Officer Drobik

The heat is on Mayor Keller and APD Chief Mike Geier to get rid of Public Information Officer Simon Drobik after it was revealed he pulled in nearly $193,000 in annual salary. That makes Drobik, whose visage has become well-known to TV news viewers because of the constant crime coverage, the highest paid employee for the City of ABQ.

The Civilian Police Oversight Commission (CPOA) found him in violation of city rules for calculating his overtime and other payments and is calling for his ouster. The ABQ Report, which broke the original story about the immense amount of overtime claimed by Drobik, is piling on:

If Mayor Tim Keller and Albuquerque Police Chief Mike Geier don't fire officer Simon Drobik they will support and defend sleaze and corruption at APD. Human Robot Officer Simon Drobik made $192,973 last year, making him the highest paid city government employee.  Drobik put in for 2,809 hours of OT in 2018. Drobik billed the taxpayers for 5,063 hours of work in 2018. To accept and reward corruption, or to punish it immediately so it does doesn't spread and become a routine way of doing business?

Mayor Keller's office says he cannot be involved in the firing of a classified employee such as Drobik, but Mayors can and have found ways of making their feelings known on such matters.

Former BernCo Chief Deputy District Attorney Pete Dinelli, writing for his web site, questions why the TV news departments that made Drobik famous in the community have shied away or ignored the Drobik overtime story and the call for his firing. What's up with that, newshounds? Drobik is nearly as recognizable as the anchor people.

Also on the PIO front, a couple of newsroom veterans have found new homes in state government. Thom Cole, formerly of the New Mexican, is writing the "propaganda" for the General Services Department and former high-profile KOAT-TV news anchor Marisa Maez has signed on as the PIO for the Dept. of Transportation.

MONEY ACTION 

Republican Yvette Herrell wasted no time after losing her bid for the southern congressional district to Democrat Xochitl Torres Small last November. In January she was already an announced candidate for the 2020 GOP nomination. In the first quarter she reports raising $200,000 and now has $285,000 in cash on hand.

Torres Small’s campaign reported $441,000 in donations and about $519,000 cash on hand at the end of the first quarter.

The issue here is Herrell. Some Republicans remain nervous about her chances and doubly so now that Torres Small appears more vulnerable than just a few months ago. That's because of the immigration crisis at the border and the congresswoman's challenge in threading the needle on the complex and fiery issue.

In '18 Herrell refused to debate Torres Small and refused to answer TV attacks over her alleged self-dealing with the state government while she served as an Alamogordo legislator. As we've blogged, the nervous R's are casting their eyes at Claire Chase from a wealthy SE NM oil family as a possible GOP hopeful. But she has given no signals.

A 61 year old GOP Las Cruces businessman, Chris Mathys, has announced a run, but is not expected to be able to raise substantial funds.

There is no recent record of a losing general election congressional candidate in New Mexico coming back and winning the second time. Democrat Richard Romero tried it in 2004 after losing the ABQ seat to Republican Heather Wilson in 2002 but lost to her again in 2004.

But it may be too late to have Herrell step aside or be challenged. She is off and running and the National R's seem to think even a somewhat damaged Republican can take back the seat given the higher turnout expected in the conservative SE in a presidential election year.

NORTHERN ACTION

There are no FEC money reports yet for the northern congressional seat being vacated by BRL because there were no candidates in the first quarter. But there should be plenty to come this quarter. Already two Dems have announced for the nomination with more more lining up.

THE BOTTOM LINES

And these really are, well, bottom lines today. . .

Santa Fe is finally getting a water closet on Water Street in the restroom starved downtown:

Finding bathrooms around the plaza has been a challenge for years, even prompting one business owner to propose an app to help people find businesses with bathrooms available. Now, thanks to $550,000 from the legislature, the city plans to build a restroom near the Water Street garage. The preliminary design includes 22 stalls and a family restroom. Construction is expected to start in the fall.

Here's to no more bursting bladders among the tourists. We were about to invest in a diaper store up there.

