Eyes behind the badge have is a lack of technical support on weekends. Law enforcement is a 24 hour 7 day a week business - we never close. Installing a new Computer Aided Dispatch system with technical support that's closed on weekends and holidays doesn't exactly make sense. We'd think that the folks at Tiberon would understand that concept.
No one can foresee every difficulty when making a change to new technology. However, there are things that can absolutely be predicted. First, the amount of bandwidth necessary for the system to operate properly. Second, the fact that no matter how much mandatory training is required before the system is installed there will be problems and those problems won't always happen at a convenient time of day.
Third, there will be a disconnect between the people who choose the system and those who have to operate it. New systems need to not only provide better functionality - they must provide the same functionality that officers are used to.
When you get right down to it, it's just as important how you implement a new system as what that new system can do. In this case, part of the equation is when you decide to transition. We're also concerned that the Tiberon system wasn't adequately evaluated for technical specifications (bandwidth requirements), ease of use (compatibility with the previous system), and proper technical support.
In the end, APD has found itself with a CAD system that is not only going through implementation problems, but may not have the ability to meet the requirements of the department in the first place. A few weeks back, the system crashed and dispatchers found themselves using radio and 3x5 cards.
In the final analysis, we don't care what system APD uses for dispatch as long as it works, and has proper training and support for the officers who have sworn to keep the rest of us safe. The current CAD Chaos is intolerable and dangerous for all of us.
A few weeks back APD installed the Tiberon CAD system. We don't know what the reason for replacing the old system was and frankly we don't care (unless of course they happen to be large donors to certain politicians). However, since APD plays a pivotal role in our safety we expect the system to work.
Our Eyes behind the badge tell us that there have been a huge number of problems with the system ranging from training to support to technical problems that make the system in its current state dangerous.
Last week Chief Schultz told Bob Clark that the reason that the system was having some problems is that officers didn't pay enough attention during training. Whenever an organization makes a technological transition there are always training issues. A lot of them come from the simple fact that most of us hate change - particularly when it involves a piece of technology. Of course the training officers would need to have a password for the new system before attempting to train other officers - which our Eyes tell us, did not happen in many cases.
The problem is that in this case there are a number of functional problems with the new system that have nothing to do with training. For example, our Eyes tell us that their old system would display in their vehicle all of the pertinent information on a particular license plate when that information was radioed to dispatch during a traffic stop - things like the type of vehicle and whether or not the vehicle had been stolen or not.
In short, an officer knew instantly the kind of situation they were getting into before they approached the vehicle. With the new system, the officer is required to run a search on the tag in the field after they have made the stop. Meanwhile, the subject has plenty of time to, well... arm themselves should they decide that they don't want anything to do with the law.
Other functional problems include license plates, warrants and court dates failing to come up. In addition, the system will log off officers for no apparent reason. Our Eyes tell us that when contacted about the problem Radio will make every attempt to log them back in but when their attempts fail they tell officers that the problem is a lack of bandwidth.
Basically, officers are placed in a situation where they are relying completely on their radios to get vital information. Now that's OK if it's an emergency or if it's law enforcement 1973, but today it simply puts officer's lives at risk.
The other complaint that our Eyes behind the badge have is a lack of technical support on weekends. Law enforcement is a 24 hour 7 day a week business - we never close. Installing a new Computer Aided Dispatch system with technical support that's closed on weekends and holidays doesn't exactly make sense. We'd think that the folks at Tiberon would understand that concept.
No one can foresee every difficulty when making a change to new technology. However, there are things that can absolutely be predicted. First, the amount of bandwidth necessary for the system to operate properly. Second, the fact that no matter how much mandatory training is required before the system is installed there will be problems and those problems won't always happen at a convenient time of day.
Third, there will be a disconnect between the people who choose the system and those who have to operate it. New systems need to not only provide better functionality - they must provide the same functionality that officers are used to.
When you get right down to it, it's just as important how you implement a new system as what that new system can do. In this case, part of the equation is when you decide to transition. We're also concerned that the Tiberon system wasn't adequately evaluated for technical specifications (bandwidth requirements), ease of use (compatibility with the previous system), and proper technical support.
In the end, APD has found itself with a CAD system that is not only going through implementation problems, but may not have the ability to meet the requirements of the department in the first place. A few weeks back, the system crashed and dispatchers found themselves using radio and 3x5 cards.
