For many of my FACEBBOK friends who do not know him, Joe Monahan has been a political blogger in New Mexico for a number of years reporting on New Mexico politics.

I have known Joe for 35+ years where we have had spirited discussions where we have disagreed and can still talk to each other no matter what is said.

Joe posts articles four days a week, Monday through Thursday, on his blog:

http://joemonahansnewmexico.blogspot.com/

Joe is a solid journalist and has and has an understanding of New Mexico’s news industry better than most.

Many years ago, there was a Santa Fe radio journalist who has since past, by the name of “Ernie Mills” that had a program called “Date Line New Mexico” where he would say “a little birdie has told me” and meaning a confidential source, and at the end of his program he would “Don’t say we didn’t tell you!” and sure enough the things he would predict would happen.

Over the years, Joe has replaced Ernie Mills when it come to giving insight of what is happening in the news and with confidential sources he calls “alligators”.

Below is Joe Monahan’s February 12, 2018 post on his blog New Mexico Politics with Joe Monahan where he saying so much more than what people have been thinking for so many years about the Albuquerque Journal:

TROUBLE AT THE JOURNAL AND WHAT ITS TROUBLES STEM FROM

The good news for the ABQ Journal is that the cartoon that caused such an uproar, well, caused such an uproar. It spoke to the relevancy (if still waning) of the only paper in town. The bad news? The cartoon again revealed the identity crisis the Journal now struggles with. Here are the key points:

–The state’s population is now over 60 percent majority-minority, with Hispanics making up nearly 50 percent of that total. In BernCo 65 percent of the population fits the majority-minority definition. If the media can’t stay in touch with that dramatic demographic change, it’s in trouble.

–The Journal has an aging, Anglo leadership which represents the demographic that is shrinking here. The publisher, the senior editor and the editor are all well into their 60’s. All joined the paper when the city was a drastically different place economically and socially.

–That’s not “ageist.” It’s just a matter of fact that keeping up with and truly understanding marked cultural change is more difficult when your point of reference is a world and decades away.

–The trouble the Journal is having adjusting was laid bare in the October mayoral election when for the first time they endorsed two candidates as they tried to navigate the new electorate that apparently so baffles them.

–The paper needs to attract more younger minority journalists who are tapped into the city’s new zeitgeist and who can bring the paper more fully into the community.

All of that is a tall order for the 125 year old Journal which was founded by and for the town’s new Anglo business interests who began to build the city in 1880 when the railroad arrived.

The Journal has adhered to those roots, catering to the local business community and quite often to the Republican Party. But corporate America has driven prominent local businesses from the picture and we now have the aforementioned demographic shift to a majority minority population. On top of that, the Republicans have been sent into hibernation in Bernalillo County, possibly for many years.

In other words the constituency the Journal is so accustomed to serving has shrunk and continues to shrink while the new constituency and its agenda is being ignored and waits restlessly for its majority voice to be recognized.

Whether the paper is even profitable at this point or being carried by the Lang family’s real estate interests is unknown, but just about all newspapers today face financial challenges. The current publisher–William P. Lang–is known for his business acumen, but according to one source who spoke with him directly, he does not have a deep interest in day to day news operations.

Rather than fight for survival amid even more sea changes that are coming to the state’s population and economy, this would seem a good time for the Journal’s publishing family of nearly 90 years to sell the operation. But are there any buyers? Papers in DC, LA and Las Vegas have all gone to billionaires who are willing to assume some risk in exchange for the power of the publisher. But there are no billionaires here.

The often brilliant and now retired public relations executive Lanny Tonning once said: “The ABQ Journal: The only newspaper that resents the town it covers.”

That may or may not be true but unless there is a reshaped agenda and leadership at the state’s largest paper what it says in the future–no matter how controversial–may be greeted by the silence that accompanies irrelevancy rather than citizen demonstrations and condemnations from politicians.

On February 7, 2018, the Albuquerque Journal published on its editorial page an inflammatory political cartoon by national syndicated political cartoonist Sean Delonas depicting a frightened white couple holding their hands up in the air apparently being robbed by two MS-13 gang members pointing a gun at the couple, and depicting a terrorist strapped with lighted bomb fuses and holding a bloody machete.

The man is quoted telling his wife: “Now Honey … I believe they prefer to be called ‘Dreamers’ … or future Democrats …”

The cartoon sent the clear, false and inflammatory message that dreamers and Democrats are criminal gang members and terrorists willing to kill or commit suicide to kill.

