Now if there were only more of them. 

That was one reaction from Mr. and Mrs. New Mexico as US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the biggest fentanyl bust in US history in which four million fentanyl pills and other drugs and cash were confiscated across five states, including a huge batch of 2.7 million pills in ABQ and another large haul in Santa Fe.

The bust was a rare victory in what long ago was called the war on drugs but has turned into more of a scuffle as the Sinola Cartel and others have come to dominate the trafficking with little resistance. 

New Mexicans have seen the deadly consequences close up with a large swath of ABQ's SE Heights turned over to drugs and crime. There is now the ubiquitous sight of drug addicts nodding off in the streets in the middle of the day and worse. (Here's a video of that life from producer Pablito Herrera.)

Santa Fe is a relative newcomer to the fentanyl scourge but the big bust caught a drug dealer there with 110,000 fentanyl pills and $80,000 in cash in his Rufina Street house, again sending the message that the capital city has more than a nuisance on their hands.

Many argue the war on the cartels is futile and that drug and behavioral health treatment (and housing) will solve the problem. But that ignores a salient point--the less drugs available the less that can be consumed and that will have an impact on the rate and severity of addiction--and thus crime and homelessness. An all of the above approach--including aggressive law enforcement--is vital. 

And making this a Trump-Biden issue gets us nowhere.

The state has seen a drop in overdose deaths but drug usage remains very high. The drug naloxone has much to do with that lower death rate.

A recent WalletHub report pointed to New Mexico as having the highest rate of drug use among teenagers, a report questioned by some experts but there is no doubt that it is high and fertile ground for the next generation to be captured by the cartels.

Consistent interdiction by law enforcement is essential if ABQ and now Santa Fe are going to be cleaned up. The key word being consistent and not just one headline grabbing bust every few years.

The five state bust announced this week revived memories of one in ABQ in September 2022 by the FBI and that netted one million fentanyl pills. But there was little follow-up.

If New Mexico wants to dig out of the drug mess it must lose the prevailing cynicism that the "war on drugs" is an antiquated notion and that a soft touch alone will stop the death and dysfunction. It won't.

CAMPAIGN CHATTER

Drugs and crime will be an agenda leader in the race for ABQ mayor this year but first the 11 candidates who have filed for the post must gather enough signatures to make the ballot and qualify for public financing or raise private money. To do that they have hired the hired guns.

Former US Attorney Alex Uballez signed Roadrunner Strategies consultants Dylan McArthur and Brandon Padilla to run his campaign, but in a sudden switch they are already gone. 

Roadrunner says the firm was not fired but left because there was an unspecified "potential conflict of interest" and that they wish Uballez "all the best." Of course, that didn't stop the competing campaigns from some negative whispering about the early personnel turnover. 

This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.        

Diamondback Energy, the largest independent oil producer in the Permian, has called the peak of oil production there. 

The Permian has propelled America to become the world's leading oil producer while filling New Mexico's coffers with previously unimaginable sums of money, making possible a massive increase in the state budget and sustaining the economies of SE NM.

Because of the long oil shale boom, the state's various Permanent Funds have exploded to $60 billion in a state with a population that for years has hovered around 2 million.

More on the Diamondback prediction amid falling oil prices:

The largest independent oil producer in the Permian Basin says production has likely peaked in America’s prolific shale fields and will decline in the months ahead after crude prices plummeted. The Texas company trimmed its own full-year production forecast and said to investors that it expects onshore oil rigs across the entire US industry to drop by almost 10% by the end of the second quarter and fall further in the months after. 

“This will have a meaningful impact on our industry and our country,” Diamondback Chief Executive Officer Travis Stice wrote. “We believe we are at a tipping point for U.S. oil production.” The outlook
from Diamondback, one of the industry’s most prominent producers, marks a key shift for expectations within the sector. Before oil prices started plunging last month, most banks and research firms had forecast US shale production would grow this year and next before plateauing later in the decade. The Permian, they said, was apt to peak in the late 2020s or early 2030s depending on prices. 

This doesn't mean that New Mexico is about to experience a financial crash as it has previously when oil prices and production have cratered. But it does signal that the go-go budget years are history and that the amount of money coming from the Permian is beginning what will be a long but slow decline.

Enormous surpluses already set aside give the state plenty of breathing room to deal with this new energy paradigm. Also, the state recently raised certain royalty rates for oil and gas production from 20 percent to 25 percent.

Unlike previous booms fracking has been employed to get more oil out of the ground. It has been less expensive than other methods. New oil wells, however, will be more expensive to develop because of higher costs and will be less profitable at lower oil prices.

Energy royalties and taxes have come to finance 40 percent of the state budget which for the next fiscal is $10.8 billion. That's about 75 percent higher than the $6.2 billion budget approved in 2018, seven years ago.

One noticeable impact of that plenty has been the expansive funding for early childhood education and subsequent improvement in the state's rankings. Critics however, continue to point to the state's overall low ratings in key areas despite the massive cash influx.

ALSO WATCHING. . .

Other developments the econ watches are keeping an eye on are tourism and federal spending, 

Tourism, a cornerstone of the state economy, especially Santa Fe and the north, is about to take a hit from the decline in international travel. Canada backing away from the USA over policy and nervousness from overseas tourists about coming here will be felt this summer on the Plazas of Santa Fe and Taos. 

Then there's the state's crucial federal funding as the Trump administration looks everywhere for budget cuts. Uncertainty is the order of the day. While the national labs--Sandia and Los Alamos--appear to be a safe harbor (if there is such a thing) other federal agencies and programs have more exposure to possible cuts. If permanent NM cuts will come and when is up in the air as the DC chaos continues.