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If Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham's approval rating is only at 41 percent after winning election with 57 percent of the vote last November, it's a big story indeed. That's why we're still scratching our heads over that Morning Consult Poll that was taken online among registered voters from January 1 thru March 31 that had her at that meager 41% level, with 33% unfavorable and 27% in the "never heard of" category.

Political pros are cautious. The state's top pollster is Brian Sanderoff of Research and Polling who has been doing highly accurate surveys for the ABQ Journal and numerous private clients for well over 30 years. We asked him for his analysis of the poll and wound up in the polling weeds to weed out the truth:

Joe, I am curious about the 27% "never heard of" that they report. The Morning Consult methodology says it's actually respondents who say, "don't know/no opinion to their survey question. It seems high to me.

Doing internet surveys or robo calls, either way they would be forced to show the respondent the "don't know" category. Conversely, on scientific phone surveys with live professional interviewers, we would just ask whether the respondent approves or disapproves of an elected official, and allow for a volunteered response of "don't know." If Morning Consult shows the "don't know" response as a response category that the respondent sees, it will inflate the don’t knows and thereby reduce the percentage of those who approve and disapprove.

Also, they say they weight the polling sample by various demographics to make it more representative, but they don't weight on party affiliation which is the most important variable to ensure a representative and accurate sample. I would want to know the distribution of the sample by party affiliation. They don't report it, but they do show the margins of error by party affiliation. Without boring you with the math, the sample may undercount Democrats. 

Okay, we digested all of that slowly. We get Sanderoff's point. The reason for MLG's low favorable rating in this poll--in contrast to her Election Night winning percentage--is likely not due to news events, her actions or voters waiting to see what she's all about. It's likely in large part due to an undersampling of those most likely to support her--namely Democrats. That doesn't mean she's necessarily knocking the ball out of the park but neither does it mean she's whiffing.

For a better and more fuller picture we have to wait for a poll that is conducted with live interviews, reaches both cellphone and landlines and accurately weights the sample by party affiliation.

IF YOU DISAGREE

If you think the poll has it right, MLG critic Silvio Dell'Angela is your man. He says:

The Governor's allies have rushed to try to discredit the poll, but the fact remains that Michelle Lujan Grisham has pushed through a radical liberal agenda that isn't consistent with her campaign messages and is very unpopular not only with Republicans, but also conservative Democrats.

OVER THE TOP OVERTIME

What do you think would happen to you if you violated the overtime polices where you work 51 times? Rest assured, it would be more than ten lashes with the blog's wet noodle. But not at APD where abuse of overtime has been a problem for over 30 years. The officers and command protect it like an abused doberman snarling at used car lot customers. Which leads us to. . .

Officer Simon Drobik, the public information officer, who incredibly ended up being the highest paid city employee last year by pulling down immense amounts of overtime and a paycheck of over $192,000. The Civilian Police Oversight Agency (CPOA) says his violations were so egregious that Drobik should be fired.

But not only won't be fired he won't be disciplined. Chief Mike Geier and Mayor Keller want to reform the overtime system which they say is subject to abuse and was mangled by the previous administration. Not good enough, cried the critics. They said Drobik getting off reveals much about Gier and the Mayor. First, retired APD Sergent and APD watchdog Dan Klein:

Do we really think APD command is interested in doing anything more than covering the ass of a favored friend? Drobik offering to return his comp time is like a burglar offering to return the stolen goods. Geier and Keller are completely ignoring the CPOA investigation that found someone in APD manually overrode the payroll system for Drobik. The computer knew what was happening was wrong. That’s why a human had to manually change things. If that isn’t enough to call for an outside forensic criminal investigation into this matter then Geier and Keller will never look into allegations of corruption within APD. . . Taxpayers need to hold on, their money is being squandered.

Now a Senior Alligator who came on to dry land to take this one on:

APD is the tail that wags the dog. The last Mayor who attempted to stand up and reform the department was Jim Baca. But he was elected with only 28% of the vote, spent most of his term focused on “Downtown Revitalization” and was crushed in his re-election bid for. APD doesn’t answer to anybody, including this Mayor. It’s not just criminals who can make money in the midst of ABQ’s rampant crime epidemic. So can a lot of law-enforcement officers. First and foremost, Simon Drobik, APD’s “untouchable” spokesman. Membership definitely has its privileges.

