On October 24, District 7 Albuquerque City Councilor Tammy Feibelkorn sent an email out to as many voters in her District as she could. The email is a truly amazing and a very nasty exhibition of gaslighting.
Written in bold black on red were the words “VOTER ALERT” followed in bold by the words:
DIRTY MONEY ENTERED CITY COUNCIL RACES THIS WEEK
NEGATIVE ADS COMING FROM REALTOR’ PAC
Following is the text that followed:
“Friends,
We are running a clean campaign. We put in the work to qualify for public financing, which means we don’t ask for or accept any campaign contributions. We are proud to be running a campaign powered by the people – not big donors!
But dirty money entered my race this week. The Real Estate Community Political Action Committee (GAAR RECPAC) has maxed out direct donations to my opponent, and their Political Action Committee is armed with nearly $250,000 for attack ads.
It’s important that we let people know that deceptive advertising and an onslaught of throwing dirty money around will dominate the final weeks of the election. Don’t be fooled! Take a close look at the “paid for” on any ads or mailers you see. Those paid for by Albuquerque Coalition for Transformation and National Association of Realtors Fund are big money donors trying desperately to keep the City Council conservative and MAGA-leaning. And it’s no wonder—the National Association of Realtors has a history of redlining, opposing affordable housing, and violating antitrust regulations to artificially inflate commissions.
This PAC is coming after me for a very simple reason: I’m an effective policy maker who has made significant progress towards things that these big corporations don’t want like access to reproductive health care, tenant protections, supporting fair wages, and climate resilience. I consider their opposition a badge of honor.
Any candidate who takes their money and gets their support is NOT someone we want on Albuquerque City Council.
During the final two weeks of the campaign, please continue to support real Democratic candidates in every district. We can’t afford to be complacent in the face of so much money. Show up to canvass, sign up to make phone calls, and get those yard signs out to show others that we will not be silenced by dirty money and greedy corporations that put business as usual before serving the people.
Onward,
Tammy
FIEBELKORN’S THIRD CAMPAING MAILER
Recently City Councilor Tammy Feibelkorn mailed out her third campaign mailer. Using what appears to be cursive handwriting in all capital letters, with the first sentence highlighted in yellow, it boldly proclaims this:
MY PLAN FOR RELIEF FROM HIGH MONTHLY COSTS:
REDUCE MONTHLY UTILITY AND TRANSPORTATION COSTS
BUILD MORE AFFORDABLE HOUSING ESPECIALLY FOR RENTERS AND FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYERS
FIGHT CORPORATE PRICE-GOUGING FROM THE GROCERY STORE TO THE GAS PUMP
CREATE NEW, HIGHER-WAGE JOBS MORE JOB TRAINING,
AND SUPPORT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
JAEMES SHANLEY RESPONDS
In response to Feibelkorn’s October 24 email and her 3rd flyer, Jaemes Shanley emailed the following to District 7 voters:
What started as an effort to help my neighborhood and the wider community of my part of Albuquerque has blossomed into a grass-roots Write-in campaign for City Council, to bring health and vitality back to our city. One week out from election day, we continue to gain strength and support.
One of the reasons we know our campaign is gaining traction is our opponent, Tammy Fiebelkorn, has decided to attack our supporters.
Incumbents, especially if challenged by a Write-in candidate, rarely mention their opponent or their efforts unless they are worried the challenger is gaining steam. So, by all accounts, Tammy is growing concerned.
And so she should, as we draw attention to her failed leadership and the worsening results for our city of poorly thought-out policies and support for failed initiatives and programs (like the Gateway System).
Now, she has decided to stoop to attacking not me, but my supporters. This is bullying pure and simple. Why not debate your opponent, rather than attacking private individuals?
Throughout her term Tammy has earned a reputation for refusing to engage with entire segments of our community impacted by her sponsored or supported Ordinances and Resolutions. Now that we’re in the middle of an election campaign and she’s in trouble, her answer is to attack those whom she chose throughout her term to ignore.
Specifically, she is attacking realtors, property managers, and even developers who are supporting me, because I’ve taken the time to listen to their concerns, as she should have done in the first place. She chooses, in an email, to denigrate them with absurd mischaracterization and irrelevance. That is not representative leadership.
Say “NO” to politicians who bully concerned citizens, and say “YES” to change.
I am not going to produce a fanciful wish list and offer it as “MY PLAN FOR RELIEF FROM HIGH MONTHLY COSTS” as Fibelkorn has done. In what she calls her “Plan” she gives no identified action, to reduce monthly costs over which Albuquerque City Council has zero control or influence.
I will work ceaselessly to deliver practical effective solutions to the problems that worry and alarm all of us (homelessness, public and property safety, urban decay) which City Council DOES have the power to influence, and even direct if necessary.
