The City has approximately 4,800 to 5,000 full time city employees.

The City of Albuquerque released on the City website the list of the 250 top wage earners at Albuquerque’s City Hall in 2016.

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What some of these people are being paid is a real eye opener.

The pay figures do not include take home vehicles, reimbursements, such as mileage and tuition, and vacation and sick leave payouts at retirement or resignation.

In 2016, Mayor Richard Berry was paid $103,854, which places him at number 142 on the list of the top 250 wage earners.

The Mayor is also given a car, a $50,000 discretionary fund and a security detail.

In 2018, the Mayor’s salary will be increased to $125,000 a year as determined by the City’s Salary Commission established for elected officials.

THE KING’S COURT PAYROLL

Top paid wage earners in order of their pay are the following:

Chief Administrative Officer Rob Perry: $189,936 (#1 highest paid employee)
APD Chief Gordon Eden: $166,699 (#2 highest paid employee)
Chief Administrative Officer Michael Riordan: $152,319 (#4 highest paid employee)
City Attorney Jessica Hernandez: $150,217 (#5 highest paid employee)
Fire Chief David W. Downey: $138,993 (#11 highest paid employee)
Deputy Fire Chief Eric Garcia: $133,872 (#13 highest paid employee)
APD Assistant Chief Robert Huntsman: $132,435 (#14 highest paid employee)
Deputy Director of Municipal Development Gregory Smith: $126,623 (#17 highest paid employee)
Deputy Fire Chief Michael Silvera: $125,603 (#19 highest paid employee)
Deputy Fire Chief II/Commander Joshua McDonald: $124,374 (#21 highest paid employee)
Mayor’s Chief of Staff Gilbert Montano: $124,345 (#22 highest paid employee)
John Soladay, Director, Solid Waste Department: $115,227
Barbara Taylor, Director, Parks and Recreation Department: $114,136
Mary Leonard, Director, Environmental Health Department: $112,230
Dana Feldman, Director, Cultural Services: $110,020
Susan Lubar, Director, Planning Department: $110,020
Mary L. Scott, Director, Human Resources Department: $110,020
Jorja Armijo-Brasher, Senior Affairs Department: $106,441
APD Deputy Chief Jessica Tyler (APD Academy Director): $105,514
Gary Oppendahl, Economic Development Director: $105,510
Bruce Rizieri, Transit Director: $105,202
James Hindi, Director of Aviation (airport): $104,340
Doug Chapman, Director of Family Community Services: $102,260
Natali Y. Howard, City Clerk: $101,942
Lou Hoffman, Director of Finance Department: $99,732
Cilia Aglialoro, City Treasurer: $98,579
Paul Caster, Director of Animal Welfare Department: $98,019

Most if not all of the above identified city employees are being paid thousands more than their predecessors in the previous administration.

Two years ago, Mayor Berry gave Chief Administrative Officer Rob Perry a $40,000 pay increase.

Over the last few years, Mayor Berry also gave 10% to 15% pay increases to APD Chief Gordon Eden, Chief Operations Officer Michael Riordan and City Attorney Jessica Hernandez and Chief of Staff Gilbert Montano.

What these top City officials receive in pay increases exposes their own greed when you realize they expected the average city workers to be paid virtually no pay increases the first term of the Berry Administration and expected city employees to be satisfied with 2.5% to 3.5 % pay increases during Berry’s second term.

The Berry Administration unilaterally refused for over 5 years to pay police wage increases negotiated in good faith.

APD POLICE OFFICERS FIRST CLASS SOME OF THE HIGHEST PAID CITY EMPLOYEES

Chief Eden is paid $166,699, Assistant Chief Huntsman is paid $132,435, and APD Deputy Chief’s are paid $115,000.

The Albuquerque Police Department employs 850 full time sworn police officers, but only 436 are assigned to field services patrolling Albuquerque’s streets and handling 69,000 priority one 911 emergency calls a year.

Actual annual earnings for police officers can be higher than base salary due to the inclusion of overtime earnings, sick leave sell back, longevity pay, shift differential, incentive pays, and other “special pays” such as time and a half paid in overtime paid for court appearances.

During the last 7 years, the Albuquerque Police Department has consistently gone over its overtime budget, sometimes by millions, arguably 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.

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.

The normal yearly salary paid and APD Police Sergeant is $64,000.

There are 25 APD Police Sergeants in the list of the top 250 wage earners at city hall earning in excess of $95,000 a year and as much as $121,884 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 or Sergeant is 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.