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TLF

Valerie Plame

Is Teresa Leger Fernandez closing the deal in the seven way race for the northern Dem congressional nomination? A poll sponsored by Emily's List points in that direction, but because turnout in this pandemic year is cloudy the other top tier candidate, Valerie Plame, can't be written off.

Clarity Campaign Labs polled the district May 20-21 and contacted 661 "likely Democratic voters" with robocalls calls to land lines and in-person calls to cellphones . The poll has TLF opening up a 9 point lead--33-24--over Plame. TLF and Plame have been the major money raisers and TV spenders in the race.

The other candidates trailed badly. Santa Fe County District Attorney Marco Serna managed only 9 percent; State Rep. Joseph Sanchez garnered 7; John Blair polled at 4; Sandoval County Treasurer Laura Montoya received 3 percent and attorney Kyle Tisdale came in at 2. That left 18 percent undecided.

TLF, a native of Las Vegas, NM, showed strength across the board, leading in every major demographic released by the polling firm. With women she beat Plame 35 to 24. With men she won 34 to 29. Her strongest showing was with Native Americans where she scored 40 percent to Plame's 14. TLF has served as counsel to several Native American Tribes.

Hispanics favored TLF 32 to 16.

Plame's best showing was with Anglo voters. TLF polled at 38 percent with them and Plame was close behind at 31 percent.

The problem for Plame, 56, is the district is majority-minority. Hispanics make up 40 percent of  the residents and Native Americans 18 percent and she is not doing well with them. Also, Leger Fernandez, a White House Fellow under President Clinton, has made no major campaign mistakes since blowing her competition out if the water at the Dem Party March preprimary convention. And she has not been subjected to much negative campaigning as the candidates in the crowded field concentrated on their own backyard as TLF steadily gained traction.

The chance for an upset next Tuesday is in the turnout. Every voter received an absentee ballot application due to a NM Supreme Court order so the electorate could be reshaped compared to past primaries. Could is the key word. More likely is that the turnout hews to  more or less traditional  lines and the polling is not far off. The margin of error in the survey is put at 3.76 percent.

ABSENTEE PAINS

This absentee heavy election is not going to be as easy as 1,2,3. There will be problems because of the volume of ballots sent out by elections officials. And here they come, says Northern US Rep. Ben Ray Lujan:

After hearing reports that Santa Fe County residents have faced significant problems in the absentee voting process. . . Ben Ray Luján is asking Secretary of State, Maggie Toulouse Oliver, to extend the deadline for absentee ballots to be counted. . . Luján. . . is requesting that all statewide ballots be counted if they are postmarked by June 2nd, rather than only if they are received by June 2nd.

“. . . There have been concerning reports of delays in receiving and processing absentee ballots, and some ballots that are missing altogether. . . It’s clear that action must be taken to ensure that all voices are safely heard by extending the deadline for counting ballots. Overall, our vote by mail system is working and is providing a critical option for voters to submit ballots by mail or in person. . .

Well, we won't know until after the election if Lujan is right that "the mail system is working." Fears have followed this election that many of the addresses on file with the Secretary of State will prove erroneous. And then there's the issue of counting all those absentees. Will that come off without a hitch in all 33 counties?

RENEWED RIVALRY?

Will they clash again?

An old rival of ABQ Mayor Tim Keller's has his nose under his tent. State Auditor Brian Colón, who ran for mayor against Keller in 2017, is now State Auditor and he doesn't like what he is seeing at Keller's troubled APD:

Colón says his office has been conducting an ongoing probe into overtime practices at the Albuquerque Police Department and that his report could be complete in a month or so. . . APD's overtime king, officer Simon Drobik, has racked up $82,000 in pay for the first four months of this year. Drobik's base salary is $31.50 an hour, and by our calculations, more than $50,000 of what he has made so far this year has come from overtime. Drobik is on track to make $247,000 this year.

