albuquerque new mexico alternative newspaper - abq free press - april 5

8/18/2019 Albuquerque New Mexico Alternative Newspaper - ABQ Free Press - April 5

1/17

Serving Up Journalistic Justice Since 2014VOL III, Issue 7, April 6 – 19, 2016

Trump/CruzContestGoes X-rated

PAGE 13

Nonstop

To LawsuitCity PAGE 5

PAGE 27Surf Beat: Dick Dale Tells All

New Cat CaféServes Java &

Kitty CuddlesPAGE 21

APDTaser-mania

Will Cost

TaxpayersPAGE 11


2/17

2 • April 6 – April 19, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS ABQ FREE PRESS • April 6 – April 19, 2016 • 3EditoR’S A&E Pick

A&E: Three to See

Back to ballet class — as

an adult

The first rule of

Flight Club is …

Patrick Fabian talks

‘Better Call Saul’

[Page 19]#ballet #Keshet

[Page 22]

#BeerTown #flights

[Page 23]#NMFilmFocus#HowardHamlin

Editor

Dan Vukelich(505) 345-4080. Ext. 800

Associate Editor, News

Dennis Domrzalski(505) 306-3260

Managing Editor/Arts Editor

Samantha Anne Carrillo(505) 345-4080 ext. 804

Online Editor

Juani Hopwood(505) 345-4080 ext. 816, [email protected]

Circulation Manager

Steve Cabiedes(505) 345-4080 ext. 815

Design

Terry Kocon, C.S. Tiefa

Photography

Mark Bralley, Mark Holm, Juan Antonio Labreche, Liz Lopez,Adria Malcolm

Staff Reporter

Rene Thompson

Contributors this issue

Ty Bannerman, Lisa Barrow, Richard Faturechi, Gary Glasgow,Juani Hopwood, Mark Hopwood, Bill Hume, Ariane Jarocki,Dan Klein, Karie Lui dens, Andy Lyman, Ian Maksik,Joe Monahan, Sayrah Namasté, Tom O’Connell,M. Brianna Stallings, Richard Stevens, Rene Thompson,Tom Tomorrow, Christa Valdez

Copy Editors

Wendy Fox Dial, Jim Wagner

Sales Representatives (505) 345-4080

Abby Feldman x802Cory Calamari x810Sherri J. Barth x813

Operations Manager

Abby Feldman (505) 345-4080, Ext. 802

Published every other week by:

Great Noggins LLCP.O. Box 6070Albuquerque, NM 87197-6070

Publishers

Will Ferguson and Dan Vukelich

Cover Illustration

Gary Glasgow

Where to findour paper?

List of more than

550 locations

at freeabq.com

www.freeabq.com

Editor: [email protected]: [email protected]: [email protected]

On Twitter: @FreeABQOn Facebook: facebook.com/abqfreepress

Corrections policy:It is the policy of ABQ Free Press to correct

errors in a timely fashion.Contact the editorsat the email addresses on this page.

COMPILED BY ABQ FREE PRESS STAFF

NEWS

BY RENE THOMPSON

Corrections:In a March 23 editorial by Dan Vukelich on a lack of government transparency inAlbuquerque city government, the judge hearing a request by the Santa Fe Reporterfor an injunction against Gov. Susana Martinez was misidentified. The judge isSanta Fe District Judge Sarah Singleton.

PCs for the poorA top Apple executive recentlymocked people using oldercomputers. While showing off anew Apple display and camera,Apple’s head of marketing, PhilSchiller, took some digs at Win-dows and PC users, s pecicallythe 600 million people using PCsmore than ve years old. “Thisis really sad,” Schiller said. C.Custer, reporter for Tech in Asia,criticized Schiller’s remarks:“Using the same machine for veyears? How barbaric! Thank Godwe live in civilized society, whereeveryone throws their gadgetsout and buys new ones every twoyears.”

Donald’s grandpaDonald Trump’s family namewas Drumpf when his grand-father Friedrich immigrated tothe United States in 1885 andopened a brothel in New YorkCity. Friedrich, who changed hisname to Frederick Trump, fol-lowed the Klondike gold rush tothe Yukon and ran brothels there,allowing customers to pay withgold dust. He returned to NewYork after a regional police crack-down on gambling, liquor andprostitution. In one of his books,

Donald Trump wrote that thename Drumpf Tower “Doesn’tsound nearly as catchy.”

Less yuckyBoeing, which manufacturesmost U.S. airliners, has devel-oped a new prototype airplane bathroom that sanitizes itselfafter each use by blasting thespace with ultraviolet light thatthe manufacturer says kills99.9 percent of all germs on theroom’s surfaces in just three sec-onds. The prototype goes further:a bathroom vent on the oor towhisk away spilled liquids, andtouch-free faucets, trash bins,toilet covers and ush handles.Previous advances by Boeing ledto negative-pressure bathroomsthat keep smells from permeating

the airline cabin.Syrian spacemanIf you don’t recognize the nameMuhammed Faris, you should:In 1987, he became the rst Arabcosmonaut. The Syrian, who

spent seven days, 23 hours andve minutes in space on the Mirspace station, returned a nationalhero and tried to convince Syria’sleader, Hafez al-Assad, to create anational space institute. The rulersaid no. “He wanted to keep hispeople uneducated and divided,with limited understanding,”Faris told The U.K. newspaper,The Guardian. “That’s howdictators stay in power,” he said.Now, Faris is one of millions of

Syrian refugees from the regimeof al-Assad’s son, Bashar al-as-sad. Faris lives in Istanbul.

Ka-blowieA Baltimore woman is suingthe city for damages, includingPTSD, after she was blownoff her toilet by city sanitationworkers using high-pressurehoses to clear a clogged sewerin her neighborhood. The blastexploded her toilet and sent herying across her bathroom. Shewants $250,000 for the emotionaltrauma she says the incidentcaused her.

Internet privacyThe Federal CommunicationsCommission wants to crackdown on Internet providers who

see it as their right to record andsell your Internet browsing hab-its. The FCC wants companies toobtain explicit permission beforethey can sell your informationto third parties, rather thanincluding an assent in their termsof services. Providers argue theproposed rule will lead to higheruser fees. On a similar note, usersof the workplace collaborationapp Slack may not realize thatevery keystroke they make whileon Slack is saved in perpetuity,or until the account is deleted,meaning the messages are subjectto subpoena and are accessible byemployers. The growth of Slackwill lead to “environments of to-tal surveillance,” wrote AnnaleeNewitz of ArsTechnica.com.

Fingered“Freddie Got Fingered,” a com-edy movie on VHS, got a Con-cord, N.C., man arrested whena cop who pulled him over for a broken taillight found a 14-year-old warrant that he had never

returned the movie to a store thatno longer exists. “He goes, ‘Sir, Idon’t know how to tell you this, but there’s a warrant for yourarrest from 2002. Apparently, yourented a movie “Freddy Got Fin-gered” and you never returnedit. … And we’re here to take youto jail,’” James Meyers said ofthe incident on a YouTube videohe posted. Meyers was allowedto leave the scene and take hisyoung daughter to school if he

promised to surrender later inthe day, which he did. He was ar-rested, handcuffed and releasedon a condition to appear April 27in a local court. The alleged crimeis a misdemeanor punishable bya ne of up to $200.

