Photo: Dean Hanson, ABQ Journal

We can't pass this one up--especially not on April Fools' Day. It's ABQ Mayor Richard "RJ" Berry taking a selfie with UNM President Bob Frank. Just what is the dynamic duo thinking? We'll leave that to you.

Email your photo captions to jmonahan@ix.netcom.com. The best one gets a free lunch for two at ABQ's Barelas Coffee House. Enjoy.

Berry and Eden

ABQ Chief of Police Gordon Eden cried at the news conference Wednesday announcing that the city will pay an astounding $6.5 million to APD officer Jacob Grant and cover the officer's medical expenses for the rest of his life. But it is ABQ taxpayers who have reason to cry and  to revolt against the monumental incompetence that led to this humongous settlement.

One media report (KOAT-TV) now puts the cost of settlements involving APD shootings and wrongful death settlements since 2010 at $40 million, a stunning amount that does not include the $4.5 million we are paying for a Federal Monitor forced on the mismanaged APD by the US Justice Department. That takes us to nearly $45 million. (Grant is 38. How much is his lifetime of medical costs going to be?).

Where in the name of Jehovah are the fiscal conservatives of the Republican Party to question this? Sucking up to City Hall for contracts for rapid bus lanes to nowhere and building a building for Innovate ABQ that is actually a glorified college dorm? The stench of hypocrisy would make a skunk spray welcome.

It is not that the amount of money being paid to the permanently disabled Officer Grant is outrageous, it is the conduct and culture of APD that led to him being shot multiple times by a superior officer during a minor drug bust that is outrageous. It is APD's continued stonewalling of federally ordered reforms that is outrageous. It is the neglect of a fearful and cowed ABQ city council that is outrageous. It is the agenda-driven journalism of the ABQ Journal that continues to protect this administration instead of doing its job and calling out Mayor Berry for running APD like a personal paramilitary force, answerable to no one. That is outrageous.

As former Mayor Jim Baca put it in reacting to the Grant settlement:

Do the math. A sixty dollar drug buy cost the taxpayers of Albuquerque how much? Millions? Many millions? Because of sheer incompetence in dealing with problem staff? And Chief Eden still has his job along with high ranking city administration officials. And the Mayor is invisible.

THE SHEPHERD SINS

Mark Shepherd

No one gets fired in this mayoral administration--no matter how egregious the action. Here's retired APD Sergeant Dan Klein, a frequent critic of the department, with yet another example. Writing for the ABQ Free Press, he says:

What was City of Albuquerque Security Division Manager Mark Shepherd doing to his female employees that cost Albuquerque taxpayers $185,000? He was accused of sexually harassing a female subordinate. He made sexual comments about her clothing, kissed her against her will, told her his desk looked like a penis, and, while on city time, drove her to his home, making her fear that he was taking her there in an attempt to have sex. The city settled in February for $185,000. Shepherd retained his job—not even a suspension or demotion! Instead, Berry’s administration recommended that Shepherd, a three-decade city employee and a retired cop, receive “sensitivity training.” Ridiculous!

The city admits more women were harassed by Shepherd. Women's groups should be marching on City Hall. Everyone—parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters—should be outraged that Berry’s administration allowed this sexual harassment to occur without holding Shepherd accountable. Next time it could be your sister, daughter, friend, mother, who is harassed. There should not be a next time. Call Berry (768-3000) and your city councilors (768-3100) and demand that the penis shaped desk, and the manager sitting at it, be removed. Our city is better than this. Demand it!

And then there is the repeated abuses of the federal NCIC database by APD. (You know what we're talking about, right Shep?). A cop has an axe to grind with someone? Just access the database illegally to see what dirt can be dug up about them. Get fired for it? Not in this administration. We're overworking the word outrageous, but it surely fits.

And to think Mayor Berry styles himself a future New Mexico Governor. His track record makes Gov. Martinez look like Wonder Woman.

FRANCOPHILE FLIRTING

Art de la Cruz

Maybe it's the annoying spring winds, but there is more to vent about this Thursday. Like the ridiculous optics of outgoing Bernalillo County Commissioner Art de la Cruz taking a $20,000 taxpayer financed junket to France amid commission talks of raising gross receipts and/or property taxes to make up a projected $19 million budget hole.

