thttp://nmpoliticalreport.com/235713/citing-trouble-collecting-money-mayoral-candidates-abandon-public-financing/

It is really a damn shame that so many candidates for Mayor have abandoned or decided against seeking public financing as this New Mexico Political Report article points out.

Originally, there were a total of 14 candidates running for Mayor, with 10 declaring their intent to seek public financing and 4 declaring to seek private financing.

That has changed with the majority of the candidates either abandoning their efforts to seek public financing or declaring their intent to seek private financing.

The City’s public financing is designed for failure.

Candidates for Mayor are given only 6 weeks to collect 3,800, qualifying $5.00 donations from Albuquerque residents and registered voters to secure public financing, which is a daunting and a very difficult task.

More than double the amount of time is given the candidates to secure the 3,000 qualifying signatures.

The $5 donations are donations made to the city and not to the candidate.

The $5 dollar donations are required to come from registered city voters, otherwise the donations do not count.

If the campaign fails to collect the minimum number of qualifying donations, all of what is collected is kept by the City.

The City Clerk’s office does not permit electronic transactions by donors, such as debit and credit cards, even though it was allowed by ordinance.

The City Clerk requires the campaigns to collect cash and use paper receipt books and it is labor intensive.

As candidates for Mayor have found out the hard way, unless you have a small army of volunteers, it not likely you can secure the required number of $5 donations.

The math is simple. You need to collect a minimum of between 80 and 100 $5.00 donations a day to get the 3,800 qualifying donations.

Voters normally have no problem signing nominating petitions but are reluctant to donate $5.00 to the city.

Current public finance laws provide that a qualifying candidate gets only one lump sum for the entire election, now at approximately $380,000.

Nothing in public finance is given for a run off placing public finance candidates at a disadvantage to privately financed candidates and incumbents.

Under Albuquerque’s existing public finance ordinance, once a candidate agrees to accept public financing, a candidate is prohibited from collecting any other donations and must agree to a spending limit.

What is discouraging is that the Albuquerque City Council had the opportunity last year to adopt dramatic changes to the city’s public campaign finance laws based on a task force review.

The City Council could have made the process easier to qualify for public financing but the only thing the City Council agreed to do is increase the funding from $360,000 to $640,000.

The increase in public finance funding will be on the October 3 municipal ballot and if passed will apply to future elections.

I remember talking to my City Councillor Diane Gibson about proposed changes to the public finance laws and making it easier to qualify and her comment was “It’s suppose to be hard to keep out candidates who are not serious candidates” as if she has any business deciding who should be considered a serious candidate.

The City of Albuquerque released the “report of findings” by Chicago based firm Elijah on the allegations made by a former APD records custodian Reynaldo Chavez who said in an affidavit that APD destroyed, edited or altered videos of police shootings. (See http://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/abq-releases-report-on-alleged-lapel-camera-tampering/4434665/?cat=500)

The investigation report found that the original versions of the videos made by APD still exist and the report concluded that the allegations contained in the affidavit of the former records custodian Reynaldo Chavez was “inadvertently or deliberately misleading”. (See March 24, 2017 Albuquerque Journal report “Outside firm backs APD on video claim; Original recording still exist, independent review concludes”)

The good news is that that original videos were uploaded and are completely intact and unaltered and still exist.

The original videos can now can be compared with copies given to litigants, the courts and investigating authorities.

The bad news is that the City of Albuquerque paid $35,000 for the so called “independent review” when it was not necessary.

The Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of investigation are conducting their own investigation of the matter and will no doubt will also find the original videos.

In characteristic style, the Berry Administration calls forth City Attorney Jessica Hernandez and Chief of Staff Gilbert Mantano to declare the report definitive proof of no wrongdoing by APD.

Gilbert Mantano goes as far as saying Reynaldo Chavez perhaps perjured himself when Mantano says “Mr. Reynaldo Chavez [made his affidavit allegations] under oath and is subject to perjury.”

My recommendation to Chief of Staff Gilbert Mantano is to stop trying to sound intelligent when it comes to the law and start working on your resume because you will be out of a job come December 1, 2017.

In his affidavit, Reynaldo Chavez states video recordings of two police shooting cases appear to have been altered.

APD has also acknowledged that they have edited some videos that they have released to the public.

Watching the City Attorney dance around long established court “rules of evidence” is amazing and as a licensed New Mexico attorney she knows better.

The issue has never been about altering the originals on file, but altering copies given to the public, to litigants and the courts to be relied upon in court as being accurate. (See http://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/abq-releases-report-on-alleged-lapel-camera-tampering/4434665/?cat=500)

What is also being investigated by the feds is if there was intentional withholding of evidence from litigants, the courts and the federal authorities required under the law and if so was there obstruction of justice or some other crime committed.