Last chance forbarbecueTexas businessman Roy Rose hasplans to transform the Bastrop,Texas, “Texas Chainsaw Mas-sacre” landmark Last ChanceGas Station from a creepy moviememory into an even more creep-ily named barbecue destination –We Slaughter Barbecue. Accord-ing to KXAN in Austin, Rose and business partner Ari Lehman,who played Jason Voorhees in

the rst “Friday the 13th” lm,are building a “horror barbecueresort” that will include cabins,a music stage, souvenirs and, ofcourse, barbecue. Rose hopes tocomplete renovations and openthe resort in late summer 2016.

Phallus FunIn Kawasaki, Japan, it’s the startof an annual celebration calledthe Kanamara Matsuri, or “SteelPhallus.” Festival-goers sportpenis-shaped purses and carrylarge penis-shaped Shinto shrinesthrough the streets, and peopleeat penis-shaped lollipops andother penile edibles. The event,which started in 1977, has itsroots in the 17th Century whena blacksmith built a steel mon-ument to honor the deities ofchildbirth and fertility. This year,festival-goers can straddle a giantwooden phallus. As Ron Dickerof the Huff-Post website wrote,“Hey, what’s a festival withoutrides?”

ABQ Free Press Pulp News

ANNUAL VOLUNTEER TRAININGWe can use your help in returning

injured and orphaned animals back into the wild.

Want to Help New Mexico’s Wildlife?

Enroll in Wildlife Rescue New Mexico

JOBS INCLUDE:

• Feeding the animals• Receiving injured and orphaned animals• Transport• Cleaning cages, enclosures• Releasing birds back into the wild• Ofce and telephone help• Manning booths at shows, events

Photo © Steven DeRomaPhotography

If you want to help, we haveTHREE TRAINING SESSIONS this year:

Saturday, April 2, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Saturday, April 9, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Saturday, April 16, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (mammal training)

Come to the Wildlife Rescue Clinic, 2901 Candelaria Rd. N.W. (located at the entrance to the Rio Grande Nature Center)

Water and snacks provided but we encourage you to bringyour own lunch. Each session has a half-hour break.

Cost of training manual: $25

SIGN UP TODAY!For more info, call:

(505) 344-2500

Reserve your spot [email protected] in Wildlife RescueNew Mexico’s efforts.Last year we cared formore than 2,000 wildanimals.

Local Artist Recognized

Muralist and tattoo artist Dave Briggs has been in the news lately for an in-ternational award that his iconic Astro-Zombies mural won. It’s actually thesecond time the mural of comic book heroes and vill ains has been acknowledged;the first win came in 2013.

Briggs says he’s honored and especially appreciates an outpouring of supportthat followed a local newscast’s failure to mention his name in a story. After that

report aired, local artists and their supporters shared it on social media, voicing

concern over the fact the artist wasn’t named. Since that online outpouring of support, two other news stations have ap-

proached Briggs for interviews, offering him previously lacking media recognition.

For an expanded version of this brief, vi sit freeabq.com

Courtesy of artist


3/17

4 • April 6 – April 19, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS ABQ FREE PRESS • April 6 – April 19, 2016 • 5

Hello, my inquis-itive citizens!This is The Sassy

Lass, your friendly

neighborhood

brainiac. This time

out, I’ve got two

curious questions on

deck.

Q: I understand that aspirin was

derived from tree bark, which makesme think that at some time in human

history, someone gnawed on trees and

discovered it cured their headache. I’ve

also heard that women in the South

eat dirt. Why on earth, pardon the pun,

would they do that? This idea of people

eating “stuff” later found to have me-

dicinal effects intrigues me. When did

tree gnawing begin, and what benefits

come from eating dirt?

You’re right, Nature Nibbler — someone

in our evolutionary history did scarf

bark, namely Australopithecus sediba.

An examination of their dental plaque

determined that these human ancestors

ate tree bark, as well as fruit and leaves,

two million years ago.

After we descended from the treetops,

humans discovered the medicinal prop-

erties of flowers, weeds and especially

willow tree bark.

The word “aspirin” traces its roots to

Spiraea, a biological genus of shrubsrich in salicylic acid, which reduces

inflammation, lowers body temperature

and relieves pain. Early incarnations

of aspirin were made by boiling white

willow bark, although its acidity causes

major stomach upset. The ancient

Sumerians and Egyptians refer to it in

pharmacopoeia, and Greek physician

Hippocrates even recommended salicylic

tea to alleviate the pain of childbirth.

Today’s aspirin was made in the 1890s

by chemist Felix Hoffmann and was

available over the counter by 1915.

As for a dirt diet, count yourself

privileged if soil isn’t on your menu.

Earth eating, or geophagia, includes the

consumption of dirt, chalk or clay. It is a

widespread practice amongst animals,

and human geophagia goes back more

than 2,000 years.

These days, people who gobble

ground are often dirt poor. Starving

Haitians will eat biscuits made fromsoil, salt and Crisco to fill their bellies;

ironically, long-term consumption leads

to malnutrition. Still, it seems that dirt

has things – including minerals such as

calcium, B12 and iron – that some folks

don’t get anywhere else.

Speaking of tummy aches, ever

wonder where Kaopectate got its name?

It’s from kaolin clay, originally an

active ingredient in this OTC diarrhea

treatment. It is used to make porcelain

and paint; kaolin is also eaten as an

appetite suppressant and is one of

many bizarre cravings reported among

pregnant women.

Sandersville, Ga., is the “Kaolin Capital

of the World,” where Ziploc bags of

kaolin sold as novelties are eaten assnacks. For one woman’s story of kaolin

addiction, watch the documentary “Eat

White Dirt.”

Before you dive into your kid’s mud

pie though, be forewarned: health risks

of geophagia include tetanus, stomach

tears and bowel obstructions.

Q: If you look at a map of New Mexico,the eastern border with Oklahoma

shows a little jog outward to the east,

away from the border with Texas. For a

state so precisely drawn by a bunch of

OCD mapmakers to match longitudinal

lines, it seems odd. Why does Union

County bulge out there?

A: Ah, the mystery of the Union County

bulge. Well, Curious Cartographer, it’s

not as mysterious as you’d think. Why

did the Land of Enchantment end up as

the Land of Uneven? Short answer: It

was a mistake. The complete answer is a

little more complicated. The eastern border of New Mexico is

along 103° W longitude with Oklahoma,

then it moves three miles west of 103°

W longitude with Texas.

The New Mexico Territory was estab-

lished in 1850 by the Organic Act, using

that longitude as the eastern border.

Nine years later, the 1859 Clark Survey

screwed up everything. The surveyors’

tools, time tables and sense of perspec-

tive meant the line got shifted, and New

Mexico lost 603,485 acres; the decision

was ratified in 1891.

So we know why the boundary is

futzed up. Why has it remained so?

Because it was either that or no state-

hood. Before New Mexico could become

a state, it was forced to accept the Clark

survey line. Congress even declared the

1891 ratification to be “a conclusive

location and settlement” of the lines.

New Mexico begrudgingly accepted

the ultimatum in 1912 and earned herstatehood.

Got Q’s? The Sassy Lass might havesome A’s! Send your questions to [email protected] today.Your question could be next.