The political cartoon was from a nationally syndicated cartoonist with no understanding of New Mexico nor of its communities.

The cartoon was swiftly condemned by readers and elected officials, both Republican and Democrat, as being “misguided”, “bigoted”, and described as an example of “ignorance, racism and hatred”.

A protest erupted over the cartoon at the Journal Center and others called for people to cancel their Albuquerque Journal subscriptions.

Within two days, the Albuquerque Journal editors issued an apology and said they would better screen political cartoons it publishes on the Albuquerque Journal editorial page.

I remember in 2015 when two terrorist forced their way into the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

Armed with rifles and other weapons, they killed 12 people and injured 11 others at the newspaper.

It could happen here in the United States if we are not careful.

ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL POLITICAL CARTOONS BY JOHN TREVOR

After the Journal’s publication of the controversial political cartoon, I recalled that I was the subject of seven political cartoons by John Trever when I was on the City Council in the late 1980s and later from 2001 to 2013 when I went to work for the city and ran for Mayor.

I have been an Albuquerque Journal subscriber for 35 years and throughout my 27 year career as a public and elected official.

For close to 35 years, John Trever was the political cartoonist for the Albuquerque Journal, is retired, and was nationally recognized winning awards as one of the best political cartoonist in the United States.

Trever, being from here, has a clear understanding of New Mexico and its people and most importantly understands New Mexico politics and its diverse people.

I cannot recall anyone of John Trever’s cartoons ever generating the level and harsh criticism as has the Sean Delonas cartoon nor the Albuquerque Journal ever issuing an apology for a John Trevor cartoon.

I was the subject of seven (7) Trevor cartoons when I served on the Albuquerque City Council from 1986 to 1989 and from 2001 to 2013 when I was a Deputy City Attorney and later ran for Mayor in 2013.

Below are all the political cartoons where I was depicted with a narrative on each one:

“DINELLI THE MENACE”

Below is my favorite Trevor cartoon of me. I burst out laughing when I saw it the morning it was published. Trever told me he dressed me as “Dennis the Menace” because of what I said about the Mayor’s press spokesman Mike Santullo, a former and well know radio talk show host. After reading my comments and opinion, Mike Santullo fired off a profanity laced letter threatening to sue me and it was given to the press. Former Mayor Shultz Spokesman Mike Santullo is depicted as a pit bull going after me while I was intentionally provoking him with a stick and giving him the “raspberries”. Any one that knows me knows I am not that way! (SARCASM ABSOLUTELY INTENDED) Back then Mike and I were exchanging back and forth some very harsh words about each other and the press had a field day. The caption reads “Dear, dear, look at that vicious animal threatening the Dinelli boy! I tell you they should ban those pit bulls” as the couple drove by “Schutz City Yard”. Over the years, Mike and I have mellowed and we are friends, but damn we sure did accomplished a lot back then despite our differences and ourselves!

“THE BLACK ROSE INCIDENT”

Below is another Trever cartoon published by the Journal when I was a city councilor. The “black rose incident” was when two APD union officials went to Santa Fe and placed a “black rose” on the desk of a State Representative Cisco McSorley, now a State Senator, with a cartoon of a person with a knife in his back that had the caption “Thank you for all your support.” The police union was upset that the State Representative did not vote for a measure they wanted. A “black rose” symbolizes death, hatred or farewell in some cultures and traditions. I was asked by the Albuquerque Journal what I thought about what the union officials did and I said the black rose and the cartoon were intimidation and threatening of an elected official. I also said I felt that the Union reps should be fired. All hell broke loose but I again thought the cartoon was funny. The caption says “A little early for the balloon fiesta, isn’t it?” with me blowing up a hot air balloon in the shape of a black rose as I stood in front of City Hall.

“ALBUQUERQUE CHAINSAW MANICURE”

The below Trever cartoon was published when I was Chairman of the City Council Finance Committee. We were faced with making $10 million in cuts to a $450 million budget. Mayor Schultz was upset with me and the City Council for doing it and made it known in uncertain terms. The cartoon has Mayor Schulz sitting in a barber chair while his hair was being cut and I was pictured sitting down on a stool and giving him a manicure and clipping his fingernails. Schultz was known to get manicures. The caption reads “Albuquerque Chainsaw Manicure” with me clipping Mayor Schultz’s fingernails. The barber appears to be longtime City Councilor Pat Baca who I served with on the City Council at the time.