Like the city of Santa Fe--facing its own $15 million budget hole--Bernalillo County has been acting like it's 1999. But the party is over--long over. Both government entities padded their payrolls as everyone looked the other way as a robust economy covered their wayward ways. But now the long stagnation is getting longer and the only way to keep the party going is by having the taxpayers shoulder the bill.

In a clever move, Santa Fe Mayor Gonzales and the city council diverted proceeds of a previously approved gross receipts tax into the general fund. That will go a long way toward filling the budget gap and avoiding a tax increase but tough questions about personnel levels still loom.

To save money Bernalillo County needs to pursue consolidation of services with the city of ABQ. It needs to implement a hiring freeze and have top administrators take a pay cut. They can also take excess funds being collected from the mental health tax (around $8 million) and use it to fill the budget hole.

Taxpayers mired in a no-growth economy don't need ever higher property taxes to finance a government too large for a no-growth economy. And they don't need to pay more in the regressive gross receipts tax which is also a detriment to business development. Let's get real, Commissioners. Or let's all go to France. It's your call.

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If the political waters are a bit too still for you this spring join us for an update on a Republican blood feud that is coloring those waters crimson red. . .

Last week we broke the news here and at the ABQ Free Press that former NM GOP Chairman Harvey Yates, Jr. is considering a run for the GOP National Committeeman post held by ABQ attorney Pat Rogers, a key ally of Gov. Martinez political adviser Jay McCleskey. The media followed up on our report and Yates used the opportunity to renew his quarrel with McCleskey who he and his allies believe exercises way too much power in the administration and the GOP. Says Harvey:

I have been urged by a few folks from around the state to run for Republican national committeeman. Some have urged that I do this simply because they believe Pat Rogers has stayed in the position long enough. Others cite the fact that Rogers has occasionally undercut the party as when he urged Reince Priebus, national chairman, not to speak at a state party event. Still others feel that Rogers is a pawn of political operative Jay McCleskey, and feel that is inappropriate for a national committeeman.

Jay did not respond directly to Yates, whose family made a fortune in the SE NM oil business, but Adam Feldman, his campaign aide, let loose with this riposte of Yates on social media:

(Yates) supporting Tim Jennings in 2012, the Democratic State Senate President Pro Tem who was blocking bills like the repeal of driver's licenses for (undocumented immigrants) because he had an axe to grind, is highly relevant.

Yates did indeed support Jennings, the longtime conservative Dem Senator from the SE where Yates hails from. A number of other R's did as well, but Jennings lost to Republican Cliff Pirtle with major help from the Guv's political machine led by McCleskey.

An ally of Yates blasted back at Feldman, recalling that the Governor, through the Reform NM PAC run by McCleskey, also supported a prominent Democratic state senator. That was in the 2012 primary election and was none other than the now legally troubled Phil Griego. He was boosted by positive ads from the Martinez affiliated PAC. Griego resigned his senate seat over his legal woes.

Yates is still not saying he will definitely challenge Rogers at the May GOP State Convention. But he seems to be enjoying putting the needle in Pat and Jay who have had the run of the Republican rodeo for over five years, a ride on which the clock is now slowly ticking down.

ART ATTACK?

Those rumblings we said we've been hearing about possible legal action over ABQ Mayor  Berry's controversial $119 million ART project--running rapid buses down most of Central Avenue and restricting auto traffic in some sections to only one lane--continue this week.

One of the Alligators reports there was a meeting Monday night between some business owners, neighbors near the proposed bus line and a couple of attorneys to discuss seeking a delay of the project in the courts. A Nob Hill business confirmed to me attorneys have been contacted. So we are in wait and see mode, with Berry now saying the project is slated to start in July, instead of May.

