You always know when its an election year when politicians call a press conference to announce new initiative’s and funding for their constituents. What is pathetic is when those same politicians think that their constituents are so damn stupid or naïve not to realize their actions are to make amends for past positions and votes. Albuquerque City Councilors Pat Davis and Isaac Benton are two such politicians running to be elected again to the Albuquerque City Council.

On May 3, 2019, Albuquerque City Councilors Isaac Benton and Pat Davis, joined by Klarissa Peña and Ken Sanchez, held a press conference to announce their proposal to invest up to $1.5 million in specific Central corridor “public safety” initiatives and marketing measures for the Nob Hill area affected by the ART Bus project. Included is $500,000 in one-time funding for grants to nonprofit business associations and merchant groups along the Nob Hill area central corridor.

Many Nob Hill business owners and area residents have experienced frustration, fear and anger struggling to recover from the 18 months of ART construction. Many business owners and residents in Nob Hill along the Central Corridor where the ART Bus project was constructed have complained about repeated vandalism in the area and numerous break-ins resulting in the businesses having to spend money on expensive repairs and security measures.

MUNICIPAL ELECTION PROCESS HAS BEGUN

The 2019 municipal election process is already underway with the City of Albuquerque’s Municipal election to be held on Tuesday, November 5, 2019. Debates are being held by neighborhood associations.

All the candidates running for City Council in Districts 2 and 7 are seeking public financing. Only one month is given to candidates running for city council to collect $5.00 qualifying donations to the city in order to secure public financing. $1 per registered voter in a City Council District is given to candidate who qualify and they must agree to the amount as being the “cap” they can spend on their campaign. Two months are given to secure qualifying nominating signatures to be placed on the ballot.

In District 2, the City Council District represented by Ike Benton, the qualifying period is May 1, 2019, to May 31, 2019 to collect the $5.00 donations to secure public financing. Each candidate running for the District 2 City council seat must collect 433 qualifying donations from registered voters. The 433 qualifying donations is based upon the percentage of voters in the last election and $43,174 will be given to the candidates who secure the 433 donations.

In District 6, the City Council District represented by Pat Davis, the qualifying period is also May 1, 2019, to May 31, 2019 to collect the $5.00 donations to secure public financing. However, each candidate running for the District 6 City council seat must collect 323 qualifying donations from registered voters. The 323 qualifying donations is based upon the percentage of voters in the last election and $31,979 will be given to candidates who secure the 323 donations.

The Qualifying period is May 1, 2019, to June 28, 2019 to collect qualifying nominating signatures from registered voters in the City Council Districts and each candidate must secure 500 signatures

There is no doubt that collecting $5.00 qualifying donations is extremely difficult with only one month to collect, and collecting nominating signatures is a lot easier and a candidate given 2 months to collect the signatures.

For the first time, the City Clerk has set up a “donation portal” and process to make the $5.00 qualifying donations on line. It is called the “Clean Campaign Portal” and is a website created a joint project between the City Clerk’s office and the Department of Technology and Innovation.

https://www.cabq.gov/@@csesearch?q=Clean+Campaign+Portal+

IKE BENTON

Isaac (Ike) Benton is the District 2 City Councilor and was first elected to the council in 2005. Benton is a retired architect and avowed urbanist. Benton’s city council district includes a large area of downtown Central and the North Valley which leans left and is heavily Hispanic. Benton ran unopposed in 2015. Democrat (D) Isaac Benton has 5 opponents: Steve Baca (D), Joseph Griego (D), Robert Raymond Blanquera Nelson (Unknown), Zack Quintero, (D) and Connie Vigil, Republican.

PAT DAVIS

City Councilor Pat Davis was elected to the Albuquerque City Council on October 6, 2015 to represent District 6. District 6 encompasses the International District, Mesa Del Sol, Nob Hill, Southeast Heights, and the University of New Mexico. Last year, Davis ran for US Congress in the First Congressional District but withdrew from the race when he polled at 3% and could not raise the money to run a viable campaign. Before Davis withdrew form the congressional race, Davis had no problem accusing then then Democrat front runner of being a “racist” which was a lie and he endorsed the eventual Democratic nominee who went on to become elected to congress. Democrat (D) Pat Davis has only one opponent: Gina Naomi Dennis (D).

ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY

There is little doubt among city hall observers that both City Councilors Pat Davis and Isaac (Ike) Benton will secure the necessary qualifying $5.00 donations as well as nominating signatures and be on the ballot. Both have done it before and they do have the advantage of incumbency. Davis and Benton are two politicians who are so much alike as to be almost indistinguishable when it comes to their voting records and voting against the best interests of their own constituents.

Both Davis and Benton proclaim to be “progressive democrats”, however their City Council voting records say otherwise. During the past four years, Albuquerque has suffered from record breaking high crime rates and the ART bus project without either Benton nor Davis even trying doing much to improve things, at least not until now when they want to be elected again.

There are at least 8 egregious specific votes Isaac Benton’s and Pat Davis’s that reveal the true voting record as going against core Democratic principles:

1.Councilors Benton and Davis voted repeatedly for and the disastrous ART Bus project that has destroyed the character of Route 66. Both refused to advocate to put the ART Bus project on the ballot for public approval. Benton and Davis voted to spend federal grant money that had yet to be appropriated by congress. The ART Bus project has been a total disaster resulting the destruction of the character of Route 66. ART has a negative impact on Central resulting in several businesses going out of business. Many central businesses and Nob Hill businesses, no longer exist because of the ART Bus Project.

