The traditional Albuquerque Journal Brian Sanderoff poll hit doorsteps all over town Sunday. (We won't dwell on the diminishing number of doorsteps being hit by rolled up paper and ink.) Sanderoff's poll usually comes out a few weeks before an election and some believe it may have an impact on the election itself.
The Sanderoff poll places Allen Weh and Susana Martinez in a statistical tie with 31% and 30% respectively. Pete Domenici, Jr. came in next with 10%, Doug Turner with 6%, Janice Arnold-Jones came in with 3%, and there were 20% undecided (ABQ Journal - Subscription).
Needless to say, the leaders are busy trumpeting that they're "in the lead" in speeches, mailers, websites, and via email, while the trailing candidates start talking about election day surprises. The simple fact is that barring a miracle, it's a two-way race as we come to the wire.
So... What better time to bring back The Eye Poll? This week we're asking who you think will prevail in the Republican gubernatorial primary. Don't forget to vote!
May 16, 2010
May 13, 2010
Albuquerque Moves Closer to Arizona
It only took a graphic example of what could have been prevented, but today at least the City of Albuquerque took a step closer to Arizona. Mayor Berry announced APD's new policy regarding illegal aliens which boils down to if there's suspicion that a person who's arrested is in this country illegally ICE will be notified. It will then be up to the Feds to determine whether or not the suspect is held for an immigration violation.
Unfortunately the move came too late to save a 6 year-old girl from an alleged rape, but at least police officers will be able to notify immigration authorities when they have an illegal in custody for another crime. Obviously the blame for the previous sanctuary policy rests squarely on the shoulders of previous administration. This new policy is a good start, but may not go far enough.
Unfortunately the move came too late to save a 6 year-old girl from an alleged rape, but at least police officers will be able to notify immigration authorities when they have an illegal in custody for another crime. Obviously the blame for the previous sanctuary policy rests squarely on the shoulders of previous administration. This new policy is a good start, but may not go far enough.
Welcome Shadow
Our last post was the 700th post on Eye On Albuquerque. It seems like a perfect time to introduce a new contributor. It's with great pleasure that we introduce our newest Eye... Shadow.
The one thing that's impossible to shake is your shadow and our newest contributor is busy following the power brokers and bureaucrats around the halls of government gathering all of the dark secrets ferreted away in those dark recesses. We look forward to a new contributor and a whole new set of revealing Eyes.
The one thing that's impossible to shake is your shadow and our newest contributor is busy following the power brokers and bureaucrats around the halls of government gathering all of the dark secrets ferreted away in those dark recesses. We look forward to a new contributor and a whole new set of revealing Eyes.
May 10, 2010
Doing Time
The war on APD overtime continues. The department is holding fast to its policy of making individual officers identify, arrest, and prosecute each and every suspected DWI. According to Public Safety Director White, the policy is working and the department has saved over $5 MILLION.
All of that said there is one department where overtime is not discouraged - records. In fact our Eyes tell us that the folks over in the records department are being forced to do time or at least overtime.
Back in January we told you records was some 22,000 reports behind at least partially due to the implementation of Crapper... uh, Copperfire (read it here). Now, records personnel are doing time on our overtime dime.
Understand, the judicial system runs on records - without them nothing gets done and criminals end up on the street. Frankly, we've got too much of that going on already. But what The 5th Floor has done is place data entry, uniform crime reports, and report review above imminent harm.
Of course there is an upside... since arrests are down, so are the number of reports that the records department will have to deal with. Or at least that would be the case if alcohol involved accidents hadn't doubled and generated a whole new crop of accident reports. Oh well... at least we're saving money.
White says the police department has saved roughly $5 million in overtime since Mayor Berry took office. In that time, he says overall crime is down and overall arrests are up.Our Eyes behind the badge assert that while the city is raking in the bucks, DWI arrests are down 73%. Strangely, APD seems perfectly capable of calculating "savings" but utterly incapable of determining whether or not DWI arrests are down a month after instituting their new policy.
