On December 1, two term Democrat Mayor Tim Keller and Republican former two term Bernalillo County Sherriff Darren White entered the “political arena” and debated live on KRQE News 13 for a full hour. It was the third and final televised debate between the two. Acting as the debate moderators were longtime news anchors Dean Staley and Jessica Garate.
The candidates were given one minute for opening and closing statements and asked 12 questions by the moderators and given one minute and a half to answer. They candidates were asked to identify one characteristic of their opponent they admired.
DEBATE HIGHLIGHTS
As has been the case in the past two televised debates, crime, the homeless and the city being a “sanctuary city versus an immigrant friendly city” to deal with undocumented committing crime were the three major topics the candidates were asked about and how they would deal with those problems.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Both incumbent Mayor Tim Keller and former Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White focused heavily on crime and what they would do. Both attacked each other on the subject.
Darren White repeated the accusation he has made in past debates that crime is out of control and said the fundamental role of government is to keep the public safe. He said he would hire a new APD Chief of Police, one that people would be proud of and who would have the confidence of APD sworn. He asserted that APD is top heavy with command staff of upwards of 50 people and said he would reduce the size of mid management and reassign them to patrol work. He said that there is a need for proactive policing practices and prosecution and that he would institute a Juvenile Unit to address the increase in juvenile crime. White said there is a real need to return to “proactive policing” measures including traffic law enforcement and that there is too much emphasis on technology such as the traffic speed cameras.
Mayor Keller for his part asserted that crime is down in all major categories for the first time in 10 years and said his efforts and programs to reduce crime are now paying off. He said there is a need to continue with what APD is doing to bring down crime because it’s working. He said APD must have confidence in its leadership and that APD would not have confidence in Darren White given White’s past vote of “No Confidence” of him by APD. Keller said “There is no confidence in the future leadership of Darren White [by APD sworn]” and said that is why the APD union has endorsed his re-election to a third term.
White responded by saying “Mayor, your hypocrisy knows no limits” and pointed out a survey taken by the APD Union years ago of its membership during the Department of Justice reform efforts that found that APD rank and file did not feel they were supported by Mayor Keller and his administration, essentially saying APD rank and file have no confidence in Keller. White noted the survey was taken of the hundreds of union sworn police. White noted Keller’s recent union endorsement was voted upon by only the 4 union elected officers . White repeated his accusation that crime is out of control, that crime is not going down and said that there have been 767 murders during Keller 8 years as mayor and that during his predecessor Mayor Richard Berry’s two terms there were only 377.
Both Keller and White were asked about APD staffing. White asserted that APD is at the very same staffing level as it was 30 years ago when he was an APD cop and is the same as it was when Keller was elected. He said APD’s low staffing numbers is a national problem and said he would implement aggressive recruiting practices.
Keller for his part said APD is in fact increasing staffing levels and recruitment is up and that APD’s reliance on technology, such as the speed cameras, has in fact free up APD to address crime and pointed out APD has increased its clearance rate. Keller said that the Albuquerque Police Department is already doing proactive policing and that crime rates across the board are going down.
White disagreed, saying that during Keller’s eight years in office, there were twice as many murders as in the previous eight years.
Darren White said this about the City’s crime rates:
“It’s the same reason why the Governor deployed the National Guard, saying that our city was in a crime crisis and the city was not equipped to handle it, again Mayor, another failure on your part.”
Keller didn’t dispute the crime problem, but said it is improving and said this:
“That means it’s been going up for ten years, even before I became mayor. So I acknowledge that, but when it does go down for the first time in 10 years, that is also true”.
THE HOMELESS CRISIS
The moderators noted that according to the recent Point in Time Survey of the homeless that city has upwards of 3,000 homeless. The two candidates were asked how they would deal with the crisis. As has been the case in the past two debates, the two clashed over how to handle the homeless crisis in the city.
Mayor Keller said homelessness is a very complicate issue and that there is a need to take an all the above approach to solve it. Keller said the issue includes the need to increase availability of affordable housing, address drug addiction and mental illness and shelter. Keller said he stood behind his five Gateway Center shelter system that he created as Mayor and said this:
“Every night we take care of a thousand people off our street, but we have a long way to go, and I understand that the difference is we have built a system that can then be expanded and we know that actually works in the long run.”
White for his part said that the homeless crisis under Mayor Keller has only gotten worse and that the number of homeless in the city has more than doubled during Keller’s tenure as mayor. White said he supported the use of making available services and resources to the homeless but said wants a far more aggressive approach by arresting people opting to stay on the street. White said the homeless should not be left alone, that its illegal for the homeless to camp anywhere they want and that city should be proactive dealing with the homeless like “a rat on a cheeto.” White said this:
“If they refuse that offer, we will make it very clear that the laws will be strictly enforced. It’s reprehensible, it’s not compassionate that we let homeless people use drugs and die on our streets every single day.”
Mayor Keller acted offended, saying White was referring to the homeless as “rats” and for his part strongly disagreed with White’s approach of simply doing sweeps, arresting and jailing the homeless as a solution to deal with the crisis. White snapped back and said he was not referring to the homeless as “rats” but how the city should deal with the crisis.
Keller labeled White’s approach of more arrests and jailing as “cruel and illegal”.. Keller said the city cannot “arrest itself” out of the crisis and that more beds and shelters are needed and that is what the city is doing with the Gateway system. Keller also said that the Albuquerque Community Safety Division (ACS) was created primarily to deal with the unhoused and daily the ACS is providing the necessary intervention to get the unhoused off the streets.