NEWS

Eating Bark, Dirt and TryingTo Make Texas Eat Crow

PARCC, Abortion RightsAnd ‘Yo Soy Joaquín’

BY M. BRIANNA STALLINGS BY SAYRAH NAMASTÉ

columNS/oPiNioN

Opposingstandardizedtesting: Last year,students surprisedNew Mexico withmassive “walk

outs” to protestthe infamousPARCC tests and

took to the streets chanting rather than

participate in the high-stakes test.

I was one of many parents holdingsigns in front of my daughter’s schoolalongside the teachers’ union opposinghigh-stakes testing. As PARCC testing

begins for New Mexico schools againthis month, activists have organized aTown Hall on Standardized Testing titled“First We Walked Out, Now We Opt

Out” at 6-8 p.m. on Wednesday, April13, at the African American PerformingArts Center, 310 San Pedro Drive NE. Janelle Astorga, co-leader of lastyear’s Albuquerque High School PARCC

student walkouts, will speak at theTown Hall. Another speaker will beJesse Hagopian, author of “More Thana Score: the New Uprising Against High

Stakes Testing.” Organizers will also give out 2016opt-out information for parents andstudents. The campaign has not loststeam; recently the ACLU filed a

lawsuit against the New Mexico PublicEducation Department on behalf of

some Albuquerque teachers and parentsas a result of the “gag” rule thatprevents teachers from making negative

comments about standardized tests.Please RSVP for the Town Hall if you willneed translation or childcare. For moreinformation, please call Emma Sandoval

(505) 247-8832. Abortion rights: University of NewMexico Nursing Students for Choice,Planned Parenthood New Mexico,and Respect New Mexico Women are

concerned about the closing of abortionclinics across the country. They have organized a screening ofthe new film, “Trapped,” which will be

shown 7 p.m. on Sunday, April 10, atthe Guild Cinema, 3405 Central Ave. NE.The film documents the fight to keepabortion clinics open across the country.It premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film

Festival, where it won the Special JuryAward for Social Impact Filmmaking. Hundreds of laws regulating abortion

clinics have been passed by conservativestate legislatures since 2010, including

our neighboring state of Texas. These re-strictions are called TRAP laws (TargetedRegulations of Abortion Providers).Often, women from other states such as

Texas travel to Albuquerque to access

abortion procedures. In recent years, Albuquerque has been

a focal point in the abortion debate. In2013, the city considered a ballot thatwould have banned abortions after

20 weeks. A campaign called RespectNew Mexico Women was created by

several organizations and supported byrespected Hispanic labor leader DoloresHuerta to keep abortion legal. The

measure failed to pass, and abortion

clinics, including ones that perform thirdtrimester abortions, have stayed open in

New Mexico. The film was made before SupremeCourt Justice Scalia passed away.

Republicans refuse to hold hearings forPresident Obama’s nominee, resultingin an even number of Supreme Court

justices, which has already resulted insome tie decisions. A panel discussion after the film will

educate viewers about how these lawsimpact patients and providers and whatyou can do to support access to abortion

rights in New Mexico. Chicano rights: Many New Mexi-cans were part of the Chicano Rights

Movement, marching as Brown Beretsand organizing their own political party,

La Raza Unida. An epic poem by Rodolfo“Corky” Gonzales famously associatedwith the Chicano movement of the

1960s has been turned into a play. “Yo Soy Joaquín” will be shown at

7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 7, throughSaturday, April 9. It will be shownagain at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 10, atthe National Hispanic Cultural Center,

1701 Fourth St. SW. “Yo Soy Joaquín”describes the struggles Chicano peoplehave faced in seeking economic justice

and equal rights. Corky’s poem was published in 1967and has been described as “the forerun-

ner of the Chicano cultural renaissance.”A classic in the classroom for teachingChicano history, it is often referenced

by writers, researchers and historians asa pinnacle in the evolution of Chicanoculture and literature.

Playwright Patricio Trujillo y Fuentes,who grew up in Pueblo, Colo., in the

1960s, has known the poem since he was9 years old. By turning the poem intoa play, he wants to reach new audi-

ences with the history of the Chicanomovement as well as bring back proudmemories for those who were part of

the movement.

Sayrah Namasté is an organizer with theAmerican Friends Service Committee inAlbuquerque. She writes about eventsof interest to Albuquerque’s activistcommunity.

Lawsuit to Block ART Alleges City Hall MalfeasanceBY DENNIS DOMRZALSKI

Two separate groups of residents and businessowners have led lawsuits – one in federal courtand one in Bernalillo County District Court – to stopMayor Richard Berry’s $119 million AlbuquerqueRapid Transit project. Both lawsuits seek injunctions to stop the 10-mile-long ART project along Central Avenue, and bothclaim that Berry’s administration and the FederalTransit Administration violated federal laws inapproving ART. The rst lawsuit, led in Bernalillo District Courtin Albuquerque, alleges that in approving ART,Berry’s administration and the Federal Transporta-

tion Administration violated the National HistoricPreservation Act and the federal Administrative Act.It also alleges that the ART project is a public nui-sance and constitutes the taking of private property by the government. The second lawsuit was led in U.S. District Courtin Albuquerque and alleges many of the same thingsas the state court complaint. It also named Berry andthe FTA as defendants. “The proposed corridor will require the destruc-tion or impact of well over 48 Historic Landmarksthat are registered with the National HistoricRegistry and the destruction of well over 217 treesof historic and environmental signicance to thecommunities involved,” the state court lawsuit said. “The proposed corridor will require at least 18months of construction, which will devastate local businesses along the corridor and eliminate theiraccess to customers during construction and afterconstruction, as the project will prohibit left handturns on Central Avenue.”

Phony review The suit also said that the process by which theproject was approved by the feds was a sham andthat environmental, trafc and historic preservationstudies either weren’t done or were incompletelydone. Named as defendants in the suit are Berry, ChiefAdministrative Ofcer Rob Perry, Transit DirectorBruce Rizzeiri, Chief Operations Ofcer MichaelRiordan, all nine members of the Albuquerque CityCouncil, the U.S. Department of Transportation andthe FTA. The state court lawsuit was led by Albuquerqueattorney John McCall. The federal court suit wasled by Albuquerque attorney John Boyd. Bothlawsuits were led on April 4. Plaintiffs in the federal case were businessesowned by Douglas Peterson, who owns severalproperties along Central; the Coalition of ConcernedCitizens to Make Art Smart; and Jean and MarcBernstein, owners of the Flying Star restaurants, oneof which is on Central and in the ART corridor. The lead plaintiff in the state court lawsuit, activist

Maria Bautista, said the city has ignored the com-plaints of regular citizens about ART. “The city of Albuquerque has been overrun bydevelopers, and it is time that residents stand upand say, ‘Wait a minute, you have been excludingour vision,’” Bautista said. “The entire Albuquerque

community has been locked out of the process.We did everything we could; we went to all themeetings, and they totally disregarded their constit-uents.”

Laws ignored The state court lawsuit said the city and the feds basically ignored the provisions of the NationalHistoric Preservation Act, which requires a thorough

study of any historical places along the route by theHistoric Preservation Review Ofce process. The national law “requires that any federallyfunded undertaking take into account the effect of theundertaking on any district, site, building, structure orobject that is included in or eligible for inclusion in theNational Register of Historic Places,” the lawsuit said. “The consultation with [review ofce] in this caseconsisted of two brief letters and no review at all ofthe well over 48 sites [along the route]. The City ap -pears to have identied over 150 historic landmarks,yet none of them has been the subject of any signi -cant study and the City has counted on no questionsfrom FTA to the City’s cursory two letters to and with[the review ofce] because the City has assumed therewould be a wide range of public support. This is notthe case.” The lawsuit asks for a “full review of Historic Land-marks and the impact of the project thereon ratherthan the illegal cursory indication that no signicantimpacts would occur with regard to Historic Proper-ties.”