Way too much overtime is a decades-long systemic problem at APD but the Drobik incident took it to new levels and is a political vulnerability for Keller who is seeking re-election next year. Meanwhile, friends of Colón say he is eyeing a run for attorney general in 2022. A lot of ambition with those two that could collide.

One other thing: If Colón's findings are disturbing does he send them over to BernCo District Attorney Raul Torrez for his consideration? The same Raul Torrez who is preparing his own run for the Democratic nomination for attorney general in 2022?

And so go the ever twisting plot lines of La Politica.

Why would a group of APD DWI officers set up a criminal scheme in which they accepted bribes from defense attorneys in exchange for agreeing to not show for DWI trials thus insuring the cases were dismissed? 

Ex-Chief Gallegos

Talk about being one step ahead of the sheriff. Just as a major overtime controversy (or possible scandal) erupts at the ABQ Fire Department Chief Gene Gallegos turns in his walking papers. 

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Carlos Sandoval-Smith (Journal)

The brazen in your face corruption revealed in audio recordings made last June by a DWI suspect interacting with an APD officer and a paralegal has sent the city back on its heels yet again and wondering if the decades-long rot at the department will finally be extracted.

The DWI scandal, on simmer for a while, exploded with renewed force when Carlos Sandoval-Smith, arrested for DWI, released audio recordings that detailed one method APD DWI officers allegedly employed to extort money from desperate defendants.

Leon Howard, Deputy Director of ACLU NM, summed up the city's reaction:

It’s shocking and quite frankly disgusting.

The taped revelations came in the midst of the bizarre news of an auto accident involving APD Chief Harold Medina who spun like a high-speed top to explain how and why he ran a red light, slammed into a mustang seriously injuring the driver all the while surveying a homeless camp in the SE Heights from an APD vehicle in which his wife was riding shotgun.

The outlandishness of the accident was appropriate to the moment, reflecting the chaos and a confounded public that has watched for over a month as command and control of the city's police force seemed to slip away like a handful of sand.

AN OUTRAGEOUS BETRAYAL

The Sandoval-Smith recordings reveal an outrageous betrayal of the public trust and stain every law-abiding law officer in the city. His contact with APS went like this:

Officer Joshua Montano stops Sandoval-Smith on suspicion of drunk driving, conducts tests, takes his Apple Watch and bracelet and has him booked. Days later the arresting officer calls Smith to tell him his jewelry was misplaced but he can get the items back from an attorney friend of Montaño's. Smith goes to the law offices of Tom Clear where he encounters paralegal Rick Mendez who tells him (on tape) that the guaranteed way to avoid a DWI conviction is to hire Clear for $8,500. He can even make payments if he likes. 

The deal as we now know is that Montaño will not show up in court and the case will be dismissed. Sandoval-Smith did not take the offer, hired a public defender and the case was dismissed but not before he notified the Feds of the scheme.

This scenario or similar ones have apparently played out for years, right under the noses of APD and city leadership. Now the question is will the wheels of justice crush the corruption of today and inhibit it from occurring tomorrow. 

WHAT'S NEXT?

We called on one of of our Legal Beagles of long experience for details and analysis on how the FBI's ongoing investigation into the DWI scheme may unfold from here:

Joe, It appears the status of the corruption case is that the Feds are still gathering evidence. My experience is that the Feds are much more cautious than NM in preferring charges. They have a very high conviction rate and don’t want to see it go under the national average of 90-95%. Also, they are looking to expand the circle of defendants. 

One of the reasons for this is the more defendants, the more likely it is defendants will roll to save their own necks. I know they would be extremely interested in finding not only more law enforcement (and expanded to more agencies) but in an ideal world more lawyers who engaged in this corruption.

We can expect an indictment in the very near future, but of whom is not certain. Indicting attorney Tom Clear, alone, would not accomplish the goal of cleaning house at APD, but indicting him along with a couple of other unindicted co-conspirators and, more importantly, others as yet unknown would cause a great shudder and could have the effect of creating a rush to make deals with the US Attorney.

This is a non-stop topic of discussion in the local legal community. There is, of course, a certain amount of schadenfreude in the hearts of defense lawyers who do not stoop to the illegal methods used to gain DWI acquittals. 

