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.

Climate Change is Obama’s Iraq

by Marita Noon

This year, amidst reports of cooling temperature, the climate change debate had apparently cooled as well. Then the Waxman/Markey Bill, pushing cap and trade as the solution for global warming, was introduced. Now, with President Obama addressing the UN and calling for extreme measures to prevent catastrophic consequences, suddenly it’s front page news again.

On the same day that Obama was presenting his dramatic message to the UN, the New York Times published an article acknowledging “global temperatures have been relatively stable for a decade and may drop in the next few years.” Clearly the debate is not as one-sided as our leadership wants us to believe.

While Obama and his “alarmist” science czar, John Holdren, are moving forward, the polls repeatedly show lack of public and scientific support. Aggressive climate change measures rank last on almost any list of current crises; people do not think the issue is one on which our government should be focused.

I predict climate change will be Obama’s Iraq.

Bush, it is widely accepted, went into Iraq based on his advisors’ belief that weapons of mass destruction awaited them. There seemed to be consensus. Even Democrats voted in favor of war. Once there, no WMDs were found. But Bush did not pull out. Instead we spent billions of dollars and lost thousands of lives with minimal results—all based on bad advice. The public did not like the war. They did not want it. He had great plans for overthrowing Saddam, but the Iraqi military was no where near ready to take over—leaving us foundering between being occupiers and advisors. The failure in Iraq defined the Bush presidency, turning even his own party against him.

Obama’s advisors are telling him that climate change legislation is imperative. They believe there is consensus. But the temperatures have stabilized and dropped—despite increased CO2 emissions. Even the NYT admits that the declining temperatures will make legislation a hard sell to the public. But Obama is not backing down. He is willing to kill off the American economy based on bad advice. The people do not want it now and they will hate it later. We’ll spend billions of borrowed dollars for minimal results. He is focused on overthrowing hydrocarbons, but renewable energy is many years away from being ready to take over—leaving us floundering between the light and freezing in the dark. The folly of climate change legislation will define his presidency and turn citizens against him.

Both Presidents succumbed to a type of herd mentality. When people pursue the same avenue all together, they tend to shut out all other ideas and those avenues are not always the right ones. The “facts” become propaganda—forced into a pattern that is preordained, making them look firmly established.

You can see this in the Iraq war decision. But how does it apply to climate change?

Twenty years ago, in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, Dr. Thomas Gold of Cornell University presented the hypothesis that science was reaching the place where new ideas were not being accepted. He stated, “A critical attitude is clearly required of every scientist. Whenever the established ideas are accepted uncritically, but conflicting new evidence is brushed aside and not reported because it does not fit, then that particular science is in deep trouble.” He postulates that, “there are long periods when uncritical acceptance of established ideas was a real hindrance to the pursuit of the new.”

Appling his ideas to today’s situation, I suggest that we are there now.

From a scientific viewpoint, when other motivations come into the act, judgment becomes cloudy, and decisions are not based on the ideal of evidence-based reasoning. This is where the problem lies. If support from peers and moral and financial consequences are at stake, then staying with the herd is the successful policy for the individual who is depending on them, but not the successful policy for the pursuit of pure science. If a large portion of the scientific community in one field is guided by the herd instinct they cannot adopt another viewpoint. The justification becomes, “I believe that because everyone else does.” About the herd, Gold commented, “The sheep in the interior of the herd are well-protected from the bite in the ankle by the sheep dog.”

This has happened with climate change. The man-caused warming model has become the established fact—new evidence is “brushed aside.” Those scientists and others questioning the validity of the models are vilified as skeptics and deniers.
Hence bad science is “established.” Public policy is based on it.

Just like the herd agreed that there were WMDs—when there were not—the herd has decided that climate change is caused by man’s use of CO2 when, in fact, it is likely just the normal cycle of nature. We are attempting to battle climate change based on bad advice.

Marita Noon is the executive director of the Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE), a nonprofit, membership-based organization advocating for citizens rights to energy freedom. She can be reached at marita@responsiblenergy.org or www.responsiblenergy.org. Note: Several concepts featured here are culled from the Australian Institute of Geoscientists Spring Newsletter.

Eye Poll: Corruption

Corruption comes in all sizes. Sometimes it's big (see the State Investment Council and Manny Aragon). Sometimes it's small. Eye readers overwhelmingly said that corruption was the major issue in the city's October 6th election. An overwhelming 49% of readers said corruption was the major election issue, 21% said crime, 13% the economy, 8% each said term limits or change, and 1% didn't know.

Crime was certainly an issue - one that the Berry administration would do well to remember - but the Eye readers are more worried about the criminals in government than those on the streets.

The new mayor will have his opportunity to clean house and restore trust in government. He'll have to do it despite his predecessors attempts had hiding a few nasty newly classified surprises. It's important that the new administration clean house and do so publicly.