The fact that there are 91 Patrol Officers and sergeants listed in the top 250 paid City employees also reflects how poorly staffed APD really is forcing overtime overruns which could endanger the public safety by increasing the likelihood of on the job injuries and accidents or mistakes in handling service calls.

CONCLUSION

The number of APD sworn officers has fallen from 1,100 in 2009 to 850 in 2016.

Only 430 sworn officers are assigned to field services responding to 69,000 priority one 911 emergency calls a year which is probably one major reason for the excessive overtime.

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.

The 2011 baseball movie “Moneyball” was based on the book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game.

It is a book about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager Billy Bean and its focus is the team’s analytical, evidence-based, approach to assembling a competitive baseball team despite Oakland’s disadvantaged revenue situation.

Moneyball is being played in the 2017 Albuquerque’s Mayor’s race, except money usually wins out in politics and far more is at stake than winning an athletic competition.

I predict the 2017 Mayor’s race will have the successful candidate spending at least $1 million dollars for the primary election and another $500,000 for the runoff, if there is one.

PRIVATELY FINANCED CANDIDATES FOR MAYOR NEED TO DISCLOSE NOW

It has been reported that announced mayor candidates Deanna Archuleta has raised $100,000, Dan Lewis has raised $100,000 and unannounced candidate Brian Colon has raised over $200,000, but only they know who their donors are. (See Albuquerque Journal “Who is Financing Candidates for mayor? Campaign reports not due until July, but cash is being raised now”, page A-1).

Privately finance candidates running for Mayor do not have to file financial reports until July.

The finance reports are very detailed listing contributors, dates and amounts which are in turn reviewed for compliance by the city clerk with the finance disclosure and reporting laws, contribution limitations and for conflicts and prohibitions against donations from people who do business with the City of Albuquerque.

The voting public should not have to wait until July to find out who are contributing to the privately finance campaigns for those who are running for Mayor.

All privately financed candidates including Deanna Archuleta, Dan Lewis, Brian Colon need to release immediately disclosure statements on who their donors are and how much they have contributed as well as disclose what they have spent and on what.

Full disclosure should be demanded by the general voting public.

PUBLIC FINANCES CANDIDATES FOR MAYOR

Under Albuquerque’s public finance laws, you must collect 3,600 qualifying $5 donations and then you are given approximately $379,000 for your campaign for Mayor.

According to the Albuquerque City Clerk’s calendar for Mayor, candidates for Mayor can start to collect the qualifying $5 donations on February 16, 2017 and can collect seed money of up to $100 from donors. (http://www.cabq.gov/clerk/documents/candidate-calendar-10-03-17.pdf)

There are at least four announced candidates running for Mayor who will be seeking public finance from the city and they are radio talk show host Eddy Aragon, Mitchell Garcia Holmes, Stella Padilla and New Mexico State Auditor Tim Keller.

Tim Keller has been telling Democrat party activists since summer of 2016 he was going to run for Mayor and he would seek public financing and not private financing to run for mayor.

Mr. Keller’s credibility and assurances to seek public finance are overshadowed by the fact that last year he employed and paid two firms for “consulting” services.

According to the New Mexico Secretary of State First Biannual “Report of Expenditures and Contributions” filed on April 11, 2016, New Mexico State Auditor Tim Keller had $37,755 total monetary in contributions and had total expenditures of $27,081.10 for the reporting period and paid $22,944.57 to a firm listed as “Full Arsenal” for “consulting”.
(https://www.cfis.state.nm.us/docs/FPReports/3505_43165_2016_4_11_145218.pdf)

According to the Second Biannial “Report of Expenditures and Contributions” filed on October 11, 2016 for the reporting period, Mr. Keller had $14,900 total monetary contributions with total expenditure of $25,414.00 and paid $14,018.63 to “Rio Strategies”.
(https://www.cfis.state.nm.us/docs/FPReports/3505_47459_2016_10_11_133710.pdf)

Mr. Keller needs disclose to the press and voting public exactly what was the “consulting” and services performed for him by Full Arsenal and Rio Strategies and why did he need “consulting” as the New Mexico State Auditor and were those firms paid to do work for the State of New Mexico.

Additionally it will be interesting to find out if Full Arsenal and Rio Strategies have been doing work and paid to do work on Keller’s campaign for Mayor of Albuquerque for the past year even before he announced and even before he has qualified for public financing.

