In withdrawing from the First Congressional District race and endorsing Debra Haaland in the Democratic primary, City Councilor Pat Davis said:
“Out-of-state SuperPACs have already spent a half-million dollars to attack and divide progressives and help a conservative Democrat like Damon Martinez win on Election Day. I respect Damon Martinez’s service, and I’ve known him for years — but his failure to listen to our residents and hold police accountable, and his selective targeting and prosecution of poor, addicted black and brown residents of my own city council district should give us all pause.”
What should give voters pause in his city council district is what a hypocrite Pat Davis is with his words and actions.
No one should respect Pat Davis, especially when he calls Damon Martinez a “conservative Democrat” accusing Martinez of dividing progressives and saying Martinez has failed to listen to “our residents and hold police accountable”.
Pat Davis is an opportunist with his words and his actions.
DAVIS DIVIDED PROGRESSIVES
Lest anyone forget, Pat Davis was the Executive Director of “Progress Now” since its inception before he decided to run for City Council and then Congress.
As Director of Progress Now, Pat Davis was known to support and promote the candidacies of progressive Democrats of his own choosing, at the expense of and to the detriment of other progressive Democrats or Democrats he did not feel were “progressive enough”.
Pat Davis is cut out of the same mold as Bernie Sanders supporters who could not support Hillary Clinton after she won the nomination saying she was not a “progressive” or “progressive enough”.
Pat Davis has always made sure he has done everything he could behind the scenes to help his chosen progressive candidate such as Bernalillo County District Attorney Raul Torrez and Mayor Tim Keller when they were running for office.
DAVIS ACTED AND VOTED LIKE A REPUBLICAN
During his tenure on the Albuquerque City Council, Davis has voted, acted and has sounded like a Republican, which makes him a hypocrite.
It is Davis who refused to listen to his own constituents.
Davis voted repeatedly for and supported Republican Mayor Berry’s ART Bus project and funding.
Davis refused to advocate to put ART on the ballot for public approval, telling his constituents at a forum that there was nothing he could do and it was the Mayor’s project.
The ART Bus project has been a total disaster resulting the destruction of the character of Route 66 and having a negative impact and resulting in several businesses going out of business.
A few Nob Hill businesses, including many progressives, at one time advocated a recall of his election because of his support for ART.
DAVIS REFUSED TO HOLD APD ACCOUNTABLE
The biggest hypocrisy Davis committed with his endorsement of Debora Haaland was when he said Martinez failed to hold police accountable.
It was Pat Davis for the past two years that failed to hold APD accountable.
The Albuquerque City Council plays a crucial oversight role of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) including controlling its budget.
Davis did nothing regarding Albuquerque Police Department (APD) reforms and never challenged the APD command staff in any meaningful way demanding compliance with the Department of Justice (DOJ) consent decree reforms.
Each time the Federal Monitor has presented his critical reports of APD to the City Council, Davis kept his mouth shut and declined to demand accountability from the Republican Mayor and hold the APD command staff responsible for dragging their feet on the reforms.
Davis failed to attend any of the federal court hearings on the consent decree.
It was Damon Martinez who was United State Attorney for New Mexico when the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) was negotiated after a culture of aggression was found within APD.
Damon Martinez was at the forefront in negotiating and changing APD policies on “use of force” and “deadly force” policies of APD.
The accusation that Damon Martinez engaged in “selective targeting and prosecution of poor, addicted black and brown residents of my own city council district” is nothing more than a lie by Pat Davis.
Davis made the accusation of “selective targeting” during a recent congressional debate.
Davis, as a former cop and former spokesman for the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office, knows full well the power to prosecute the overwhelming number of crimes in the city is the almost exclusive authority of the District Attorney.
Davis use of the words “prosecution of poor, addicted black and brown residents” is nothing more than accusing someone of racism.
CONCLUSION
Pat Davis has now ended his long shot candidacy for Congress.
True to his nature, Pat Davis endorsement of Debra Haaland is opportunistic thinking it will have some effect on voters.
This is one endorsement Debra Haaland would have been better off declining.
Pat Davis is up for re election next year to the Albuquerque City Council and it will be interesting to see if he runs again after this disastrous showing in the Congressional race.
City Council is non partisan, so Pat Davis does not have to say if he is a Democrat or Republican.