The lawsuit alleges ART will be a public nuisance. “This project, as planned, would create such devas-tating effects [on] local businesses that they would beforced out of business,” the lawsuit said. “The over-whelming business response is against this project, yetthe City has portrayed positive support to the FTA.”

Malfeasance “The eagerness by Albuquerque ofcials to get thefunds in spite of community opposition to a projectthat requires proof to federal ofcials of generalcommunity support is the essence of malfeasance inofce,” the suit said. The suit asks that the city be barred from spendingany money on ART until all proper studies are done.And, it seeks to bar the city from taking “any and all

actions for construction of the ART.” The federal court action alleges that the FTAimproperly granted the city a “documented Cat-egorical Exclusion” this past August that relievedthe city and the FTA of the obligation to perform anenvironmental impact study for ART. It also alleges that the city provided the FTA“false statements and assurances ... that the ARTwould not signicantly impact the foregoing humanenvironmental factors; and b) that the ART wouldnot generate intense public discussion, concern orcontroversy within any subset of the AlbuquerqueCommunity.” The lawsuit continued: “The City’s assurances tothe FTA, together with the FTA’s failure to consider,address and reasonably evaluate those assurances,its failure to provide a reasoned basis for its decisionand its violations of its own regulations as describedhereinafter, resulted in the City of Albuquerqueobtaining the CE from the FTA. Albuquerque andthe FTA were thereby relieved, contrary to law, of

their obligations to meaningfully assess the impactof ART on the Central Avenue corridor, through anEnvironmental Assessment or, if later determinedappropriate, an Environmental Impact Statement.”

Dennis Domrzalski is an associate editor atABQ Free Press. Reach him at [email protected]

Kelly’s Brew Pub is one of more than 100 Central Avenue businesses that oppose Mayor Richard Berry’s proposed ART project.


4/17


What do youmean wemissed the deadlinefor an April Fools’Day column? In NewMexico that’s akin toa holy holiday wheretomfoolery andbuffoonery in ourpolitics is as expected

as green chile on your combination plate. We simply can’t let the occasion pass,

and with the indulgence of our editors,we won’t. So without further ado, hereis the breaking (if a bit belated) news ofApril Fools’ 2016. The Eldorado Hotel in Santa Fe has beenrenamed the “WisePies Resort” in theaftermath of the wild holiday pizza partyGov. Susana Martinez had there with staffmembers. Hotel management says theMartinez pizza party room is available forspecial events and that a safety net hasbeen installed below the balcony to catchany falling debris such as beer bottles andthe like. Mayor Richard Berry has announcedthat an Old West-style horse feedingtrough filled with $100 bills has beenset up on Civic Plaza to resolve themillions of dollars in lawsuits against theAlbuquerque Police Department. “Theidea is to bring in a dozen trial lawyers,have them kneel at the trough, and for15 minutes stuff as much cash into theirpockets as they can. In exchange for

keeping the cash, they agree not to suethe city. We think this is fiscally prudentmanagement.” Political consultant Jay McCleskey calleda news conference to announce thathe is assuming all official powers of theofficer of governor and mayor. A reporterresponded by asking him what the newswas. A merger long in the works betweenthe Albuquerque Journal and stateand city government has finally beencompleted. After arduous negotiations,Journal Editor Kent Walz announcedthat the merger agreement includes aprovision that the mayor and governor begiven 48 hours notice of all news articlesmentioning them, instead of the current24 hours. The governor and mayor willalso continue to have full editing rights ofall such articles. The director of the Albuquerque Ber-nalillo County Water Utility Authority hasconfirmed that the water supply to the

City Council chambers has been spikedfor a number of years with low doses ofSominex. “We’ve been getting questionsabout the level of activity there and wantto assure the public there is no danger totheir health. The spiking of the council’swater supply was undertaken by order of

Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden. After years of resistance the NewMexico Legislature has finally approvedan independent Ethics Commission andnamed former Secretary of State DiannaDuran and former state Sen. Phil Griegoas co-chairs. Meetings of the commissionwill he held at Sandia Casino and Griego’sreal estate offices and, of course, will beopen to the public.

Taking a page from the book of DonaldTrump, Colorado authorities have erecteda 10-foot wall at Raton Pass to slow themigration of thousands of college-edu-cated New Mexicans to their state. “Wewere going to ask New Mexico to pay forthe wall, but given the economic situationthere, we decided to foot the bill,” saidthe head of Colorado’s immigrationoffice. NASCAR’s driving credentials committee

has certified all Albuquerque freewaysfor official racing. Drivers traveling under85 miles per hour must now divert to thefrontage roads. UNM Lobo basketball coach Craig Nealsays despite the controversy that led to thedeparture of his son from the team, therewill still be “Neal blood” on the Lobobench. “You’re damn right, she’s ready toplay,” Neal said of his wife, Janet. UNM Athletic Director Paul Krebsgranted Mrs. Neal a waiver to play andimmediately raised Neal’s salary to $1.9million a year and his own to $2.4 million.The unexpected moves were unanimouslyapproved by the UNM Regents and Pres-ident Robert Frank, who also approved a36 percent increase in student tuition. At the Legislature came these develop-ments in response to the budget crunch:The free liquor in the cafeteria willnow carry a charge of 10 cents a shot.Lobbyists will have to pay for parking,and only cash payments to the legislative

leadership will be accepted. Now that’s an April Fools’ Day to

remember. Or not.

Joe Monahan is a veteran of New Mexico politics. His daily blog can be found at joemonahan.com

columNS columNS

Political consultant JayMcCleskey called a newsconference to announce

that he is assumingall ofcial powers of

the ofcer of governorand mayor. A reporter

responded by asking himwhat the news was

BY JOE MONAHAN

Booze, Cash and EthicsHeadline April Fools’ Day

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“DID YOU KNOW”

BY DAN KLEIN

The Day I Didn’t Get ShotBy Another APD Officer

How could anAlbuquerquepolice lieutenantshoot his ownofficer? Look nofurther than theAlbuquerquePolice Department’straining, or lackof it.

