Rael has been around so long it's hard to believe he's only 65. And the job hasn't aged him much, like it has the many mayors (four) he has served under and shared power with. Unlike them, Rael did his best to fly under the radar as he oversaw 6,000 city employees and a billion dollar budget. He was never a stress junkie but a calming influence who successfully brought people together and often for the greater good.
His early tenure began in 1990 under Mayor Louis Saavedra, the most unpopular mayor in city history, but Rael impressed and soon transitioned to the peripatetic years of first term Mayor Marty Chavez and then into a term under Mayor Jim Baca. He ended an 11 year run as the city's top bureaucrat in 2001.
These were the go-go years of ABQ's modern development. The ABQ BioPark, the airport and convention center expansions, Explora and the new Isotopes Park all were part of Rael's handiwork.
Later, for eight years he managed the controversial Rail Runner but his bureaucratic skills were such he remained unscathed. (Yes, he knows how to keep the trains running on time.)
The one sore spot for Rael and a long list of other city leaders is APD. In 1998 he supervised a new chief brought in from out of town to quell the abuse of force that was happening at the department. It worked for a time but the old issues later resurfaced and remain today.
In his latest incarnation as COO and CAO beginning in 2017 under Mayor Keller, crime has reached new highs and it is the one stain that will stick on Rael's record.
Being the ultimate survivor, the crime wave was a rail that Rael did not touch directly and with force. His leadership skills were missed at a critical time in city history.
Rael, a fluent Spanish speaker who is the son of a Mexican mother and New Mexican father, has been a rock for city mayors who can appear under constant siege in the state's largest city. They could trust him and vent to him without fear of disclosure. And he helped them with often recalcitrant city councilors.
But Rael's sweeping knowledge of government did not translate into public power for himself. He made a run as a Democrat for Lt. Governor as well as Governor but the low-key personality that endeared him to egocentric politicians did not sell with his fellow Democrats.
ABQ government has been known to be mostly scandal free. In the 90's Rael had a dust-up over the airport observation deck build-out with Mayor Chavez and more recently he was found to have violated city policies when he left the scene of a fender-bender. But under his watch the city's reputation nationally as a place to do business was generally solid and generally clean.
What has unfolded in recent years is sad to behold when looking back at those go-go years of Rael when the economy buzzed, ABQ was on the cover of the big biz magazines and crime, always a bugaboo, was not nearly the destructive force it is today.
Rael is the second legendary public service name to call it a career this year. David Abbey, longtime director of the Legislative Finance Committee, being the other. Both men were of their time, serving ably and building a solid foundation for their successors who unlike them look at a future that is more foreboding and uncertain.
THE NEW GAL
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| Sengel |
Sengel, a 30 year NM resident, has experience managing personnel in a large organization, the task that gobbles up much of any city administrator's time and where expertise is essential to effectively navigate the legal mine fields.
Her appointment will require approval from the ABQ City Council.
One area of concern is Sengel's lack of experience dealing with a major police department and one that remains a viper's nest for even the most able administrator (although there has been progress made of late meeting the DOJ mandates).
Sengel may be jarred by the relatively placid waters she leaves behind as the crime wave continues to deliver often unexpected and horrid results that will now be under her watch. And the base politics that are part of a police agency may surprise her as well. (Go ahead, Samantha. Take a look at APD overtime. We dare you).
Hers is a thankless task and one she must be aware could swallow her up as it did Nair. And there is no "how to" manual on crime awaiting her on the clean desk Rael leaves. Most everything tried has failed. But she does have a city that welcomes her to the battle lines and wishes her the good luck she will surely need.
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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2023
(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2023