Albuquerque does not just need a renaissance; it deserves one. It can only come with engaged, thoughtful, and responsive leadership that listens and learns…from the entire community.
If Albuquerque was a better and healthier city today than it was four years ago, I would not be running for City Council. On November 4th, the voting citizens of Albuquerque will rightfully determine if they prefer the status quo or a pivot toward real progress. The only “VOTER ALERT” that should be going out to them is please get to the polls and make your voice heard.
When you do, please write in “JAEMES SHANLEY” for City Council District 7.
Respectfully,
Jaemes Shanley
Write-in Candidate for District 7 City Council
505 352-4509
campaign FB page – https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579197215877
campaign website – https://shanley4d7abq.us/
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
Fiebelkorn’s third mailer announcing here PLAN FOR RELIEF FROM HIGH MONTHLY COSTS is an embarrassment. She sounds and acts like she is running for federal office. Her so called plan is nothing more than an ego driven wish list involving issues that she has no control over as a city councilor.
Feibelkorn’s October 24 email constitutes a very nasty example of gaslighting. Her email is grossly misleading and contain numerous lies to disparage her write in opponent Jaemes Shanley in an effort to win an election. Feibelkorns most egregious and inflammatory statement in her email is a bald face lie and it is this:
“I’m an effective policy maker who has made significant progress towards things that these big corporations don’t want like access to reproductive health care, tenant protections, supporting fair wages, and climate resilience. … Any candidate who takes their money and gets their support is NOT someone we want on Albuquerque City Council.”
Simply put, Tammy Feibelkorn has been a complete failure as a policy maker. She has had ZERO impact and ZERO influence on the issues of “access to reproductive health care, tenant protections, supporting fair wages, and climate resilience” as she proclaims. It is she who is the epitome of someone we do not want on the City council.
First term City Councilor Tammy Feibelkorn is highly unpopular within City Council District 7 because of her sponsorship or support of controversial major legislation that has failed to be enacted by the city council during her four-year tenure and her advocacy of a personal agenda. She is also highly unpopular because of the way she treats and offends her constituents.
FEIBELKORN’S FAILED LEGISLATIVE AGENDA
Within the first six months of her term, Tammy Feibelkorn focused on gerrymandering her district to exclude predominantly Republican voters to ensure her reelection. She wanted to include in her district the Nob Hill area of the city which is highly progressive Democrat. Her gerrymandering effort failed. The city council voted NO on Feibelkorn’s redistricting map.
Fiebelkorn is a major proponent and staunch supporter of “Safe Outdoor Spaces” which are city sponsored managed homeless encampments with 40 designated spaces for tents that allows for upwards of 50 people, require hand washing stations, toilets and showers, require a management plan, 6 foot fencing and social services offered. Fiebelkorn voted for new city zoning laws that allows Safe Outdoor Spaces in all 9 City Council Districts. Fiebelkorn sponsored legislation that failed that would have empowered the City Planning Department to unilaterally approve all Safe Outdoor Space applications and eliminate the public’s right to challenge and appeal the applications and eliminated City Council intervention. Fiebelkorn supported Mayor Keller’s legislative proposal to ease safe outdoor space restrictions that would have allowed what Keller wanted which was upwards of 100 Safe Outdoor Spaces for 10 for 1,000 homeless to camp throughout all areas of the city. The city council voted NO easing of Safe Outdoor Space restrictions.
During her city council tenure, Fiebelkorn has concentrated on major land use initiatives and zoning changes to increase density throughout the city by falsely arguing it will increase affordable housing. She supported zoning code amendments to allow both casitas and duplex development in all established neighborhoods which would double or triple existing neighborhood density and would have lead to gentrification. Feibelkorn sponsored R 25-167 which was the “opted in” zoning law ordinance to create a voluntary rezoning process that would let property owners switch to higher-density zoning if they want to build more housing on their residential properties over adjacent property owner objections. The Planning Department would have had very broad authority to increase density with adjoining property owners having no rights to object or appeal. It would have allow duplexes, townhomes and small apartment buildings in single-family neighborhoods to increase density to the benefit of developers. The city council voted no to kill Fiebelkorn’s R 25-167 resolution.
City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn has consistently advocated for rent control measures before the New Mexico Legislature as well as the city council. The New Mexico legislature has repeatedly and overwhelmingly rejected rent control measures. Upset with the New Mexico legislature rejecting rent control measures, Fiebelkorn sponsored her Residential Tenant Protections Ordinance. The ordinance was nothing more than a precursor to rent control. The City Council voted NO to kill the ordinance.