Officers are given hundreds of hours

of firearms training in the academy. Itwas drilled into me: Identify the threatand the target before you shoot. Soundssimple, but it takes a lot training, andfollow-up, to do it in a stress-filled mo-ment. APD has great training for cadets,but after the academy, the majority ofofficers fire their weapons only twice ayear at qualification. It was February 1988, and two otherROP detectives and I were on the city’seast side in the area of Western Skiesand Central searching for a meth headwith a felony warrant. We found himwalking on Elyse Southeast, and thechase began. He ran to his girlfriend’shouse, but the door was locked. As wechased behind him, the fugitive turnedon us and began to pull a handgun fromhis waistband. We all pulled our pistols,but none of us fired. The felon pulledhis handgun out and tossed it on t heroof and surrendered. All three of us could have shot

him, but none did. Why? We trainedconstantly, and therefore, instead ofpanicking, we recognized that he wasn’tpulling his gun on us but rather to toss itaway from us. A subtle difference savedhis life. Later, I asked an officer who was anexpert in the use of deadly force if weshould have shot. His response wassimple. We identified the target butdidn’t perceive a threat. We weren’tthreatened just because he was pullinga gun. That would have changed in amicrosecond had he started to point itat us. Months later, I spotted a fugitive walk-ing on Central Avenue. I began chasinghim on foot just west of the CaravanClub. I chased him back and forth acrossCentral, and after about five minutes, helost his steam and slowed to a f ast walkthrough the nightclub’s parking lot. I drew my pistol and ordered himto his knees with his hands behind hishead. He complied, and then I heardthe sound of a round being racked intoa shotgun. An APD officer had beensitting in his patrol car in the shadeof the canopy in front of the club. Heobserved two apparent druggies chasingeach other, and one had a gun. The

officer calmly told me he was going toshoot me if I did not drop my gun. Let’s stop here. The officer had iden-tified a threat (I had a gun), but he hadnot identified the target, not to his satis-faction. I am glad he didn’t check offthat second box. Without turning, I toldhim I was an APD detective and askedif I could place my gun on the ground.He recognized me and said, “Aren’t yougetting promoted tomorrow?”

Whenever I see this officer, I thank himfor not shooting me. Recently, I askedhim why he had not. He replied thathe identified me, so he didn’t have toshoot. The boxes weren’t checked off.That’s good training.

Police agencies must train newofficers, and reinforce training withcurrent officers, to check off the boxesbefore they use deadly force. Officers

must identify the threat and the targetbefore pulling the trigger. I spoke to an officer who went toa “street survival” seminar recently.He told me that there are three typesof people, sheep (citizens), wolves(criminals) and sheepdogs (police).The only other training where humansare degraded into animals is militarytraining, so I knew who had staged thisseminar. With wars ending, many militaryspecialists are out of work and havestarted training police officers. Officersneed to be trained in tactics, but theyalso need to be trained that it is not awar zone and that police officers arepublic servants. We need peace officers,not soldiers. America has a million cops, and onaverage, we lose 170 officers a year toline-of-duty deaths. Car crashes causethe majority of officer deaths. Policetrainers must balance training forstreet survival, basic shooting skills andthe reality that police work isn’t war.Leaving one of these three concepts outof police training is a sure recipe fordisaster.

Dan Klein is a retired Albuquerque policesergeant. Reach him through Facebook.

A Cop’sView

An APD ofcer had beensitting in his patrol car

in the shade of thecanopy in front of theclub. He observed two

apparent druggieschasing each other,and one had a gun


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ABQ FREE PRESS • April 6 – April 19, 2016 • 9NEWS/FEAtuRE

BY ANDY LYMAN

Shannon Wagers identied the March 23 Mystery Photo:“Took one look at it and said, ‘Gotta be the ‘Spy House.’’So I took a driveover to NorthHigh Street, andsure enough,that was it – theformer roominghouse [at 209High St. NE,now a B&B]

where DavidGreenglasspassed atomic bomb secrets to Soviet spymaster Harry Gold during WorldWar II, for which Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (Greenglass’ssister) got a high-voltage sendoff. Enough ‘detail and context’?”

BY ABQ FREE PRESS STAFFWhy Did We Shoot This Photo?

Tell us what this thing is and win a pair of tickets to theDuke City Gladiators’ arena football team’s April 23 gameagainst the Dallas Revolution. The “thing” in the photo issomething publicly visible around town. Send your answersto [email protected] by 5 p.m. April 13.

KRQE-TV Memo Raises Questions, Including, ‘Still in Effect?’

One Free

General

Admission

Ticket

April 9, 6:00 p.m. game

When Presenting This Ad

A directive from a New Mexico TV station toits employees about news coverage involvingadvertisers raises questions – especially with thetiming coming hours after management removed areporter from a story critical of a “client.” In a memo on Nov. 18 of last year, the news staffwas instructed that any story involving advertisersmust rst be approved by the news director beforemoving forward. KRQE-TV News Director Iain Munro sent thememo. “If you are doing a story that may involve a client,that is good or bad, I need to be notied before any

calls are made on the story,” Munro’s memo read.“No exceptions.” NM Political Report learned from a source famil-iar with the situation that on the same day, beforeMunro sent the memo to employees, KRQE sent areporter to work on a story about a military veter-an’s group. The reporter learned that the members of thegroup were having trouble paying their rising rentcosts, which are administered by a major Al- buquerque auto dealer who often advertises on localtelevision, including KRQE. The reporter returned to the station only to betaken off the story. Within hours, Munro sent thememo to staff, instructing them of the process forcovering clients. Ultimately, KRQE never ran a storyabout the veterans group or its housing situation. Munro’s motives for the memo are unclear; noone at the station, including Munro, responded tonumerous emails and phone calls over the past few

weeks seeking comment on this article. The Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists encourages journalists to act indepen-dently and to avoid special coverage for those whoare paying the bills. “Deny favored treatment to advertisers, donors orany other special interests, and resist internal andexternal pressure to inuence coverage,” the codereads. Caesar Andrews, a professor of ethics and writingat the Reynolds School of Journalism at the Univer-sity of Nevada-Reno, told NM Political Report thatthe memo alone is not problematic. “It’s way different from pulling the plug on a legit-imate story, it’s way different from avoiding unat-tering coverage of people just because they happento be advertisers,” Andrews said. “All of that would be problematic.” But he did say the memo raises suspicions about

why Munro sent the memo in the rst place. “It does raise questions, and anybody who’s skep-tical about motives would have grounds for beingskeptical,” Andrews said. He said news outlets are also businesses so itwould not necessarily be unethical to create a dia-logue between news staff and management regard-ing what is being reported or what will be reported. “It is a business so it would not be the worst thingon earth if the news director wanted to be awareof stories that were related to major institutions ormajor advertisers,” Andrews said. But, he added, a news outlet may attract more

advertisers if audiences see a higher journalisticstandard at play. “If you, like me, believe that [credibility] contrib-utes to your ability to attract revenue, then ulti-mately it’s a business decision, it’s not just an ethicsor moral decision or a do-the-right thing decision,”Andrews said.

Andy Lyman is a reporter for NM Political Report,an online news source that specializes in coveringNew Mexico politics.

Have a News Tip?

ABQ Free Press exists to investigate storiesthe other media won’t. If you have a story ofpublic interest that requires some digging,contact us in confidence at [email protected]

S


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10 • April 6 – April 19, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS ABQ FREE PRESS • April 6 – April 19, 2016 • 11NEWS NEWS

City Exercise Center Lacks Exercise EquipmentBY RENE THOMPSON

A couple of years ago, the city’s Valle del NorteCommunity Center was a thriving place withan exercise room full of equipment and neighbor-hood residents who used it. But last summer, as equipment began breaking,the city began removing it, and now the room is anempty place with one exercise bike and mats that noone uses. City ofcials promised to repair the brokenequipment, or buy new machines, but that hasn’thappened yet, and area residents are angry. Audra James, 54, who once exercised routinely atthe center, said equipment has been broken since last

year, and little by little, things were being taken outof the tness room. “What is the point of a community center unlessit’s going to be working and open to the public?” James asked. “I don’t know why it’s not being used, but we certainly are paying for it.” James is frustrated because she has asked cityofcials, including Mayor Richard Berry and CityCouncilor Isaac Benton, about the vanishing equip-ment and said she hasn’t gotten a response fromanyone. “They kind of just ignore people like me, and Ihave lived here for more than 15 years. It’s just plainincompetent that I can’t get a response from any-one,” she said. ABQ Free Press checked out the exercise room atthe center at 1812 Candelaria Rd. NW, and all w esaw were a few mats, one working stationary bikeand an exercise ball. Fernando Sraga, a resident in the area, said he washarassed by community center staff after he urgedarea residents to complain about the nonexistent

equipment. “The woman kind of came after me, because I wastelling people to call 311 with their complaints, and

I shouldn’t be confronted at the door just becausesomeone called you guys,” he said. “She told meto sit down and shut up for a minute, and I didn’tappreciate that at all.” Bobby Sisneros, public information ofcer for Fam-ily and Community Services, said that new equip-ment has been on order since December and that theprocess takes time. Sisneros said the city has to gothrough a bidding process, and he hopes to have thegear replaced by summer.

“I can completely understand where they’recoming from. I wish I could speed up the process,”he said.

Sisneros said community centers in Barelas andTaylor Ranch have the same issues. The bid willinclude the cost of replacement exercise equipmentfor all three centers. Sraga urged residents who feel the wait is takingtoo long, or feel they were treated unfairly by thecommunity center, to email Councilor Benton [email protected]. ABQ Free Press attempted to reach Anita Fer-nandez, division manager at the Family and ChildDevelopment Department that runs the center, butour calls were not returned.

Rene Thompson is a staff writer at ABQ Free Press.

The big secret about medical marijuana is thatthose with a serious illness who don’t have themeans to get their cannabis card are still subject toarrest if they seek relief on the black market. And the fact that the government can tell Amer-icans which plants they can and cannot grow andconsume is absurd to self-medicating black-market buyers such as Larry, who says medical pot is only“for the rich.” New Mexico’s Medical Cannabis Pro-gram isn’t much comfort to the 56-year-old Marinevet on a xed income. Pot does a much better job of easing the pain in

his ruined knees than opiates, says Larry, not his realname. During his six-and-a-half-year enlistment,which began right after the Vietnam War ended, aninjury shattered the meniscus in his knees. Years later, Veterans Administration doctors puthim on Oxycodone for his bad knees and bad back,and he became addicted. “I can’t take the stuff anymore,” he says. “I haveto take marijuana for relief. I can still get out andfunction, and I’m not all drugged up.” But Larry doesn’t enjoy the legal protections or theenormous variety of marijuana products availableto those New Mexicans who can afford to get thepatient card and shop at the legal dispensaries.

A tale of two weed dealers Dust picks up in Albuquerque’s seasonal gustsand turns into dirt devils along the unpaved roadthat horseshoes through Clyde’s trailer court, fromwhich he sells black-market marijuana. Clients pop in and out of the trailer as Clyde (alsonot his real name) holds forth on his long historywith the plant and the police. Clyde’s a 57-year-oldArmy vet who’s been smoking weed for 40 years. Hesells it in small quantities, mostly “dime bags,” whichis enough to pay the rent and keep himself fed. One young woman who comes in to Clyde’s traileris a cute brunette, mid-to-late 30s, in a SlipknotT-shirt. There’s polite small talk, then a deal for $10worth of an illegal plant. She’s just been diagnosedwith advanced breast cancer. She describes the bi-opsy to Clyde, how they had to go back in for moretissue three times because they kept screwing up. Like any decent budtender, Clyde lends a compas-sionate, supportive ear to his customer as he weighsout an extra-fat gram. Jay Steinberg is a much different kind of weeddealer: the legal kind. He’d like to see marijuanaone day be completely free for Americans to growand use, but for the time being, he’s content to w ork

within the connes of the system. “It’s not a perfect circle yet,” Steinberg says. “Wehave four dispensaries. Patients are demandingmore, and we can’t facilitate it. By the state keepingplant count low, these dispensaries are becominghigh-THC dispensaries. I don’t see why this non -toxic vegetable has to be restricted. I don’t get whatthey are trying to protect.” Steinberg owns the hippie store Birdland in theheart of Albuquerque’s Nob Hill, one of the state’s busiest retail centers. He’s seen his retail sales stead-ily fall since the 2008 crash. Black-light Bob Marleyposters just weren’t paying the bills like they usedto, so he started looking for a partnership with a potgroup. Steinberg’s now under contract with a majormedical marijuana outt called Ultra Health, whichhad its grand opening on March 25. Steinberg, like Clyde, has been using marijuanafor more than four decades. But unlike Clyde, he’sprotected by the law.

Comparisons Clyde’s customer was in pain, and she wantedsome weed to treat it. Luckily, she lives in a state withmedical marijuana. So why buy on the black market? To get on the medical cannabis program, you haveto get documentation from your doctor proving thatyou have an approved diagnosis. Then you have topay around $150 to a medical marijuana doctor whowill ll out your paperwork and hand you an enve-lope to mail to Santa Fe. Then you wait to see if yourcard arrives. It could take weeks. It might not come

at all. There’s no way of knowing until you get eitherthe card or a letter saying you were turned down. Even if you do get your card, you have to gothrough the same routine to renew it each year.Dispensaries are hard to get to on the bus because,unlike Birdland/Ultra Health, they’re typicallytucked away in industrial and ofce parks.

The current New Mexico state limit of 450 plantsper producer limits availability, which drives upprices. Colorado is less stringent, and its medicalprices are as much as $5 less per gram. Medicalmarijuana menus of Colorado dispensaries showaverage prices of $9 to $12 per gram, while New

Mexico prices are generally around $10 to $14. The young cancer patient in Clyde’s trailer hasconcluded she can’t afford to be on New Mexico’smedical cannabis program, but she can afford theoccasional dime bag “on the street.”

Tom O’Connell is an Albuquerque freelance writer.

BY TOM O’CONNELL

With Med Pot Legal, Why Buy on the Street?

One young woman who comesin to Clyde’s trailer is a cute

brunette, mid-to-late 30s, in aSlipknot T-shirt. There’s polite

small talk, then a deal for

$10 worth of an illegal plant

To get on the medical cannabisprogram, you have to get

documentation from your doctorproving that you have an approveddiagnosis. Then you have to pay

around $150 to a medicalmarijuana doctor

Tom O’Connell

The bits and pieces of a marijuana dealer’s trade.

