Hell Freezing Over

Posted on by

As the old saying goes “when hell freezes over” and it sure does look like the devil is throwing snowballs in hell, at least in the race for Albuquerque Mayor.

On November 10, 2017 the Albuquerque Journal published its endorsement in the Albuquerque Mayor’s race.

(See November 10, 2017 Albuquerque Journal, page A8, “A new direction; Keller’s leadership, experience needed”)

https://www.abqjournal.com/1090641/kellers-leadership-experience-needed.html

Two months ago, the Albuquerque Journal did a double endorsement as to who should be in a runoff for Mayor of Albuquerque, endorsing one Republican and one Democrat and endorsing Republican Dan Lewis and Democrat Brian Colon out of a field of eight after 10 months of a campaign.

The day before their endorsement, the Albuquerque Journal did the traditional glowing profiles of both candidates.

Now, with the passage of almost six weeks and just three days before the November 14, 2017 runoff election, the Albuquerque Journal begrudgingly endorses Tim Keller with a few backhanded criticisms regarding public finance, in-kind donations and ethics complaints filed by Republican operatives.

The banner head line for the Albuquerque Journal endorsement “A new direction; Keller’s leadership, experience needed” was no doubt historical in its reversal of a previous endorsement of another candidate.

The Albuquerque Journal endorsement says in part:

“Confronted with high crime, stagnant population growth and a Legislature not inclined to support many Duke City issues, Albuquerque needs a mayor who has shown leadership and the ability to unite.

It needs a mayor who can forge partnerships — with its police department, the court system, the District Attorney’s Office, the business community, the U.S. Department of Justice and lawmakers — to attack and subdue the crime that has become an intolerable problem.

Tim Keller, a former state senator and now the state auditor, has earned a reputation for being able to pull divergent interests together for the common good.

He has shown he favors transparency in government, and his experience as auditor would prove valuable to keeping the city on positive financial footing.

For those reasons, the Journal recommends voters choose Keller as the city’s next mayor.”

Damn, I sure wish I could have seen the Journal Editors turn blue as they wrote their editorial choking on all the egg on their face.

The Journal usually publishes their endorsements on a Sunday which has the largest readership.

I suspect the difference is the Journal will also be publishing their poll in the Mayor’s race on Sunday.

The editors probably know the results of the poll they will be publishing this Sunday in the race for Mayor.

I predict the Journal poll will show that Mr. Keller has a substantial lead over Mr. Lewis and that Keller has a lead approaching 63% or more to Dan Lewis having 36% or less.

I cannot help but wonder if the Albuquerque Journal has changed its party affiliation to Republican.

This entry was posted in Opinions by . Bookmark the permalink.

About

Pete Dinelli was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is of Italian and Hispanic descent. He is a 1970 graduate of Del Norte High School, a 1974 graduate of Eastern New Mexico University with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and a 1977 graduate of St. Mary's School of Law, San Antonio, Texas. Pete has a 40 year history of community involvement and service as an elected and appointed official and as a practicing attorney in Albuquerque. Pete and his wife Betty Case Dinelli have been married since 1984 and they have two adult sons, Mark, who is an attorney and George, who is an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). Pete has been a licensed New Mexico attorney since 1978. Pete has over 27 years of municipal and state government service. Pete’s service to Albuquerque has been extensive. He has been an elected Albuquerque City Councilor, serving as Vice President. He has served as a Worker’s Compensation Judge with Statewide jurisdiction. Pete has been a prosecutor for 15 years and has served as a Bernalillo County Chief Deputy District Attorney, as an Assistant Attorney General and Assistant District Attorney and as a Deputy City Attorney. For eight years, Pete was employed with the City of Albuquerque both as a Deputy City Attorney and Chief Public Safety Officer overseeing the city departments of police, fire, 911 emergency call center and the emergency operations center. While with the City of Albuquerque Legal Department, Pete served as Director of the Safe City Strike Force and Interim Director of the 911 Emergency Operations Center. Pete’s community involvement includes being a past President of the Albuquerque Kiwanis Club, past President of the Our Lady of Fatima School Board, and Board of Directors of the Albuquerque Museum Foundation.