And some may find odd the explanation offered by the Mayor on why he did not show up at the recent public meetings on ART that drew such vocal opposition and where scorned was heaped on the city officials who did show:

E-mail your news and comments. (jmonahan@ix.netcom.com)

NM Dem US Senator Martin Heinrich isn't going to be the VP pick for Hillary Clinton, so why are we seeing and hearing his name mentioned as a possible? Before we answer that, this item:

Heinrich, who endorsed Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton back in 2014, is among a couple of dozen names that often surface when political writers and commentators discuss the best bets to become Clinton’s running mate this summer. . . Heinrich, 44, a first-term senator, last week was good-natured in deflecting most questions about whether he could be part of the Democrats’ presidential ticket this year.

So, back to why. From one of our seasoned Alligators:

This is a set-up. These aren't random bloggers starting VP talk on their own. This is a time-honored Heinrich tactic of developing buzz on the Internet and then getting a newspaper to run a story. He's purposely getting his name into the mix of people to join a  Clinton administration. He wants to first get his name in the vetting/discussion for VP. He won't get VP but becomes a more logical choice for Secretary of Interior. 

Well, that's one way to score a job interview. If it all worked out and Heinrich was tapped for a cabinet position in 2017, the final two years of his US Senate term would be filled by an appointee named by Republican Gov. Martinez. With that possibility out there, maybe the R's help Martin in any job quest.

COLORADO BOUND

One of the reasons the state isn't having an urgent debate about the state's economic future--even as it worsens--is because it's too easy to get out of here:

Colorado added 2,500 payroll jobs in February from the previous month, and the state's unemployment rate dropped to 3.0 percent, its lowest level since March 2001 and well below the national rate, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment reported. It was the 52nd straight month of jobs gains in the state--the longest unbroken stretch since the 1990s.

It's all about leadership, folks.

THE ECON BEAT (CONT.)

Reader Ron Nelson joins us on the econ beat:

Yes, there are jobs being added in NM ecause of the increase of Medicaid patients, but there are still many vacancies that can’t be filled. Talked to a colleague over the weekend, and he estimated that 30 percent of most of our local hospitals are  by travelers or out of state contractors. That means we don’t have enough qualified personnel to run what we already have.

So what about ABQ Mayor Berry's rapid bus plan (ART) for Central Avenue that he argues would spur economic development. Reader Jerry Trujillo writes:

ART  is a social engineering experiment on how to change the way Albuquerque travels. It will not get additional NE Heights folks to use this bus system and they are the ones that have the money to make or break Nob Hill businesses. If they think this idea of jumping on the bus and start spending money is going to happen, think again. 

Morningside Antiques is the first business to see the writing on the wall. They are closing shop next week. The single ART lane and few left turns will be the kiss of death to businesses that are barely hanging on. 

The City Council has voted to accept federal grant money for the project that is contained in President Obama's budget proposal. But that budget has yet to be approved. There also continue to be rumblings about a possible lawsuit to get a court injunction to stop the project, but nothing hard on that so far.

BEHIND THE GRAB

A news report comes with a possible key reason that the Gov. Martinez appointed UNM Board of Regents may have moved to take more control of the UNM Health Sciences Center--state government wanted Health Sciences to give it $50 million to plug the hole in the Medicaid budget, but without any commitment to pay the money back. When Health Sciences rejected that the power grab came down, or so goes what seems like a plausible theory.

A reader with long ties to UNM comes with more:

Joe, Regarding your blog comment about the problems at UNM: "Aah, what could have been. . ."

Yes, what could have been if Gov. Bill Richardson had not brought hardball partisan politics to the state's universities, seeking control of the Boards of Regents and having appointed his unqualified Clinton administration buddy, Captain Louis Caldera, to the UNM presidency. In the years that followed there was the dismissal or forced resignation of several longtime, loyal and competent staff, the expansion of the now bloated bureaucracy, the "promotion" of many directors to several varieties of "vice-presidencies," patronage for friends in the highest levels of administration (including athletics), sweetheart contracts for projects such as the Pit (aka WisePies Arena) and many more examples of mismanagement and manipulation at our flagship university.

And what could be....There have been no reports that that one of the emergency budgetary measures UNM is considering is the cutting back on the huge number of "vice-presidents" or "contributions" of all those with salaries over $200,000 or so contributing the excesses in their salaries to student scholarships or other forms of tuition-fee relief.

The poly sci lesson here is that the power grabbing ways of Big Bill at UNM paved the way for the UNM power grabbing by Gov. Martinez.