2.Both Benton and Davis voted to use $13 million dollars in revenue bonds to pay for the ART Bus project. The revenue bonds were not voted upon by the public. It was reported that the Albuquerque City Council borrowed over $63 million dollars over a two-year period to build pickle ball courts, baseball fields and the ART bus project down central by bypassing the voters. The $65 million dollars was borrowed with the Albuquerque City Councilors voting to use revenue bonds as the financing mechanism to pay for big capital projects.

https://www.abqjournal.com/919263/revenue-bonds-find-favor-in-abq.html

3. The Albuquerque City Council plays a crucial oversight role of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) including controlling its budget. Benton and Davis did nothing when it comes to Albuquerque Police Department (APD) reforms and has never challenged the previous Administration and the former APD command staff in any meaningful way demanding compliance with the Department of Justice (DOJ) consent decree reforms. Each time the Federal Court appointed Monitor presented his critical reports of APD to the City Council, Benton and Davis remained silent. Both declined to demand accountability from the Mayor and hold the APD command staff responsible for dragging their feet on the reforms. Both Benton and Davis failed to attend any one of the federal court hearings on the consent decree.

4. Both Benton and Davis voted for the city ordinance amendments requiring equal pay for woman but failed to demand more. The amendments to the equal pay for woman ordinance sounded good and look good on paper but accomplished very little. The truth is that the equal pay for woman ordinance only applies to city contracts and those who do business with the city. The ordinance is voluntary and gives preferential treatment on city contracts to those who voluntarily comply. The equal pay for woman ordinance should apply to all businesses licensed to do business in Albuquerque, it should be mandatory for all businesses and enforced by city planning that issues business licenses and could be made so by the city council.

5. When he served on a task force to overhaul Albuquerque’s public fiancé laws, Pat Davis declined to advocate meaningful changes to our public finance laws making it easier for candidates to qualify for public finance. The only change both Davis and Benton agreed to was increasing the amount of money candidates get and not the process of collecting the donations to qualify and not expanding the time to collect qualifying donations. The lack of changes to the public finance laws favors incumbents like Davis and Benton.

6. Davis advocated for enactment of the Healthy Workforce ordinance by voters which would have mandate the pay of sick leave by employers and was always there for a photo op with those organizations who pushed to get it on the ballot. However, both Benton and Davis never demanded the City Attorney’s office enforce the existing Albuquerque minimum wage ordinance, even when workers were forced to sue their employers. Davis and Benton claim to be in favor of increasing the minimum wage, but they have never demanded the Mayor nor the City Attorney to enforce the current city ordinance enacted by voters with a 2 to 1 margin.

7. On July 2, 2018 Democrat Mayor Tim Keller vetoed the $2.6 million economic development package that would help Topgolf to construct a $39 million entertainment complex at the site of the former Beach Waterpark. Benton and Davis went along with the City Council voting 8-1 to give the incentives after a 9-0 veto override Keller’s veto of a resolution expressing the city councils support. A few weeks later, Both Benton and Davis again voted to override Democrat Mayor Keller’s veto of the funding. Rather than give the new Democrat Mayor the benefit of the doubt, Benton and Davis voted to overturn the veto, but never once voted to overturn a veto of the previous Republican Mayor.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1192145/keller-vetoes-topgolf-economic-development-package.html

8. The most egregious votes by Benton and Davis was that they voted for the final adoption of the ABC-Z comprehensive plan which will have long term impact on our neighborhoods and favors developers. The enactment of the comprehensive plan was a major priority of Republican Mayor Berry and the development community pushed hard for its enactment before Berry left office. The ABC-Z project rewrite was nothing more than making “gentrification” an official city policy and the “gutting” of long-standing sector development plans by the development community to repeal those sector development plans designed to protect neighborhoods and their character. Benton, a retired architect knew better but refused to intervene on behalf of neighborhood interests.

The only reason Benton and Davis are supporting investing up to $1.5 million in specific Central corridor for “public safety” initiatives and marketing measures for the Nob Hill area affected by the ART Bus project is that they are hoping their constituents will “forgive and forget” their past support of the ART Bus project that has destroyed the Nob Hill Central area. If their constituents “forgive and forget” they deserve the representation they get and cease any complaints of two city counselors ignoring what they want who promote their own personal agendas.

What is disappointing is that Pat Davis has only one opponent after so many in the Nob Hill business area complained about him not listening to them and voting repeatedly against the area’s best interests. At one time, an effort was undertaken to initiate a recall against Davis, but nothing ever materialized.

What people should be sick of are Democrats acting and talking like Republicans especially after they get elected to positions like City Council and arguing that they are being “nonpartisan”. Both City Councilors Isaac Benton and Pat Davis will say that they have done a great job as City Councilors by acting “non-partisan” and they needed to cooperate with Republicans to get things done, even though Democrats now hold a majority of 6-3 on the City Council and even though the Mayor is a Democrat.

There is a significant difference between cooperating and working with other elected officials from the opposite party and then being hypocritical and going against your own basic political philosophy of what you believe to be true and then turning around and acting and voting against that what you claim to believe in. What would be disappointing is if Davis and Benton are elected again saying they are Progressives Democrats when in fact they vote like conservative Republicans.