This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.       

KRQE-TV attempted to get an explanation from the Federal Court and the US Attorney's office on why the numerous plea bargain hearings for APD officers snared in the DWI bribery investigation are not being publicized. That's so the station and other media can show (and question) the disgraced cops and their attorneys entering the Federal building and also listen in on the plea hearings where the public is allowed but cameras are not. 

The explanation offered may be disconcerting to open government advocates:

Chief Deputy of the U.S. District Court, Heather Small, explained that because prosecutors are filing the charging document in conjunction with the officers’ plea, the court can’t assign a case number to establish the officers’ case until the plea hearing actually occurs. . .According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. . .the people admitting to their roles in the scheme have skipped the judge and jury, waiving their right to a grand jury as part of the plea agreement. That means the charges aren’t filed until the plea happens, so there is nothing for the public to view in court databases before the officers appear in court.

"Nothing for the public to view in court databases?"

Perhaps the Chief Deputy and the public information officer at the USA's office can make hearings that are scheduled on short notice known to the media and other interested parties by simple phone calls or messages? That's an old school "database" that works quite well. 

The lack of coverage of the hearings has raised suspicions that unlike other federal defendants, the APD bribery cops are being given special treatment.

Soon the sentencing hearings will begin for the guilty officers. Those should be in the database beforehand and the public's right to know (and see) not blocked.

BACKING THE CHIEF

Councilor Peña

After that roasting given to APD Chief Harold Medina by City Councilor and mayoral candidate Louis Sanchez at last Thursday's meeting and which we blogged of yesterday, here is a rebuttal made at that same meeting by Klarissa Peña, the senior member of the nine member council who represents southwest District 3:

I want to commend you for all the work that you’ve done. You’ve been asked to reduce crime, you reduced crime. You’ve asked to get DOJ out of the city Albuquerque. You’re in the process of getting them out. You implemented speeding cameras which has helped to reduce speeding, although it’s still a persistent problem. We put ShotSpotter throughout the city. That’s another tool that we’ve been able to utilize to identify guns and there’s people that have been caught as a result. We did just had a community conversation that you were at. You were at some community events that I was at recently. It was just a small survey but it was done for District 3. The people who responded to that survey said that they feel safe in their community and that they feel that law enforcement is responding to their concerns.  

Councilor Peña, elected in 2013, is seeking a fourth term this year. She is being challenged by retired Navy officer Chris Sedillo. 

Peña has endorsed Mayor Keller who is seeking a third term at the November election. Her full remarks on Medina can be seen here at the 4 hour 57 mark. 

As the mayoral race heats up, we remain intent on providing our traditional fair and balanced coverage.

RICH KID?

Reader Diane Ochoa comes with some spicy remarks on the expected GOP gubernatorial candidacy of former Lt, Governor John Sanchez:

A Trump supported candidate for governor of New Mexico? That's laughable especially one with a reputation as a vendido rich kid. All I can respond with is please AG Raul Torrez run for the Democratic nomination for Governor ! You will win in a landslide. Put a little pizazz into the election with all these boring candidates--both Dems and Reps--that are putting me to sleep with their silly antics in their campaigns. 

But what do you really think, Diane?

This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.        

Medina and Sanchez

The caustic attack from ABQ City Councilor Louis Sanchez on APD Chief Harold Medina at last Thursday's Council meeting may have been overly personal by accusing the chief of "disrespecting" the councilors but if this marks the beginning of a passionate debate over the future of policing in crime-struggling ABQ, it will be seen as a nasty but necessary confrontation. (Video here.)

Sanchez, a former cop and one of 11 candidates for mayor in the November mayoral election, understands law enforcement more than most. But his harsh attacks on Medina for wearing casual clothes while addressing the Council and berating him for not "consulting" the panel on the Governor's deployment of the National Guard here were a bit over the top. 

Still. it could be a starting point for something meaningful for the campaign ahead. We asked APD watchers where the candidates should head. 

--It's a given that Medina's usefulness as chief is on its last legs. The city needs to look beyond him by extracting a firm commitment from Mayor Keller that--if reelected--Medina will retire or be replaced --and end the chief's game-playing about his future. In other words, a drop dead date for Medina to leave is essential. 

--The 30 year old APD DWI scandal needs to be woven into the campaign debate and examined for what it reveals about the cultural problems that have made APD into a sometimes unmanageable morass. 

--Ditto for the over decade-long oversight role of APD by the US Department of Justice that has had little discernible impact on APD. 

--The candidates need to declare whether they will seek to change APD culture by going outside the department (and outside the state) for a new chief. Upon his first election Mayor Keller launched a national search for a chief only to fall back on the APD culture and insider leadership which then saw the Mayor's power over the rogue agency sucked away.

A thorough house cleaning of APD is obviously overdue. But many of the candidates say they support adding more police to the culturally-rotted agency as the primary solution. They are also taking the campaign into a simplistic "back the badge" mentality when the need for a deep cleaning has never been more apparent.

Sanchez may have missed the mark some in his heated argument with Medina but if his diatribe fuels a no-holds-barred campaign debate over the future of crime-fighting--thus the future of the city--the Councilor gets a pass. 

 ET TU, SANTA FE?

Mayor Webber

If we were first to ring the bell and signal to Santa Fe that they are starting down the path of no return when it comes to preventing their city from becoming a gun and drug infested burg similar to ABQ, so be it. The latest: