The 2021 Albuquerque Municipal election for Mayor and City Council officially started . March 1 was the first day candidates could declare to seek public finance beginning an 8-month election process. Election day is Tuesday, November 2, 2021.
On the ballot this year will be the 5 odd numbered city council districts of the 9 city council seats. The council seats up for election are City Council seats 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9.
The link to the city web site is here:
https://www.cabq.gov/vote/candidate-information/2021-candidates
CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES
Following is the breakdown of the 14 candidates running for City Council and what is known about them.
District 1: Albuquerque’s Central West Side
On Sunday, April 25 District 1 City Councilor LAN SENA announced that she is running for her first full term to the City Council. She was appointed to the City Council in March 2020, by Mayor Tim Keller. To date there are no others running in District 1. Although Councilor Lan Sena has declared she is running, she has yet to file her candidate registration with the city clerk and has not indicated if she will be seeking public financing making it likely she will seek private financing instead.
DISTICT 3: Southwest part of Albuquerque
The City Clerks website reflects no one has filed a candidate registration.
The incumbent is City Councilor Klarissa Peña. She is making it known privately she will be seeking another four-year term. Notwithstanding, she has to file her candidate registration with the city clerk and has not indicated if she will be seeking public financing.
DISTRICT 5: Northwest part of Albuquerque
CYNTHIA BORREGO: On April 29, City Councilor Cynthia Borrego filed her Candidate Registration form with the City Clerk and is listed as seeking public financing. JOSHUA MARTINEZ is listed as her Treasurer. Democrat City Councilor Cynthia D. Borrego was elected to City Council in November 2017. Borrego has yet to make a formal announcement, but her registration and collection of $5 qualifying donations to the city confirms she is running for a second 4 year term.
DAN LEWIS: On April 18 former Albuquerque City Councilor Dan Lewis for District 5 filed his Candidate Registration with the City Clerk. Listed as the the Treasurer for the Lewis campaign is ELLIS MCMATH. Listed as an Alternate contact is MEGAN MCMILLAN who ostensibly is a political campaign consultant who works for Jay Mc Clesky in that the contact email is for MC CLESKEY MEDIA. Jay McClesky is the former campaign manager for former Governor Susana Martinez and former Republican Mayor RJ Berry and is the go-to guy for Republican candidates. It’s very surprising that Lewis is seeking public finance seeing as when he ran for Mayor in 2017, he raised upwards of $800,000 in private donations. Further, MC CLESKEY MEDIA is known amongst politicos as being a high-end political consulting firm.
PHILLIP RAMIREZ has submitted his candidate registration paperwork to run for City Council District 5.. Ramirez was one of 5 candidates in 2017 who initially ran against Councilor Borrego, but Ramirez failed to qualify for the ballot.
Listed as the Treasurer for the Ramirez campaign is CORRINE TREVINO. Also listed as her email address is SISTO@ABEYTAASSICIATES.COM. Sisto Abyeta is a very well know progressive Democrat political consultant who has been involved in many campaigns over the years. He is the primary principal in his political consulting firm Abeyta Associates. It is more likely than not that Abeyta is the campaign manager for Ramirez. In 2019, Sisto Abeyta was the main political consultant for Democrat Joseph Griego who ran for City Council District 2 and was the first to qualify for public financing but District 2 incumbent City Councilor Isaac Benton prevailed beating out 4 opponents.
https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/OrganizationDetail.aspx?OrganizationID=7113
DISTRICT 7: Albuquerque’s mid-heights including uptown and parts of the near northeast heights
Tammy Fiebelkorn : District 7 is currently represented by Diane Gibson.. On April 20, it was reported that Diane Gibson will not be seeking a third term. The city clerk lists Tammy Fiebelkorn as a candidate for the position but she has yet to announce.
Mauro Walden-Montoya: On April 26, attorney and community activist Mauro Walden-Montoya announced he is running to fill the vacancy. Mr. Montoya was born and raised in Albuquerque, he is a Highland High School graduate, a New Mexico State graduate and he is a 1984 George Washington University Law School graduate. He has been very involved with the Albuquerque LGBTQ community and organizing the Gay Pride Parade in Albuquerque. Mauro Walden-Montoya is the past the president of the Albuquerque LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce. He has been the LGBTQ Ambassador for the city’s One Albuquerque program and coordinated the Western Business Alliance conference in 2020. He is a board member for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains and works at the City of Albuquerque and Albuquerque Tourism & Scenic Factory. He is married to Andy Walden Montoya since July 5, 2014.