Any of those running against Davis and Benton who fail to secure the necessary $5.00 donations for public financing should continue their efforts to get on the ballot. Hope springs eternal that both Benton and Davis will have strong opposition from solid Democrats so their constituents can thank Benton and Davis for their service and they can move off the City Council.

On May 3, 2019, a group of business owners and activists gathered in west Downtown and joined Albuquerque City Councilors Isaac Benton, Pat Davis, Klarissa Peña and Ken Sanchez for a press conference. The press conference falls under the category of “We are from the Government, we feel your pain, even though we are the ones that screwed you in the first place.”

The press conference was for the 4 City Councilors to announce their proposal to invest up to $1.5 million in specific Central corridor for “public safety” initiatives and marketing measures for fiscal year 2020. Included is $500,000 in one-time funding for grants to nonprofit business associations and merchant groups along the central corridor.

Many business owners along the Central Corridor where the ART Bus project was constructed have complained about repeated vandalism in the area, break-ins resulting in the businesses having to spend money on expensive repairs and even security measures. Jean Bernstein, the owner of the Flying Star Café, which opened in Nob Hill 32 years ago, appeared before the City Council a few weeks ago and during public comments said:

“We’ve weathered many economic cycles but never have I seen the district and the corridor in sadder shape than it is now.”

Erin Wade, the owner of Modern General and The Feel Good eateries along Central, place blame on the ART Bus project when she said:

“The traffic patterns have been so drastically altered on Central … there is an entire lane devoted to buses only that don’t run, that don’t exist. It has changed the rhythm of the street such that [criminals] can [now] hide more.”

Many other Nob Hill business owners have expressed mounting frustration, fear and anger struggling to recover from the 18 months of Albuquerque Rapid Transit (ART) construction.

The business owners in Nob Hill have asked for 12 bike officers and six dedicated motorized police units every night in the Nob Hill business district. This may sound familiar because that is what happened in downtown central, but on a much larger scale. The proposed $1.5 million investment supposedly will help lure customers back to the area because many businesses had to close during the disastrous ART Bus project down central.

Nob Hill business owners had originally requested $4 million a year arguing that would have been the amount that would have been spent without ART.

The Keller administration is in litigation with Build Your Dreams (BYD), the original manufacture of the electric buses that were to be used for ART. The city was forced to order buses from another manufacturer and the Keller administration announced it will be over a year before delivery,

https://www.abqjournal.com/1310197/abq-councilors-propose-police-marketing-money-for-central-avenue.html

City Councilor Pat Davis for his part said with great bravado during the press conference:

“Our business owners got together and asked the city to come up with a plan to prioritize safety and a way to invite customers back to Central.”

Davis said the city did not track how many businesses closed during ART construction but it has issued about 240 business licenses along the corridor since the work ended last spring. According to Davis, the proposed $1.5 million investment would help lure customers back to the area to patronize them.

City Councilor Isaac Benton proclaimed:

“I think with this plan we’re going to have faces that we know. … The business people and the community folks in the area are going to see an officer they get to know, and that’s the epitome of community policing.”

The $1.1 Billion Dollar budget submitted by the Keller Administration will have to be amended to include the funding for Nob Hill. The City Council intends to do “markup” to the proposed budget and vote on the final version on May 20 and it will be effective July 1, 2019.

DOWNTOWN IS MAYOR KELLER’S PRIORITY

Mayor Tim Keller was nowhere to be found during the councilors press conference which is not at all surprising. It is likely Mayor Keller was not even invited to attend by the 4 city councilors seeing as the Mayor has the propensity not to invite city councilors to his own press conferences.

Instead of attending the press conference, Keller issue a written statement that said the Albuquerque Police Department is focused on community policing measures and saying:

“As we hire 100 new officers per year, we’re making the critical commercial and residential corridor along Central Avenue safer and more vibrant. Route 66 is open for business”.

In September, 2018, Mayor Tim Keller announced a new “Downtown Public Safety District” for Central Downtown that assigns up to 12 police officers specifically to the area and applying other city resources, such as a Family and Community Services Department social worker. The Downtown Public Safety District” created by Keller was in response to a petition drive by Downtown businesses and residents demanding such a substation. The substation for the Downtown Public Safety District is located at the Alvarado Transportation Center at First and Central SW. The substation gives a permanent police presence in Downtown Albuquerque.

The congregation of the homeless in the Central Downtown area have been a chronic problem especially around the Alvarado Transportation Center. Consequently, a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) was assigned to the district to address homelessness and behavioral health needs.

Several other city departments a well as community organizations providing services to the homeless and mentally ill contribute resources to the district. The other city departments that provide services to Central Downtown area include:

1. Albuquerque Fire Rescue (AFR) has increased its presence near Central Avenue during high-volume call times and by driving a loop around the district after each call for service.

2. The Transit and Municipal Development departments contribute security personnel to the district in coordination with APD patrol plans.

3. The Family and Community Services Department is contributing a social worker to coordinate service providers and implement Project ECHO to train mental health workers in the district.

4. The Municipal Development and Solid Waste departments have expanded the use of street cleaning machines throughout Downtown, including alleyways, and add collection routes for Downtown businesses to address overflow of trash from Saturday nights.

