In a blistering memo to lawmakers the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) dismissed as ineffective the controversial "rebuttable presumption" proposal. If that wasn't the death knell, it surely placed the legislation in the ER.
The measure would make many of those charged with a violent crime show why they should not be held in jail until trial, instead of having prosecutors make the case to a judge. The LFC said pre-trial release of violent criminals isn't the problem but the lack of arrests, prosecutions and convictions is largely to blame for the ABQ crime crisis.
For MLG it's looking like a repeat of "touch it and you get burned." In 2019 she sent state police into ABQ to fight crime. The end result was several weeks of intervention that resulted in very few violent crime arrests but a bunch for misdemeanors. Now comes this collapse of a legislative attempt to help ABQ and boost her crime fighting credentials in an election year. No wonder Governors usually leave the governing of ABQ to ABQ.
But growing anxiety over ABQ's ongoing crime has Democrats running for cover, with state representatives from possible swing districts--ABQ Reps. Marian Matthews and Meredith Dixon--signed up as sponsors of the pre-trial bill, one of the Guv's four bill crime package.
Meanwhile, DA Torrez faces a stiff June primary challenge from State Auditor Brian Colón for the Democratic nomination for attorney general. Torrez hit the ceiling over the LFC memo saying the panel had the data all wrong. That's the opposite conclusion from a UNM study and other data sets compiled by the LFC which is the gatekeeper for such information.
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| Keller |
The proposal was troubling from the beginning on constitutional grounds. Now with the powerful LFC siding with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Cervantes in rejecting the measure as essentially meaningless, it's demise seems sealed.
CART BEFORE HORSE
Not that the Fourth Floor and their ABQ compadres didn't see this train wreck coming. They didn't have the votes for the pre-trial change going into the session but bet that they could drum up public pressure to turn lawmakers their way. That was a classic case of putting the cart before the horse.
Besides misreading the statewide appetite for such an important change to criminal procedures, residents of the big city itself don't seem motivated to clamor for the switch. After four years of escalating crime the public is cynical, skeptical and numbed by the violence. What they want is more in line with the LFC: more officers arresting more people with more convictions and jail time.
MLG's package does propose $100 million for more training and recruitment of police officers which appears to have solid support because it is proven to work. And she is supporting behavioral health improvements which have strong public support as long term solutions.
WHAT TO DO?
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| Candelaria |
He also believes APD could better deploy their understaffed department more effectively by concentrating even more on high crime areas.
Finally, he said the anarchy on the city's freeways and roadways sets the tone for the anything goes mentality. He advocates more traffic law enforcement. Candelaria, who now lives in Kansas, says the ABQ freeway experience is "unbelievable."
He also says he is stunned by the growth of the homeless population in ABQ which is more noticeable when you have been away for a while. But that's another story.
OTHER WAYS?
There is a way for the Governor and her allies to achieve their goal of stopping repeat offenders, says APD watcher and retired Sergeant Dan Klein:
Currently it is on the government to prove that the defendant is a threat to the community or a flight risk. The Governor's bill wants to change that to where the defendant has to prove they are not a threat or flight risk. This goes counter to the basic tenant of American legal standards, innocent until proven guilty. A better way to attack this issue is to amend the Arnold Public Safety Assessment Tool and give more weight to the severity of the crime and the defendant's past history of failing to appear.
If the Governor's bill were to pass with current language I believe it would be challenged and overturned once the courts get involved. That would be a huge waste of time. Amend the Arnold tool and give the judges firm instructions.
ABQ City Councilor Dan Lewis is urging the city to renegotiate the terms of the US Justice Department's oversight of APD which incudes a Federal monitor who has been on the job since 2014.
New Justice rules call for a court review of such monitors after five years but ABQ and other cities already under court ordered agreements don't fall under the new rules. Mayor Keller agrees with Lewis that the monitor's job is long completed. Since this is a federal deal how about US Senators Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan helping ABQ get out from under the thumb of the DOJ?
Even those most critical of APD's past practices seem to agree that after 8 years the monitoring is no longer necessary and may be inhibiting legitimate law enforcement and discouraging police recruitment.
REDISTRICTING CHALLENGE
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| Vasquez |
Meanwhile, former Las Cruces City Councilor Gabe Vasquez remains the only Democratic candidate for the southern congressional seat held by Rep. Yvette Herrell. With the February 1 filing deadline fast approaching, it appears it is going to stay that way.
Vasquez's politics have been called too progressive as the Dems try to recapture that seat. Other names have been floated as possibles but none have taken the bait. After filing day, the next development to watch will be the fund-raising totals of Vasquez and Herrell.
This is the home of New Mexico politics.
(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2022