The City of Albuquerque made it into the Wall Street Journal today. Not for its tanking economy, but for its per capita payouts for law suits against APD. Between 2006 and 2011 the city taxpayer paid about $2000 per officer per year to cover the misdeeds of a poorly let cop shop. And since then it has only gotten worse. Not a way to shine in the nation's number one business publication. Not really a part of the Mayor and City Council's vision I would bet. And yet the horrible command structure and a ineffectual Chief are still at the helm.
Governor Susana Martinez has appointed an extreme rightwing mascot to the District Court Bench in Eastern New Mexico. Matt Chandler will need to stand for election however, and if the NM Bar doesn't take a close look at this appointment and make a comment at least, then one wonders, why not? Chandler will have a tough time convincing people who come in front of him that his decisions are worth spit. Everyone might appeal to the State Supreme Court where Chandler made false accusations against the Chief Justice. This whole situation is akin to an elected official sticking by a person that will really hurt people in the end. Think Mayor Berry's undying support of our hapless Police Chief in Albuquerque.
Governor Susana Martinez has appointed an extreme rightwing mascot to the District Court Bench in Eastern New Mexico. Matt Chandler will need to stand for election however, and if the NM Bar doesn't take a close look at this appointment and make a comment at least, then one wonders, why not? Chandler will have a tough time convincing people who come in front of him that his decisions are worth spit. Everyone might appeal to the State Supreme Court where Chandler made false accusations against the Chief Justice. This whole situation is akin to an elected official sticking by a person that will really hurt people in the end. Think Mayor Berry's undying support of our hapless Police Chief in Albuquerque.
6 comments:
The Berry Administration paying $5 million dollars to settle the Boyd case was NOT just about settling another lawsuit for police misconduct. It was also about the Berry Administration avoiding being embarrased, avoiding being questioned and held accountable for incompetence and mismanagement of APD before a judge and jury, and avoiding further damage to Chief Gordon Eden’s and CAO Rob Perry’s reputations. It was also about avoiding Berry being tainted. This is the same shooting that Chief Gordon Eden characterized as “justified” a day later at a news conference with the backing of CAO Rob Perry while Berry was out of town and nowhere to be found. Berry waited a few weeks before he said the killing was a “game changer”. One month after the killing, DoJ issued its scathing report, with the Boyd shooting nothing more than a footnote in the report. There is no doubt that Chief Eden, Rob Perry and perhaps even Berry, would have been called to testify under oath in the Boyd federal civil rights lawsuit to explain their remarks and their actions and explain APD’s handling of the shooting and the incompetence and mismanagement of APD. After the $5 million dollar Boyd settlement was announced, Rob Perry is interviewed and smugly reports that more could have been awarded with no disclosure reported that he is part of the Risk Management Committee that made the decision to settle the case. Eden, Perry and Berry cannot settle the criminal case against Sandy and Perez and if they are called to testify in the criminal case, just maybe only then will they be held accountable and have to explain their actions.
The truth be told, that was what going after the DA was all about. They tried to run her out of office and get someone in there they could control. She was going to get into all the irregularities of the Boyd investigation including interference from the Chief's and Mayor's office. I hope McGinn gets into all that and exposes them. I wonder if they'll try anything with her. Barry wants to be our next governor and is going to need a lot of cover. Kent Walz, with the Journal, is referred to as "Deputy Mayor" and he is calling all the shots. Now he wants to be governor, without having to withstand the rigors of an election and campaign. If they can get Barry elected, Walz will then be "Deputy Governor". Meanwhile, they are playing hardball with anyone that threatens their plans. What we have here is nothing short of absolute corruption. Rumors are that Brandenburg plans to sue APD and the City. If that happens, all the players may be exposed to criminal charges. I hope she does. It'll make a five million dollar settlement look small! Somebody has to do something! This is crazy and it's getting worse, not better.
APD is refusing to release to the District Attorney in custody deaths that happened as far back as 2013! Why? Because they don't want the current DA to review and possibly charge more officers. Eden should be charged with obstruction of justice for not handing these investigations over.
Everyone that is going to sue the City needs to do it quickly. The administration will settle every lawsuit just to keep from exposing the truth. Strike it while its HOT.... Even Levi Chavez is suing what does that tell you? Granted its Valencia County but they are almost as bad as the City.
I was thinking last night while I was driving about a dream city council consisting entirely of your well informed readers. What a city council it would be. What amazing stuff they know. Many of them remain anonymous, however, and I was having trouble picturing them but eventually settled on an encampment of lumber jacks and Wonder Woman.
Seriously though, the only place I see anyone really take these people on is here and Joe Monahan. More of a critical mass would be generated if some of these other alternative journalism sites would take the gloves off. If you're reading this.
And not act so much like an arm of the Democratic Party, whose hands are probably tied because so many Democrats are compromised. Democrats should be taken to task for allowing this stuff to quickly fade from public consciousness.
Not to interrupt this wonderful Barry/APD wrecking party but an antidote to the Wall Street Journal's New Mexico coverage appeared on today's Complex Magazine web site:
tinyurl.com/pybtehx
Titled "From Jim Morrison to Tom Ford: 10 People That Prove New Mexico Is America’s Best-Kept Secret Art Destination," it's quite a favorable piece from culture critic Kathryn Henderson.
Complex Magazine, although I'd never heard of it before today, is apparently nothing to sneeze at. It's popular among the young and the hip, with 120 million unique visitors per month to its web portal plus half a million print circulation.
Albuquerque Business Journal has a report on the Mid-Region Council of Governments new study about projected economic activity in the region that downgrades estimates of job growth and other indices from previous estimates.
http://tinyurl.com/p7asrze
It basically predicts we'll eventually recover but that for quite awhile the housing market will keep slowing as the reality of the lack of new jobs really takes hold. On the good side we won't be overrun with people coming here looking for jobs because there won't be any.
I haven't seen this reported in the Journal yet. I think they might be looking around trying to find some really big type face.
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