The link to Mr. Walden-Montoya’s announcement in here:
DISTRICT 9: District 9 is the far Southeast Heights and Foothills.
On February 27, Republican City Councilor Don Harris who was first elected to the City Council in 2005, announced he is not running for another term (as if anyone knew he has been on the council for 14 years).
There are 4 candidates that have filed candidate registrations for City Council District 9. Those cndidates with information known are:
1. Andrew Lipman: Mr. Lipman has resided in Albuquerque for the last 28 years. According to his campaign web page, he has “been a community activist, philanthropist, and organizer in Albuquerque’s City Council District 9 for nearly three decades. He currently is a member of the Urban Enhancement Trust Fund Committee, representing District 9 and prior to that served as Government Affairs Director for the Four Hills Village Association for three years. He is a board member of the East Gateway Coalition of Associations. He and his wife currently reside in Four Hills Village. The city clerk lists Charley Rhodes as the Treasurer and lists Garrett Swensen as an alternate contact for the campaign. No confirmed information could be found regarding Mr. Swenson nor Mr. Rhodes.
2. BYRON K POWDRELL: Mr. Powdrell ran 4 years ago for city council in a 3 person race. He is was born and raised in Albuquerque and he is a member of the well-known Powdrell family, the son of Willie Powdrell and related to the owner’s of Powdrell’s Bar be Que. Mr. Powdrell is the owner and manager of 99.9 The Beat LPFM, Albuquerque’s first successful non-profit, low power radio station.
Carlos McMahon is listed as the Treasurer for the Powdrell campaign. Mr. McMahon is a retired State of New Mexico Private Investigator and owner of the McMahon Agency, a private investigations firm also known as McMahon Private Investigations, LLC.
3. ROB GILLY, JR.: is seeking public financing. The link to the Rob Grilly City Clerk page is here:
https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/OrganizationDetail.aspx?OrganizationID=7116
STEPHANIE TEICH-MCGOLDRICK is listed as the Treasurer for Rob Grilley Jr for City Council.
4. RENNE GROUT: Renee Gout is seeking public financing. The link to the Renee Grout City Clerk page is here:
https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/OrganizationDetail.aspx?OrganizationID=7115
Listed as the Treasurer for Renee Grout is RUSS HILLER.
Listed as the alternate contact for Renee Grout is MEGAN MCMILLAN.
EXPLORATORY PERIOD
April 25 to May 30, 2021 is designated as the exploratory period for City Council candidates to collect “seed money” for their campaign.
City Council Candidates in all 5 City Council Districts on the November ballot can collect up to $250 in seed money contributions from voters in their Districts, but there is an aggregate cap on the total amount of seed money because of different voter registration numbers in each City Council District. The aggregate of seed money contribution limits for each city council district is as follows:
City Council District 1: $8,205.40
City Council District 3: $8,000.00
City Council District 5: $10,097.80
City Council District 7: $8,838.80
City Council District 9: $8,358.20
CAUTION: Participating candidates shall not have, within one year prior to the declaration of intent to seek public financing, raised or expended any monies in excess of the pre- and post- Exploratory Period contribution limits with the intent or effect of campaigning for elected office.
MAY 31 TO JULY 5, 2021 COLLECTION PERIOD FOR BOTH NOMINATING SIGNATURES AND $5.00 QUALIFYING DONATIONS FOR PUBLICLY FINANCED CANDIDATES
From May 31 to July 5, 2021, Publicly Financed Candidates for City Council must gather more than 500 signatures from registered voters and the $5.00 qualifying donations within the district the candidate wishes to represent
Each name and signature on the nominating petition is reviewed and compared to the voter registration rolls and if the person who has signed the petition name is not on the voter registration rolls, it is disqualified. Consequently, as many signatures above the 500 requirement is recommended for a “buffer” in order to ensure the minimum number of nominating signatures are secured.