“HARMONIC CONVERGENCE AT CITY HALL”

The below John Trever cartoon was published by the Journal in 1987 when I was on the City Council. The city council was having public hearings on the “Quality of Life” 10-year quarter cent tax that we enacted to fund the construction of the Balloon Museum, the Children’s Science Museum, the Botanic Gardens and the Aquarium/Bio park as well as acquisition of critical open space in the Sandia Foothills to complete the Elena Gallegos area. The tax package also originally had funding for a performing arts center that was later voted down by the public. “The Harmonic Convergence” was the name given to one of the world’s first globally synchronized meditation events to coincide with the planets aligning in the solar system. (No joke). Pictured from left to right are City Councilor Steve Gallegos, Mayor Ken Schultz, City Councilor Fran Hill, myself and City Councilor Pat Baca, with all of us beating drums. We are chanting “Quality of Life … Quarter Cent, Quality of Life Quarter Cent, Ommm” and the caption reads “HARMONIC CONVERGENCE AT CITY HALL”.

“WELL THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD”

This Trever cartoon was published when I was a city councilor sponsoring zoning regulations restricting pornography shops and theaters to only certain zones. To the left is an XXX bookstore and a “city hall adult theatre” is across the street with a marquee that reads “NOW PLAYING ‘Erogenous Zoning’. See city council do kinky things with first amendment”. What made me crack up is the ad poster on the right that says “Dinelli Does Central”. Also note the fire hydrant that appears to look like two large breasts. The caption from the XXX bookstore owners “Well, there goes the neighborhood” is classic. State Senator Manny Aragon, Pro Temp of the State Senate at the time, was also the City’s trial attorney appointed by Mayor Schultz and he essentially spoke against the ordinance changes saying we would be violating people’s constitutional rights of free speech. To me it was well settled law in the country that Cities had the right to designate zoning where XXX rated businesses could be located. Senator Aragon became visibly infuriated and upset with me when I asked him during the City Council meeting if he was representing the XXX rated businesses or the City. After our very public exchange, our friendly relationship was never the same. The zoning ordinance changes passed and as I understand it are still the law limiting where XXX stores can be allowed in the City. During the next legislative session, Senator Aragon summoned me to meet with him in his Senate Pro Temp Office and we had a very blunt talk and agreed never to discuss matters again with each other in public. It took years for us to set things aside and be civil to each other. That’s politics.

“SUING THE LITTLE VANDALS”

This Trever cartoon was published by the Journal when I was Deputy City Attorney. At the time I had filed over 129 civil lawsuits suing over 300 graffiti vandals and their parents to collect city cleanup costs and damages. We settled virtually all the lawsuits and collected about $250,000 in damages and lawsuits stopped the graffiti. This Trever cartoon was published when I filed a civil lawsuit against the vandals setting off fireworks in the Bosque and the lawyer in the glass looks a lot like me.

“2013 MAYORAL RACE”

The below John Trever cartoon was published in 2013 during the Mayor’s race. Mayor Berry was said to be “Mr. Positive” on Albuquerque, very personable and likeable but in total denial about high crime rates, the Albuquerque economy and a police department out of control and declining in numbers. I was said to be a pit bull prosecutor, and retired APD Sergeant Paul Heh was known for being gruff and saying “I call bullshit!” at a debate forum sponsored by NAIOP, a contractor and development group. The NAIOP forum was filled with a large number of Berry supporters and city personnel and I remember being “booed” by about half of the NAIOP audience when I said I supported union participation in city building projects. Notice how Trevor blacked out the “s” word. My eyebrows made me look mean or angry as did the expression on my face. Throughout the campaign I was always being told I never smiled, was too serious to be running for office and that I was just not “likeable” enough. I was told that I needed to start smiling more if I was ever going to get elected. The problem for me was I could not help being a former prosecutor, I could not talk about the city’s high crime rates and our poor economy with a fake smile on my face. One comment made by Berry during that NAIOP forum was when he said words to the effect “I do not want to live in a world that these gentlemen live in, a world where there is a cloud to every silver lining.” One thing for sure, Sergeant Heh and I never lied to voters about what was happening with our high crime rates and the economy. Notwithstanding, Mayor Berry won by a landslide with only 19% of the voters voting in the lowest municipal voter turnout since 1977. Four years later, people finally figured out Berry and believed what Paul Heh and I were saying and Berry left office disliked with an approval rating in the low 30%.

