It seems highly unlikely that it will happen at the Tuesday memorial service for slain APD Officer Daniel Webster but in December in New York City police officers protesting Mayor de Blasio's policies actually turned their backs on him as he spoke at a funeral for one of their own.

In a survey done this year for the ABQ City Council officers who had departed APD cited a lack of support from the Mayor Berry administration and concerns about the APD leadership as their top reasons for heading toward the exits. The department remains severely understaffed, even as the city experiences a surge in violent crime.

In the wake of the Webster murder and that of 4 year old Lilly Garcia Berry and his media allies have worked furiously to establish a narrative that blames state laws entirely for the violent crime crisis, sparing the Berry administration any serious scrutiny over its role.

If any officers turned their back on Berry as he spoke at the Tuesday memorial for Webster, would it shift the narrative about ABQ's crime problem? You betcha.

A CERTAINTY

There are some certainties in life: death, taxes and the certainty that the NM Legislature and Gov. Martinez will never allow the establishment of an independent ethics commission.

We can also predict based on its initial reception that the proposed constitutional amendment to allow NM judges to deny bail to criminal defendants is DOA. And you can easily predict that the defeat (it will pass the GOP House and die in the Senate) will be used by Gov. Martinez as a prime reason to turn Democrats out of the state Senate in 2016 (however, the way she's been traveling she may have to mail in her campaign statements).

SOS

Dem BernCo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver has applied to Gov. Martinez to fill the Secretary of State vacancy created by the resignation of Republican Dianna Duran. Oliver was defeated by Duran in the 2014 election. The Guv won't appoint Oliver but she gets some PR by putting her name out there.

Oliver is in line to be the Dem Party nominee for the slot next year, although the watch is still out for any potential opponents. The Guv is expected to appoint an R as SOS who could end up as the GOP nominee to fill the unexpired portion of Duran's term that will be on the '16 ballot. The SOS slot will again be on the ballot in '18 for a full four year term.

WE DESERVE IT

A reader writes of the anemic 8 percent turnout for the recent ABQ city election and the overall drop in voter turnout:

We have gotten what we deserve; both parties fail to serve the people of New Mexico because of this lack of citizen participation and the void that allows self serving sycophants to rise to the top. The cause of poor government has become the status quo. New Mexico can be better only if our leaders demand and welcome participation and not merely play political games to get re-elected for the sole purpose of maintaining power. I think this is what explains our current dilemma of the Democrats not rocking the boat when their Republican colleagues miss the boat!

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