IT’S A MATTER OF ETHICS

I have not made a final decision to run for Mayor this year and I have not raised a dime, but will be posting soon on what I am up to.

Albuquerque’s public finance laws need to be overhauled.

It is an ethical issue of the appearance of impropriety and what promises are made by candidates to get the donations, how will the money be used, who is the candidate indebted to and who will have influence over the candidate once elected to office.

The influence of big corporate money in elections allowed by the US Supreme Court decision Citizens United is destroying our democracy.

Political campaign fundraising and big money influence are warping our election process.

Money spent becomes equated with the final vote.

Money drives the message, affects voter turnout and ultimately the final outcome.

All too often, good, decent and qualified candidates do not run because they cannot raise the money.

Albuquerque municipal elections need campaign finance reform and enforcement.

New Mexico State Auditor Tim Keller announced on January 11, 2017 he is running for Mayor of Albuquerque.

Mr. Keller used an impressive, well produced video to make his announcement for mayor and no doubt it was costly.

In his announcement Tim Keller says “Let’s elect a Mayor without the big money we’ve come to expect in politics. That’s why we are running a community-driven, publicly financed campaign that fits the future of Albuquerque.”

Mr. Keller has elected to seek public financing and not private financing to run for mayor.

I can understand why Mr. Keller would complain about spending “big money” in politics seeing as he played that game himself just over two years ago when he ran for State Auditor and won.

According to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office and campaign finance reports filed, Mr. Keller received contributions of $487,276.66 and had expenditures of $545,372 as a candidate for New Mexico State Auditor, a four year term he will not finish if elected Mayor of Albuquerque in October.

(See https://www.cfis.state.nm.us/media/CandidateCandidateList.aspx?es=17&fn=Tim&ln=Keller)

The position of New Mexico State Auditor pays $85,000 a year.

The next Mayor of Albuquerque will be paid $125,000 a year.

Under Albuquerque’s public finance laws, you must collect 3,600 qualifying $5 donations and then you are given approximately $379,000 for your campaign for Mayor.

According to the Albuquerque City Clerk’s calendar for Mayor, candidates for Mayor can start to collect the qualifying $5 donations on February 16, 2017 and can collect seed money of up to $100 from donors. (http://www.cabq.gov/clerk/documents/candidate-calendar-10-03-17.pdf)

According to the New Mexico Secretary of State First Biannual “Report of Expenditures and Contributions” filed on April 11, 2016, New Mexico State Auditor Tim Keller had $37,755 total monetary in contributions and had total expenditures of $27,081.10 for the reporting period and paid $22,944.57 to a firm listed as “Full Arsenal” for “consulting”.
(https://www.cfis.state.nm.us/docs/FPReports/3505_43165_2016_4_11_145218.pdf)

According to the Second Biannial “Report of Expenditures and Contributions” filed on October 11, 2016 for the reporting period, Mr. Keller had $14,900 total monetary contributions with total expenditure of $25,414.00 and paid $14,018.63 to “Rio Strategies”.
(https://www.cfis.state.nm.us/docs/FPReports/3505_47459_2016_10_11_133710.pdf)

Both “Full Arsenal” and “Rio Strategies” have the identical business address according to the Secretary of State online records.

Perhaps during the course of his campaign for Mayor, New Mexico State Auditor Tim Keller will disclose to the press and voting public exactly what was the “consulting” and services performed for him by Full Arsenal and Rio Strategies and why did he need “consulting” as the New Mexico State Auditor and were those firms paid to do work for the State of New Mexico.

Additionally it will be interesting to find out if Full Arsenal and Rio Strategies have been doing work and paid to do work on Keller’s campaign for Mayor of Albuquerque for the past year even before he announced and even before he has qualified for public financing.

It is very noble and commendable that any candidate for Mayor and city council would seek public financing to run their campaign, just as long as that is what really happens.

It was made clear to me when I ran for mayor four years ago, the city campaign reporting and finance laws do not allow collecting donations until the year of the election.

It is an ethical issue of the appearance of impropriety and what promises are made by candidates to get poltical donations, how will the money be used, who is the candidate indebted to and who will have influence over the candidate once elected to office.

The influence of big corporate money in elections allowed by the US Supreme Court decision Citizens United is destroying our democracy.

Political campaign fundraising and big money influence are warping our election process.

Money spent becomes equated with the final vote.

Money drives the message, affects voter turnout and ultimately the final outcome.