Good stuff and the kind you get only here. Thanks Beagle.

THE GREAT HOPE

The hope in the Duke City is that this will be the scandal to end all APD scandals. Readers can be forgiven if they approach that hope with a healthy dose of skepticism as seen in this email to your blog:  

Corruption starts as a tiny weed. If ignored it takes over your garden. Welcome to APD. Since the evidence room scandal under Mayor Martin Chavez, police chiefs, mayors, district attorneys and the attorney general have just ignored corruption. 

The Taser pay to play scandal under APD Chief Ray Schultz? The DA and AG did nothing. Mayor Berry allowed Schultz to retire and the corruption was ignored. 

--Seven government audits confirming the potential for corruption with APD's payroll were met with silence from chiefs, mayors, the DA and AG. 

--An APD public information officer (Simon Drobik) was investigated and found to be taking a taxpayer check during the same work hours he was working overtime for another entity. This caused the state auditor to refer it to the attorney general. What happened? Nothing. 

All of the chiefs, mayors, district attorneys and attorney generals are all complicit because they allowed the weed of corruption to grow.  If these new allegations involving DWI arrests are true all of them again helped to cause it by not weeding the garden.

And don't forget the asleep at the wheel city councilors over the years. Still, hope springs when it comes to cleaning up the corruption--if not eternally--at least once in a while.

ANTISEMITIC DOG WHISTLE? 

Zuckerberg

Several readers detected a note of antisemitism in a quote we had on the Thursday blog from a columnist writing in the Rio Grande Sun. The comments strike a chord. Here's Michel Hays, a commentator who sent this to us and his email list: 

In his February 22, 2024, issue of New Mexico Politics with Joe Monahan, Mr. Monahan included an extensive passage about Progressive influence on legislation in this year’s legislative session. It reads: 

Conservative columnist Tom Wright, writing in the Rio Grande Sun, ponders the power of progressive Democrats: 

New Mexico has a Democrat majority, but most Democrats here are not progressives. One must ask, why was there so much progressive legislation being considered in this session? Progressive politicians get elected here because big money, from outside the state, funds their campaigns. Super-PACs funded by the likes of George Soros, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Bloomberg and other elites with power agendas, make sure their handpicked and groomed candidates get elected and support their outside agenda. . . A truly local politician, funded only by locals stands little chance of being elected in a super-PAC funded race. 

Hays responds: 

What I noticed is “the likes of.” The phrase calls attention to “George Soros, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Bloomberg” as Jews. They make up an elite differentiated from “other elites” (emphasis added) and are associated with “power agendas” [understood to be hidden]. Thus, Mr. Wright insinuates the old antisemitic canard about Jews with their wealth controlling governments. Mr. Monahan gives credibility to this canard by including it in his blog on New Mexico politics. It is unfortunate if the likes of these columnists believe it and repeat it to others. I prefer to think of it as evidence of antisemitism latent in New Mexicans, most of whom are unaware of it in themselves and unaware of it even when it emerges and reveals itself, as in these instances. 

Reader John Campbell writes: 

Would you ask Tom Wright if he can think of any "elites with power agendas" who use massive wealth to pull strings from the shadows but aren't of Jewish descent? I found it a little weird to see that kind of view featured uncritically on your blog, but maybe that was my mistake. 

Insightful comments and the points are well-taken in this corner. 

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Here comes the judge! Well, not so quickly in federal court in New Mexico. A judicial insider provides insight on why we still have a federal judge shortage, even as the big caseload "drowns" the system. Are New Mexico's two US Senators "slow-rolling" the appointment of new judges? Read on. . .

The District of New Mexico is historically among the busiest federal district courts in the country, in large part because of the high number of drug and immigration cases, and the Bernalillo County District Attorney has been increasingly referring criminal cases for federal, instead of state, prosecution. “We’re drowning" is how in September U.S District Judge Martha Vasquez described the heavy caseload and judge vacancies.