5. Solid Waste is using its “Block by Block” program to wash sidewalks and its Clean City Graffiti crew to eradicate graffiti as soon as possible.

7. The Family and Community Services Department is working with Heading Home’s ABQ Street Connect program to help people with significant behavioral health disability and who are experiencing homelessness.

8. The Family and Community Services is also working with HopeWorks and outreach partners including APD’s COAST team, APD’s Crisis Intervention Team and ACT teams to do mental health outreach and are working with the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness to help service providers for homeless people.

$34 MILLION BUDGET WINDFALL

On April 1, 2019 when the Keller Administration submitted its proposed 2019-20120 budget, it announced that the city would have an extra $34.3 million in revenues as a result of an accounting policy shift.

Supposedly, the $34.3 million is a “one-time, lifetime” boost in revenues that the city cannot apply toward recurring costs.

$29 million of the $34.3 million will be applied to numerous “one-time investments” the Keller Administration feels are important.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1299497/abq-budget-could-surpass-1-billion-for-the-first-time.html

COMMENTARY ANALYSIS

It’s a very sad commentary when business owners in Nob Hill have to “grovel” and beg for $1.5 million dollars out of a budget of $1.1 Billion dollars before the very city council that has done so much to destroy Route 66 in the Nob Hill area with the disastrous ART Bus project.

Pat Davis, Issac Benton and Ken Sanchez voted repeatedly for and supported 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 Berry’s project. Davis voted to spend federal grant money that had yet to be appropriated by congress. Klarissa Pena’s conduct cannot be faulted in that she did at one point advocate placing the ART Bus project on the ballot for voter approval.

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. Pat Davis claims the city did not track how many businesses closed during ART construction, which is simply not true given the fact that the city was offering loans to help struggling businesses during ART construction. When the ART Bus project started, a coalition of 250 businesses along central joined forces to stop construction to no avail, and even filed suit in federal court. The city proclaims it has issued about 240 business licenses along the corridor since the work ended last spring, yet all the empty store fronts contradict that claim.

What is very disappointing is that Mayor Tim Keller has created a “Downtown Public Safety District” along with a substation to give a permanent police presence in Downtown Albuquerque, yet ignores the pleas and concerns of the Nob Hill Business District which arguably was making a much bigger comeback than Downtown Central before ART. The Nob Hill Business District needs a permanent Public Safety District just as much as Downtown Central needs one.

Mayor Tim Keller with the stoke of the pen could divert $5 million of the extra $34.3 million in revenues to build a new permanent substation in Nob Hill. He could also order APD to staff it with the additional police officers he is hiring. No one would need to “grovel” before the feet of the very city councilors that supported the ART Bus project that destroyed so many businesses along central.

Following is an article published by the online news ABQ Reports on May 2, 2019 and written by reporters Dennis Domrzalski and Charles Arasim regarding New Mexico State Auditor Brian Colon announcing that his office has begun and investigation of APD Public Information Officer Simon Drobik’s overtime pay.

HEADLINE: State Auditor Investigating Human Robot Simon Drobik’s Overtime Claims
May 2, 2019
|
Dennis Domrzalski and Charles Arasim

– Human Robot Officer Simon Drobik made $192,973 last year, making him the highest paid city government employee.

– Drobik put in for 2,809 hours of OT in 2018. Drobik billed the taxpayers for 5,063 hours of work in 2018.

The New Mexico State Auditor’s office has launched an investigation into the massive overtime pay claims by the Albuquerque Police Department’s human robot, PIO Simon Drobik.

Auditor’s office spokesperson Stephanie Telles confirmed the investigation Thursday in a phone call with the ABQReport.

“The office is conducting an examination of the matter,” Telles said. She added that because the probe is ongoing, she couldn’t discuss any details of it, including exactly what the Auditor’s Office is looking at or when the investigation began.

The probe could mean trouble for Drobik, who made $192,000 in 2018, and for APD Chief Mike Geier. Earlier this week Geier refused to even discipline Drobik for apparently violating department rules at least 51 times in claiming 2,809 hours of OT last year. And Geier totally rejected a recommendation by the Civilian Police Oversight Agency that Drobik be fired for violating APD rules.

https://www.abqreport.com/single-post/2019/05/02/BREAKING-State-Auditor-Investigating-Human-Robot-Simon-Drobiks-Overtime-Claims

DROBIK NOT THE ONLY ONE; THERE ARE 123 MORE

On Friday, April 12, 2019, it was reported that the APD Civilian Police Oversight (CPO) Agency recommended the dismissal of APD Master Police Officer 1st Class and Public Information Officer Simon Drobik as well as his former supervisor for overtime pay abuse.

The CPO Agency investigation found that in 2018, Drobik was paid $192,973 making him Albuquerque’s highest-paid employee in 2018. The investigation also found that his supervisor was one of the city’s top 11 paid wage earners. The investigation found that throughout 2018 Drobik violated overtime and pay policies more than 50 times by getting paid simultaneously for being on call as a spokesman for APD and working “chief’s overtime” and paid time and a half stationed at local businesses.

April 30, 2019, APD Chief Michael Geier announced that he was not taking any disciplinary action against Simon Drobik but announced changes were being made to APD overtime and Chief’s overtime.

The recent CPO Investigation found that in reviewing Chief’s Overtime slips, the names of many of the top earners in APD were on the same Chief’s Overtime assignments that Master Police Officer 1st Class and APD Spokesman Simon Drobik was on.