In politics, public perception is reality. The way to change perception is to get rid of those who've created the reality.

Marty's Freebie Firearm Deal

The Albuquerque Police Department under Chief Ray Schultz and soon-to-be former Mayor Martin Chavez has decided change the department issued weapon from the Glock 9mm to a Smith and Wesson 9mm. The move has upset a number of officers who view the Smith and Wesson as an inferior weapon.

In fact, a number of line officers complained about the move citing the Glock's reliability and historic performance. Anyone who complained was summarily shut down and cadets will begin training on the Smith and Wesson next week.

It's not unusual for Chief Schultz his 5th Floor to ignore officers, but this time Smith and Wesson gave the Chief, Deputy Chief Castro, and The Once Almighty Alcalde a little extra incentive. According to our Eyes, Schultz, Castro, and Mayor Chavez all received complimentary weapons a couple of months ago courtesy of Smith and Wesson. 30 days after the "gifts" were given, APD decided to drop the favored Glock.

Officers have been carrying the Glock for years. The double action pin-fire weapon has a track record of firing under almost any circumstance and when your life is on the line you want your weapon to go boom when you pull the trigger.

Look, we're not against APD evaluating their side arms from time to time. And we're not against the department making a change. But this time, it looks as if the decision was at least partially based on the freebie firearm given to the decision makers.

We've got serious reservations about Marty packin' heat - that's just all kinds of scary. But more importantly, elected officials and their cronies shouldn't be accepting gifts from contractors. If Smith and Wesson popped for a few pistols, what else did they do to sweeten the deal?

It really doesn't matter what the value of the "gift" was - though most 9mm handguns cost over $1,000 - accepting a gift from a vendor prior to awarding a contract looks dirty and is dirty. It may be petty corruption, but it's corruption none the less.

This is just one more example of why all of the current occupants of APD's 5th Floor need to be shown the elevator. First and foremost, effective policing requires the trust of the public. Taking a goody gun from a vendor and handing them a contract undermines that trust and puts both officers and the public in danger.

Entrapment

It's a favorite trick of outgoing politicians - give one last payoff to those who have supported your administration. The Albuquerque Journal reported Wednesday that the Chavez payoffs have begun as the Once Almighty Alcalde takes a stab at paying off his people and a shot at the man who will replace him.

Scott Forrester, an assistant to Mayor Martin Chávez, whose term ends Nov. 30, saw an increase in his annual salary from roughly $48,000 a year to a little under $80,000, officials said.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

Greg Smith, an attorney, received an 8 percent increase in pay — to about $111,000 a year — and was transferred into a different job. He used to work as an attorney for the city and is now a contract manager in the Department of Municipal Development.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

Danny Nevarez, an information technology official in the Environmental Health Department, saw his pay boosted about 48 percent, to around $102,900.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

Frankly, no matter what excuse is given these raises are appalling. Our Eyes tell us that since the Once Almighty Alcalde lost the election earlier in the month, Hizz Honor has been busy squirreling away his minions and busily trying to reclassify his unclassified friends. One such reclassification was Director of Parks and Recreation, Jay Evans who was recently moved from his unclassified directors position in Parks and Rec to an over $80,000 a year classified position running Open Space.

The intent of the Chavez administration is to protect their minions while leaving them behind as land mines ready to explode on an unsuspecting Berry administration.

Moving Marty's Minions doesn't exactly protect them from termination. Moving someone from an unclassified position to a classified position doesn't remove the probationary period where the city can let the "newly acquired" classified employee go for pretty much any reason in the first 90 days. Marty's moves only make it more difficult, not impossible.

In light of the current economic situation, the Berry transition team needs to take a hard look not only at Marty's many minions but at the positions that were created to reward them. Now's the time for many of these positions to disappear along with their occupants - which would save all of us a boat load of money.

More importantly, Mayor-elect Berry would be setting a good example for the rest of the city by trimming his at-will staff before he even takes office despite Marty's attempt to trap him into keeping Marty's Minions.

The Sheriff Shuffle

The pending resignation of Sheriff Darren White in order to take the Public Safety post with the city has created a bit of a diemma for the Bernalillo County Commission - which is charged with appointing someone to fill out the term. According to our Eyes, state law requires an appointment before White's departure in order to prevent a sheriff's gap.

What's complicating things is that next year is an election year and no fewer than 9 Democrats have thrown their badges into the appointment and election rings. The Bernalillo County Commission is controlled by Democrats, so there shouldn't be a problem... right?

Wrong. Commissioners - particularly Commissioners Armijo, De La Cruz, and Hart-Stebbins - are reluctant to choose any Democrat who's actually planning a run for Sheriff. At the very least, appointing one of the 9 would give that candidate a decisive edge in the Democratic primary. And since there isn't a single Republican that has asked for the appointment (perhaps an opportunity there), the Democrats on the commission are looking elsewhere for potential candidates.