All too often, good, decent and qualified candidates do not run because they cannot raise the money.

Albuquerque municipal elections need campaign finance reform and enforcement.

On November 28, 2016 I posted on this blog my article “2017 Mayor’s Race Needs Public Finance Reform.”

Outgoing Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg in a scathing letter to US Attorney Damon Martinez and Independent Federal Monitor James Ginger blasted the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) accusing it of cover-ups and referring to APD as “a criminal enterprise and/or engaged in the act of racketeering”.

In her letter, Brandenburg noted APD’s ongoing problems with Department of Justice (DOJ) consent decree and its refusal to fully cooperate with the DOJ, the allegations that APD has altered lapel camera evidence in police shooting cases, problems with the crime lab, and APD’s refusal to cooperate with hundreds investigations by civilian oversight groups.

(For full story see January 11, 2017 Albuquerque Journal “Outgoing DA blasts APD; Kari Brandenburg slams Police Department in letter”, page A-1)

Not surprisingly, APD Chief Gordon Eden used his rank and file police officers as human shields from the criticism saying “I take strong exception to the baseless allegations the former district attorney made against the dedicated men and woman of the department …”

Virtually all of Brandenburg’s criticism was directed at APD’s command staff and not police officers in the street.

APD’S TACTICS TO DISCREDIT AND INTERFERE WITH CIVILIAN OVERSIGHT

Brandenburg’s criticism was not at all baseless and no one should belief Gordon Eden’s political spin.

APD has a history of trying to discredit elected officials, the most recent case being none other than former District Attorney Kari Brandenburg.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg and her office were removed from the prosecution of former APD Police Officer Dominique Perez and Keith Sandy and a special prosecutor had to be appointed.

At the time of her removal from the prosecution of the case, APD revived a very weak investigation and charge of Brandenburg that went nowhere for alleged witness tampering in a criminal case involving her son and made sure it was forwarded to the Attorney General.

Brandenburg accused APD of retaliating against her for bringing charges against the officers.

Albuquerque’s Chief Administration Officer Rob Perry, no doubt with the blessings of Chief Gordon Eden, wrote Brandenburg alleging that she and members of her office had engaged in unethical conduct in reviewing the Perez/Sandy case for prosecution in an obvious attempt to have her office removed from prosecuting the case and to aid the defense.

The New Mexico Attorney General reviewed the APD criminal investigation of Brandenburg, found no criminal conduct by her and issued an opinion that APD’s investigation of the Brandenburg was politically motivated.

The attorney general also issued an opinion that there was “an appearance of impropriety” by Brandenburg when witnesses in her son’s case contacted her about making restitution for her son.

Brandenburg and her office were removed from the Perez/Sandy prosecution because of allegations of conflict of interest made by the defense against her and related publicity.

Ultimately, the first trial of Perez/Sandy ended with a hung jury voting 6 to 3 to find not guilty with the charges against Perez later dismissed by the special prosecutor.

DA’S CRITICAL ROLE OF POLICE OVERSIGHT

All elected District Attorneys must be 100% committed to civilian oversight of police, and recognize that police are not above the law and must be held to a higher standard in order to protect our constitutional rights.

The public should not tolerate even a hint of police intimidation against any prosecuting agency or any court when police perceive they are not getting their way or what they want.

Under no circumstances should the public tolerate law enforcement actions and investigations by police that are politically motivated.

In Bernalillo County, the District Attorney is part of the multi-jurisdiction task force that investigates officer-involved shootings.

An issue that hovers over the Albuquerque Police Department like a black cloud and that demands civilian oversight is the Department of Justice (DOJ) consent decree and implementation of agreed to reforms.

The consent decree mandates that APD participate in the “multi-jurisdiction” task force that investigates the shootings.

My hope is that the new Bernalillo County District Attorney is 100% committed to the DOJ reforms to civilian oversight of APD.

A District Attorney must be prepared to resist all outside political influences when it comes to investigating police officers for misconduct and violation of constitutional rights.

CONCLUSION

Chief Gordon Eden’s reaction to Brandenburg’s farewell kiss was to be expected.

You can also expect that APD’s command staff will now treat our new District Attorney the same way or try to discredit him also if he does not toe the line or if he demands full accountability from APD or civilian oversight of APD.

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Here is my commercial from 4 years ago and things have only gotten worse.

In 2016, Albuquerque had a 20 year high in murders.