“JOHN TREVER CARTOON COMPILATIONS”

John Trever has published four compilations of his cartoons and this is a photo of the cover of the one published in 2007 that he autograph for me. The title “Manana Republic” says it all especially having Tony Anaya, Bruce King, Gary Carruthers, Bill Richardson, Gary Johnson, Manny Aragon, Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici sitting in a hot air balloon with the state capitol building as the gondola and they are all pointing in different directions. All that would be needed now is Susana Martinez eating and throwing pizza from the gondola.

You can contact John Trevor or the Albuquerque Journal, PO Box Drawer J, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87103 for more information on the availability of Trevors books. The are a must have for all New Mexico politicians and a cartoon history of New Mexico politicos.

CONCLUSION

I believe most elected officials would say they considered it an honor to be the subject of a John Trever political cartoon and they were often framed as a badge of honor, which is what I did myself.

Mr. Trever was able to make a point without being mean and hateful and his cartoons are downright funny.

John Treveor is pretty much retired and on occasion you will see one of his cartoons in the Albuquerque Journal.

Perhaps one day the Albuquerque Journal will find and hire another like Tever because in the age of Trump and what is happening in Albuquerque, we could sure use a cartoonist like Trever again and we all need a good laugh now and then.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Raul Torrez was asking the state Legislature for a 30 percent increase to his current budget of $18.2 million, or a $5.4 million increase.

Torrez wanted the 30% increase in his budget to hire an additional 34 attorneys.

Torrez has said a lack of resources is the reason his office cannot even come close to prosecuting all the pending felony cases in his office.

According to Torrez, there are simply too many criminals and not enough staff.

“If we don’t get sufficient resources in this legislative session I would think several thousand felony cases simply will become too old, too stale for us to act on. It’s not justice” Torrez has said in the past interviews.

The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office employs 300 full time personnel which includes 118 full time attorney positions.

DA Torrez currently has 45 vacant positions which includes 18 vacant attorney positions that he has not been able to fill in the last year he has been in office.

The House Appropriations Committee recommended a $2.3 million increase in the Bernalillo County District Attorney budget.

When the House version of the budget went to the Senate Appropriation Committee Chaired by Senator John Author Smith, the appropriation was increased to $4.2 million at the insistence of the Bernalillo County delegation.

The net result is that Torrez secured a $2 million increase for the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office from the Senate Appropriations committee.

Torrez now has a $21.5 million-dollar budget to run his office.

Frankly, I seriously doubt District Attorney Torrez will be satisfied given his past statements and constant complaints and accusing the courts and defense attorneys for our high crime rates.

During his campaign for election, he said our criminal justice system was broken.

Less than six months after being sworn in as Bernalillo County District Attorney, Raul Torres blamed the New Mexico Supreme Court’s Case Management Order (CMO) for Albuquerque’s increasing crime rates.

The CMO was necessitated by the fact that so many defendants were awaiting arraignments or trials and being held in the Bernalillo County Detention Center, or jail, for months, and at times years, to the point that the jail was becoming severely overcrowded exceeding its capacity of approximately 2,200 inmates.

Torrez had his District Attorney Office issue a report that outlined the so-called problems he perceived since the issuance of the Case Management Order by the Supreme Court in February, 2015.

The main points of the DA’s report was that defense attorneys were “gaming” the court mandated discovery deadlines under the CMO to get cases dismissed by demanding evidence they are entitled to under the law and the Rules of Criminal Procedure and asking for trials instead of entering into plea agreements.

In response to the Torrez report, the Courts did their own case review of statistics and found out the it was the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office that was dismissing the majority of cases.

With his successful effort to increase in his budget, the ball is now in District Attorney Torrez’s court and he will have to produce.

Senator John Author Smith sent Torrez a very strong message by actually saying on camera in an interview many feel Torrez has now been given enough rope to hang himself with the increase in budget.

http://www.koat.com/article/senate-finance-calls-for-2-million-more-for-bern-co-da/17009425

Senator Smith also noted Torrez is still very new to the job and the verdict is still out if he is capable of managing the office and producing results.