According to our Eyes, commissioners are looking at the old old sheriff to replace the soon-to-be new old sheriff. Former Sheriff Joe Bowdich is currently serving as the "civilian chief" over at APD - it's a job without a job description, responsibilities, or duties but it pays well. Commissioners have hit on the idea that Bowdich would be the perfect interim-Sheriff and frankly we don't disagree. It might even save the city over $100,000 by vacating a position that has outlived its usefulness.

[Sidebar]
Nothing against Bowdich but, he was in fact brought in to provide cover for the evidence room scandal. The former sheriff was certainly a respected former law enforcement officer but his purpose as a "civilian chief" was to lend needed credibility and restore confidence in APD. Bowdich's position was created for political reasons - to provide cover for the Chavez administration - not functional reasons.

Like most government positions created for political purposes, their usefulness is short lived except as a position to reward supporters.
[End Sidebar]

More importantly for the Democrats on the commission, it allows them not to be seen as choosing the next sheriff. Of course there's nothing to guarantee that any of the 9 Democrats who have asked for the appointment will win the job next year or even that the next elected sheriff will be a Democrat, but at least the Armijo, De La Cruz, and Hart-Stebbins, won't be accused of favoritism or blamed for a November loss.

No matter how it pans out, it looks like the sheriff shuffle will result in a sheriff who really doesn't want the job - at least not long-term. After all, county commissioners are politicians and they're not going to willingly hurt their political future.

Partying Like it's 1999

Budget shortfalls are everywhere. Unless you've been out of the country or in a coma for the past year, you know that every level of government is scrambling to find a way conserve resources as tax revenue dwindles. Sometimes our elected officials talk about reducing spending - meanwhile others are talking about increasing taxes.

Bills that would cut spending all over the state government map and eliminate some political hires were among proposals continuing to stream in as lawmakers remained divided over how to solve the state's worst budget crunch since the 1980s.

-ABQ Journal (Subscription)

Some Democratic members, so far overruled by senior leaders, are pushing consideration of tax increases or repeal of tax cuts as ways to raise revenue and avoid cuts to education and health care programs. Educator unions strongly back the tax hike moves, wanting to avert any reductions in school spending.

-ABQ Journal (Subscription)

The fact is we find ourselves in a crisis. It's a crisis created by uncontrolled spending during a time of relative plenty. Like the Roaring 20's, there were abundant indications that the largess of economic prosperity would not last forever. But like their early 20th century counterparts, they partied like it was 1999 (Sorry, couldn't help the Prince reference) and spent as if there would always be plentiful sources of tax revenue - there wasn't and there isn't.

Most governmental agencies have been forced to recognize the fact that it's imperative that they get a handle on their spending. Apparently, the Bernalillo County Commission didn't get the memo. A little over a week ago at their October 13th meeting, the Bernalillo County Commission was presented with a plan to freeze hiring.

In an effort to proactively deal with declining revenues while avoiding more drastic measures such as layoffs, mandatory furloughs or reduced work hours for its employees, Bernalillo County is proposing a strategic freeze on hiring non public safety related personnel.

Along with a freeze in hiring of new employees, Bernalillo County will focus on reducing nonessential expenditures and careful monitoring of expenditures. Finance Division staff will carefully monitor economic trends and notify the County Manager when revenues appear to be stabilizing and the hiring freeze may be re-evaluated.

-BernCo.gov

The resolution was defeated 3-2 with Commissioners Armijo, De La Cruz, and Hart-Stebbins voting to party like it's 1999 - while Commissioners Wiener and Brasher voted to institute the hiring freeze.

Not to make this a partisan issue but just guess which party the 3 nay votes belonged to. If you said Democrat, you'd be spot on.

It's not like Republicans haven't been guilty of spending like a collective group of drunken sailors - they have. But in case you haven't been paying attention, Democrats on the national level have spent more in the first six months of this year than all of the preceding U.S. governments combined. In fact, Democrats on the national level have made their Republican predecessors
look like Congressional Scrooges when it comes to spending.

New Mexico has been under single party rule for over 70 years. They've dominated almost every elected body, every state department at almost every level for almost all of those 70 plus years. The Bernalillo County Commission is no exception.

When presented with a resolution to freeze spending at a time where tax revenues are on the decline, what do the Democrats on the commission do? They vote to continue to hire non-public safety personnel as if there were no tax revenue problems.

Yeah... It's delusional and totally ignored by the local press. Every level of government should be working to find ways to reduce its spending. The County Commission - at least 3 of the 5 members - clearly haven't figured it out and clearly don't get it. They're partying like it's 1999 and can print money in the basement. Unfortunately, we're the ones who will have to clean up their mess and pay the tab.