Martinez, Berry & Eden

As the city prepares today to bury murdered APD Officer Daniel Webster the Mayor Berry administration continues to shift blame for his killing to the state Legislature. Now they are arguing that not only is Webster dead because of Santa Fe but that any future murders of APD officers will be the fault of the Legislature for not changing criminal law. That eyebrow raiser came directly from APD Chief Gorden Eden who said:

I think the real tale of the tape is going to be what's happening up in Santa Fe. If we don't do something about changing our laws we're going to have a lot more car washes to benefit fallen officers and citizens that have been killed.

Eden, an operative of the Guv's political machine who was brought in when Chief Schultz was forced out, is obviously priming the public for the 2016 elections in which the GOP will try to wrest control of the state Senate from the Democrats. When legal changes favored by Berry and Eden and the Machine (no matter how ill-advised) fail to pass the Senate--as expected--the game will be on.

The police chief playing politics and seeking to absolve himself and Mayor Berry of any blame for future violence in ABQ is more than cynical. It can also fairly be labeled as irresponsible and dangerous,

Eden is saying that he is impotent, that the solution to violent crime is being held hostage in Santa Fe and that all he can do is throw his hands up in the air. That message of weakness is heard loud and clear by the repeat offenders and by those about to become first time offenders in a city already ridden with crime.

Eden's message is oddly effeminate, coming as it does at a time when one would expect a strong police chief to be warning the criminal element that they will be dealt with forcefully and effectively by a police department enraged over the killing of Officer Webster and the road rage murder of 4 year old Lilly Garcia. You would expect the chief to say we have reached our limit. Instead we get a political operative--a poseur as police chief--blaming the crisis entirely on his fellow politicians.

Hey, Chief, if you believe only the Legislature can do the job you're charged with doing--keeping us safe--then why not turn your badge over to Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez?

SYMBOLIC SUSANA

We really should not be in the position we're in when it comes to complying with federal REAL ID requirements. We had a good, bipartisan compromise worked out last legislative session by Senate Minority Leader Ingle and Dem Senator John Arthur Smith. It passed the Senate but was killed by the Martinez Republicans in the GOP House. Now folks are mad and lined up at post offices to get passports because they fear their driver's licenses soon won't be accepted at federal installations or for boarding airplanes.

The Governor doesn't seem concerned about the spreading anxiety. She is again demanding that driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants be repealed as a condition for complying with REAL ID. Never mind that her repeal has been killed in every legislative session since she took office in 2011.

It is this triumph of symbolism over substance that will be the legacy of the all-or-nothing administration. A reader sums it up:

Where is the outrage over our Governor not making sure that we, the taxpayers, voters of this state have valid NM identification that complies with Department of Homeland Security requirements? Martinez should have made sure our NM driver's licenses were valid, and set as a separate issue her aspirations to repeal the law that allows illegal immigrants a drivers license. A valid NM drivers license that meets the federal government requirement and repealing the illegal immigrant driving privileges are two separate issues as far as I can see.

This situation is not good, but sadly once again there seems to be apathy, no sense of urgency and probably another pass for this Governor. I can almost bet somehow the Democrats will get the blame for this one just like most things this administration has dropped the ball on.

MAEZ (TAKE TWO)

To say we blew it in blogging about who might replace resigning ABQ Dem State Rep. Stephanie Maez is an understatement. Dem state Sen. Mimi Stewart, who held the Maez seat but resigned it when she was appointed to a vacant state Senate slot, sets the record straight:

Your Alligators are wrong about Nancy Bearse and Idalia Lechuga-Tena for my old House seat. They both were interested in the Senate seat, and put in their names to apply for that position, but neither of them live in the House seat, nor are they registered to vote there.
There are several people looking at the House seat now. You will find out all their names on Friday. 

The Bernalillo County Commission will take applications for the Maez seat through Friday and appoint a replacement later in the month.

The erroneous info we published was given to us by none other than a top Democratic consultant. Geez, no wonder those guys are losing. For such an egregious error, we are upping the punishment for that Gator from ten lashes with a wet noodle to twenty. Same for us.

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