Whit responded asserting that Keller is saying “we have a homeless problem we cannot solve, so get over it” and accept it. White also disputed Keller’s assertion that White’s policies of displacement will result in a “mass casualty event” and White said the homeless are already dying on the streets from drug overdoses.
“I ♥ Tim Keller” YELLOW SWEATSHIRTS GIVEN TO HOMELSS
On Sunday, November 30, Mayor Tim Keller’s campaign accused Darren White’s supporters of being behind the distribution to the homeless on Central of bright yellow sweatshirts that feature the phrase “I ♥ Tim Keller” emblazoned on the front. In a social media post, Keller’s campaign said using unhoused people as political props is and called on White to condemn the incident. On December 1, White’s campaign manager denied the campaign’s involvement in the incident
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/article_e8a97515-6200-482c-8f87-601340c9c899.html
During the debate both candidates were asked if they or their campaigns were responsible for yellow sweatshirts. Both candidates denied that they or their campaigns were involved or responsible and said they did not know who was responsible for the sweatshirts.
SANCTUARY CITY VERSUS IMMIGRANT FRIENDLY POLICIES
Mayor Keller and Darren White sharply disagreed over the city’s “immigrant friendly” status versus “sanctuary city” status.
EDITORS NOTE: Albuquerque is not and has never been a “Sanctuary City” but is an “Immigrant Friendly City” as declared by City Council Ordinance enacted over 20 years ago. A “Sanctuary City” is a jurisdiction that prohibits local law enforcement from enforcing immigration laws leaving that work exclusively to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “Immigrant Friendly” cities on the other hand enact policies that are favorable to undocumented people to allow services and its local law enforcement personnel do not make arrests for violations of federal immigration laws and only make arrests of undocumented people for violations of local ordinances and state laws. Albuquerque’s Immigrant Friendly ordinance prevents city resources from being used for immigration enforcement or for sharing information about an individual’s immigration status, unless legally required. City employees, including law enforcement, and all city departments are not allowed to ask for a person’s immigrant status, and no department is allowed to maintain statistics on immigrants.
White said he’d focus on those illegally in the country who commit crimes. White said this
“If somebody is in our country illegally and they get arrested, we will allow immigration to be in the booking center so they can check everyone that comes in the door.”
Mayor Keller argued that moving away from the city’s current “immigrant friendly policy” would be a major mistake. Keller said this:
“If you end that policy, you will have an ICE-friendly policy, and you will get what you see in other cities you have the fear, and you have literally people pulling people out of cars in masks going into restaurants, that is already happening in Albuquerque in masks without warrants.”
ALBUQUERQUE’S ECONOMY
The candidates were asked how they would grow and improve the city’s economy.
Mayor Keller said the city in fact has a strong economy and he emphasized on the major investments by major tech companies thar are bringing jobs to the city including Netfle.
Darren White for his part emphasized the need to tackle crime and the homeless saying both are destroying small businesses. White also said the city must do better when dealing with business and went so far as to say there is a need to “out source” planning department services.
PLAYING NICE WITH EACH OTHER
The candidates were asked to identify a positive attribute in each other.
Darren White said he recalled running into the Mayor Keller with his children during the state fair and he witnessed Keller interacting with his children and White said this:about MayorKeller:
“I can tell that he’s a good papa, and his kids love him very, very much, and I admire it because that’s important to me as well”.
Mayor Keller said this about his interaction Darren White at the state fair:
“He taught me about the races and like how to bet, which I didn’t really understand.”
Darren White joking responded “Come on, Mayor, there’s gotta be something better than I taught you how to run the ponies” to which Keller responded that White has a real sense of humor which he has shown in past private exchanges. Keller also complimented White on his experience in dealing with the media.
The link to a relied upon and quoted news source is here:
LINE OF QUESTIONING WITH VIDEO ANSWERS
The questions asked during the debate were:
Q: What would you do to bring down violent crime and property crime in Albuquerque?
Q: Should officers conduct more traffic stops?
Q: How will you retain experienced law enforcement and increase officer numbers without compromising hiring standards?
Q: What changes will you advocate to prevent offenders from cycling through the system?
Q: What is your vision for solving Albuquerque’s homeless problem?
Q: How do you deal with the majority of people experiencing homelessness who refuse to accept help?
Q: What is your message to business owners who feel under siege by the unhoused population?
Q: Who gave the ‘I love Tim Keller Hoodies’ to the homeless?
Q: What is your position on people in Albuquerque illegally?
Q: How will you grow Albuquerque’s economy?
Q: What is your response to criticisms regarding the United Stadium at Balloon Fiesta Park?
Q: What will it take to make people feel safe on city buses?
Posted on the KRQE News 13 web site are each of the questions asked with the candidates answers. The links to the line of questioning and the candidates answers are here:
VIDEO: Albuquerque mayor candidates face off in final televised debate
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
The KRQE New 13 one hour debate was a healthy discussion of the major many issues facing the city. Both candidates maintained their composure throughout, there were no major mistakes not gaffs and there was no drama. In the final analysis, both Keller and White did well and it can be viewed as a draw.
Early voting is from December 1 to December 6. The runoff election day is December 9 and as usual voter turnout will be critical. Please vote!
Links to related articles on past two debates are here: