Gus Pedrotty

Peripatetic Gus Pedrotty, the 22 year old recent UNM grad who is running for Mayor, won't have money to go up on television but he has come with a series of eye-catching social media videos that describe in-depth his views on major issues like crime and the economy. The videos have garnered quite a bit of attention.

Both Pedrotty and Democratic hopeful Tim Keller tackle crime from a progressive viewpoint and some Keller supporters wonder just how many votes the young and aggressive Pedrotty could siphon away from Keller.

One controversial proposal of Pedrotty's is to add a new layer of bureaucracy at City Hall  to tackle the crime problem--a Public Safety Department. But the problem with City Hall the past eight years has been the lack of accountability for the crime wave from the Mayor, the city council and the chief administrative officer (CAO). Creating a new department of public safety could further shift responsibility away from the mayor and his CAO who is charged under the City Charter with running the day to day affairs of the city and ensuring that all department heads--including the police chief--are doing their jobs. Why has that become so difficult with an APD of only 850 officers?

For 35 years the current system worked quite well, with the mayor, the council and the CAO responding to the public's crime concerns. The breakdown in the line of authority directly to the Mayor and CAO was violated when Mayor Berry took office in 2009 and hired former BernCo Sheriff Darren White as his public safety director and "boss" of the police chief. Soon Berry's attention was diverted and White and Chief Ray Schultz presided over one of the bloodiest chapters in city history that eventually brought APD under the purview of the Department of Justice and has cost us tens of millions in dollars in lawsuit settlements.

Is a public safety department that further separates the CAO and Mayor from direct accountability really the answer? Perhaps after what has happened to our beloved city what we need is not another layer of bureaucracy but a mayor and CAO who take full responsibility for the problem--just as they did for 35 years.

BLOGGING FIND

Talk about a blogging find. Take a look at this video we dug up of a 14 year old Pedrotty (or thereabouts) interviewing Mayor Berry in 2010 for a program run by Youth Development Inc. (YDI). At first it was like watching little Gus visiting Santa Claus but the precocious Pedrotty does a serviceable interview and maybe that's when he got inspired to seek the city's top job. Wild stuff, folks.

By the way, Pedrotty recently told me has no interest in becoming a politician if he is not elected mayor. But he's made quite a favorable impression on the nominating wing of the Dem Party so you have to wonder if we won't see more of him down the road.

MARTY'S CRIME WAVE

Democrat Martin Chavez also presided over a crime wave--albeit a much briefer one--back in the late 90's. We mentioned that he managed to clean it up and that prompted reader George Mozurkewich and others to ask what exactly Chavez did to get us over the hump. We put that question directly to the former Mayor who served three terms:

1. Community Oriented Policing (grow the department as quickly as responsibly possible in a COPs format) with close ties to neighborhoods including neighborhood police stations. Our goal was a department that reflected Albuquerque's diversity. Police officers make a difference!
2. Broken Window - Graffiti and Litter cleanup (take care of the small stuff and the larger will follow)
3. Target repeat offenders. The "solve" rates were over 80% because we were getting the bad guys.
4. We put real hard dollars into APD - more police, better salaries, benefits and equipment. Budgets are the truest reflection of public priorities and our budgets favored public safety.
6. Partnership with D.A. and where they would, with judges to assure that arrests stuck and that there were ultimately consequences for bad conduct.
7. Specialized Units flexible enough to grow or shrink depending on the crime situation (Gangs, Burglary, Auto Theft, etc.)
8. Saturation patrols - let the bad guys know APD was in their faces.
9. Pushing crack houses out (shutting down the crack houses) and demolishing abandoned buildings.
11. Mental Illness recognition training for APD.
12. Non-lethal alternatives for APD.
13. Expanded Community Center Hours, skateboard parks, after school programs, summer youth hiring programs and anything that provided an alternative for teens.
14. Arrest processing center (reducing cop time for transit).
15. Civilianization (anything that would get more officers onto the streets).
17. Really important: Officers knew that City Hall had their backs.
18. AFD to the forefront in programs like Stand by the Schools.
19. No politics in APD.
20. Complete reformation of 911.

There was much more and certainly not every strategy was a 100% success and not every initiative from that period would necessarily work today. For example, with APD officer numbers slashed and paperwork increased, Community Oriented Policing would be highly problematic.

Okay "no politics" in APD is a stretch and Chavez can be faulted for being so desperate to increase the size of the police force that he let bad guys be hired and they started shooting up the city (and its citizens) which contributed to today's crisis. Still, under him the city did not suffer the long-term epidemic of crime we have today and our national reputation was not tarnished to the point that businesses and young people did not want to come here.