At the end of each calendar year, City Hall releases the top 250 wage earners at city hall. The list of 250 top city hall wages earners is what is paid for the full calendar year of January 1 to December 31 of any given year. The listing of the city’s 250 top wage earners for the calendar year 2018 includes 124 APD sworn police as the top wage city hall wage earners, earning more than most department directors as well as the APD Chief and all of his Deputy Chiefs. The list of 124 include patrol officers first class, sergeants, lieutenants, commanders the deputy chiefs, and the chief with annual pay for the year 2018 ranging from $101,000 a year up to $192,937 all under the Keller Administration.

Base yearly pay for sworn police, depending upon rank and years of experience, is $60,320 to $83,200.The base pay does not include longevity bonus pay at the end of a year of between $2,600 to $15,600 contingent on years of experience.

Following is a breakdown of the numbers of police officers paid in excess of $100,000 in calendar year 2018 as a result of overtime paid:

6 police officers were paid $151,313 TO $192,000
24 police officers were paid $126,162.80 to $144,510.44.
27 police officers were paid $113,498.98 to $125,088.48
22 police officers were paid $109,315.89 to $112,516.27
25 police officers were paid $105,076.20 to $108,946.45
21 police officers were paid $101,633.11 to $104,987.69

The salaries Mayor Keller is paying his top APD command staff are significantly less than many Police Officers 1st Class, Sergeants and Lieutenants and are as follows:

Geier, Michael PD-Police Chief of Police, $159,513.60
(Former APD Chief Gordon Eden was paid $166,699)
Garcia, Eric JPD-Police PDP Deputy Chief, $134,249.53
Gonzalez, Arturo EPD-Police PDP Deputy Chief, $126,199.92
Banez, Rogelio NPD-Police PDP Deputy Chief, $123,856.00
Medina, Harold PD-Police PDP Deputy Chief, $123,856.00
TOTAL RANGE PAID CHIEF COMMAND: $123,856.00 to $159,513.60.

The names and salaries paid to other sworn police other than the APD Chief Command staff include:

PAY RANGE $151,313 TO $192,000

Drobik, Simon – Master Police Officer 1st Class $192,937.23.
Johnson, Brian APD- Senior Police Officer 1st Class: $166,692.01.
Garza, Ramiro JPD- Senior Police Officer 1st Class: $163,223.63.
Hollier, Jeremy BPD-Police, PE1, Senior Police Officer 1st Class: $160,692.06.
Canales, LadioPD-Police, Senior Police Officer 1st Class: $152,876.94.
Redhouse, Leighton – Senior Police Officer 1st Class: $151,313.71.

PAY RANGE $126,162.80 TO $144,510.44.

Bassett, Jeremy, Police Lieutenant, $144,510.44.
Martinez, Yvonne, Master Police Officer 1st Class, $144,421.25.
McCumber, Wayne – Master Police Officer 1st Class $142,033.83.
Correia, Donald RPD- Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $140,755.81.
Maes, Kelly RPD- Senior Police Officer 1st C1ass, $138,318.85.
McElroy, Matthew PD-Police Sergeant, $138,158.09.
Lehocky, Andrew , Master Police Officer 1st Class $137,449.07.
Languit, Luke CPD-Police Lieutenant, $134,328.74.
Price, Bryan HPD-Police Sergeant, $133,880.63.
Mc Carson, Timothy, Senior Police Officer 1st Class $132,742.86.
Rico, Michael KPD-Police Senior Police Officer 1st Class $132,740.13.
Kenny, Sean PPD-Police Sergeant $132,604.80.
Parsons, Scott – Police Lieutenant, $131,519.64.
Frick, Sean, APD Lieutenant, $131,375.48.
Pearson, Nicholas, Master Police Officer 1st Class, $130,077.97.
Hernandez, Francisco Senior Police Officer 1st Class, $128,887.30.
Burchell, Edward – Master Police Officer 1st Class, $127,987.25.
Stockton, Robert MPD-Police Sergeant, $127,612.72.
Patterson, Christopher APD-Police Sergeant, $127,557.19.
Hernandez, Michael FPD-Police Sergeant $127,456.76.
Arnold, Jerry, Police Officer 1st Class $127,409.90.
Martinez, Vicente, Senior Police Officer 1st Class $126,798.71.
Breeden, Charles, Senior Police Officer 1st Class $126,300.45.
Wetterlund, Christopher, Senior Police Officer 1st Class $126,162.80.

PAY RANGE $113,498.98 TO $125,088.48

Economidy III, Byron, Senior Police Officer 1st Class $125,088.48.
Schmidt, Matthew -Police Sergeant $124,581.73.
Sandoval, Albert, PD-Police Sergeant $124,555.16.
The six figure salaries being paid to sworn police are directly attributed to “overtime” worked by those sworn police officers.

CITIZENS POLICE OVERSIGHT AGENCY AND BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS

The April 12, 2019 Police Oversight Agency (CPO) investigative report made two major recommendations to deal with the problem of excessive overtime pay.
Following are the two-recommendation made by the CPO Agency:

1.“The City of Albuquerque should ask for another Audit of APD Overtime which will include and audit of the Chief’s Overtime Program. The audit should explore the actual cost to the City of the Chief’s Overtime program versus what the Chief’s overtime program brings in. The audit should cover how many officers take time off from their regularly scheduled duty to go work a Chief’s overtime during those same hours. The audit should also explore whether or not another officer had to be called in on overtime to handle the off-duty officer’s duties on that shift on that day because the staffing level was below the 70% threshold. Lastly, the audit should determine whether or not the Chief’s Overtime Program violates the Anti-Donation Clause of the State of New Mexico.” (April 12, 2019 Police Oversight Investigation report, page 10.)

