Thursday, July 22, 2021Time For Another Edition Of Reader Vox Populi; Readers Write Of City Election, Keeping Campaign Staff Honest, Cops And Crime And AG Woes Time and again campaign staff cut corners but have no professional organization or ethics rules to contend with. We really need the legislature to consider putting campaign staff under the ethics commission with the ability to fine or suspend them from being paid as consultants. And we need to tighten the Hatch Act that keeps federal employees out of campaigns. One congressional staffer here skirted rules on district directors by consulting local campaigns until they finally clamped down this year. And a state employee ran an independent committee against House Speaker Brian Egolf while being paid as a land commission staffer. Campaign staff could do with an ethics overhaul. We pointed out that this will be the first time since ABQ adopted the mayor form of government in 1974 that there will be no Republican mayoral candidate on the ballot. To which we get this sharp retort from John Rey: Hello Joe, What do you call Manny Gonzales? Anyone who hires Republican consultant Jay McCleskey, as Manny did, is a Republican. They are all wolves in sheep’s clothing. Elections have become nothing more than a money grab and Movida handouts! COPS AND CRIME  Hey Joe, I was reading that the murder rate increase is nationwide, according to the FBI, not just an Albuquerque thing. However, APD is getting the reputation for not being as vigilant as they were before. I’m seeing a number of people posting on inaction when calls are made to APD or an air of nonchalance about the issue involved. It’s almost like they are sulking about something. Reader Don Miller takes on the ABQ crime crisis: There appears to be consensus that at least a part of the solution is to increase the number of sworn police officers. I took a look at annual budgets for APD to ascertain the rate of increase of sworn police officers. In FY 2007 the city budget states that "the sworn police force continues to be funded at 1,100 officers.” The FY 2022 budget states: “The proposed FY/22 General Fund civilian count is 592 and sworn count is 1,100” Over the same period, the Department budget increased from $130.5 million to $223.4 million, a little over 71%, and full time employees increased from 1,529 to 1,706, a little over 11%. Last I heard, the number of sworn police officers is still below 1,100. My simple question is, why has the number of sworn police officers not increased for at least 17 years while their budget has increased by 71%? For one thing, Don, city police have been given large pay hikes over the years, the most recent as the result of an increase in the city's gross receipts tax. HECTOR'S STATUS
Thanks for that but this isn’t our first rodeo. We know when a rider has been tossed from the bull. Dan Klein comes with this on the same topic: Great blog. You put it all back together with former APD Chief Ray Schultz and Taser. Had AG Balderas acted on Schultz back then, APD would not be in the mess it is today. We never needed the DOJ, what we needed was for Balderas and Mayor RJ Berry to do their jobs, which they both failed to do. Balderas because he was too connected to Schultz and Berry because he was a bumbler.
Which brings me to 2021 and why we str still waiting for the State Auditor and Attorney General to announce something regarding their investigations into APD overtime and payroll issues? Colon passed the investigation to Balderas for criminal issues that his office discovered. Colon’s office has been auditing APD for months and yet both the Auditor and Attorney General are silent on what they have found. Klein says he has had recent contact with Auditor Colon and his office tells him their report on APD overtime abuses will be released "soon.” TORREZ NO PROGRESSIVE? An ABQ reader writes: Hi Joe,
I'm a fan and avid reader of the blog. I understand (Bernalillo County District Attorney) Torrez branded himself as a progressive and apparently has that image. I would encourage you to speak with sources within the judiciary and public defender's office to ascertain whether he has done one progressive thing since being elected 5 years ago. And, the corollary question, has he done things that indicate he is not progressive.
I'm not weighing in on the AG run, there are very good reasons why neither of the two Democratic gentlemen is upstanding and worthy of our trust. I'm simply saying Raul Torrez and progressive is a complete misnomer.
Perhaps you can put out a call for a seasoned AG candidate with high integrity. Thanks for the insights. We welcome your comments, criticisms and plaintive cries of existential angst at the usual email address. Reporting from ABQ, I am Joe Monahan and. . . This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (newsguy@yahoo.com) Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.   (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2021 |
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