ASI ES NUEVO MEXICO

Reaction now to reader Jim McClure's suggestion, that with declining enrollment and slashed budgets this is the perfect time to consolidate the state's sprawling higher education complex. An education Alligator writes:

Joe, there have been at least two major studies of our higher education "system" by "independent commissions" over the past few decades. They have come to the same conclusion as McClure--that reform is needed. What is needed, and has been recommended is clear. However, no reforms were made; the studies are gathering dust.

College branches continue to proliferate and previous "normal" colleges granting baccalaureate degrees have become universities with graduate degree programs. Two year community colleges have become four-year colleges and even "universities." Schools from kindergarten to universities are largely seen as venues for jobs and contracts. Every community must be given a piece of the pie or no else no one gets anything. That has been New Mexico political culture for centuries. All our institutions, especially our governments, reflect this. Asi es Nuevo Mexico (Such is New Mexico).

Very well said, Education Gator. As we blogged Monday, we believe in the years ahead economics will force transformative change in the state's higher education complex. The perpetrators of the status quo will be dragged kicking and screaming.

THIS IS IT

Does the debate and discussion get any more real or better in any other forum in the state? Not a chance. That's why New Mexico Politics with Joe Monahan leads the parade. Engage our readership with your advertising and take advantage of our election year early bird specials.

We start the new week with our no-holds-barred, real deal biz coverage. It's the straight talk and facts you'll be hard-pressed to find anywhere else and brought to you with a little help from our friends. . .

What appears for the foreseeable future to be irreversible forces have collared New Mexico and ABQ and are shaking it to its core. We now appear to be in what future historians may call the "Era of Uncertainty," a time when no matter what your vocation, you are skating on ever thinner ice.

The latest population stats show the ABQ metro essentially in a no growth mode (a .27% increase from July '14 to July '15). It means the slow, downward economic spiral will continue to spin like a roulette wheel. Where it stops nobody knows.

The latest trend in the state's downsizing is in higher education, with NMSU, UNM and CNM shedding hundreds of well-paying jobs as budgets and student populations shrink.

The latest state jobs report says we are adding thousands of health care jobs but most of them are low paying and due to the explosion of Medicaid eligibility as the state grows increasingly poorer.

WATCHING WITH WALLY

Veteran NM journalist and economy watcher Wally Gordon thought he saw some green shoots appearing in the economy last year, but no longer. He writes:

Gordon

Joe, In 2005, 871,248 New Mexicans had jobs. In January of this year, however, only 855,781 men and women were at work. Pessimists used to talk of a lost decade. Now optimists hope that we will only lose two decades before we recover our footing. Almost as troubling as the numbers is what they reveal about the way the economic hard times are remaking New Mexican society.

• (State reports show) a shift of most jobs from rural areas and small towns to the Albuquerque-Santa Fe area.
• The movement of thousands of jobs from mining, manufacturing and related fields to health care for the elderly.
•  A related migration of jobs from well paid, semiskilled predominantly male occupations to worse-paid, marginally skilled and predominantly female jobs. 
•  Loss of jobs over the previous 12 months remaining among the worst in the U.S.—the third highest in January
•  If it weren’t for new jobs caring for the elderly, mostly paid for by Obamacare and federal Medicare and Medicaid dollars, the loss of jobs would have been twice as great.
• More people are now moving out of the state than moving in. One study suggests that the people we are losing are largely the young and well-educated, precisely those the state most desperately needs to build a new economy on the ruins of the old one.

Secretary of State Winter announced that candidates eligible for public financing under New Mexico’s Voter Action Act would receive 100 percent of their projected financing, thanks to a $314,739 grant approved unanimously by the State Board of Finance. This move ensures public financing in the primary and general election for qualified candidates. Previously, the Secretary of State’s Office had prepared to allocate only 68 percent of possible funds to eligible statewide judicial and Public Regulation Commission candidates, due to budgetary constraints within the fund. The following offices are eligible for public financing in the 2016 primary and general elections:Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice of the Court of Appeal, Public Regulation Commission, District 1. Public Regulation Commission, District 3

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