ABQ's Most Wanted Man

Call it overkill. Call it over-the-top. District Four City Councilor Brad Winter must be calling it a world of hurt. Late Friday residents in the northeast heights area opened their mailboxes to a deluge of anti-Winter literature from the pro-business Citizens for Greater Albuquerque PAC (CGA). No less than three pieces of literature targeted Winter on behalf of fellow Republican and challenger Pat Milligan. It was probably the biggest single day assault on a political candidate in modern city history.

One Winter supporter said it reeks of desperation. "CGA is losing the other races it's targeted and has turned its firepower on Brad. Even though their attacks have been discredited by the papers, they keep gunning for him in what amounts to ridiculous overkill."

That Winter advocate is right that the papers discredited claims contained in CGA literature. It was a sorry piece of work with even political pros sympathetic to CGA condemning it as shoddy. The first rule of attack politics, one said, is "to get it right before you pull the trigger." If the errors were intentional we have reached a new low in ethics in these contests.

CGA is spending a record $125,000 in just three council races that attract about 6,000 voters each. City Councilors only make 900 bucks a month. The money being spent is clearly all out of proportion to what is at stake. After all, if the city council is so all-powerful how can you explain the record growth of the past 11 years on the westside? And much of this during the mayoral term of avowed environmentalist Jim Baca. The hardcore elements in the business and environmental community need to turn down the temperature a notch, or else Rio Rancho is going to end up the biggest city in New Mexico.

The decline in the city election process started four years ago when the state GOP intervened in the races, Now, this weekend before the Tuesday election, we are in a downright tailspin.

One observer looking ahead, told me to prepare for an ugly aftermath. "If you think this town is divided now wait until Wednesday morning. The mainstream business community that collected the money and sanctioned the pollution of the city political system will be called to account by the opposition." He said.

That may be particularly so if Winter goes down to defeat by CGA. The attacks on him are out of sync with his personality and reputation. If Winter goes down, the ensuing battle to destroy CGA and its causes could turn the political atmosphere downright poisonous.

The Bottom Line: Ironically, the CGA effort, even if successful, could foster such animosity and division that no businessperson in their right mind would want to locate here, paving the way for Rio Rancho to some day assume the role of New Mexico's largest city.

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