The Renter’s Empowerment and Neighborhood Transparency (RENT) ordinance was sponsored by City Councilor Tammy Feiblekorn at the request of Mayor Tim Keller. The key provisions of the RENT ordinance were identical to the requirements that were in Fiebelkorn’s original Residential Tenant Protections Ordinance. The new RENT Ordinance was a sneaky and pathetic rewrite and rebranding of Feibelkorn’s rejected Residential Tenant Protections Ordinance. It expanded the rights of tenants to the detriment of property owner’s rights. The City Council voted NO to kill the ordinance.
Fiebelkorn sponsored the “Residential Rental Ordinance” which provided that “No person shall operate any residential rental property without a Residential Rental Property Permit (RRPP) from the City of Albuquerque”. The resolution was an attempt to limit and place caps on ownership of short term rentals and enact regulations of the “bed and breakfast” rental industry in the city. It was an effort to force properties to be sold for sale as effort to increase affordable housing. The city has never required real property owners to secure a permit to rent their residential properties. This would have included owners who owned one single rental home. The City Council voted NO to kill the ordinance.
During the four years of Feibelkorn’s tenure as a city councilor, the city has spent upwards of $300 million on 5 homeless shelters, programs and purchasing and remodeling motels for low-income housing. What sticks out is the staggering amount of $300 Million spent and upwards of $60 Million a year being spent to try and provide assistance to so few, estimated to be between 3,000 to 5,000 unhoused, with upwards of 75% refusing services and shelter. It’s the service providers that have benefited the most and more than the unhoused from the funding. During her entire term on the City Council, Tammy Feibelkorn has rubber stamped virtually all funding Mayor Keller has asked for from the city council for his 5 Gateway shelter system. She has never questioned the services actually being provided. Feibelkorn has never demanded accounting nor questioned the effectiveness of Keller’s initiative to deal with the unhoused crisis.
City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn is the major proponent of the Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) “pilot project” in District 7 that proposes to “retrofit” older neighborhoods with a destructive burden strenuously opposed to by area residents. GSI involves extensive excavations of streets the city claims are needed to capture stormwater and infiltrate it to groundwater. Opponents say it won’t and that studies show the bio swales need to be located above the water table within 5 to 18 feet. The water table is too far down for this to work yet millions will be spent.
FEIBEKORN HOLDS CONTEMPT FOR HER OWN CONSTITUENTS
During the four years she has been a City Councilor, Tammy Fiebelkorn has exhibited a pattern of downright hostility towards constituents who oppose or who disagree with her votes on policy and legislation to the point she goes out of her way to offend them.
Once elected, she has ignored her constituent’s needs and concerns and advocated her own hidden, personal politcal agenda over the objections of her constituents. She simply does not listen and does what she damn well feels like doing. Her reputation is one of being highly abrasive, engages in personal insults and is condescending and dismissive with anyone who disagrees with her.
She is not at all interested in carrying on with a civil dialog with her constituents. Although known for attending the District 7 Neighborhood Coalition meetings to give updates on what is happening in District 7, she lectures and repeatedly takes issue with those who disagree with her at the meetings and who ask her politely to reconsider positions.
Feibelkorn interrupts her constituents and abruptly says “No, I have made up my mind” and simply refuses to change her mind. She goes out of her way to insult and offend those who oppose her saying she knows what’s good for the district as she professes ignorance.
On more than one occasion when questioned about legislation she is sponsoring at the request of Mayor Tim Keller and asked to summarize the legislation. She has said she has not read the legislation and tells her constituents they need to read it for themselves and listen to council debate.
A good example of her offensive attitude is when she told the officers and members of the District 7 Neighborhood Coalition, which boasts membership of 10 neighborhood associations, that the coalition did not reflect the needs and concerns of District 7 and that she knows better than they do.
When a male constituent pointed out that one of her responsibilities as a city councilor was to help solve constituent problems and address their concerns, Fiebelkorn said she did not need anyone to “mansplain” to her what she needed to do as a city councilor revealing that she is a sexist.
Feibelkorn is known to be very difficult to work with by city council staff and she has had upwards of 5 constituent service assistants who she has either fired or who have just quit.
Albuquerque City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn is the epitome of what is so very wrong with the Albuquerque City Council today and its arrogance.
She simply does not act in the best interests of her district nor of her constituents. Fiebelkorn promotes her own personal agenda and she refuses to listen.
Fiebelkorn’s email declaring “Dirty Money” has entered the city council races is the best evidence that Fiebelkorn is an elected official who will do and say anything to disparage her opponent to win an election.
IF YOU LIVE IN DISTRICT 7, PLEASE WRITE IN JAEMES SHANLEY FOR CITY COUNCIL.