Both City Attorney Jessica Hernandez and Chief of Staff Gilbert Mantano seem to have forgotten or ignored that Reynaldo Chavez is not the only one who has made allegations that APD has altered or tampered with videos.

On December 8, 2016, New Mexico In Depth reported and it was confirmed that there is a federal criminal investigation going on. (See http://nmindepth.com/2016/12/08/feds-confirm-investigation-of-apd-body-cam-allegations/)

The New Mexico In Depth story called it “a rare public confirmation of a federal criminal investigation”.

Some of the most damning portions of this report are:

“[R]records obtained and reviewed … suggest that officers have broad powers to change and delete video — and have done so. In a sworn, videotaped deposition, APD Detective Frank Pezzano testified in October that he altered video from officers’ body cameras and other sources such as surveillance cameras, including in the Hawkes shooting case.
Pezzano also revealed that he and others have used several software programs apart from the department’s cloud-based video storage system to manipulate video.
Also, documents obtained by New Mexico In Depth from a source show that dozens of APD employees, including Pezzano, handled videos inside the cloud from the April 2014 morning when then-officer Jeremy Dear shot Hawkes. The employees watched the videos, made copies of them and, in some cases, edited portions of the footage.” (Reporter Jeff Proctor, New Mexico Political In Depth article “Feds Confirm Investigation of APD Body Cam Allegations.)

I suspect the federal investigation will go all the way to include investigating the allegations that top APD command staff and the City Attorney’s Office ordered the altering, tampering or withholding of video camera evidence in civil cases.

A city internal audit reveals that the Albuquerque Police Department spent over $3.9 million over its “overtime” budget. (SEE http://krqe.com/2017/03/21/internal-audit-reveals-apd-spent-3-9m-over-budget-for-ot-last-year/)

The audit says in fiscal year 2016, APD paid over time to APD employees in a total amount of $13 million when the actual budget was for $9 million.

This audit report should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Neither should the political spin by our $200,000 a year Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and political operative Rob Perry.

CAO Rob Perry blames the excessive overtime on the Department of Justice reforms which is laughable and is truly an “alternative fact”.

According to CAO Rob Perry “The vast majority of the over time is related to a lot of the DOJ requirement training, use of force policies and changes there, too, on CIT, crisis intervention training”.

The problem with Perry’s spin, that is not what the internal audit report found.

The truth is, APD management has pretty much ignored the dictates of CAO Rob Perry to get a handle on the overtime problem and it reflects just how little respect they have for him.

The city internal audit focuses primarily on protocol issues within APD on how over time is garnered, not how much was spent, and the protocol would have to have been approved and ordered by CAO Rob Perry.

The audit says that too often, officers didn’t follow the rules when it came to getting overtime pre-approved or didn’t properly submit overtime for “grant funded” traffic over time, which has nothing to do with the DOJ consent decree mandates and training.

According to the audit, there are potentially 38,000 cases of unapproved overtime that occurred during fiscal year 2016 based on a sampling of time cards.

Nowhere does the audit blame the implementation of the DOJ mandated reforms as the cause of the overtime as argued by CAO Rob Perry.

During the last 7 years, the Albuquerque Police Department has consistently gone over its overtime budget by millions to the detriment of other city departments and other city employees.

A total of 124 of the 250 top wage earners at city hall are employed by the Albuquerque Police Department and include patrol officers, sergeants, lieutenants, commanders and deputy chiefs, assistant chief and the chief with annual pay ranging from $95,000 a year up to $166,699 a year. (See City of Albuquerque web site for full list of 250 top city wage earners).

The average and normal yearly salary paid APD Police Officers First Class is $56,000 a year.

Five (5) APD Patrol Officers First Class are listed in the top 250 city wage workers as being paid $146,971, $145,180, $140,243, $137,817 and $125,061 respectfully making them the 6th, the 7th, the 10th, the 12th and the 20th highest paid employees at city hall.

There are listed 66 Patrol Officers First Class in the list of the top 250 wage earners at city hall earning in excess of $95,000 a year and as much as $146,000 a year.

Combined, there are a total of 91 APD sworn police officers and sergeants who are named in the top 250 wage earners and city hall.

The fact that any APD Patrolman First Class are paid as much as between $95,000 to $146,000, or two to three times their normal salary, in any given year should be very concerning because it is a red flag for trouble, reflects excessive overtime and mismanagement of police resources or at the very least lack of personnel.

Consecutive shifts or excessive overtime for any police officer can lead to extreme fatigue, emotional burnout and reduce an officer’s alertness and response times and reflexes that can endanger lives and public safety.

Albuquerque needs 1,200 sworn police officers to effectively return to community based policing that will reduce overtime costs and reduce crime statistics.

A complete reorganization and change of management at APD is in order to get more police officers patrolling our streets.

An aggressive hiring and recruitment program needs to be initiated to increase the ranks of patrol officers.

Albuquerque had its first mayoral forum and it was an early kick off to the October 2, 2017 city election. (See March 22, 2107 Albuquerque Journal, page A-1, “Crime emerges as top issue among mayoral candidates.)

The candidates are still in the process of collecting the 3,000 qualifying signatures to get on the ballot, and we will not know for at least another month who will be on the ballot.

In my view County Commissioner Wayne Johnson disqualified himself from being elected Mayor of Albuquerque when he said “I think (the DOJ settlement) was a mistake”.

Johnson said that trying to run a law enforcement department with a 106 page consent decree, a court monitor and a federal judge watching makes it nearly impossible for the department to respond to public safety concerns.

Really Commissioner Johnson?

What was not a mistake is that the Department of Justice (DOJ) just a little over three years ago found a pattern of excessive use of force and deadly force by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD).

The DOJ also found a “culture of aggression” within APD and a clear pattern of civil rights violations, especially when dealing with the mentally ill.

The DOJ consent decree mandates reforms, policy changes and training, especially crisis intervention, involving the mentally ill, that must be completed by APD.

During the last seven years, there have been 41 police officer involved shootings resulting in 38 deaths and over $50 million dollars paid in police misconduct cases for use of force and excessive force.

Just last year, two police officers were charged and tried with murder of homeless camper James Boyd, and although the officers were not convicted, the city settled the lawsuit for $5 million taxpayer dollars for police misconduct.

Just last week, the City of Albuquerque agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of 21 year old Ashley Browder who was killed in a 2013 crash caused by off-duty Police Sgt. Adam Casaus.

The July 1, 2016 third progress report of Albuquerque Police Department (APD) Federal Monitor James Ginger makes it clear just how poorly managed APD really is when the monitor reported “Across the board … the components in APD’s system for overseeing and holding officers accountable for the use of force, for the most part, has failed … the serious deficiencies revealed point to a deeply-rooted systemic problem. … The deficiencies, in part, indicate a culture [of] low accountability is at work within APD, particularly in chain-of-command reviews. … [F]ostering the constitutional use of force is the primary goal of this entire effort [of police reform]”.

The Federal Monitor’s report reflects that you get failed law enforcement management when you appoint a Chief of Police who has absolutely no prior experience managing a municipal police department and who is considered a “political operative”.

What has happened to APD is what happens when you keep or return people who created participated or did not stop the culture of aggression and the “deeply-rooted systemic problems” found by the Department of Justice.

Notwithstanding what has happened the last seven years with APD, what you get from Wayne Johnson is “I think we all agree (that APD) is understaffed and under siege” and not the truth that APD is poorly managed.

The next Mayor of Albuquerque must be 100% committed to the DOJ consent decree as written.

The next Mayor of Albuquerque must be 100% committed to implementing all the DOJ reforms and committed to turn APD round with new leadership and a return to community based policing.

If Wayne Johnson cannot accept the authority of the federal court and the federal monitor over APD and the terms of the consent decree, nor be committed to a complete overhaul of APD management he has no business running for Mayor of Albuquerque.

Pandering can be defined as the act of expressing one’s views in accordance with the likes of a group to which one is attempting to appeal. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandering_(politics)

The term “pandering” is most notably associated with politics.

Pandering is also political grandstanding for votes by someone who is really part of the problem of failed leadership.

Westside Albuquerque City Councilor Dan Lewis is running for Mayor and he is part of the problem of failed city hall leadership.

Emerging as Dan Lewis’ major theme to get elected Mayor is pandering by appealing to voter’s biggest fears on crime and attacking our criminal justice system and our elected or appointed judges.

LEWIS FACEBOOK VIDEO

Dan Lewis has posted on FACEBOOK a video squinting and pontificating and standing at the location where Albuquerque Police Department (APD) Officer Daniel Webster was killed saying that APD Officer Webster was shot and killed by a violent repeat offender that should have never been on the streets.
(See https://www.facebook.com/LewisABQ/?hc_ref=SEARCH)

There is no doubt that APD Police Officer Daniel Webster is a hero and that Officer Webster should be honored for making the ultimate sacrifice for our community.

However, Dan Lewis using the location where APD Officer Webster was killed for a political video is downright disrespectful of a fallen hero.

