Thursday, March 31, 2005High Drama Grips NM's Largest City; Police Cover-Up Scandal Claims Chief, Plus: Mayor's Race "Cracked Open?" The Blog Report: In-Depth & Hard-Hitting![]() Rather than putting a damper on interest in the scandal, the Gallegos resignation seemed to spark a momentary feeding frenzy. "This seems more like a beginning than an end," said one politico." Others disagreed: "The police in this town have always gotten off with a slap on the wrist. I expect this thing to wimp out with no indictments and not much else of consequence," rattled off another Alligator. But as the drumbeat builds that may be of small comfort to Nick Bakas, the former cop who is now Deputy Chief Administrative officer for public safety and was Gallegos' immediate supervisor. The mayor said "heads" would roll. So far, the crowd has one. Are they sated yet? STEALING OR NOT? As Gallegos threw in the towel, the euphemism that evidence was "missing" became almost laughable. The gravity of the situation had finally hit home. The questions are these: "Did Albuquerque police officers steal evidence, namely jewelry, cocaine, electronics, plasma TV's, cash, gold coins and other valuables? And did they take that "evidence" and sell it to fences and profit from their thievery? In the case of the drugs and cocaine, did they use it themselves, or sell it? ![]() Jay Rowland, the guy in charge of hearing complaints about APD, will also investigate. Ex-Chief Gallegos and his cronies practically laughed in attorney Rowland's face when he had the temerity to suggest that some charges of wrongdoing by APD officers were actually true. Who's laughing now? THE POLITICAL IMPACT Romero ![]() "Marty has been sitting on the ball on this one. He's had decent poll numbers, money in the bank and not a whole lot going on. But public safety is the number one issue and this is going to force even casual voters to take a look at what is going on," commented one of our mayoral watchers. One of those watching very intently is former Dem State Senator Richard Romero who, as we blogged this week, apparently conducted an in-depth poll on the possibility of jumping into the festivities. Word around town Wednesday was that Romero has been making fund raising calls and even invoking the name of Big Bill as one who has encouraged him to get in the thing. Oh my, Big Bill backing Romero! That would make for a very thick plot. Meanwhile, perennial candidate and Big Bill crime adviser Bob Schwartz's name also cropped up yet again as a police department scandal is something a former district attorney might have a few words to say about. But could he get the money to get the words across? In the case of Romero, the cash tree can be shaken from the list of donors he cultivated from his losing congressional effort last November. Getting pro-Heather Wilson Republicans to vote for him might be more of a problem, but there is a sub-species of "moderate to liberal" R's that Romero might make a play for. CALLING ALL GRINGOS ![]() The only declared contender, Dem ABQ City Councilor Eric Griego, cannot be happy with a possible Romero entry as he will split votes with Eric in his downtown council district which is also part of Richard's former state senate district. The so far all-Hispanic field has the eyebrows raised from the Valley to the hills in the Heights. That's never happened before and the smart money was betting in yesterday's crisis ridden atmosphere that it could soon change. "A lone, strong Anglo candidate could consolidate the vote in the Heights and make a mayoral run-off easy," said one longtime politico. But many don't think Schwartz is the Anglo to do it because he's been around the track so often and does not appeal to conservative Republicans who right now are being courted by Chavez with his pro-business platform. Still, Bob has got to be sorely tempted to take one more bite out of the apple, even if it means giving up the best paying job he has ever had. BRING ON THE CANARIES ![]() In his Wednesday farewell, chief Gallegos said he planned on enjoying motorcycle rides in the months ahead. But judging from the accumulating evidence, the "missing" evidence, the chaos and the back-stabbing going on in the APD, the felled chief may be spending his time in a much more stationary position--sitting in a hard-backed chair answering investigators'questions. (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2005 Not for reproduction without permission of the author |
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