Albuquerque Mayor Martin J. Chavez, who has qualified for the ballot and public financing, but has not officially announced that he's running for a 4th term this fall, has picked up an important and powerful endorsement from the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, which represents 3500 city workers.Read the endorsement here.
Chavez, who declined to participate in the union's mayoral forum last month, has said he plans to announce his re-election plans within "weeks."
New Mexico Independent's Heath Haussaman and Joe Monahan broke the story here and here that AFSCME's decision was made by union members on Wednesday night.
Council President and PEOPLE Committee chair Andrew Padilla said:
Mayor Chavez is in a very strong position to be re-elected and we look forward to a good working relationship over the next four years with the Mayor and his administration.Richard Romero and RJ Berry are also on the ballot. Yesterday, Romero went on the offense at a news conference calling Chavez "fiscally irresponsible." Marjorie Childress reports here that a Chavez spokesperson is defending his record and the city's bond rating. We have audio from Romero's news conference, with former City Treasurer Lou Hoffman, and a response from Deborah James (Chavez spokesperson). Both audio interviews will be posted this weekend.
1 comment:
Gentle Reader,
Social Security, Let's review. Social Security is a social contract with the current generation of labor and that generation's aged parents and grandparents.
Those parents and grandparents were obligated by law and have been paying into Social Security for generations. Those payments have always been applied to benefit a previous generation.
Currently, Social Security is accelerating in the direction of insolvency.
It is particularly disturbing that Albuquerques government employees unions such as police and firefighters are turning their backs on that social contract with their parents and grandparents and not paying Social security witholding.
Dishonestly, they suppose that since they are not interested in the benefit, that it doesn't matter that they don't pay what has been for the rest of us, for generations , a Tax.
Guess why They are not interested in the benefit. They get a way better benefit courtesy of the gentle taxpayer.
It is apparent they are not concerned with the solvency of what their grandmothers might need for survival.
But they certainly are concerned with the prosperity that derives from the taxes on grandma's house.
An ugly picture emerges when we think of grandma, denied her social security by a self serving generation of government employees, losing her house to a property tax lien.
In any other language we call that the ultimate betrayal.
Surely those police and firefighters aren't the kind of guys who would prance about in front of Albuquerque City Council and boast of their heroic deeds.
They are not heros in my book.
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