If there are no real results over the next year in hiring and filling the vacant positions and clearing out the felony case backlog, Torrez will be hard pressed to justify any more increases in his budget and his management of the office will be questioned.

Further, Mr. Torrez’s constant complaining during his first year in office of lack of resources and personnel will no doubt fall on deaf ears and come back to haunt him, especially when he runs for reelection and if there is no serious reduction in the backlog of felony violent cases and a reduction in crime rates as he promised.

As Senator Smith put it, the Jury is still out on DA Torrez management of the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office.

We will have to wait a full year for the verdict during the 2019 legislative session if Torrez is successful in reducing the criminal case backload in the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office, but given his past mode of operation and attraction to TV news cameras, do not be surprised if he says he still does not have enough resources to do his job.

Complaint: Former City CAO Rob Perry led conspiracy against APD reform process

February 10, 2018
|
Dennis Domrzalski

An activist who is part of the federal reform settlement agreement with the Albuquerque Police Department has filed a complaint against the city’s former chief administrative officer, Rob Perry, saying he orchestrated a conspiracy to undermine the reform process.

That conspiracy resulted in 12 secret recordings of the independent monitor in the reform case, James Ginger, by former city attorney Jessica Hernandez, former Assistant Police Chief Rob Huntsman, and others, said the complaint which was filed against Perry’s law license at the Disciplinary Board of the New Mexico Supreme Court by activist Maria Bautista.

“Robert Perry orchestrated the miscarriage of justice, using illegal unwarranted surveillance, that amounts to Noble Cause Corruption; for the good of it all,” the complaint said. “Robert Perry is a New Mexico licensed attorney and needs to be compelled to disclose what he knows, and who ordered the recordings. Regardless of his current employment, laws regarding attorney behavior are just as important going forward as they were in past employment. If a pattern of behavior exists, it lends to the fact that Robert Perry mislead and padded the way for the miscarriage of justice.

“Upon information and belief, Robert Perry coordinated a CONSPIRACY to undermine the Court Ordered Settlement Agreement (CASA). The number of taped SECRET Meetings (12) over a two-year period, IMPLICATES Perry, Hernandez, Huntsman and Eden to Obstruct Justice, and would have succeeded if it had not been for Judge Brack’s careful examination of the Evidentiary Motion, where he discovered the discrepancies.”

The complaint continued: “Robert Perry former CAO for the City of Albuquerque should be investigated for violation of Rule 16-303 Candor Toward the Tribunal, Rule 16-401 Truthfulness in Statements to others, Rule 16-803 Reporting Professional Misconduct, Rule 16-804 Misconduct.”

The complaint said that Perry was ultimately responsible for the secret recordings of Ginger because he was Hernandez’s boss.

The federal court judge who is overseeing the reform case, Robert Brack, said that that a secret recording that Huntsman made of Ginger in March of 2016 was probably a violation of the settlement agreement and an attempt to undermine Ginger and the reform effort.

Brack also said that Hernandez tried to deceive him when she filed a motion in late October of 2017 accusing Ginger of being biased against APD. Attached to that motion was a 14-minute video that Huntsman took with his department-issued lapel camera and a transcript of the video. But Judge Brack said the transcript covered only nine minutes of the video and that Hernandez had tried to deceive him by not providing the full transcript.

On Nov. 16, 2017, Brack denied the city’s motion for an evidentiary hearing to determine if Ginger was biased against the city. He also ordered the city to turn over to him any other recordings that were made of Ginger.

On Dec. 22, 2017, Hernandez turned over audios and transcripts of 11 other recordings that she and others made of Ginger.

In January, Bautista filed a complaint with the Disciplinary Board against Hernandez’s law license.

https://www.abqreport.com/single-post/2018/02/10/Complaint-Former-city-CAO-Rob-Perry-led-conspiracy-against-APD-reform-process

On February 7, 2018, the Albuquerque Journal published on its editorial page a political cartoon by syndicated cartoonist Sean Delonas who is with CagleCartoons.com.

The cartoon depicts an apparently frightened white couple holding their hands up while being robbed by two MS-13 gang members pointing a gun at them.

The cartoon also depicts a third person appearing to be a terrorist strapped with sticks of dynamite with lighted fuses, and holding a bloody machete with the barrel of a rifle pointing down from the back.

MS-13 is an international criminal gang with members primarily from Central America or of Mexican or Latin decent.

