Everyone deserves to be represented in court with the best defense available. The APD officers charged with murder yesterday are no different. One of them hired Democratic Party Chairman Sam Bregman to represent him in court. A lot of people are upset, but that is purely a knee-jerk reaction. Bregman is a master at getting the press to come to his news conferences to hear his over the top assertions of innocence for anyone he represents. But that is his job. So everyone should chill out. Except one wonders why the media falls for his sucker punch approach to polluting the jury pool.
The Bernalillo County management wants a 3/8 cent increase in the gross receipts tax. They and their commission have decided that bringing the sales tax to almost 8% might, or might not, be a good idea. Well, it isn't because of the regressive nature of the tax and their mismanagement of their budget. But one has to remember that the state legislature has added to this problem by making the cities and counties make up losses for the reduction in food taxes a few years ago. After a phase in, the local governments are now really screwed. And the state doesn't give a damn. It affects Albuquerque too and maybe Mayor Berry, a former legislator, should park himself in Santa Fe during the session and fight for his city.
And then there is the fact that Albuquerque's Mayor and current council, along with a feeble amount of leadership in the business community are over seeing our city's fall in rankings once again. So of course at the NAIOP luncheon yesterday many of the developers and builders blame the lack of a so called 'Right to Work' law in New Mexico. And the Albuquerque Journal spends no time asking for comments from these so called 'leaders'.
Instead they have a fact free and lie filled editorial today about the need for the Keystone pipeline in a time of plummeting oil prices and rising temperatures.
The Bernalillo County management wants a 3/8 cent increase in the gross receipts tax. They and their commission have decided that bringing the sales tax to almost 8% might, or might not, be a good idea. Well, it isn't because of the regressive nature of the tax and their mismanagement of their budget. But one has to remember that the state legislature has added to this problem by making the cities and counties make up losses for the reduction in food taxes a few years ago. After a phase in, the local governments are now really screwed. And the state doesn't give a damn. It affects Albuquerque too and maybe Mayor Berry, a former legislator, should park himself in Santa Fe during the session and fight for his city.
And then there is the fact that Albuquerque's Mayor and current council, along with a feeble amount of leadership in the business community are over seeing our city's fall in rankings once again. So of course at the NAIOP luncheon yesterday many of the developers and builders blame the lack of a so called 'Right to Work' law in New Mexico. And the Albuquerque Journal spends no time asking for comments from these so called 'leaders'.
Instead they have a fact free and lie filled editorial today about the need for the Keystone pipeline in a time of plummeting oil prices and rising temperatures.
4 comments:
Bregman said his client was saving a "fellow officer" who happened to be a canine. Since when does a dog's life become more important than a person? Dogs were first introduced into law enforcement to save human lives not to be treated as equals to law enforcement officers or civilians.
KRQE did label Bregman "bombastic" which is as good a word choice as any.
This week has brought us:
Bombastic Bregman
and
the Brachle Debacle
All compliments of APD.
And don't forget the city attorney's decision to pursue fees and costs against the Han family at the same time as David Tourek went on his retirement.
Now we have Erika Anderson, associate to the French Law firm (formally known as French and Walz) applying for the city attorney position.
Only in New Mexico indeed.
We can live our life pretty much how we choose. We can spend it trying to make the world a better place, or not. We can pollute the air and do business with apartheid states and sell food laced with chemicals and fat.
The other cops know those murder charges were filed. They knew immediately that the days might well be over when they could kill someone and them make up a story and the people who matter would automatically say, 'Sounds good to me, have a nice day'. They knew that the 'people who matter' might not be able to protect them anymore.
If Bregman gets this guy off at least some of that deterrence will go away. It becomes more likely that someone will die, some family will experience a loss they'll never get over. Bregman's choice.
He has the right to live his life like he chooses. But he's also the public face of the Democratic Party.
In a previous post I listed some famous lawyers who were famous and who were admired and respected for how they chose to live their lives. Clarence Darrow, Thurgood Marshall and so on. They took the cases they did because they were trying to make the world a better place. If someone dangled some money in front of them they thought about the consequences before they grabbed for it.
Bregman probably excused himself because he's internalized that story lawyers are largely responsible for perpetuating, that an accused's right to counsel translates into an attorney being excused from the moral consequences of doing whatever they choose to do.
Only in New Mexico does the state's largest police force lose 25% of its officers, find itself under a federal consent decree, have two cops shot by their lieutenant, two cops indicted for murder, and not only does the command staff want to five themselves a raise, but the mayor is on TV saying the city's image is fine and just peachy....
APD Command Staff kicks out the District Attorney from the officer involved shooting.
I have said for years, the issue is NOT the beat cop but the APD command staff. Now we have proof. Cross them and they will violate agreements and try to slander you.
It is time for milk toast Richard Berry to show some courage and fire Levy and Huntsman. What they did last night has caused harm between the District Attorney office and the police department. They must be held accountable and fired.
What am I saying, Berry kept Schultz as chief and he is the one who destroyed APD. Berry will do nothing. He will go into hiding just like he did the 8 days after the Boyd shooting.
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