In the final analysis, we don't care what system APD uses for dispatch as long as it works, and has proper training and support for the officers who have sworn to keep the rest of us safe. The current CAD Chaos is intolerable and dangerous for all of us.
Apr 2, 2008
Going Green - Drowning in Red
Mayor Marty has been touting his Albuquerque Green initiative for sometime (AlbuquerqueGreen.com). He's even received an award for his efforts.
[T]he conference announced that the mayors of Albuquerque, N.M., and Fayetteville, Ark., had won first place honors in this year's Mayors' Climate Protection Awards Program.Of course it didn't take too long for the Journal to expose the Mayor's greenhouse gas reduction claims as, well... gas.
The awards honor mayors for measures to curb global warming and increase energy efficiency. Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez was recognized for shepherding a city program that promotes "green-tech'' companies, use of bicycles and purchase of cleaner city vehicles. The program has caused an overall reduction of city greenhouse gas emissions by 67 percent since 2000.
It is a claim every Albuquerque resident who cares about global warming could be proud of: Since 1990, city residents have cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 6 percent.
It is also untrue.
It sure looks like The Almighty Alcalde pulled the wool over the Conference of Mayors and the Governator himself back in June of last year when he sold them on a 67% greenhouse gas reduction since 2000. You'd think that there would be some modification in the mayor's approach in light of the less than stellar results of his green scheme and the city's looming budget crisis.
The city is continuing to purchase a new fleet of vehicles that are designed to reduce greenhouse gases and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. In fact, you may have noticed that APD sergeants are driving brand new E85 Tahoes. These new Tahoes are designed by General Motors to run on both E85 and regular gas.
E85 is a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. So what's the problem? A Tahoe running regular unleaded gasoline gets about 13 MPG in the city - running E85, the same vehicle gets about 9 MPG. In other words, E85 vehicles are about 69% as efficient as their gas powered counterparts.
In New Mexico, ethanol costs about 13% less per gallon than gasoline (E85prices.com). Comparing apples to apples, we're paying somewhere in the neighborhood of 18% more for E85 than we would for the same vehicle to burn gas. Many of you are thinking that you're willing to pay more to save the environment and combat global warming.
There are other consequences to Marty's march toward the green - our Eyes tell us it's having a direct impact on our safety. E85 isn't available everywhere and officers are forced to buy it rather than regular gasoline - that means more time out of service due to availability and the increase in consumption.
To reduce consumption (and we suspect cost), officers are now being told to turn off their engines when they're on a call. The problem here is that they can't turn off the equipment and radios that rely on the vehicles for power. Turn off the engine, kill the battery. The vehicle and its officer are out of service.
AFD has switched to biodiesel in its fire engines. Like E85, biodiesel isn't readily available which requires engines to be out of service for an extended period of time. In addition, the engines weren't designed to run on biodiesel so the long term effects on the equipment aren't known.
In both of these cases the monetary consequences are obvious. But the more important consequence is the danger that the out of service vehicles place all of us in. How long will it be until someone loses their life because it's time for an officer to refill, or an engine needs more biodiesel? Or... has it already happened?
The city is continuing to purchase a new fleet of vehicles that are designed to reduce greenhouse gases and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. In fact, you may have noticed that APD sergeants are driving brand new E85 Tahoes. These new Tahoes are designed by General Motors to run on both E85 and regular gas.
E85 is a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. So what's the problem? A Tahoe running regular unleaded gasoline gets about 13 MPG in the city - running E85, the same vehicle gets about 9 MPG. In other words, E85 vehicles are about 69% as efficient as their gas powered counterparts.
In New Mexico, ethanol costs about 13% less per gallon than gasoline (E85prices.com). Comparing apples to apples, we're paying somewhere in the neighborhood of 18% more for E85 than we would for the same vehicle to burn gas. Many of you are thinking that you're willing to pay more to save the environment and combat global warming.
(Sidebar)The problem with saving the world for a mere 20% surcharge paid by the city is that we supply that premium with our tax dollars and it gets worse. Ethanol is subsidized by the government to the tune of $1.05 to $1.38 a gallon and it takes 1,700 gallons of water to produce that one gallon of ethanol. More importantly for those who are convinced that reducing greenhouse gas by reducing the amount of fossil fuels consumed, it takes over a gallon of fossil fuel to produce a gallon of ethanol (Townhall.com).
