Thursday, April 26, 2007

Tough Talk and Silly Talk

Mayor Marty Chavez says he is going to 'take down' the senseless gang bangers that defaced the Petroglyphs at the National Monument on the west side of Albuquerque. This is strange in that no one did more damage to that Monument than his administration did by building a road through the middle of it for his west side development friends. Well, that is water under the bridge and it would be interesting to see if it has made commutes any easier. I doubt it has shortened trips to Albuquerque by much.

I am not sure what Marty means by 'take down', but it could mean something draconian. I am all for putting these gangs to rest but it seems it never happens. During my four years as Mayor and in Marty's prior term there were assurances that the APD gang unit could control and disband the gangs. That sure hasn't happened and their resiliency is disturbing. Kind of like Iraq's warring factions I guess.

The Journal's Rene Romo had a good story on my former opponent in the Land Commissioner race taking lots of money from a Las Cruces developer that he made a sweetheart deal with. Pat Lyons took tens of thousands of dollars from this developer via a Political Action Committee. Lyons says he doesn't know where the Pac's money came from and the developer says he didn't know where his money went. I know politics and for them to say that strains credibility beyond comprehension. It is silly!

There needs to be a lot more work done on investigating business practices, or lack of them, at the State Land Office. Especially in the oil and gas area and the practice of unitizing leases so they don't have to be rebid. This could be costing millions to the State's Permanent Fund.

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