Lewis does fallen APD Officer Daniel Webster dishonor and Webster’s family a disservice by using the location of the killing to film a video to inflame people over Officer Webster’s tragic killing and blaming the judicial system.

Lewis omits in his video that a few weeks before convicted murderer Devon Lymon killed officer Daniel Webster, undercover agents from the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Explosive (ATF) allegedly purchased heroin and firearms from him and did NOT make an arrest and let him go.

No judge had anything to do with Davon Lymon being on the street at the time as Lewis implies in his video and it was law enforcement that did not make an arrest.
(See March 29, 2016 New Mexico In Depth Article “Davon Lyman Timeline: 15 years on law enforcement radar” at http://nmindepth.com/2016/03/29/davon-lymon-timeline-15-years-on-law-enforcements-radar)

Davon Lymon is the same convicted murderer that then District Attorney Susana Martinez, now New Mexico Governor, years ago plead to a reduced manslaughter charge for the killing of Ronald Chanslor, the grandson of Blake Chanslor, the owner of Blake’s Lotta Burger.

Had Lymon been convicted of second degree murder for Chandler’s killing, instead of plead out for manslaughter, chances are he would have still been in jail for the first killing.
(See http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/accused-cop-killer-previously-prosecuted-by-martinez-s-office/article_b2fed6bf-987d-536a-a4f7-12bda10b6ca9.html)

LEWIS PONTIFICATES AND IGNORES CONSTITUTION

Lewis in his FACDBOOK video pontificates that Albuquerque is being defined by criminals and proclaims it must stop.

Lewis says in his video “We will make Albuquerque the most unwelcome place for people who want to steal our cars and break into our homes and wreak havoc on our city neighborhoods”.

This should sound very familiar because it is essentially what Mayor Berry said the first time he ran for Mayor.

Lewis states in his video “we do not have to accept an unhealthy status quo” yet Lewis has been a big part of the very “unhealthy status quo” for seven years.

Dan Lewis has served for seven years as an Albuquerque City Counselor including being President of the City Council and has done next to nothing when it comes to APD, its staffing and the Department of Justice (DOJ) consent decree reforms.

Lewis proclaims in his video when it comes to APD and the consent decree mandated reforms “We are going to lead the reform effort with APD from the front with a new Chief and new police leadership and not being dragged along by the courts and the DOJ”.

Dan Lewis likes to point out he voted to have the Department of Justice (DOJ) come in to investigate APD as if that somehow absolves him from being held responsible for failed city council oversight of APD and for what has happened to APD during the last seven years. It does not.

During one briefing by Federal Monitor James Ginger, Lewis asked the Federal Monitor who is ultimately responsible for APD and when the Monitor said the City Council, the City Council Committee Lewis was chairing all had a good “uncomfortable” laugh and Lewis rephrased his question apparently not liking the truth he got from Dr. Ginger.

Truth is, three years ago, Chief Eden and his Assistant Chief took over APD at the time the DOJ consent decree was negotiated.

Eden’s Assistant Chief was the SWAT commander during the time period the DOJ found a pattern of excessive use of force and deadly force by SWAT and found a “culture of aggression”.

During the last three years, Dan Lewis has voiced no substantive complaints about Chief Eden nor his command staff, he has never called for their removal until now that he is running for Mayor, not even when Chief Eden proclaimed the killing of homeless camper James Boyd by APD was “justified”.

The City later paid the Boyd family $5 million to settle the case.

Each time Federal Monitor James Ginger has issued a scathing report of the lack of progress by APD, Dan Lewis and the City Council have done nothing with regards to demanding the removal of the APD command staff and demanding more be done with respect to implementing the DOJ agreed to reforms.

The Lewis solution of replacing the APD command staff and having 1,200 police officers is in no way going to solve the “culture of aggression” found by the DOJ.

Thankfully, it has been the federal court and the consent decree that has indeed, in Lewis’ word, “dragged” APD into attempted reform measures.

LEWIS PROMOTES IGNORANCE OF OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IN VIDEO

Going after and complaining about elected judges for their rulings is a red flag of ignorance of our criminal justice system.

The most disturbing part of the Lewis video is his apparent ignorance of our criminal justice system, our constitutional rights of due process of law and the presumption of innocence.

Lewis in his FACEBOOK video shows contempt for judges.

Attacking our Judicial system and judge’s rulings is a familiar tactic of President Donald Trump and is a lesson learned by Dan Lewis to “gin up” his conservative base in Albuquerque.

All judge’s take an oath of office to preserve, defend and protect our constitution.