CHAVEZ AND BERRY 
Chavez, now 65, is an attorney and native of the city. He recently moved back here from Washington, DC where he was working in public affairs. He was defeated by Mayor Berry when he sought a fourth term in 2009.

Even though crime then was nowhere near as widespread as it is today, Berry successfully ran on the issue, employing TV ads to tell voters the city's property crime rate was significantly higher than that of neighboring cities. Now Berry presides over a city with the highest rate of stolen vehicles in the nation and crime so widespread and constant that many fear that much of it is going unreported.

Berry and the R's also faulted Chavez for trying to make ABQ a "Sanctuary City." But Chavez's defenders shoot back that under Berry ABQ has indeed become a Sanctuary City--not for the undocumented--but for criminals from far and wide.

Chavez left the Mayor's chair with low approval ratings. The economy had tanked, people were tired of him and fellow Democrat Richard Romero split the Dem vote with him, making possible the rare election of a Republican mayor.

Now Berry's political career has been ended by his mismanagement of the crime crisis. Insider polling indicates his approval rating has dropped into the 30's. He has not announced what his plans are when he leaves office December 1. His most zealous critics derisively claim that Berry, who ran a construction company with his wife before becoming mayor, will become associated with one of the big construction firms that benefited from his decision to build the controversial ART project that is costing some $119 million in mostly federal dollars.

RANKING BERRY 

Where will Berry rank among those who have been Mayor since we went to the Mayor/ Council form of government in 1974? The secretive and aloof Louis Saavedra (1989-'92) is generally regarded as the worst. And while Berry may be given somewhat of a pass for the lousy city economy because many factors play into that, his management of the crime wave and APD may hurtle him into Saavedra territory when future citizens look back on this era.

THAT'S ODD

One of the odder aspects of this campaign has been the notable absence of Berry's name from the proceedings. The leading Democratic candidates--Keller and Colón--have shown no stomach for calling out Berry by name. Republican Dan Lewis has mentioned what he calls Berry's failure, but that's about it. It's as if a ghost was in charge the last eight years. And it is yet another example of how City Hall has not been held accountable. It's a stunning turn for a city that once prided itself on Mayor bashing and held their leaders' feet to the fire.

Maybe Berry won't rank anywhere among the mayors. His actions during his two terms will simply be erased as they have been during this campaign.

BEATING UP BRIAN

They beat up Brian on the blog pretty good last week. No surprise, given that Colón bought a boatload of TV ads and was the first mayoral hopeful up on the tube.

(Tim Keller is starting his ads this week. Republican Dan Lewis promises a "strong" TV buy. Staff for Republican Ricardo Chaves says his TV ads are about a week out. Republican Wayne Johnson is also expected to be on the air and we may see a smallish buy from independent Michelle Garcia Holmes before the Oct. 3 balloting.)

But back to Brian who was excoriated here for among other things his association with a law firm that has close ties to the Berry administration and APD. Colón backer Catherine Sherwood comes with the rebuttal:

Brian is neither a Partner nor an Associate at Robles, Rael & Anaya but is designated as “of Counsel.” That means he does not have an equity stake in RRA nor is he on a track to become one. He is an employee and – because of that – is not the one making the decisions about who the major clients are. I believe that he made that decision in 2010 when he ran for Lt. Governor. As a lawyer “of Counsel” he had the time to pursue not only his political aspirations, but also serve community organizations either as a fundraiser or on their boards. It meant less financial gain, but it was the choice he made. I don’t mind people being hit for shortcomings, but people should put his involvement in context and then decide what meaning to give to it. I am not speaking from a partisan perspective, I just want to provide clarification on a subject I know something about.

LUCIANO "LUCKY" VARELA

Former Santa Fe State Rep. Luciano  "Lucky" Varela, known for his state budget expertise and who served 30 years in the Roundhouse, died over the Labor Day weekend. He was 82. Former Governor Bill Richardson said:

Lucky Varela was a master legislator whose expertise on the budget and finances was unparalleled. He was also a gentle soul who cared deeply about his Santa Fe constituents and his wonderful family.

Northern Democratic Congressman Ben Ray Lujan said this of his fellow Democrat:

Representative Varela was seen by many as the conscience of the legislature – thoughtful, knowledgeable and always ready to lend a hand to anyone in need. During his 30 years of dedicated service, he became one of New Mexico's most profound political leaders. His leadership and compassion shined throughout his life, and his legacy will live on through the many people he mentored. We will miss you Lucky, but we will never forget you.

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 2017