Dan Lewis has had the TV airwaves to himself but that will change today when Tim Keller comes with his first ad buy for the Nov. 14 ABQ mayoral run-off.

Keller is going to stick with what worked for him in the first round of voting--15 second ads that fit his publicly financed budget of $125,000. And because his first series of spots did not saturate the market he will kick off his run-off media campaign with those same ads, with new ones rotated in as the election nears.

Our media tracker Chris Brown reports Keller's initial buy is for $25,500 for 103 ads that will air from today thru November 14. He can be expected to come with more.

Lewis has bought about $62,000 in TV for a two week run ending this week.

Early voting citywide begins tomorrow so both contenders will be on the air in time to reach the early birds.

Meanwhile, if voters don't want to rely on TV ads to make up their minds about Republican Lewis and Democrat Keller, they will have a number of chances to size them up in person or in TV debates. Here's the list of 10 joint appearances scheduled as released by the Lewis campaign:

--Dukes Up Hot Seat Interview 10/25/17
--Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce Debate 10/26/17
--Albuquerque Press Club Fireside Chat 10/26/17 6 P.M.
--KOAT Channel 7 Live Debate 10/29/17 6 P.M.
--UNM Sustainability Studies 11/3/17 5 P.M.
--KKOB 770 Debate 11/6/17 (time to be determined)
--KOB 4 Live Debate 11/7/17 6 P.M.
--Hispano Chamber Debate 11/8/17 6 P.M
--New Mexico Business Coalition 11/9/17 5 P.M.
--KRQE 13 Live Debate 11/11/17 6 P.M.

YOUNG GUN GUS

22 year old Gus Pedrotty, a progressive Dem, made quite an impression in the October 3 election, garnering 7 percent of the vote. However, he has not endorsed fellow Dem Keller in the run-off. The nontraditional candidate was asked if politics will be part of his future:

. . . My future is a big question mark, and I don’t have a good answer for that. I get to experience the joys of both post-undergrad and post-election question marks at the same time. But in the meantime, that doesn’t mean any of my commitments to the city change. It doesn’t mean my commitments to the ideas I put forward change.

In liberal SE Heights City Council District 6, a large swath of which encompasses the UNM area, Pedrotty finished third in in the eight person field.

You wonder if he might be a check of sorts on Dem Keller who carried the lion's share of the progressive vote but will be pressured to move to the center if he wins election.

REFORM OR RETARD?

The next Mayor will take office December 1 and immediately be confronted with this: From HuffPo:

What Happens When A Troubled Police Department Refuses To Reform? In Albuquerque, they’ve been getting away with it.

Will they "continue to get away with it" or will the city's new leader put his foot down and demand the promised reforms?

Meantime, the ABQ city council, which has slept through one of the truly epic crises in city history, is looking to pin the blame for the APD mess on Federal Monitor James Ginger who has released a series of scathing reports calling out APD for resisting reforms mandated by the Dept. of Justice:

A group of Albuquerque city councilors called for the city auditor to review the performance of the independent monitor overseeing Albuquerque police reform. Councilors Brad Winter, Ken Sanchez and Don Harris said that since being tapped for the position in early 2015, monitor James Ginger has only spent an average of 42 days in Albuquerque per year. They said Ginger’s contract called for him to be here about 200 days per year during the first four years of the reform effort.

Not that Ginger shouldn't be called to account for the millions moving his way, but so should the asleep-at-the-switch council and the look-the-other-way Mayor Berry. As longtime APD critic and retired police sergeant Dan Klein puts it:

Why didn't these city councilors care during the last 8 years that APD cost us taxpayers $60 million in lawsuit settlements? Where was Mayor Berry during this time? This is the true failure, the civilian oversight of APD, the mayor and city council, they are the ones who have failed us. You can't blame Ginger on that. The buck stops with the city council and mayor, both AWOL.

Hallelujah!

THE ECON BEAT

Then there's the stagnant economy that will also be staring the new Mayor in the face. Reader Norm Gagne writes:

Joe, It's embarrassing. New Mexico, lagging in virtually every indicator of economic health and trying to attract tech companies and Amazon's new headquarters with sunshine, makes national news for tinkering with public education science standards by eliminating references to evolution, the age of the earth and human caused global climate change. Sigh.

The economic woes here are really other-worldly, considering what continues to occur just a few hours drive to our north:

At a recent town hall meeting on the state’s population growth, House Speaker Crisanta Duran paused a moment to take an informal poll: How many in the audience, the Denver Democrat asked, want Amazon to bring its mammoth second headquarters and 50,000 jobs to Colorado? And how many have concerns? By a show of hands, the crowd was split, almost neatly in two. 

The mixed feelings about 50,000 high-paying jobs underscores the depths to which Coloradans — many of whom may be transplants themselves — are growing wary of the rising costs of the state’s prosperity. The same growth that has brought Colorado good jobs, new amenities and, for a time, the country’s lowest unemployment rate has also driven housing prices through the roof and choked city streets and state highways. . . 

Well, better those problems than New Mexico's chronic poverty, one of the nation's highest crime rates, its second highest unemployment rate and a stagnant population with an unprepared workforce.

As for Amazon opening its second headquarters in ABQ, that's about as likely as Zozobra doing stand-up comedy.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2017