Albuquerque has become one of the most violent cities in the Country.

In 2015, murders in Albuquerque spiked by 53%.

Since 2010, Albuquerque’s violent and property crime rates dramatically increased by 14% to 20% percent.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in 2015 Albuquerque’s violent crime rates increased by 9.2% and property crime rates increased by 11.5%.

APD officers have shot over 41 people with close to $50 million paid in police misconduct cases and excessive use of force cases.

The number of APD sworn officers has fallen from 1,100 in 2009 to 850 in 2016.

Only 430 sworn officers are assigned to field services responding to 69,000 priority one 911 emergency calls a year.

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

Yet all we get from a feckless city administration are excuses.

APD is severely understaffed and struggling to implement expansive and expensive Department of Justice (DOJ) agreed to and mandated reforms.

More must be done to aggressively implement the DOJ reforms, solve the staffing shortages and address APD’s leadership crisis.

A PROPOSED SOLUTION

The City Council by ordinance can create a Department of Public Safety with an appointed civilian Police Commissioner.

The Police Commissioner would assume direct civilian oversight, management and control of APD.

A national search for a Police Commissioner and Chief of Police needs to be conducted.

A Police Commissioner and Chief with extensive and proven leadership in managing a municipal police department must be hired, not political operatives.

The civilian Police Commissioner would assume primary responsibility for implementation of all the DOJ-mandated reforms and only be removed for cause by the Mayor.

The Police Commissioner would completely overhaul and restructure APD, appoint new chiefs, commanders, lieutenants, academy director and a 911 manager and each would report directly to the Chief of Police, with the Police Commissioner in the Chain of Command as the Commissioner determines to be necessary and appropriate to carry out his or her duties.

The city needs to fund and implement a non-negotiated major hourly rate increase of up to 15% to 20% percent for sworn officers, excluding management, to improve recruitment, retention and morale.

Sign on bonuses, tuition debt payoff and mortgage down payment bonuses need to be offered to new recruits.

Yearly experienced officer retention bonuses must be made permanent.

APD needs to “triple down” on recruitment and dramatically increase the size and number of police academy classes per year.

Until aggressive action is taken with APD and the Department of Justice mandated reforms, APD will continue to spin out of control, violent crime will continue to rise and Albuquerque will continue to see dramatic spikes in crime.

New Mexico’s minimum wage is now $7.50 and the national minimum wage is $7.25.

There are now two proposals that will be considered by the New Mexico legislature increasing the minimum wage to $8.45 or to $15 an hour.

(For full story see January 9, 2017 Albuquerque Journal “Minimum wage debate’s focus: How much more? 2 proposals filed; one would hike pay to $15 an hour, the other to $8.45)

Whether the minimum wage is increased to $8.45 or $15 it will be a good step in the right direction to achieving a living wage for all New Mexico workers.

The New Mexico legislature should go even further and as part of increasing the minimum wage make a component of the legislation the payment of mandatory sick leave to workers.

A mandatory sick leave ordinance known as the Healthy Workforce Act will be on the October Albuquerque municipal ballot.

The Healthy Workforce Act will require business owners to pay one (1) hour of sick leave for every thirty (30) hours worked.

Part time workers are normally not afforded paid sick leave and will likely be the biggest beneficiary of the ordinance.

Large employers would be required to offer seven sick days per year after working 40 hours a week for a full year.

Workers employed by smaller businesses would earn five sick days per year.

A coalition of some 30+ major business organizations has been formed to oppose Albuquerque’s mandatory sick leave initiative and in all likelihood it will also oppose any increase in the New Mexico’s minimum wage.

The coalition includes as members:

• Apartment Association of New Mexico
• Associated Builders and Contractors
• Associated General Contractors New Mexico
• Albuquerque Economic Forum
• Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce
• American Subcontractors Association of New Mexico
• Commercial Association of Realtors New Mexico
• Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors
• Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce
• Home Builders of Central New Mexico
• National Association of Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP)
• New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry
• New Mexico Restaurant Association
• New Mexico Utility Contractors Association.

If the New Mexico legislature added the mandatory sick leave to the minimum wage increase, the State law will preempt the city ordinance if it is passed and make it statewide.

What the business coalition should do is seek a compromise and support an increase in State the minimum wage and include a mandatory sick leave provision.

The question is if New Mexico business community is willing to take a sensible approach to increasing the minimum wage or if they are more interested in their bottom line profit margins and not the betterment of their workers.