"There's been a lot of emphasis put on controlling the overtime throughout the entire department and it's paying off," says White.
Eyewitness News 4 specifically asked city officials if DWI arrests are down because of the new overtime policy. They answered that the policy has only been in place for a month, so it's too early to tell.One wonders whether The 5th Floor is using the same accountants that lost $16 MILLION over at APS. Here's generally how it's done. Count the number of DWI arrests in April 2010 and then subtract them from the number of DWI arrests in April of 2009. A negative number would be bad.
All of that said there is one department where overtime is not discouraged - records. In fact our Eyes tell us that the folks over in the records department are being forced to do time or at least overtime.
Back in January we told you records was some 22,000 reports behind at least partially due to the implementation of Crapper... uh, Copperfire (read it here). Now, records personnel are doing time on our overtime dime.
Understand, the judicial system runs on records - without them nothing gets done and criminals end up on the street. Frankly, we've got too much of that going on already. But what The 5th Floor has done is place data entry, uniform crime reports, and report review above imminent harm.
Of course there is an upside... since arrests are down, so are the number of reports that the records department will have to deal with. Or at least that would be the case if alcohol involved accidents hadn't doubled and generated a whole new crop of accident reports. Oh well... at least we're saving money.
May 5, 2010
America’s Energy Health
by Marita Noon
A pundit gushed over President Obama’s busy-ness since pushing through historic healthcare legislation. After enumerating accomplishments, she closed, "Frankly, I worry about his health."
Obama has been busy. Trying to keep up with just his energy-related activities makes my head spin. There is no way the average person could follow all the plans, proposals, bills, or executive orders.
While the concern expressed was for Obama’s health, my concern is for the health of energy in America—and ultimately for America itself.
Here are three recent news items, some of the busy-ness, that worry me about America’s energy health.
On March 31, Obama’s offshore announcement was big news. While it made for a good story, it will have no impact for years, does not open up any new drilling sites, and actually puts more areas off-limits. To really increase domestic energy production and minimize the transfer of American dollars to unfriendly countries, he could use that executive order pen to open up areas of known reserves where accessing the resource is either prohibited or severely restricted and a trained workforce and onshore infrastructure exists. Forbes summed it up this way, "Though the plan added acreage for possible leasing, some choice sites there were yanked. Drillers still have to wait for environmental studies before a lease sale may be held. Even then they’d need to do seismic surveys and get federal air permits before touching drill bit to earth. Expect environmentalists’ lawsuits, too."
While the offshore announcement got lots of attention, this slipped under the radar. In late January, it was leaked that the White House’s plans to create additional national monuments. The list contains 14 possible locations totaling more than 13 million acres. The sites "may be good candidates for National Monument designation and the Antiquities Act." Many of them--such as Otero Mesa in southeastern New Mexico—have known energy resources.
March 18, Governor Richardson sent Obama a letter in support of "protected" status. An environmental supporter waxed eloquent over the potential of the "wild and beautiful grassland," saying, "It has become a tourism destination," and "It will create a place that more people will take an extra day to visit." Additionally, it "will allow for sustainable long-term jobs."
While most of us support job-creation in this economy, expecting tourists to go to the vast empty spaces of Otero Mesa is not the way to do it—especially when making Otero Mesa a National Monument will eliminate the possibility of extracting the natural gas reserves. The average tourism job pays about 45K a year. Oil-service workers: 75K.
On April 16th, the White House sponsored the "White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors" with the goal of bringing "together leaders from communities across the country that are working to protect their outdoor spaces." While this may be a laudable concept, it hardly seems like a priority when Americans are begging the administration to focus on jobs!
Next, Cap and Trade—a tax on energy—is back. As New York’s Nassau County Executive found out, Americans do not want more energy taxes. Thomas Suozzi was a rising political star. A well-funded incumbent, Souzzi was thrown out by an unknown, under-funded, upstart—all over energy taxes. Reports stated, "Disenchanted voters were frustrated by a new Home Energy Tax."
Cap and Trade will take a great deal of political maneuvering to pass. "Partisanship" will likely blame Republicans for the bill’s struggle, but in fact when a bill’s good, it often passes overwhelmingly. The Cybersecurity Enhancement Act passed the House in February on a vote of 422 to 5. The Veteran Retraining Act passed last November: 356-0. Yet after months of discussion, debate, and public dialog, Senators still doubt whether or not they have enough votes to pass cap and trade. House members who voted for it last July fear losing their seat over their vote.
Despite the lack of popularity, regardless of the evidence putting the foundation of the cap and trade in question, a so-called compromise bill is being introduced with supporters expecting passage in June or July.
Yes, Obama’s been busy. As a result, frankly, I’m worried about America’s energy health. The United States has built a $14 trillion-per-year economy that’s based almost entirely on cheap energy. Now, at a time when we need jobs and cheap energy there is a head-spinning amount of busy-ness aimed at changing the energy that’s made America great!
Marita Noon is the executive director of the Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE), a nonprofit organization that operates from the platform of "Energy Makes America Great" and supports all domestic energy development. She can be reached at marita@responsiblenergy.org or www.responsiblenergy.org.
A pundit gushed over President Obama’s busy-ness since pushing through historic healthcare legislation. After enumerating accomplishments, she closed, "Frankly, I worry about his health."
Obama has been busy. Trying to keep up with just his energy-related activities makes my head spin. There is no way the average person could follow all the plans, proposals, bills, or executive orders.
While the concern expressed was for Obama’s health, my concern is for the health of energy in America—and ultimately for America itself.
Here are three recent news items, some of the busy-ness, that worry me about America’s energy health.
On March 31, Obama’s offshore announcement was big news. While it made for a good story, it will have no impact for years, does not open up any new drilling sites, and actually puts more areas off-limits. To really increase domestic energy production and minimize the transfer of American dollars to unfriendly countries, he could use that executive order pen to open up areas of known reserves where accessing the resource is either prohibited or severely restricted and a trained workforce and onshore infrastructure exists. Forbes summed it up this way, "Though the plan added acreage for possible leasing, some choice sites there were yanked. Drillers still have to wait for environmental studies before a lease sale may be held. Even then they’d need to do seismic surveys and get federal air permits before touching drill bit to earth. Expect environmentalists’ lawsuits, too."
While the offshore announcement got lots of attention, this slipped under the radar. In late January, it was leaked that the White House’s plans to create additional national monuments. The list contains 14 possible locations totaling more than 13 million acres. The sites "may be good candidates for National Monument designation and the Antiquities Act." Many of them--such as Otero Mesa in southeastern New Mexico—have known energy resources.
March 18, Governor Richardson sent Obama a letter in support of "protected" status. An environmental supporter waxed eloquent over the potential of the "wild and beautiful grassland," saying, "It has become a tourism destination," and "It will create a place that more people will take an extra day to visit." Additionally, it "will allow for sustainable long-term jobs."
While most of us support job-creation in this economy, expecting tourists to go to the vast empty spaces of Otero Mesa is not the way to do it—especially when making Otero Mesa a National Monument will eliminate the possibility of extracting the natural gas reserves. The average tourism job pays about 45K a year. Oil-service workers: 75K.
On April 16th, the White House sponsored the "White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors" with the goal of bringing "together leaders from communities across the country that are working to protect their outdoor spaces." While this may be a laudable concept, it hardly seems like a priority when Americans are begging the administration to focus on jobs!
Next, Cap and Trade—a tax on energy—is back. As New York’s Nassau County Executive found out, Americans do not want more energy taxes. Thomas Suozzi was a rising political star. A well-funded incumbent, Souzzi was thrown out by an unknown, under-funded, upstart—all over energy taxes. Reports stated, "Disenchanted voters were frustrated by a new Home Energy Tax."
Cap and Trade will take a great deal of political maneuvering to pass. "Partisanship" will likely blame Republicans for the bill’s struggle, but in fact when a bill’s good, it often passes overwhelmingly. The Cybersecurity Enhancement Act passed the House in February on a vote of 422 to 5. The Veteran Retraining Act passed last November: 356-0. Yet after months of discussion, debate, and public dialog, Senators still doubt whether or not they have enough votes to pass cap and trade. House members who voted for it last July fear losing their seat over their vote.
Despite the lack of popularity, regardless of the evidence putting the foundation of the cap and trade in question, a so-called compromise bill is being introduced with supporters expecting passage in June or July.
Yes, Obama’s been busy. As a result, frankly, I’m worried about America’s energy health. The United States has built a $14 trillion-per-year economy that’s based almost entirely on cheap energy. Now, at a time when we need jobs and cheap energy there is a head-spinning amount of busy-ness aimed at changing the energy that’s made America great!
Marita Noon is the executive director of the Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE), a nonprofit organization that operates from the platform of "Energy Makes America Great" and supports all domestic energy development. She can be reached at marita@responsiblenergy.org or www.responsiblenergy.org.
May 4, 2010
Eye Told You: About Time
We've been telling you about The Formerly Almighty Alcalde's Eco-Folly for two years now. Marty's move to the green was designed more to capture headlines than to save the planet and Albuquerque taxpayers got to pay for it.
Finally, after two years of telling you about the damage and the cost of E85 Eco-Fool, the Berry Administration has pulled the plug on the program and moved the city back to good ol' unleaded.
It's about time common sense broke out at the city hall and the Berry Administration deserves credit for making the right move. What was even more shocking is that even Councilor Benton is on board.
Finally, after two years of telling you about the damage and the cost of E85 Eco-Fool, the Berry Administration has pulled the plug on the program and moved the city back to good ol' unleaded.
"It's no longer cost-effective for us to run on ethanol," said John Soladay, director of the city's Solid Waste Management Department.And Ford's failing fuel pumps?
Police Chief Ray Schultz said in some cases, the fuel pumps on police cars failed in the early morning hours, with no way to get them fixed immediately. The administration also said some sedans in the Fire Department fleet were unable to respond to emergencies.Chief Schultz didn't do the problem justice. Our Eyes tell us Marty's Eco-Fool program caused fuel pumps to fail about every 2,000 miles. With 700 plus vehicles - a large portion of which are Ford Crown Victorias - it's pretty easy to see that there were a large number of vehicles out of service at any given time.
It's about time common sense broke out at the city hall and the Berry Administration deserves credit for making the right move. What was even more shocking is that even Councilor Benton is on board.
City Councilor Isaac Benton said he isn't concerned about the switch, especially because ethanol takes a lot of energy to produce.
"Even though it's made from agricultural products, it could be a problem in and of itself," Benton said in an interview. "I know there have been real questions about the mileage per gallon you see with ethanol. I don't really consider it to be a sustainable product."Not sustainable... Eye've been tell you that for some time (read it here). The simple truth is that when an "alternative" fuel costs more and requires over a gallon of fossil fuel to produce a gallon of the alternative fuel - not to mention some 1,700 gallons of water - it really isn't much of an alternative.
May 3, 2010
Immigration - Einwanderung - (名) 移住; 出入国管理; 移民 - Immigrazione - иммиграция - Inmigración
Believe it or not, it's possible to send the entire Industrial Media-Progressive Complex into apoplexy with one single word... "(名) 移住; 出入国管理; 移民" or more commonly known in the English speaking world as "immigration." There are two types - legal and illegal.
Until 1927, there really was only one form of immigration - legal. Those were the heady days of "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." The doors through which most immigrants passed were held wide open just like the American West where many risked life and limb in order to find a new life - a free life.
These immigrants may have passed through Ellis Island, crossed over an imaginary desert line in the sand, or fled the Great White North of Canada (eh), but they all came here understanding that nothing was guaranteed and that they would have to largely take care of themselves.
FDR's New Deal began an inevitable march toward government dependence that added a new and dangerous incentive to immigrate to the US - entitlement. Social programs designed as a safety net became a staple and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free became the masses looking for free things.