Unfortunately, in the five months since then, nothing much has changed. At that time there were three judicial vacancies. The President had nominated Judge Kea Riggs of Roswell for an Albuquerque vacancy, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Sweazea for a Las Cruces vacancy. The third vacancy, in Albuquerque, was still in the application process. Judge Riggs assumed office on December 31st, which now leaves two judicial vacancies here. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts considers these vacancies a “judicial emergency.”

The second nominee, Sweazea, has since withdrawn his name from consideration after receiving a phone call from Senator Tom Udall’s office informing him that New Mexico’s two senators would no longer support his nomination—despite having submitted Sweazea’s name to the President on their approved list of potential nominees.

So, that leaves New Mexico—one of the busiest U.S. District courts in the country—two judges down and in the middle of a “judicial emergency.” And because of the secretive and confusing nature of federal judicial appointments, the citizens of New Mexico are left in the dark with no real way of getting a straight answer on what is being done to get us out of this emergency. There are only two people in this state that hold the answers: Senators Udall and Martin Heinrich.

Our two Senators have been engaged in an application process for the Albuquerque vacancy since May 6th of last year and presumably have developed a list of names, but have yet to send the names to the President. The application process for the other vacancy—the Las Cruces vacancy, following Sweazea’s withdrawal—is likely back at square one. 

Because there are no Republicans involved in the process, and because the general public typically has limited knowledge on what goes into the nomination process, Senators Udall and Heinrich are able to slow-roll this nomination process—likely in an effort to hold the two vacancies open for the next year with the expectation that there will be a new Democratic president—without answering why they are putting politics over the safety of our communities and placing party loyalty over helping a drowning U.S. District Court.

I urge you to reach out to the Senators’ offices to find out where the application process stands and I also urge you to ask point blank if the Senators intend to hold the judicial vacancies open until next year—through delay or otherwise—at which time, the process would have to begin anew, and the people of our state would have to continue to live with a “judicial emergency/' New Mexicans deserve to know if our Senators are playing politics with our safety and with our future. 

Interesting and important insights there. Okay, Senators Udall and  Heinrich, why shouldn't you be taken to the woodshed over this? Inquiring minds want to know.

THE APD FADE

Geier and Keller (Journal)

What's with all the unanswered questions surrounding the many murders in ABQ? That's the question this Senior Alligator tackles:

Something is very wrong at APD and City Hall. Possible murders are faded by Mayor Keller and Chief Geier. Clearly they are afraid the murder numbers for 2019 are much higher than they originally reported. They waited until February 2020 to admit that 4 year old James Dunklee was murdered in December. Now we discover that 2 deaths (Adam Perry and Lawson Reeves) who were found dead in November are possibly murders too! And how many times will we see media reports of the murder victims families complaining that APD will not tell them anything, have not solved their case or that APD has arrested an innocent person? 

Albuquerque is falling apart because of crime and not one of our elected officials or chief of police are willing to answer hard questions about APD not doing it’s job to protect the citizens. APD's Homicide Unit has a horrible clearance rate. There are hundreds of APD cold cases that will never be worked. Keller and Geier need to be honest with the citizens. There is a problem at APD Homicide. Geier is going to walk away next year with a pension of over $150,000 per year! He should at least answer some tough questions before he leaves.

Where is the city council? They seem to be ghosts who “know nothing, do nothing and say nothing.” The media needs to start hounding them to do their damn jobs and start overseeing APD. 

The council should demand that Geier appear for questions at the next council meeting and demand to know why Geier ignored the Civilian Oversight Commission recommendation to terminate PIO Simon Drobik. 

--Demand to know why Geier has not opened an investigation into the false arrest of Gisele Estrada (the 17 year old falsely accused of murder)? 

--Demand to know why the Dunklee murder wasn’t reported as a murder until 3 months later? 

--Demand to know what the status is of the Perry and Reeves deaths and why APD won’t release information? 

--Demand to know why the death at 219 Utah NE (November 2019) was not investigated as a murder and why Chief Geier and his staff were consulted before the decision not to make it a murder investigation was done? 

--Demand to know why APD  won't allow BCSO and NMSP to assist in murder investigations? 

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