BY DENNIS DOMRZALSKI

The U.S. Court of Appeals has ruledthat two Albuquerque police of-cers can be sued for using a stun gunon a suspect who suffered from mentalillness and later died. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court ofAppeals said that Albuquerque ofcersDavid Baca and Andrew Jaramilloweren’t immune from being sued because of the way they used the stungun on Jerry Perea on March 21, 2011.Perea was Tasered 10 times in less thantwo minutes by Jaramillo. The ruling allows a wrongful deathlawsuit led by Perea’s family to moveforward. The ofcers had been attempting tosubdue Perea, who was on a bicycle.The man’s mother had called 911 thatday saying that her son was on “very bad drugs” and that she was afraid

of what he might do. A neighbor alsocalled 911 and said that Perea waspacing in his yard, clutching a Bible andasking forgiveness of a higher power.Baca and Jaramillo were sent to do awelfare check. When the ofcers arrived at Perea’shome, they were told that he had left ona bicycle. The two ofcers followed himin their separate squad cars and eventu-ally forced him into a parking lot after hehad run a stop sign on his bike. “The ofcers used their patrol carsto force Perea to pedal into a parkinglot. Jaramillo left his vehicle to pursuePerea on foot. After a brief chase, Jaramillo pushed Perea off his bicycle.The ofcers did not tell Perea why theywere following him or why he was being seized, and they never askedPerea to halt or stop,” the appellate

court opinion said. When Perea put upa struggle with the ofcers, he was hitwith the stun gun. The ofcers called an ambulance tothe scene, as required by APD pol-icy, and while it was en route, Pereaturned gray and stopped breathing.The ofcers revived him with CPR, but when Perea heard the approachingambulance’s siren, he began to struggleand started to scream. Paramedics triedto calm him down, but he stopped breathing again, and his pulse stopped.He was taken to a hospital where hewas pronounced dead. The court ruled that the Taseringconstituted excessive use of force andwas unconstitutional. “Though some use of force would be justied to get Perea under theofcers’ control, the district court

determined that a reasonable jury couldnd that Jaramillo continued to usethe taser on Perea even after the pointwhere it could be considered necessaryor even debatably reasonable,” theopinion said. “Although some use offorce against a resisting arrestee may be justied, continued and increased useof force against a subdued detainee isnot. “We hold that the ofcers’ repeatedtasering of Perea after he was subduedconstituted excessive force, and thatit was clearly established at the timeof the taserings that such conduct wasunconstitutional.”

Dennis Domrzalski is an associate editorat ABQ Free Press. Reach him [email protected]

APD Taser-mania Likely to Cost ABQ Taxpayers

The Valle del Norte Community Center’s exercise room changed from a frequently-used space full of equipment to an empty place withone exercise bike and mats that no one uses.

A il 6 A il 19 2016 ABQ FREE PRESS ABQ FREE PRESS A il 6 A il 19 2016NEWS ANAlySiS


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12 • April 6 – April 19, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS ABQ FREE PRESS • April 6 – April 19, 2016 • 13NEWS ANAlySiS

Exploring the Sham Divide Between Candidates and Super PACsAPS Settles Another Open Meetings Lawsuit, This Time for $59,000BY RICHARD FATURECHIPROPUBLICA

There’s no evidence to sup-port Donald Trump’s claimthat Ted Cruz played a role in asuper PAC’s attack on his wife. But federal rules barringcoordination between can-didates and the super PACsthat support them have beenenforced so rarely that even ifTrump were right, it’s uncer-tain the Cruz campaign would be penalized. The question arose late last

month, when a super PACcalled “Make America Awe-some” rolled out a digital adtargeting Utah voters thatfeatured Trump’s wife, Mela-nia, posing nude for the Britishedition of GQ magazine morethan 15 years ago. “Meet Melania Trump. Yournext rst lady,” the ad read.“Or, you could support TedCruz on Tuesday.” Trump accused Cruz, orhis campaign, of buying thephoto from the magazine andproviding it to the PAC. Trump has offered nothingto back up the claim. The Cruz camp said it had no involvement in thead. A representative for the PAC accused Trump ofconcocting a “weird conspiracy theory.” And theoriginal photographer denied giving approval foranyone but GQ to use the photo.

Suppose, though, that evidence does emerge toshow a link. It would be up to the Federal ElectionCommission, which is supposed to police the con-duct of campaigns and political action committees,to determine if it is illegal for a candidate to buy orproduce content that a super PAC then parlays intoan ad. If history is any guide, it’s not a sure bet the FECwould do anything about it. Super PACs are committees that can accept dona-tions of any dollar amount and can promote can-didates as long as they don’t coordinate with theircampaigns. Candidates can’t solicit large donationsfor super PACs, and, before an election, they’re not

allowed to strategize with the groups on what kindof ads to craft or where to run them. If they couldcoordinate, dollar caps on contributions to candi-dates would become virtually meaningless. But the denition of illegal coordination is narrow.A super PAC, for example, can host a fundraiser

and invite its favored candidate to headline theevent and solicit money from guests. Candidatescan also publicly post information about their ad buys, allowing super PACs to determine where thecampaign might need reinforcements. In recent years, both parties were found to be re-leasing granular data about ads or polls on obscureTwitter feeds in apparent attempts to get aroundcoordination rules. That line gets blurrier when it comes to superPACs that repurpose content from campaigns. Anumber of candidates have posted hours of polishedvideo footage of themselves online, where superPACs can grab clips to use in ads. Daniel Weiner, an attorney at the Brennan Centerfor Justice at the New York University law school,said candidates “laundering this stuff” by puttingthe content online and into the public sphere is “nota get out of jail free card.” But, Weiner said, it does help campaigns dodgeliability — whereas “if it’s something the campaignsent directly (to the super PAC), that could be anindication they really wanted you to use it.” While advocates for stronger regulation haveargued that that sort of repurposing is illegal, theFEC’s three Republican appointees (the commissionis evenly divided by party) have typically forcedan impasse on the issue, deeming relatively shortsnippets to be fair game. Paul S. Ryan, an attorney at the Campaign LegalCenter, a nonprot that advocates for stronger cam-

paign nance regulation, could remember only oneinstance when the FEC did take action on this front.Restore Our Future, a super PAC supporting 2012Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, ranan ad almost identical to one run by the Romneycampaign itself. One of the sole differences was the

closing credit that disclosed whopaid for it. “The penalty was $50,000,and that came about four yearslater,” Ryan said. “The ne wasridiculously small, and it cametoo late.” While Ryan contends that itwould be a clear violation if acandidate purchased a photoand provided it to a PAC, asTrump alleges, he doubts thatthe FEC’s Republicans, who ad-

vocate against the governmentencroaching on political speech,would see it that way. “They seem to bend over backwards to nd no violationsof law,” Ryan said. For one thing, Ryan said, theFEC could decide that even if thesuper PAC got the photo fromthe campaign, it operated withinthe law because it covered someportion of the original photo by adding embedded text andtherefore showed less of theoriginal content.

Weiner, a former attorney for a Democratic FECcommissioner, said he’s also not condent theagency would take action. It’s been difcult for the commissioners to ndcommon ground on many enforcement measures,Weiner said, because of partisan gridlock. While thethree Republican appointees tend to want a narrowinterpretation of what constitutes a violation of therules, the three Democratic appointees have alsohardened their positions.

“If they make a small exception, allow a smallloophole, they’re worried a truck will be driventhrough it,” Weiner said. Eric Wang, a campaign nance attorney who for-merly worked for a Republican FEC commissioner,said Congress designed the agency to be evenly splitas a check on the over-regulation of political speech. “I shy away from using the term gridlock,” Wangsaid. “Gridlock suggests the agency is not function-ing in a smooth manner or in the way it’s supposedto function.” The FEC, he said, is operating just as it should.

“They’re regulating core First Amendment issues.They’re regulating issues that directly impact our elec-tions,” Wang said. “You don’t want an agency that’sregulating our elections that’s tilted toward one party.”