Judges are strictly prohibited by the Supreme Court Rules and the Code of Judicial Conduct from commenting on pending cases and voicing opinions that call into question their fairness and impartiality, especially in criminal cases.

Judges are prohibited from defending their decisions and sentencing in a public forum outside of their courtroom so criticizing judges is like “shooting fish” in a barrel.

Lewis says in the FACEBOOK video “We’re gonna hold judges in this city accountable. Judges that misinterpret our laws and they put repeat offenders and habitual offenders back on the street often times before the officer that arrested them is off their shift”.

Councilor Lewis needs to disclose the judges he says are “misinterpreting the law”, or violating or ignoring bond requirements and violating sentencing guidelines, unless the accusation is an alternative fact Lewis has created now that he is running for Mayor.

Lewis threatens in his FACEBOOK video “we will hold judges accountable in this city, put their faces on billboards and their names and faces on a website that will reveal and show the records they have.”

Lewis says “We will fill up that MDC, that Metro detention center. Right now there is 800 empty beds at that detention center and there is people that should be in that detention center that are out in our streets … we are going to keep them in jail … We will make Albuquerque number one for the worst place to be a criminal in this country.”

Dan Lewis talks like he is running for District Attorney and not Mayor of Albuquerque.

What Lewis is saying is we need to keep people in jail and forget and ignore our constitutional rights of presumption of innocence and due process of law.

It is so easy to ignore our U. S. Constitution when you are pandering and running for Mayor and essentially say “catch them and lock them up and throw away the key”.

Lewis thus far has proposed no solutions to the root causes of crime among them being poverty, our poor educational system, drug abuse and addiction, high unemployment rates and a failing economy.

All Lewis is saying in his video is replace the command staff, hire more cops and that somehow is going to solve the “culture of aggression” found by the DOJ and reduce crime rates.

Lewis needs to articulate real solution for APD and for reducing crime instead pandering to people’s fear of crime and blaming judges.

Lewis now supports a “study” of consolidating public safety services of law enforcement and fire with the County. (See March 20, 2017 Albuquerque Journal, Metro & NM, page C-1 “Council to look at consolidating police, fire services with county.)

The proposed consolidation of city and county law enforcement is taken out of the political playbook of former Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White who years ago proposed it as a way to take over APD by the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.

CONCLUSION

One vote to call in the DOJ to investigate APD does not absolve Dan Lewis from being part of the problem of failed leadership on the City Council when it comes to APD oversight and giving Berry a pass for seven years.

If you want more of the same for Albuquerque, vote for Dan Lewis for Mayor, but just be careful if you’re a Judge, because you may find you face on a billboard if he is elected.

Albuquerque City Councilor Dan Lewis is now calling for a study of the impact of the ART bus project. (See March 18, 2017 Albuquerque Journal, page B-1, Metro & NM Section, “Councilor calls for study of ART’s impact”)

The City Council resolution would require data collection AFTER the construction has been completed and after the bus line is fully operational.

This is what you call political grandstanding and pandering for votes by someone who is running for Mayor and who is really part of the problem of city hall failed leadership.

The ART bus project has been pending for at least four years and there were two federal lawsuits with numerous court hearings as well as five very well attended public hearings with angry constituents but City Councilor Dan Lewis was nowhere to be found during any of those hearings.

Lewis thinks that just because he voted against spending the federal grant funding for ART, that is good enough, but it’s not.

Lewis never pushed for nor did he advocate that the ART bus project be placed on the ballot for voter approval.

Lewis never made a public effort to stop the project.

Six months before the project is set to be completed, Lewis is now calling for a “good hard evaluation” of the impact ART is having on traffic, businesses and the environment now that the federal grant is in jeopardy. Why now?

Had Lewis attended the federal court hearings on the injunction and the public hearings to listen to citizen’s complaints, he would know that businesses and citizens were demanding traffic evaluations along central and residential areas, environmental impact studies and an evaluation of the effects on central businesses ART would have all before construction even started.

A full analysis of the traffic and lost parking spaces was done for the federal court by a former UNM professor.

Dan Lewis had no problems being present to vote on the $60 million dollars in revenue bonds used to fund the building of “pickle ball courts” and baseball fields and other pet projects of city counselors.

What was included in the revenue bonds Lewis voted for was $13 million for the ART Bus project.

One vote against ART funding does not hide the fact Lewis is part of the problem of failed leadership on the City Council and giving Berry a pass for seven years.

Lewis is now running for Mayor so now he calls for a “study” after the damage has been done to Route 66.

One final note: Dan Lewis has said before he does not believe that mass transit, such as a bus system, is an essential service to be provided by the City.