The man is quoted telling his wife: “Now Honey … I believe they prefer to be called ‘Dreamers’ … or future Democrats …”

“Dreamers” as many people know are young adults born in other countries and brought to the United States as children without documentation, typically by family members, and who only know the United States as their home.

The cartoon is essentially portraying “dreamers” as mugging gangsters who want to rob white people or terrorist who want to kill them by committing suicide or killing them with a machete.

Delonis is no stranger to controversy.

In 2009, media magnet Rupert Murdoch issued a personal apology for a Delonis cartoon of a chimpanzee that was interpreted by many observers as President Barack Obama.

There is an estimated 2 million “dreamers” who have grown up in the United States and who will be deported if the United State Congress does not pass a version of the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act).

The DREAM Act is a multi-phase process for qualifying alien minors in the United States that would first grant conditional residency and, upon meeting further qualifications, permanent residency and perhaps citizenship.

President Donald Trump has also withdrawn the Obama Executive Order that prevented dreamers from being deported and the US Congress is struggling passing the DREAM ACT.

The editorial cartoon came under fire from Journal readers and both of New Mexico’s U.S. senators and one New Mexico State Senator.

The cartoon was criticized as being “misguided”, “bigoted”, and described as an example of “ignorance, racism and hatred”.

Some readers have defended the cartoon as legitimate political commentary.

On February 8, 2018, the Albuquerque Journal published a very lengthy story on the reactions to the cartoon and giving an explanation why it was published.

(February 8, 2018 Albuquerque Journal, page A-9, Metro & NM Section, “Editorial cartoon sparks controversy; Item on Journal page called ‘misguided’, ‘bigoted”)

https://www.abqjournal.com/1130848/journal-editorial-cartoon-sparks-controversy.html

It is indeed a sad state of affairs when the Albuquerque Journal finds itself having to publish an article with a lengthy explanation and rationale on why it published a political cartoon from a nationally syndicated cartoonist with no ties nor understanding of New Mexico.

For close to 35 years, John Trever was the political cartoonist for the Albuquerque Journal, is retired, and was nationally recognized as one of the best political cartoonist in the United States.

Trever, being from here, has a clear understanding of New Mexico and its people.

Being a Journal subscriber for over 35 years, I cannot recall anyone of John Trever’s cartoons ever generating the level of criticism as has the Sean Delonas cartoon .

Under the United States Constitution First Amendment guarantee of free speech and of the press, the Albuquerque Journal had every right to publish the cartoon, but that does not mean it should have published it.

In describing the Journal’s rationale for choosing to publish the cartoon, Editorial Page Editor D’Val Westphal said “the mission of an editorial page is to explore all sides of an issue, to make people think and debate and examine closely the opposing view of an argument. Unfortunately, this cartoon did not inspire that kind of discussion.”

When you have the constitutional right to publish or say something it also means it will reflect on what you believe and your real motives.

Publishing the cartoon is evidence that the Albuquerque Journal has lost touch or does not understand, if it ever did, the community and state it reports on.

The Albuquerque Journal’s rational for the cartoon rings hollow on a number of levels.

The fact that two United States Senators and one State Senator condemned the cartoon speaks volumes as to why the Albuquerque Journal felt it needed to explain its rationale.

I have heard many people say that the Albuquerque Journal has contempt or hatred for the very community and state it reports on, and the cartoon is evidence of that fact.

Channel 7 President and General Manager Marry Lynn Roper did a community comment entitled “Fight for the DA’s Office to be properly funded”.

Ms. Roper asked viewers to contact the New Mexico legislature and help Bernalillo District Attorney Raul Torrez to secure an additional $5.4 million for his budget so he can hire 34 more prosecutors and 7 more investigators to deal with the crime crisis in New Mexico.

The Bereanlillo County Dsitrict Attorneys Office is the largest law firm in the state of New Mexico, it has an annual budget of $18.5 million, employs 300 people including upwards of 115 funded, full time prosecutors.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Raul Torrez is asking the state Legislature for a 30 percent increase to his current budget of $18.2 million, or a $5.4 million increase, to handle the felony case backlog.

Channel 13 Investigative Reporter Larry Barker also did a two-month KRQE investigative Report entitled “Justice Denied: Thousands of Albuquerque accused criminals are not prosecuted”

http://krqe.com/2018/02/06/justice-denied-thousands-of-albuquerque-accused-criminals-arent-prosecuted/

Torrez says a lack of resources is the reason his office cannot even come close to prosecuting all the pending felony cases in his office.

