A black rose

Several readers this week said we overreached in analyzing the violent crime trend in the ABQ metro but then this came out:

Violent crime shot up 14 percent in Albuquerque in 2014 – the second consecutive year the Duke City has had an increase – and reached its highest mark since 2007, according to the Albuquerque Police Department’s annual report.

Okay, we're not Baltimore, but were not Mayberry RFD either.

A troubled police department is not only of our times. Remember the "Black Rose" incident from the 80's? A Senior Alligator recounts the interesting history:

There was a huge story in the late 1980's. APD union lobbyists left on the desk of then-State Rep. Cisco McSorley a black rose and a cartoon with a figure of a person with a knife in the back and the notation "thank you for all your support." The cops were being paid by the city for doing union business while lobbying in Santa Fe and were mad at Cisco for voting against legislation they wanted passed. The union claimed it was a joke. 

The ABQ Journal and ABQ Tribune went ballistic. After an investigation the cops were suspended without pay and the City Council enacted ordinances prohibiting union lobbying on city time and also enacted the Independent Council ordinance establishing civilian police oversight of APD for the first time in Albuquerque's history.

The difference between then and now is how swiftly the problem was dealt with. McSorley is now an ABQ state senator.

MAD AT GARY

Reader Michael Baca is upset with former NM attorney general and '14 Dem Guv nominee Gary King:

Are you aware that Gary King) has taken a job on the board of directors of one of the payday lenders? He has. Think Finance, Rise Credit, Money Mutual--they are all one company that Gary King joined a short time ago. Think Finance is the back office servicer for every other payday lender's 600% loans. What a great champion for the poor he is. All that talk about the struggling working families during his campaign. Now I understand why he never laid a glove on the payday lenders when he was the attorney general. Cha-ching!

King said in a company news release:

During my time as Attorney General, I worked in several areas related to consumer issues and I have always had a keen interest in financial services," King said. "As such, I am pleased to be serving on the Board of Directors so that I can lend my knowledge and experience to Think Finance.

A move to cap the interest rates charged by payday loan stores failed at the last session of the Legislature.

NO MORE WALTZES

Sen. Smith

It was--to borrow the movie title-- "An Affair To Remember." But it's all over now between Dem State Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur "Dr. No" Smith and the NM GOP.  For five years he waltzed away the nights with Susana and Company but now he's been dumped. Not even a phone call. It was done via news release:

Former fiscally conservative State Senator John Arthur Smith showed how over two decades in Santa Fe can make someone out of touch with their constituents. In the middle of this past legislative session, Senator Smith advocated for higher gas taxes as a gimmick to pay for infrastructure projects. Higher gas taxes only mean one thing: higher prices at the pump.

Smith's fall from GOP grace comes as the R's prep for the '16 election and try to turn the Senate majority Republican.

Condolences, John, but you'll always have Mary Kay.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2014. Not for reproduction without permission of the author