2. “APD should immediately revise its policy on overtime. Officers should be limited to working no more than 25 hours per week of overtime and that is inclusive of all overtime. The policy should prohibit officers from taking comp time or vacation from their regularly assigned duties for the sole purpose of working a chief’s Overtime assignment. APD supervisors, prior to approving a leave request, should be required to check with the Chiefs Overtime Program to make sure that the officer is not signed up for Chief’s Overtime and/or they are not taking leave to go to work a Chief’s Overtime assignment during the very same hours they are scheduled to work their assigned shift. Officers should be prohibited from working Chief’s Overtime if they are in an “on call” status. The policy should reflect any recommendations that were made by the City Auditor. Lastly, the policy should be vigorously enforced and adhered to by all APD personnel.” (April 12, 2019, Police Oversight Investigation report, page 11.)

STATE LAW IS CLEAR

In accordance with the New Mexico Audit Act, §§ 12-6-1 to 12-6-14, NMSA 1978, the New Mexico State Auditor’s office has only two statutory purposes:

“(1) to ensure that the financial affairs of every agency shall be thoroughly examined and audited each year by the state auditor, personnel of the state auditor’s office designated by the state auditor or independent auditors approved by the state auditor

(2) cause the financial affairs and transactions of an agency to be audited in whole or in part. (Section 12-6-3, NMSA 1978.)”
These two statutory purposes grant the State Auditor the authority to conduct both financial and special financial audits to identify financial irregularities, waste, fraud and abuse by the government entities.

The Office of the State Auditor conducts and oversees audits of approximately 1,000 government entities, from large state agencies to small political subdivisions.
The authority of the office is to review the financial affairs of government agencies, including contracts, purchases agreements and make sure that the government agencies are not engaged in fraud, waste and abuse of government and taxpayer funds.

The State Auditor does not have any prosecutorial authority and when criminal wrong doing is found in an audit, it is turned over to the appropriate state or federal prosecuting agency.

ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY

APD’s overtime have been a chronic problem over the years. The department goes over its overtime budget by millions each year. In 2017, APD was budgeted for $9 million but spent $13 million. APD’s department’s overtime policies underwent an independent audit in 2016 but the recommendations were never implemented.

When Tim Keller was New Mexico State Auditor, he became the “white knight” champion to find and stop “waste, fraud and abuse” of taxpayer money by government officials and employees. As State Auditor, Keller went so far as to create a “fraud investigation unit” hiring investigators to ferret out waste, fraud and abuse by government officials and employees.

Keller’s audits of state and city governments garnered him extensive press coverage and public support that no doubt helped with his successful campaign to become Mayor of Albuquerque over now State Auditor Brian Colon who also ran for Mayor against Keller. Keller became Mayor less than two years after being elected State Auditor and resigned with two years left in his term as auditor. Now that he has become Mayor, its obvious Keller does not have the stomach and not even to want to acknowledge any “waste, fraud and abuse” within his own police department and sanctioned by his appointed command staff.

If New Mexico State Auditor Brian Colon truly wants to get to the bottom of any and all overtime “waste, fraud and abuse” within APD, his audit needs to include t all other police officers within the department, police overtime, annual leave time and the Chief’s Overtime Program. Further, after the audit is completed, the findings need to be forwarded on to the Bernalillo County District Attorneys Office or the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office.

Otherwise, it will appear that New Mexico State Auditor Brian Colon has purchased Tim Keller’s bestselling book “How To Get Headlines Investigating Waste, Fraud and Abuse To Move On To Higher Office”.

Following are links to related stories:

Pathetic But Not Surprising: No Discipline For APD $192,000 Spokesman

APD Spokesman Drobik’s $192,973 Overtime Pay Tip Of Iceberg; “Denied Access” Reason Media Reluctant To Report; Where Is Our Champion To Combat “Waste, Fraud and Abuse” Mayor Tim Keller?

One Down, 124 To Go; “Billing And Being Paid” For Work Not Done Epitome Of Government Waste, Fraud and Abuse

On Monday, March 11, 2019, the following guest opinion column appeared in the Albuquerque Journal.

The article is written by Steven J. Forsberg with the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.

Below is the article is entitled “Pretrial Detention Is Not A Cure-All” followed by the Journal link and additional Commentary And Analysis:

“No, no!” said the Queen. “Sentence first-verdict afterward.”
“Stuff and nonsense!” said Alice loudly. “The idea of having the sentence first!”

Those lines may be from “Alice in Wonderland,” but they describe all too accurately the kind of justice system that many people would like. Why bother with troublesome things like investigations and trials? Just have the police throw people into the Metropolitan Detention Center and be done with it. After all, everyone knows a criminal just by looking at his or her picture in the paper. But do they?

What if you are accused of a crime? What could happen to you? You could be taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center, have all of your belongings taken from you, get strip-searched and then put into custody with people who have already been convicted. You could stay there for weeks, months and even years before you get an opportunity to have your trial.

