Keller and Medina

Mayor Keller and APD Chief Harold Medina ended their lay low strategy and came out from behind the curtains Tuesday and began to face the discordant music over the APD DWI scandal.

Keller, seeking a third term in 2025 and now worried about attracting a name challenger, tried his best to spin the scandal away from the 11th Floor at City Hall:

This investigation involves a handful of long-time officers at APD, going back a decade; if true, what these individuals did is a disgrace to the badge, and erodes faith in law enforcement. APD leadership fully supports this investigation and continues to work with our partners to serve justice. Any individuals who engaged in this conduct will never work for the City again, and should be held accountable to full extent of the law. The department’s willingness to drive accountability, especially on its own, reflects how far we have come.

Even if the scandal does go back "a decade" that Keller states, as one city councilor put it Monday, it has "landed on his lap." 

And Keller's contention that APD's "willingness to drive accountability. . .reflects how far we have come" will be put to the test in the months ahead. 

The timeline of who knew what when--the FBI and APD--seems muddled. The US attorney's office will need to address that.

Not to mention the revelation that one of the officers allegedly involved made over $250,000 in pay in 2023--the highest of all city employees. Where is the accountability for that and other overtime abuses?

For his part Chief Medina, like Keller, tried to date the scandal's roots back to the bad old days:

I think we’ve got to remember that they got away with it. If it was occurring, it’s something that’s occurred for over a decade. So obviously they were very good at hiding this. And, we are glad that this administration has been able to bring this to light. . .I mean, we had 150 cases dismissed. It’s horrible. So yes, in a way there is a stain on APD, but I think that there is the general public who’s going to realize that leadership is holding individuals accountable. We’re not sweeping anything under the carpet, and we’re making sure that we fully investigate everything to the best of our ability.

Well, it's not what APD swept under the carpet, it's what they failed to keep off of the carpet--cops gone bad. That does not speak well of the chief's contention that the long-troubled APD has undergone a significant "culture change" under his leadership. 

But his statement about what the general public will take away from the scandal is on point. 

Keller's polling numbers are anemic but because no name challenger has surfaced to take him on in 2025 his chances have been seen as reasonable as he seeks a third term

But will the scandal surface a worthy challenger? The odds are rising. 

The question now is how much does the scandal widen, if at all. Was there any judicial involvement is one question making the rounds. And Medina is cautious on how many APD officers have been involved:

We’ve identified five. We don’t know if it’s going to grow further from there. We don’t know where it’s going to grow from there. But we’re currently at five officers.

That kind of statement is going to keep the media and the public on their tiptoes.

The Mayor is also dealing with a City Council that has turned against him in large part. Especially troublesome for Keller supporters is the attitude of new District 6 Councilor Nichole Rogers who has been aggressive in complaining about various city policies even though she once worked in the Keller administration.

BREGMAN VS. MARTINEZ

Tuesday we carried an attack against DA Sam Bregman by Damon Martinez--his opponent in the June Democratic primary--over the DA's dismissal of those 150 DWI cases in the wake of the federal investigation. That drew this from reader Isabelle Zamora:

Joe, If the City’s defense is that the DWI fiasco has been going on for at least ten years why didn’t Damon Martinez address it when he was US Attorney from 2014 to 2017? Instead, the City hired him to work on the consent decree, which looks like poor positioning on the part of the city. To boot the city still has not addressed the overtime of public safety employees. This reeks of corruption on behalf of the City’s administration. 

Meanwhile, Martinez came with a new hit on Bregman:

Candidate for Bernalillo County District Attorney calls for appointed DA Bregman to donate the campaign money he accepted from Thomas Clear III to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. 

Thomas Clear III resigned as Chair of the Public Defender Commission after his law office was raided by federal agents in the course of an investigation into alleged police corruption. As a result of this raid and the allegations of police corruption, over 150 DUI cases, including defendants represented by Thomas Clear III, have been dismissed by DA Bregman. “The dismissal of these 150+ cases is a tragic loss in the fight against drunk driving. Thomas Clear III’s possible connection to a police corruption investigation and this unfortunate result is disconcerting. The money DA Bregman has accepted from him is now suspect. I call on my opponent to donate this money to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, in an effort to offset some of the damage that has been done.”

PIRTLE PLACE 

The email continues over the scandal involving Roswell area GOP Senator Cliff Pirtle that we covered in the Monday and Tuesday blogs for those needing background. Here's reader Kelley Vigil:

Joe, Pirtle is a predator, plain and simple. Like my husband said, the Grand Old Party is not the party of family values anymore. Has not been for some time. 20 year old McKenzie Luna is a victim who will someday get away from this, hopefully with her child, but not without many bad miles on her. 

If she was my daughter there would not be enough words and actions to demonstrate my disgust, outrage and fury for what this man has done to my daughter. The least that can happen is he does not represent NM in state government. Somehow I’m guessing that is not a given. The Grand Old Party these days gives a pass for rape and grabbing women in the private parts. His challenger should shout “predator” from the highest peak, but my guess is she won’t. 

State Rep. Candy Ezzell says she is seeking Pirtle's senate seat in the GOP primary, regardless of whether he leaves or stays. 

Reader Larry Gioannini in Las Cruces writes of the movement to make the Legislature full-time with salaried legislators:

Regarding Senate misconduct and it being ignored by the rest of the Senate: And they want to be paid for this? How's that working for you in the U. S. Congress? Pay would be acceptable if campaign contributions were banned. But we've accepted that money is speech and corporations are people and so it goes.

This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.