A Mayor and History

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is upon us once again. It is an event that has brought Albuquerque world wide attention for decades now. The man to thank for that is former Mayor Harry Kinney, and oh yes, thank me a little bit too.

Here is the story. I used to be the city public information officer. I worked for Mayor Kinney back in 1975 for a few years. Yes, I worked for a Republican back in the days when non partisan really meant something in city government. Harry Kinney hired me after I left my job as news secretary for Governor Bruce King at the end of his term.

At that time our Balloon fiesta was an affair run by Tom Rutherford and Sid Cutter at the State Fair Grounds. They couragesously managed this exciting event on very little resources. They were ready to fold their tent because of financial considerations and came to the city to see if they could get some help. Mayor Kinney came to the rescue by naming a committee to help formalize and manage the balloon Fiesta. It was visionary on his part. This was to be a non-profit group that would bring financial security to the event. The Mayor appointed as Chairwoman Betty Perkins, an Albuquerque banker, and about 25 other people to the Committee. I was appointed as the city representative. We all went about raising money to move the fiesta to a new site, which was near the present one, and to attract private sponsorships for the event.

Still, we were having a rough time and Betty Perkins insisted on the city kicking in some help. I went to Mayor Kinney and he said to proceed with the public works department, city police and the fire department in getting the site prepared and arranging for public safety. When I went to the Chief Administrative Officer Frank Klienhenz to authorize the work he refused. He told me if he saw one city employee working on the event that I would be fired! So, I was caught in a little power struggle between the Mayor and the CAO. I went with the Mayor and personally arranged for the needed city help. I recall that Kleinhenz was out of town that week prior to the opening and that is when I did my best at getting the city involved. He called and said he wanted to meet with me on the Monday after the first weekend of the fiesta. I started thinking about future employment.

We weren't sure how the public would turn out that first weekend. Well, one hundred thousand people showed up the first day. We were taking in unimaginable amounts of cash in entry and parking fees. We had not expected it really, and ended up putting grocery bags full of cash into the trunk of a car until the bank opened on Monday. After that first year the city was reimbursed for its expenses.

Frank Klienhenz flew back into town on the Friday before the opening day of the fiesta. I believe he was in Seattle. We had our meeting and he apologized for his attitude. I asked him why and he said the plane he flew in on was full of people coming to see the balloons. I guess he did a little math and figured this was a big winner for the city. It certainly has been.

Harry Kinney really deserves our gratitude.