And if the jury eventually finds you not guilty? Then you will get a bus ride to Downtown Albuquerque. You may lose your job. You may have been evicted from your residence, with your belongings God knows where. Your booking photo may have been all over the news. You are innocent, you always were, but do not expect a dime in compensation or even an apology as you try to pick up the pieces of your life. If you are lucky, you will have friends and family to support you. Many people are not lucky.

How do the courts try to prevent innocent people from suffering such a travesty of justice? By setting high requirements before a person can be detained pretrial and by following the mandates of legal procedure. Contrary to what The Albuquerque Journal said in its March 1 editorial … judges are not “abdicating their discretion” because they require prosecutors to present enough evidence to convince the judge that a defendant must be detained pretrial. As the United States Supreme Court stated in an important case, “In our society liberty is the norm, and detention prior to trial or without trial is the carefully limited exception.”

The innocent pay the highest price for pretrial detention. The taxpayer also pays for pretrial detention. It is not cheap to keep a person locked up and supervised for 24 hours a day. Money spent on pretrial detention is money that is not available for the kinds of services that help keep people out of jail to begin with. Ironically, the guilty get the most benefit from pretrial detention. They get credit for their pretrial detention against their ultimate sentence.

Keeping everyone locked up until trial is wrong, expensive and illegal. The methods in place to determine who needs pretrial detention are not perfect and probably never will be. Sometimes a person released prior to their trial will commit a noteworthy crime, and the media will be quick to capitalize with sensationalist coverage. As the New Mexico Supreme Court has said, “We are not oblivious to the pressures on our judges who face election difficulties, media attacks, and other adverse consequences if they faithfully honor the rule of law when it dictates an action that is not politically popular. …”

Judges are under pressure to make pretrial detention something that it is not – a cure for all of society’s ills and the preferred method of dealing with people accused of crimes. If judges bend to that pressure, the result will be even more injustice and dysfunction in our criminal justice system. From time to time, a person on pretrial release will commit a newsworthy crime, but the only way to provide absolute security is to deny freedom absolutely. The whole point of our legal system is to prevent that.”

Below is the link to the Albuquerque Journal:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1290450/pretrial-detention-is-not-a-cureall.html

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

All too often, sensational, violent crimes, especially those involving child abuse, the murder or death of a child, the killing of a police officer, create public reactions of hate, vitriol and at times threats of violence and violence against those charged and at times even a judge.

Our criminal justice system presumes innocence until proven guilty and demands due process of law, even for the most heinous of crimes, and not an “eye for an eye” approach to criminal justice.

Attacking our Judicial system and judge’s rulings is an too familiar tactic of those running for office.

It is way too easy to ignore our U. S. Constitution when you are pandering and running for office and essentially say “catch them and lock them up and throw away the key”.

All judge’s take an oath of office to preserve, defend and protect our constitution.

Judges are strictly prohibited by the Supreme Court Rules and the Code of Judicial Conduct from commenting on pending cases and voicing opinions that call into question their fairness and impartiality, especially in criminal cases.

Vilifying the judiciary is a pathetic, ignorant tactic of politicians who seek to divide in order to get elected.

Threatening a judge over a ruling is an affront to our constitutional rights of due process of law and the presumption of innocence.

Threats against any judge should never be tolerated and condemned by all if we want to live in a free country.

To deny one-person due process of law, no matter how much we think they are guilty, is to deny us all of the constitutional rights we cherish in this country.

Following is an article published by ABQ Reports on April 30, 2019 and written by reporter Dennis Domrzalski regarding APD Chief Michael Geier not firing APD spokesman Simon Drobik as recommended by the Civilian Police Oversight Commission.

HEADLINE: “No discipline for Simon Drobik”

April 30, 2019|

BY: Dennis Domrzalski

“Albuquerque Police Chief Mike Geier said … that he will not–repeat, will not–discipline APD’s human overtime Robot officer Simon Drobik for claiming massive amounts of overtime pay.”

“Geier said in a news release that he will not follow the recommendation of the Civilian Police Oversight Agency that Drobik be fired.”

“Drabik, a patrol officer, was paid $192,000 in 2019, making him the highest paid employee in all of city government.”

Here is APD’s news release on the matter:

Chief Geier Outlines Efforts To Fix Overtime Policies

Addresses CPOA findings with mix of modernized compensation accountability and public information staffing practice changes

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – APD Chief Mike Geier outlined efforts today to fix the department’s outdated overtime policies and practices. Chief Geier announced the effort as part of his response to a report by the Civilian Police Oversight Agency.

“We came into an overtime system based on a set of 2015 policies and procedures that were full of loopholes and contradictions,” Chief Geier said. “Exceptions were made over years to deal with massive understaffing. As a result, many officers used those exceptions as opportunities to earn more money.

“We are moving away from what was essentially an ‘honor system’ and forward with a plan to modernize overtime at APD and clean up the process,” Chief Geier said. “As we continue to hire more officers, the time is right to fix this problem and ensure accountability.”

In his response to the CPOA report, Chief Geier outlined several steps APD is taking, along with the development of new policies to modernize the overtime process.

Modernize the department’s Overtime, Compensatory Time and Work Shift Designation Policy.

The policy was scheduled to be updated in 2017, but work was never completed. An independent audit in 2016 made several recommendations that were not addressed.