Don't misunderstand, there are those hardworking immigrants who only want an opportunity to better themselves and provide a better life for their family. The difference today is entitlement. Regardless of an immigrant's motives, their very presence here makes them eligible for all sorts of government goodies paid for by citizens and legal immigrants. Enter the new Arizona immigration law.
Arizona is broke. So broke in fact, that the state held an auction in January to sell off government buildings (read it here). It's estimated that Arizona is home to some 470,000 illegal immigrants - all of whom are eligible for some form of state funded assistance despite their less than legal status. Then there's the crime that is often associated with illegal immigrants. Phoenix has become the kidnap capital of the U.S. It's hard not to draw a correlation between the abductions in Arizona and the kidnappings in the Kidnap Capital of the World - Mexico City.
There's little doubt that crime and entitlement led to the new Arizona law - a law that is more rhetorically reprehensible than actually a threat to civil liberties. In fact, the law has at least one very positive effect - it makes Arizona immigration policy uniform.
Uniformity in law enforcement is imminently desirable. In Bernalillo County alone we have at least two different enforcement policies - one for the Sheriff's Department and one for the Albuquerque Police Department. And despite the mayoral campaign promises, our Eyes tell us that there has been no change to the APD SOP regarding illegal immigrants. Officers are prohibited from contacting federal authorities unless the suspected illegal is accused of a violent crime (read it here).
Until 1927, there really was only one form of immigration - legal. Those were the heady days of "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." The doors through which most immigrants passed were held wide open just like the American West where many risked life and limb in order to find a new life - a free life.
These immigrants may have passed through Ellis Island, crossed over an imaginary desert line in the sand, or fled the Great White North of Canada (eh), but they all came here understanding that nothing was guaranteed and that they would have to largely take care of themselves.
FDR's New Deal began an inevitable march toward government dependence that added a new and dangerous incentive to immigrate to the US - entitlement. Social programs designed as a safety net became a staple and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free became the masses looking for free things.
Don't misunderstand, there are those hardworking immigrants who only want an opportunity to better themselves and provide a better life for their family. The difference today is entitlement. Regardless of an immigrant's motives, their very presence here makes them eligible for all sorts of government goodies paid for by citizens and legal immigrants. Enter the new Arizona immigration law.
Arizona is broke. So broke in fact, that the state held an auction in January to sell off government buildings (read it here). It's estimated that Arizona is home to some 470,000 illegal immigrants - all of whom are eligible for some form of state funded assistance despite their less than legal status. Then there's the crime that is often associated with illegal immigrants. Phoenix has become the kidnap capital of the U.S. It's hard not to draw a correlation between the abductions in Arizona and the kidnappings in the Kidnap Capital of the World - Mexico City.
There's little doubt that crime and entitlement led to the new Arizona law - a law that is more rhetorically reprehensible than actually a threat to civil liberties. In fact, the law has at least one very positive effect - it makes Arizona immigration policy uniform.
Uniformity in law enforcement is imminently desirable. In Bernalillo County alone we have at least two different enforcement policies - one for the Sheriff's Department and one for the Albuquerque Police Department. And despite the mayoral campaign promises, our Eyes tell us that there has been no change to the APD SOP regarding illegal immigrants. Officers are prohibited from contacting federal authorities unless the suspected illegal is accused of a violent crime (read it here).
[Sidebar]Look... everyone in this country - including American Indians - came from somewhere else. Whether trekking across the Bering Strait, braving the Atlantic, or wading across the Rio Grande, all of us are or came from immigrant stock. Most of us came legally. But since 1927 the federal government has restricted immigration and if they won't enforce the laws they created, it's up to the states to do so. More importantly, in today's entitlement society it's economically unsustainable to continue to support those who have chosen to ignore our laws and enter this country illegally.
We understand that filling a $20 MILLION budget hole only to have to fill a $64 MILLION hole takes a large shovel and a lot of time. But, Mayor Berry needs to make good on his campaign promise and direct Uber-Chief White and Chief Schultz to make the promised adjustments to the APD SOP.
[End Sidebar]
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