Have you notice that global warming has now become "climate change?" As if adherents to the consensus hadn't already blamed both warmer and cooler temperatures on global warming they've now begun to call global warming "climate change." We wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that this year has been one of the worst and coldest winters in a long time.
"Change" works either way and you don't get caught having to defend "warming" while record snows fall in the Midwest. You really don't need any more proof that "global warming" is a political movement not a scientific one than their willingness to change the name when it no longer fits the circumstances.
(End Sidebar)
There are other consequences to Marty's march toward the green - our Eyes tell us it's having a direct impact on our safety. E85 isn't available everywhere and officers are forced to buy it rather than regular gasoline - that means more time out of service due to availability and the increase in consumption.
To reduce consumption (and we suspect cost), officers are now being told to turn off their engines when they're on a call. The problem here is that they can't turn off the equipment and radios that rely on the vehicles for power. Turn off the engine, kill the battery. The vehicle and its officer are out of service.
(Sidebar)
Our Eyes tell us that officers may want to take a look at page 46 of their new contract. It addresses the issue of take home vehicles. In short, the Chief of Police can take away all take home vehicles simply by notifying the union. Forty-five days later you're driving to work, even in emergency situations.
(End Sidebar)
AFD has switched to biodiesel in its fire engines. Like E85, biodiesel isn't readily available which requires engines to be out of service for an extended period of time. In addition, the engines weren't designed to run on biodiesel so the long term effects on the equipment aren't known.
In both of these cases the monetary consequences are obvious. But the more important consequence is the danger that the out of service vehicles place all of us in. How long will it be until someone loses their life because it's time for an officer to refill, or an engine needs more biodiesel? Or... has it already happened?
Lynch Found Guilty
We're getting reports from our Eyes downtown that Peter Ryan Lynch has been found guilty for misdemeanor destruction of property. The sentencing is supposed to take place later today and our Eye tell us that Mr. Lynch faces a fine and up to 6 months in jail for his actions.
We have no doubt that Mr. Lynch destroyed the Mexican flag - he admitted as much. What astounds us is the fact that The Center of the Race (El Centro de la Raza) and the UNM ROTC are utterly incapable of taking any responsibility for the incident. Both organizations directly contributed to inciting Mr. Lynch by failing to live up to their respective responsibilities - the ROTC for not removing the Mexican flag when The Center of the Race failed to show up to do so, and The Center of the Race for not showing up in the first place.
It's too bad that a Mexican flag met an early demise, but it leaves you asking the question - if Mr. Lynch had destroyed Old Glory would he have been prosecuted at all. Something is very, very wrong here and it goes far beyond the torn fabric of another nation's flag.
-----Update-----
770 KKOB is reporting that Peter Ryan Lynch has been sentenced to 48 hours of community service, court fees of some unspecified amount and to replace the Mexican flag - which he had already offered to do. We've got a great idea... Perhaps, Mr. Lynch could spend some time teaching patriotism to children. You know, love of country, respect for our flag, and dedication to duty.
-----Update 3:30pm-----
For some reason there has been some confusion about Mr. Lynch's sentence. Our Eyes tell us that the sentence is 48 hours of community service (agency eligible) and $71 in court fees. The replacement of the Mexican flag was part of a preexisting agreement with the university. The conviction itself will be expunged from Lynch's record if he stays out of trouble for 6 months. One other item... we're not hearing anything about anger management class as part of the sentence.
Our question is if Lynch had already agreed to replace the flag, why did the UNM Police and the District Attorney's Office feel the need to get involved and prosecute? In our opinion, The Center of the Race missed a golden opportunity by not accepting an apology and a new flag. Instead they called for hate crimes prosecution and insisted on prosecution.
We have no doubt that Mr. Lynch destroyed the Mexican flag - he admitted as much. What astounds us is the fact that The Center of the Race (El Centro de la Raza) and the UNM ROTC are utterly incapable of taking any responsibility for the incident. Both organizations directly contributed to inciting Mr. Lynch by failing to live up to their respective responsibilities - the ROTC for not removing the Mexican flag when The Center of the Race failed to show up to do so, and The Center of the Race for not showing up in the first place.
It's too bad that a Mexican flag met an early demise, but it leaves you asking the question - if Mr. Lynch had destroyed Old Glory would he have been prosecuted at all. Something is very, very wrong here and it goes far beyond the torn fabric of another nation's flag.
