Tuesday, May 09, 2023Battle Of The Bonds; More On Unser and ABQ Museum Feud; Longtime Former Director Speaks Out In the end the $4 million was approved for Unser as well as for bonds for a long planned ABQ museum educational center but at a lower level than initially proposed. Both items will be part of a $200 million Bond issue that will be presented to voters in November. We received a lot of mail about all this and today we hear from Jim Moore, the director of the Albuquerque Museum from 1979 to 2005: The Unser racing museum is a small operation, and with less than 20,000 visitors and a budget that doesn't clear $300,000 I think that the board (if you can find a member list) has no serious track record of fundraising. Hence, the run for the public trough. My concern now that Council has put this $4 million in the package is about how the language in the revised $200 million Bond package will be presented. I don’t know if Mayor Keller has the political capital or the will to separate the Unser Museum $4 million from the normal museum bond language and make it a stand-alone project, but that is what should happen. The voters deserve transparency on this and it squares with the way Council has handled it, especially in saying that they didn't take the money from the Museum. Everybody knows that's a shell game and it's not true, but they declared it loud and clear. Making it separate gives it a fair shot, while hiding it is essentially a cowardly subterfuge, one by which, it appears, any number of individuals will benefit. As you know, previous bond language has always lumped everything together. If the Unser Museum (unnamed - no museum is actually named in bond language) is packaged into that kind of generic language it will breeze through on Albuquerque Museum's coattails and be home free. I have to assume that the $4 million for Unser is plucked out of thin air. They don't have a written program, or a design, much less a construction bid. They don't have a projection of annual operating costs or staffing. They have never said who will cover these expenses, but it is clear that the State which owns the current facility and land doesn't do it, and apparently the (unstated) game plan is to have the City absorb these costs once the capital dollars are in play. In addition to the generic question: "What will the $4M buy?” there are other serious budget-related questions regarding governance, and the "collection" and its value. As Moore pointed out and an administration staffer confirms, bonds for the museum have traditionally been presented to voters in a lump sum without line items. That’s still expected to be the case this year as well. MORE APO Readers continue to react to the death last month at 88 of former Governor Jerry Apodaca who served from 1975 through 1977. Here’s longtime lobbyist Ed Mahr: Joe: I had the fortunate experience to work for the late Gov. Jerry Apodaca when in April 1977 I was named secretary of the Dept. of Corrections. Working for a "strong" governor like Jerry was a delight as his lone instructions to me were to run the department "professionally and within the legal parameters required by state statute." He supported his subordinates when they performed competently and quickly rid his cabinet of those who did not. He was a "no nonsense" chief executive who served his state with honor and class. Rest in Peace, my friend. The former Governor will lie in state at the Roundhouse on May 15 that and other memorial and funeral details are here. E-mail your news and comments. (newsguy@yahoo.com) Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.   (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2023 |
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