Public Finance Candidates for City Council must collect $5.00 qualifying contributions from 1% of the registered voters in the district the candidate wishes to represent. All the $5.00 qualifying donations must come from registered voters in the respective districts. The breakdown of $5.00 donations from each city council district is as follows:
District 1: 411
District 3: 315
District 5: 505
District 7: 442
District 9: 418
The guidelines for publicly financed candidates are here:
http://www.cabq.gov/vote/candidate-information/publicly-financed-candidates
PUBLIC FINANCE AMOUNTS AND SPENDING LIMIT
Once candidates for City Council collect the minimum number of qualifying $5.00 donations, the city advances to the candidates in one lump sum public financing. In exchange for the public financing, the candidates must sign and agree to spend no more than what they are given for the campaign. Following are the amounts that will be advanced to qualifying candidates:
City Council District 1: $41,027.00
City Council District 3: $40,000.00
City Council District 5: $50,489.00
City Council District 7: $44,194.00
City Council District 9: $41,791.00
IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS ALLOWED
Candidates who have qualified for public financing are allowed to collect but must claim “in-kind” contributions, which are contributions of goods or services and not cash contributions. In kind contributions for public finance candidates have the following caps for individual in-kind and aggregate in-kind contributions:
City Council District 1: $1,499.68 individual, $4,102.70 aggregated
City Council District 3: $1,499.68 individual, $4,000.00 aggregated
City Council District 5: $1,499.68 individual, $5,048.90 aggregated
City Council District 7: $1,499.68 individual, $4,419.40 aggregated
City Council District 9: $1,499.68 individual, $4,179.10 aggregated
JULY 6 TO AUGUST 10, 2021 COLLECTION PERIOD FOR NOMINATING SIGNATURES PRIVATELY FINANCED CANDIDATES
Privately Financed Candidates for City Council must gather more than 500 signatures from registered voters within the district the candidate wishes to represent and can only gather signatures from July 6 to August 10, 2021.
Each name and signature on the nominating petition is reviewed and compared to the voter registration rolls and if the person who has signed the petition name is not on the voter registration rolls, it is disqualified. Consequently, as many signatures above the 500 requirement is recommended for a “buffer” in order to ensure the minimum number of nominating signatures are secured.
You can find these timeframes here:
http://www.cabq.gov/vote/candidate-information/privately-financed-candidates
DONATION LIMITS FOR PRIVATELY FINANCE CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES
Privately financed candidates have no fundraising or spending limits. Privately financed candidates can raise and are free to accept campaign contributions from whatever legal source they want including contributions from individuals, businesses and corporations within the city, county, state or out of state and there is no city voter registration required by the donor.
Privately financed candidates can spend whatever amount they want on a campaign. Public finance candidates can only accept the $5.00 qualifying donations from registered city voters and agree in writing to spend only what the city gives them.
There are, however, limits on individual contributions privately financed candidates can accept from donors. Specifically, Article XIII, Section 4(e) limits the total contributions from any one person, with the only exception being the candidates themselves, and the private contribution cannot exceed 5% of the salary of the elected official at the time of filing the Declaration of Candidacy.
The individual aggregate amounts that can be collected by privately financed candidates from donors for the individual city council races are as follows:
City Council District 1: $1,499.68
City Council District 3: $1,499.68
City Council District 5: $1,499.68
City Council District 7: $1,499.68
City Council District 9: $1,499.68
You can find the timeframes here:
http://www.cabq.gov/vote/candidate-information/privately-financed-candidates
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
The city is facing any number of problems that are bringing it to its knees. Those problems include the corona virus pandemic, business closures, high unemployment rates, exceptionally high violent crime and murders rates, continuing mismanagement of the Albuquerque Police Department, failed implementation of the Department of Justice reforms after a full 6 years and millions spent, declining revenues and gross receipts tax, high unemployment rates, persistent and increasing homeless numbers, a lack of mental health and counseling programs and very little economic development, just to mention a few.
The city can go no longer afford to elect a Mayor and City Council based upon promises and nothing but eternal hope for better times and for a better future. What is needed are elected officials that actually know what they are doing and will make the hard decisions without their eye on the next election or to placate their base. It is hoped that there will be more than just one candidate opposing all the incumbents. What is needed is a healthy debate on solutions and new ideas to solve our mutual problems. Such a debate can only happen with contested elections.
It is hoped far more candidates who truly care about the city will run for City Council with far more than just one or two making the ballot and qualifying for public finance.
A link to a related blog article is here:
Before You Sign Nominating Petitions Or Donate $5, Ask Questions