-----Update-----
770 KKOB is reporting that Peter Ryan Lynch has been sentenced to 48 hours of community service, court fees of some unspecified amount and to replace the Mexican flag - which he had already offered to do. We've got a great idea... Perhaps, Mr. Lynch could spend some time teaching patriotism to children. You know, love of country, respect for our flag, and dedication to duty.
-----Update 3:30pm-----
For some reason there has been some confusion about Mr. Lynch's sentence. Our Eyes tell us that the sentence is 48 hours of community service (agency eligible) and $71 in court fees. The replacement of the Mexican flag was part of a preexisting agreement with the university. The conviction itself will be expunged from Lynch's record if he stays out of trouble for 6 months. One other item... we're not hearing anything about anger management class as part of the sentence.
Our question is if Lynch had already agreed to replace the flag, why did the UNM Police and the District Attorney's Office feel the need to get involved and prosecute? In our opinion, The Center of the Race missed a golden opportunity by not accepting an apology and a new flag. Instead they called for hate crimes prosecution and insisted on prosecution.
Apr 1, 2008
All Hail The Almighty Alcalde!
Marty can be Mayor for Life
It's not like anyone's surprised or anything but Monday His Honor got his first victory in quite a long time - at least since the last time we sent him back to his perch on the 11th floor. Yes, Marty can run... aaagain.
The Journal reported Tuesday that Judge Linda Vanzi found the Albuquerque City Charter's term limits to be unconstitutional under the New Mexico state constitution (ABQ Journal - Subscription). Of course the city's contract attorneys didn't really put up much of a fight.
Damn! Whatever happened to vigorously defending your client's (read taxpayer's) position? Who knows, perhaps a good argument might have gone a long way towards reversing the previous decision striking down term limits for councilors. It certainly would have been better than... "we surrender!" But we guess when the guy signing the checks is the same guy that's suing your client the outcome was never really in doubt.
As you might have guessed we are for term limits - especially for executive positions. At least legislative shenanigans are held somewhat in check by the other legislators. But, after eight years even the dumbest executive has managed to stack their branch of government with allies that will look the other way when they screw-up or even break the law. Just imagine how many of Marty's Minions wander the halls of power after eleven years.
A pleased Chavez told the Journal, "It brings clarity to the landscape, and I've had a lot of folks encouraging me to seek an additional term." It certainly makes things clear. The Almighty is going to run again and if we're not very careful we'll all be forced to scream "All Hail The Almighty Alcalde!"
It's not like anyone's surprised or anything but Monday His Honor got his first victory in quite a long time - at least since the last time we sent him back to his perch on the 11th floor. Yes, Marty can run... aaagain.
The Journal reported Tuesday that Judge Linda Vanzi found the Albuquerque City Charter's term limits to be unconstitutional under the New Mexico state constitution (ABQ Journal - Subscription). Of course the city's contract attorneys didn't really put up much of a fight.
"Respondents believe that the mayor term limits provision of the Albuquerque City Charter is inconsistent with the qualifications clause of the New Mexico Constitution ... and as such is unconstitutional,"As a taxpayer, we wonder exactly how much we paid Joseph Goldberg, Theresa Duncan and Michael Goldberg - the city's contract attorneys - to essentially say "we surrender." Kinda' sounds like a Monty Python skit... "run away, run away, run away!" And apparently it took no less than three, yes THREE attorneys to lose this case without firing a shot or making an argument.
Damn! Whatever happened to vigorously defending your client's (read taxpayer's) position? Who knows, perhaps a good argument might have gone a long way towards reversing the previous decision striking down term limits for councilors. It certainly would have been better than... "we surrender!" But we guess when the guy signing the checks is the same guy that's suing your client the outcome was never really in doubt.
As you might have guessed we are for term limits - especially for executive positions. At least legislative shenanigans are held somewhat in check by the other legislators. But, after eight years even the dumbest executive has managed to stack their branch of government with allies that will look the other way when they screw-up or even break the law. Just imagine how many of Marty's Minions wander the halls of power after eleven years.
A pleased Chavez told the Journal, "It brings clarity to the landscape, and I've had a lot of folks encouraging me to seek an additional term." It certainly makes things clear. The Almighty is going to run again and if we're not very careful we'll all be forced to scream "All Hail The Almighty Alcalde!"
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