The December 7th runoff election in City Council District 9 is between Democrat Rob Grilley, 37, running against Republican Renee Grout, 60.
District 9 is currently represented on the City Council by Don Harris, a four-term Republican who has represented the District since 2005 and has decided not to run for a 5th term. District 7 is east Albuquerque from Menaul and Eubank, south to Kirtland Air Force base, and east of Tramway. The District includes the 4 Hills Country Club area.
On December 1, Republican Renee Grout mailed out a false “hit piece” campaign mailer against Democrat Rob Grilley.
THE LIES TOLD
The political hit piece has a color photo of Democrat Rob Grilley with his arms crossed, and he is smiling. The photo was obviously taken off of Grilley’s campaign web page. To the right of the Grilley picture, is the proclamation “Grilley supports Sanctuary City that protects violent criminals .” The words “protect violent criminals” are in yellow with a black background and the word “protects” is underlined in red for emphasis.
The political hit piece goes on to say: “Rob Grilley supports Sanctuary City policy that forces police to hide illegal immigrants from federal authorities, even if they commit crimes like rape or murder!
In bold, bright red letters appear the words: “Protecting Violent Criminals.” Below these words appears the following text:
“Jaqueline Vigil, a mother of two New Mexico Police Officers, was murdered by Luis Talamantes-Romero, an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal history. Vigil’s killer should have been deported before, but the city’s sanctuary city policy forced police to hide him from immigration officials.”
When you view the fine print on the flyer, barely readable because it is so tiny, the reader finds that it was produced by “McClesky and Associates” which fully explains the false and malicious nature of the flyer.
THE LIAR WHO TELLS THEM
The flyer attacking Democrat Rob Grilley is simply a pack of lies told by Republican Renee Grout. On many levels, the lies reveal a candidate grossly ignorant of the truth or could care less about the truth so long as she wins an election. With the malicious flyer, Grout has resorted to fear tactics and misinformation to distract voters because she has no plan to fight crime in Albuquerque.
ALBUQUERQUE HAS NEVER BEEN A “SANCTUARY CITY”
It’s a Grout lie when she says, “Rob Grilley supports Sanctuary City policy that forces police to hide illegal immigrants from federal authorities, even if they commit crimes like rape or murder!” Simply put, there is no such policy. Albuquerque has never been a “sanctuary city” and it’s not likely it is eve going to be one.
The truth is that in 2001, the Albuquerque City Council enacted a resolution that declared Albuquerque an “immigrant-friendly” city. The resolution was sponsored by then-Republican City Councilor Hess Yntema, whose wife is a naturalized United States citizen from Columbia.
An “immigrant-friendly” city implements “welcoming city” policies and does not provide for city enforcement of federal immigration laws, and addresses only city services, including licensing and housing. The focus is to create inclusive, immigrant-friendly, and welcoming policies. Albuquerque’s “immigrant-friendly” designation welcomes immigrants to the city and is mainly symbolic.
Immigrant-friendly policies increase public safety. State and local law enforcement agencies depend on the cooperation of immigrants, legal or not, to solve a wide array of crimes. When immigrants believe our local police are working with federal immigration officers, immigrants will not go to them in cases of emergencies nor report crimes they have been witness to or victims of crime. When immigrants are scared of going to the police and reporting crimes, criminals roam free, and the immigrant falls prey to crime.
All too often, immigrants are preyed upon by slumlords charging top dollar for substandard housing refusing to do repairs knowing the immigrant will not complain to authorities and knowing they could be evicted by the slumlord.
Albuquerque’s “immigrant-friendly” policy means that our local police do not have to do the job of federal immigration officers. APD has enough problems as it is enforcing state and local laws. The city of Albuquerque has a shortage of police as it is, and our police have more than enough to do to keep us safe. They are not federal immigration officers and must focus on fighting crime.
The Albuquerque Journal recently reported there is no evidence that undocumented immigrants drive crime. Some studies suggest undocumented immigrants are less likely than U.S. citizens and legal immigrants to commit crimes.”
https://www.abqjournal.com/2435020/how-can-a-mayor-fight-crime.html
JAQUELIN VIGIL’S KILLER WAS UNKNOWN TO APD
It’s another Renee Grout lie when the flyer says, “Vigil’s killer should have been deported before, but the city’s sanctuary city policy forced police to hide him from immigration officials.” This is simply a lie. When the murder occurred, it was first believed to have been a retaliation killing against Vigils’ two state police officer sons. APD did not “hide her killer from immigration officials” because APD had no idea who her killer was, and a search had begun while APD was investigating the murder. What the investigation found is that the killer was “casing” homes at 5:30 am in the area, he came upon Jaqueline Vigil pulling out of her driveway to go to the gym and he shot her.
The truth is Jaqueline Vigil’s killer had already been deported by the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) a few months before the killing. The first illegally entry was a misdemeanor. When he reentered the United States illegally for a second time, he committed a felony. Unbeknownst to APD, Talamantes- Romero was arrested by INS on an outstanding warrant on unrelated charges and was be held in an El Paso federal detention facility. On June 21, 2021, Talamantes- Romero was indicted by a state grand jury on murder, burglary and attempted armed robbery charges stemming from the Nov. 19, 2019. He is in custody and is awaiting trial.