Continue to implement changes outlined as part of APD’s budget plan for FY2020, such as:

Provide Commanders with data about overtime usage and hold them accountable for managing overtime.

Hold direct supervisors accountable for adjusting work hours when appropriate.

Develop a training plan that maximizes amount of training completed during normal duty hours and minimizes training completed on overtime.

Explore opportunities to minimize the amount of non-grant funded tact plan activities completed on overtime.

Work with Metro and District Court to limit and better manage officer court appearances.

Separate Chief’s overtime from other sources of overtime.

End the overlap between Chief’s overtime, on call time and comp time accrual.

Review recommendations from the CPOA and consider the impact on APD’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.

In his response to the CPOA report, Chief Geier directly addressed an investigator’s findings related to the use of overtime by Officer Simon Drobik and a supervisor. While Chief Geier agreed with many of the findings of the CPOA about the use of overtime, he disagreed with the recommended level of discipline.

The CPOA investigator identified multiple low-level violations and multiplied sanctions for each instance. In addition, the investigator raised serious concerns about existing policies, yet still recommended outright termination for violating those policies. In fact, the relevant polices had expired under the previous administration, causing inconsistencies and widespread confusion among officers about overtime practices.

Rather than imposing discipline that is unfair and excessive, Chief Geier reiterated that he is modernizing the overtime policy to ensure fiscal accountability. Chief Geier is placing Officer Drobik on administrative assignment, requiring him to report directly to the Deputy Chief of Staff. This will enable APD administration to monitor Officer Drobik’s use of time and ensure a balance between duties related to communications and duties related to field work. Officer Drobik has offered to surrender his existing “comp bucket” to repay the department for the comp time he earned on days he worked a Chief’s Overtime assignment or for unauthorized times he ran with cadets.

APD is in the process of reviewing the PIO position to determine what additional support is needed to best effectuate the goals of the position. A plan will be developed for additional personnel within the department to take on the responsibilities held by Officer Drobik in his position as PIO.

Mayor Keller added, “The department’s commitment to revamping the overtime policy reflects that the particular personnel issue was just the tip of iceberg; their efforts should bring needed accountability to the overtime system, decentralize our PIOs to better align with community policing, and still ensure that our officers have the flexibility to provide the protection our community needs.”

Work on new overtime policies and public information staffing model is expected to be phased in over time and will be completed by the end of summer.”

https://www.abqreport.com/single-post/2019/04/30/No-discipline-for-Simon-Drobik

It was reported that Ed Harness, the CPOA executive director, that he had not received anything from APD regarding the investigation and said:

“I would have expected that he would have informed the board prior to informing the media.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/1309301/apd-revamps-overtime-policies.html

DAN KLEIN’S TAKE

Retired and former APD Sergeant Dan Klein posted his take on the story:

“We have all heard this song and dance from APD and different mayors for the last 30 plus years. No one is ever held accountable. No criminal investigation by an outside agency. … APD has, for decades, been unable to manage their own payroll affairs and they are never held accountable. I would like to know, if the CPOA investigation is correct, who at APD was manually over riding the payroll system to allow Drobik to claim all the hours he was claiming. The payroll system knows the rules, so did the person who over rode it. That alone is cause for an investigation by New Mexico State Police. But Geier is just like Eden. He wants no outside review of his agency. Geier says he will fix it. Yeah right, Geier is the same chief of police who doesn’t know that blood in a 7 year old girls underwear might be evidence of a crime. But the CPOA and the City Auditor, they know suspicious activity even when the police chief ignores it. Reporters only have to review years of city audits of APD payroll to see that this problem has been ignored and endorsed for decades. Albuquerque we are screwed, only Tim Keller can now call for an independent criminal investigation. Or is he back in the bunker making sandwiches for the cameras for asylum seekers. Good God Mayor Tim Keller step up and do your job. Request the Attorney General or the New Mexico State Police to open a full investigation, or are you too scared about what it might expose?”

ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY

You have to wonder who wrote Mayor Keller’s comments because they do not sound like the former State Auditor who created a reputation to fight “waste, fraud and abuse” demanding that action be taken against individuals when it was found.

APD’s overtime have been a chronic problem over the years to the point the department’s overtime policies underwent an independent audit in 2016 but its recommendations were never implemented.

You know that a police department is being mismanaged when a public information officer (PIO) becomes the news instead of responding to the news agencies with information on criminal cases.

What is even worse is when a Police Oversight Board Agency votes to unanimously to recommend to the APD Chief that not only should the PIO be fired but also his supervisor for abuse of overtime and the APD Chief totally ignores the recommendation as does Mayor Keller.

What is downright pathetic is when the Mayor ignores the recommendations of a civilian Police oversight agency leading one to wonder why bother having one if they have no authority to overrule the Chief when the Chief goes out of his way to protect his own public information officer who is paid $192,000 in one year because of overtime abuse.

POSTSCRIPT

Following are links to related stories:

APD Spokesman Drobik’s $192,973 Overtime Pay Tip Of Iceberg; “Denied Access” Reason Media Reluctant To Report; Where Is Our Champion To Combat “Waste, Fraud and Abuse” Mayor Tim Keller?

One Down, 124 To Go; “Billing And Being Paid” For Work Not Done Epitome Of Government Waste, Fraud and Abuse