According to Torrez, there are simply too many criminals and not enough staff.

“If we don’t get sufficient resources in this legislative session I would think several thousand felony cases simply will become too old, too stale for us to act on. It’s not justice” Torrez told Larry Barker.

What Channel 7 and Channel 13 did not report nor reveal is that the state’s sunshine portal shows that Torrez has 45 unfilled positions in his office, 18 of which are unfilled attorney positions.

I’m all for giving the DA more resources, but what good is it if the people are not hired and positions are not filled.

Larry Barker reports that accused criminals, most of them repeat offenders, are handed “get out of jail free” cards courtesy of an underfunded and overloaded justice system.

At least Larry Barker recognized the problem is not just with the District Attorney’s office funding but includes the Courts and law enforcement.

WHAT GOOD ARE FUNDED POSITIONS IF NO ONE IS HIRED?

Mr. Torrez now wants funding from the 2018 New Mexico legislature for an additional 34 attorneys without explaining why he cannot fill the 18 attorney vacancies he has.

Torrez has given no explanation how he is going to recruit so many more prosecutors to go work for him while competing with other District Attorney offices in the state.

What is known for sure is that Mr. Torrez is hiring retired Assistant District Attorneys and retired former Assistant United States Attorneys, some on contract, and paying them anywhere from $75,000 to $125,000 a year which is significantly more than entry level positions that pay between $45,000 to $50,000 a year.

Torrez has hired retired prosecutors on contract to review the backlog of 32 officer involved shootings with only a few of those cases cleared for no prosecution within the last year.

Retired Assistant District Attorneys who have been given contracts are paid PERA pensions and cannot “double dip” so instead of suspending their pensions, they are paid on contract to collect both their pension and contract amounts.

What is troubling is that Torrez may be using salary savings from unfilled positions in order to hire people on contract which may be a violation of the personnel rules and regulations of the Office of District Attorneys Association.

WANT SOME WHINE WITH THAT CHEESE?

Bernalillo County District Raul Torrez has been in office over a year.

By all news accounts, he wants to prosecute violent crime and repeat offenders to bring down our crime rates.

During the past year, Torrez has gotten considerable press from the Albuquerque Journal and the local TV news agencies complaining about lack of resources, lack of personnel and blaming the Court’s and law enforcement for our high crime rates.

Torrez lost a lot of support from the courts, and some would say his credibility, when he blamed the Courts for all of our high crime rates.

Less than six months after being sworn in as Bernalillo County District Attorney, Raul Torres blamed the New Mexico Supreme Court’s Case Management Order (CMO) for Albuquerque’s increasing crime rates.

The CMO was necessitated by the fact that so many defendants were awaiting arraignments or trials and being held in the Bernalillo County Detention Center, or jail, for months, and at times years, to the point that the jail was becoming severely overcrowded exceeding its capacity of approximately 2,200 inmates.

Torrez had his District Attorney Office issue a report that outlined the so-called problems he perceived since the issuance of the Case Management Order by the Supreme Court in February, 2015.

The main points of the DA’s report was that defense attorneys were “gaming” the court mandated discovery deadlines under the CMO to get cases dismissed by demanding evidence they are entitled to under the law and the Rules of Criminal Procedure and asking for trials instead of entering into plea agreements.

The Judges strongly disputed the Torrez report.

In response to the Torrez report, the Courts did their own case review of statistics and found out the it was the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office that was dismissing the majority of cases.

The Case Management Order (CMO) has since been amended and Torres and the Courts seem to be getting along much better.

CONCLUSION

The problem is that Torrez does not seem to understand fully that the prosecution of any crime demands full cooperation of law enforcement, the public defender’s office and the courts.

The criminal justice system is very much like a chain in that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

Instead of advocating for increase funding and personnel not only for his office, Torrez ignored how underfunded and poorly staffed the Courts, the public defender office as well as all law enforcement are in the State Of New Mexico.

One day District Attorney Raul Torrez is going to learn that constant whining and complaining about lack of resources and personnel may generate a lot of publicity but it is no substitute for making tough decisions, attracting dedicated people to fill positions to run an office and doing a good job.

Until Torrez learns a lesson on leadership, someone needs to give him some cheese to go with all his constant whining and complaining.