Wednesday, August 08, 2018NM Back In The Headlines Again For The Wrong Reasons; A Filthy Compound Full Of Kids; What About CYFD? Plus: Andrea Busted Again In Audit, Packman Packing For City Hall And Pearce TV Ad Gets Critique
It's another sad example of extreme child abuse that haunts the state with sickening regularity and which has put the troubled Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD), led by Secretary Monique Jacobson, under a harsh spotlight.
Not that the compound disaster can be laid at the feet of CYFD, but the agency still doesn't seem to have embraced the seriousness of their lengthy list of institutional failures that are readily familiar to even the most casual consumer of the news.
A group of about 40 concerned citizens staged a protest recently outside the offices of CYFD, protesting the endless abuse and murder of children in the state. Jacobson responded with this:
We are all outraged by the acts of violence against children and I’m encouraged to see the community’s passion to fight against child abuse. I hope everyone who came out today will volunteer and help us in our work to improve the lives of children across New Mexico. I urge all New Mexicans to be vigilant and to report child abuse and neglect. So the taxpayers are supposed to "volunteer" to help the agency that can't do the job it is supposed to do? That's a new twist. And when New Mexicans are vigilant and do report abuse and neglect how often does CYFD drop the ball? Lots. Also, why hasn't this Secretary been pounding the table to get the resources she needs to do the job instead of silently acquiescing to budget cuts? You shudder to think that the murders and abuse are going to continue at this pace under a Governor Lujan Grisham or a Governor Steve Pearce. ANDREA AND CARL  An agency of New Mexico municipalities surrounding Los Alamos National Laboratory approved improper reimbursement for alcohol, food, travel and baseball tickets, the state auditor announced . The released audit especially hits Andrea Romero, former Regional Coalition of LANL Communities executive director, over unlawful reimbursements and found a lack of adequate documentation to support many expenditures “in violation of the published travel policy and state law.” The scathing audit comes as Romero is seeking to win a seat in the state House after defeating Rep. Carl Trujillo in the Democratic primary in June. Romero beat Rep. Carl Trujillo in a bitter primary in which she was accused of being a crook and he a serial sexual harasser. Trujillo is probably thinking how he can come back against her in two years. The Speaker of the House might be thinking how he can keep her off the money committees--at least for a while. And will someone in the state's congressional delegation think about shutting down this agency that seems to specialize in boozy dinner parties and not much else? PACKMAN PACKS High profile Dem political consultant Alan Packman is packing up and moving into new digs. Packman, according to City Hall insiders, will be working in the Department of Technology and Innovation which oversees the 311 service. That's the centralized call center for the city for all non-emergency inquiries and services from constituents. Keller, Packman and his Rio Strategies firm came under fire during Keller's mayoral campaign over financial improprieties. Packman solicited $30,000 in cash donations but listed them as "in-kind" services to the Keller campaign. The city ethics board ruled the Keller campaign had violated the ethics code but did not mean to and did not fine or reprimand him. Packman's star was dimmed after he ran into the ethics buzzsaw. Rio Strategies had been charging clients as much as $10,000 a month for consulting services. No word yet on what Packman will be getting paid at the city. His last campaign was for Garrett VeneKlasen who lost the Dem nomination for state land commissioner in the June primary. An earlier incorrect version of this report said Packman would be working in the Mayor's office in constituent services under Alan Armijo. THE POINT The point on the Tuesday blog was not that ABQ Mayor Keller was wrong for opposing the big subsidies to attract Topgolf here. The point was that you don't expend so much political capital on a low agenda item such as Topgolf that you're veto is overridden by seven of the nine councilors. And you end up having to suck up to City Council President Ken Sanchez who appears to have his own idea about who is Mayor. Keller's reaction on getting his veto overridden: . . . We were pleased to welcome Topgolf to Albuquerque, but we felt that this deal missed the mark. We believe in spirited public discussion, even when we agree to disagree. Our focus remains on using the tools in our toolbox to grow the local economy and create good-paying jobs. We continue to work with the council on a variety of initiatives under the steady leadership of Council President (Ken) Sanchez. Geez, Tim. "Steady leadership?" Does Ken say that about you? ON THE TUBE  Pearce's ad is pie in the sky. A "silicon mesa" is a slogan where he implies that integrated circuit fabrication can be the salvation of New Mexico by selling to LANL and Sandia National Labs. A few questions: Is the market for specialized integrated circuits at LANL and SNL a significant part of the LANL and SNL budgets? No, their volume is small compared to other purchases. Is there already a fab for ICs in New Mexico? Yes, there is a company, Intel, with a fab here in ABQ. Is there a fab for rad-hard ICs in New Mexico? Yes, there is one at SNL. Suppose you were contemplating a start up here in NM - would you concentrate on the LANL and SNL markets as your primary customer? You had better not. The customer base must be much larger than these two organizations. Why would you limit yourself to these two customers? So, the real impediments to industrialization in NM are the availability of educated workforce and parochial viewpoints. Steve Pearce is an example of a parochial view point. . . Blevins is the chief technical officer of Antenna Development Corporation in Las Cruces. He comes with more of his take on the Pearce economic proposals here. We welcome media critiques from both sides of the aisle. This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (jmonahan@ix.netcom.com) Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.   (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2018 |
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