MCCLESKEY MEDIA STRATEGIES NO STRANGER TO FALSE AND MISLEADING POLITICAL HIT FLYERS
According to the campaign finance reports filed with the City Clerk’s office, McCleskey Media Strategies is the political consulting firm managing Renee Grout’s campaign for City Council. Review of Renee Grouts campaign finance reports reveals a staggering amount of money paid to McCleskey Media Strategies producing and printing campaign materials and mailers. The amounts are staggering for the reason that Renee Grout was initially a public finace candidate was given $41,791 to run her campaign. After the November 2 election when she made it into the runoff, she became a privately financed candidate.
The amounts paid to McCleskey Media Strategies for the November 2 election are as follows:
7th campaign finance report: $2,426.18
8th campaign finance report: $10,472.17
9th campaign finance report: $8,441.41.
10th campaign finance report: $10,035
Total Paid for November 2 election: $31,374
Renee Grouts 4th Runoff Statement Campaign finance report reveals $14,992.66 paid McCleskey Media Strategies.
The grand total paid to McCleskey Media Strategies by Renee Grout for the November 2 and the December 7 runoff: $46,367.42
The link to the city clerk’s office where you can review all of the Renee Grout campaign finance reports is here:
https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/OrganizationDetail.aspx?OrganizationID=7115
The significance of McCleskey Media Strategies handling the Grout Campaign is that political Republican Strategist Jay McCleskey is the primary principle or owner of McCleskey media strategies. McClesky is known for his negative slash-and-burn tactics to disparage and viciously malign Democrats. Jay McClesky has managed the successful campaigns of Republicans running for Governor, the state legislator, Mayor, and Albquerquerqu City Council. Simply put, McClesky is the go to guy for anyone who is Republican running for office. Confidential sources have said that McClesky is already lining up Republican candidates for Bernalillo County Sheriff and legislative candidates in 2022.
REPUBLICANS ATTACKING REPUBLICANS
Former Republican Governor “She Who Shall Not Be Named” was vicious in going after members of her own party who disagreed with her and she did that with Mc Clesky working for her. Recently, it was reported that Southern New Mexico rancher Scott Chandler settled a defamation lawsuit he filed claiming political consultant Jay McCleskey and the former Republican Governor’s political action committee circulated untruthful mailers about him during the 2016 campaign. The settlement agreement was reached 3 days after Chandler filed a motion asking a judge to add former Governor Susana Martinez as a defendant in the case. The motion was based on McCleskey’s statements in a recent deposition that Martinez was critical in setting up the Advance New Mexico Now PAC.
Chandler’s 2019 lawsuit alleged that McCleskey and Advance New Mexico Now PAC circulated two mailers about Chandler damaging his chances of winning a 2016 Republican primary election for House District 32. Chandler lost the primary by 16 votes. The lawsuit alleged that McCleskey and the PAC mailed fliers during the 2016 primary that asked, “How did a business accused of child abuse and torture AVOID government oversight?”
The fliers referred to a 2013 New Mexico State Police investigation of Chandler’s Tierra Blanca High Country Youth Program in Hillsboro, north of Deming. No criminal charges were filed as a result of the investigation. Chandler received legal settlements approaching $1 million from the state related to the investigation. The defamation suit against McCleskey also alleges that McCleskey advised then-Governor Martinez to execute the State Police search of Chandler’s ranch in October 2013. Chandler asked a 6th Judicial District Court judge on November 1 to add Martinez to the suit, alleging McCleskey recently implicated the former governor as a key player in the PAC who “directly authorized the mailing of the fliers.” McCleskey made the comments during an August 10 deposition in a related lawsuit McCleskey filed against his insurance company. In that suit, McCleskey alleged that the company refused to pay his legal costs in the Chandler lawsuit.
In his deposition, McCleskey said Martinez was involved in setting up and operating the PAC, which is no longer active, the motion states: “Governor Martinez was involved in the running of the PAC, including decisions about proposed budgets, proposed targets, and proposed districts. … She was involved in polling meetings and was presented with polling information.”</em>
The link to quoted source materials is here:
https://www.abqjournal.com/2448303/lawsuit-over-campaign-fliers-appears-settled.html
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
The only explanation for Renee Grout to authorize and mail a false and misleading flyer against Rob Grilley is that she has become desperate in the remaining days of the city council race.
Simply put, Grout is attempting to stoke fears about the immigrant community relying on a murder that was random. The truth is Renee Grout has no plan to combat crime or other major problems the city is confronted with, while Rob Grilley has articulated such a platform. You can review his plan here:
“Get outcomes for crime, homelessness, empty lots” BY ROB GRILLEY /
ALBUQUERQUE CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE, DEMOCRAT
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21ST, 2021 AT 12:02AM
Before Renee Grout authorizes the mailing of another political hit piece that contains a litany of lies against her opponent Rob Grilley, she would be wise to make sure she has an insurance policy that will defend her against libel and slander.
If not, she needs to knock it off.