ProPublica is an independent, nonproft newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

A super PAC called‘Make America Awesome’

rolled out a digital ad targetingUtah voters that featured Trump’s

wife, Melania, posing nude

Trump accused Cruz, or hiscampaign, of buying the photo

from the magazine andproviding it to the PAC

Donald Trump’s opponents circulated this photo of his wife, which ran in a British magazine 15 years ago, and asked votersif this represents their image of America’s first lady.

ABQ Free Press Local BriefsBY ABQ FREE PRESS STAFF

Jacob GrantThe City of Albuquerque will pay$6.5 million to police Det. JacobGrant, who was shot eight times by afellow ofcer during an undercoverdrug bust. As part of the settlementof Grant’s lawsuit against the Al - buquerque Police Department, thecity will pay Grant’s medical bills forthe rest of his life. The man who shotGrant, Lt. Greg Brachle, retired fromAPD last month. Police Chief GordenEden said the city has learned from

the shooting and has implementedchanges in undercover operations.

March madnessMarch was a costly month for Al- buquerque taxpayers. In additionto the $6.5 million the city agreed topay to settle the Jacob Grant lawsuit,taxpayers got hit with an additional$725,000 bill to settle three otherlawsuits. The largest settlement wasfor $295,000 to get rid of a wrong-ful termination lawsuit by formerAlbuquerque Fire Departmentparamedic Brad Tate. Then there was$245,000 to settle a suit against formerAPD Ofcer Pablo Padilla, who kneeda University of New Mexico studentin the groin during a DWI stop. Thestudent lost a testicle as a result ofthe incident. And lastly, the city willpay $185,000 to a female employee

who said her boss, Mark Shepherd,sexually harassed her. Shepherd is themanager of the Division of Securityand Parking Enforcement in the De-partment of Municipal Development.He told the employee that his city

desk was shaped like a penis.

DependencyHere’s another sign of how dependentNew Mexico’s economy is on gov-ernment: In 2015, the state’s personalincome grew by $2.84 billion, or 3.7percent. But half of that growth wasdue to government transfer payments,things such as Social S ecurity, unem-ployment, food stamps, and Medicaidand Medicare payments. Transferpayments accounted for $1.42 billion,

or 50.25 percent of the $2.84 billionincrease. Net earnings, meaning themoney people make from their jobs,made up $852 million of the increase,or 29.9 percent, according to the U.S.Bureau of Economic Analysis. Thethird component of personal in-come – dividends, interest and rent– accounted for $563 million of theincrease, or 19.8 percent.

First AmendmentThe ACLU of New Mexico has suedthe New Mexico Public EducationDepartment, charging that a PED ruleprohibiting teachers from disparagingstandardized testing is unconstitu-tional. The lawsuit, brought by veteachers and a parent, alleges thatthe department squelched all teacherdialogue critical of testing under thePartnership for Assessment of Readi-ness for College and Careers (PARCC)

testing regimen. The lawsuit also al -leges that the department engaged inBig Brother-like surveillance of teach-ers’ social media accounts looking forviolators of the nondisparagementrule. “In addition to the prohibitions

on protesting and speaking negativelyabout the test, they were also toldthey could not post anything nega-tive about the PARCC exam on theirpersonal Facebook accounts, as thoseaccounts were being monitored byPED,” the lawsuit alleges.

Health CareIt was a mostly down year nanciallyin 2015 for New Mexico’s major healthinsurance companies. New MexicoHealth Connections, the state’s non-prot insurance company formed un-der the Affordable Care Act, lost $23million last year, a huge jump fromthe $4.3 million it lost in 2014. MolinaHealthcare of New Mexico Inc., whichserves mostly Medicaid patients, lost$1.6 million, an improvement from the$24.9 million it lost the year before.Presbyterian Health Plan made $29.8million last year, but that was a bigdrop from the $71 million it made in2014. And the parent company of BlueCross and Blue Shield of New Mexico,Illinois-based Health Care ServiceCorp., lost $66 million in 2015, accord-ing to a report in Modern Healthcaremagazine. HCSC lost $866 millionto $1.5 billion on individual plans itsold through the ACA’s insuranceexchanges, the magazine said.

Conflict of InterestThe American Federation of Teach-

ers has some explaining to do. Thenation’s third-largest labor unionhas nancial ties to publisher andtesting company Pearson PLC. That’sthe same company that developedthe Partnership for Assessment of

Readiness for College and Careerstest (PARCC) – the test that the unionhates and has been ghting. But at thesame time the AFT has been ghtingPARCC, it has been urging Pearsonto become more protable. Turns outthat the retirement funds of 27 AFTafliates own Pearson stock. The NewMexico Public Education Departmentintroduced PARCC testing last yearand has been slammed by the AFTfor doing so. But PED spokesmanRobert McEntyre blasted the AFT forits nancial ties to Pearson. “It is thevery height of hypocrisy for the unionto publicly bash an organization, yetgladly take their money behind closeddoors,” McEntyre said.

Aviation PoliceAlbuquerque’s Aviation Police areabout to lose their independence.Mayor Richard Berry’s administrationis in the process of putting the air-port’s 30 or so cops under the direc-tion and authority of the AlbuquerquePolice Department. It could havesomething to do with the recent con-troversy surrounding Aviation PoliceChief Marshall Katz, who is now onpaid administrative leave. The latestproblem at the department involvesmishandled drug evidence that wasseized from a passenger at the airportin early March. Katz and four othershave been placed on administrative

leave while the city conducts an in-vestigation. This past November, Katzwas suspended for 45 days followingallegations that he sent aviation policeoff airport grounds to take reports thatAPD ofcers should have taken.

BY DENNIS DOMRZALSKI

The Albuquerque Public Schools will pay $59,000to settle a lawsuit alleging it violated the FirstAmendment rights of an Albuquerque photojournal-ist and long-time ethics advocate who said the APS board limited his ability to attend and photograph board meetings. The settlement with Mark Bralley, a retired Al- buquerque cop and occasional contributor to ABQFree Press, is the second time recently that APS hassettled a free-speech lawsuit. In December, it agreedto pay $575,000 to settle a similar lawsuit bought byretired teacher Ched MacQuigg. Bralley led the suit in federal court in August2013 after what he said was a years-long attempt by

APS to bar him from meetings and limit his abilityto photograph board members during meetings.And, he claimed that APS was trying to dene who

was and who wasn’t a journalist, something he saidgovernment is forbidden from doing. Bralley tried to attend an Aug. 19, 2010 debate between gubernatorial candidates Susana Marti-nez and Diane Denish at Eldorado High School inAlbuquerque. But APS said it was an invitation-onlyevent that could be attended only by journalists ithad credentialed and approved. Bralley charged that was a violation of the state’sOpen Meetings Act, which says that almost allgovernment meetings are open and that “all personsdesiring shall be permitted to attend and listen to thedeliberations and proceedings” of those meetings. “It should have been rst-come, rst-serve,” Bralley

told ABQ Free Press. “Instead, it was [APS spokes-woman] Monica Armenta’s little tea party. I suedthem because of the fundamental concept of two

things. First, anybody in the United States today withan Internet connection has the ability to tell storiesabout anything, including their local government.And second, that one need not be connected with acorporate media outlet to be able to do that, and thatgovernment has made rules that are contrary to thefundamentals of the Constitution.” Bralley has had a long history of activism. In 1999,while still an APD ofcer, he became known as “TheTwo-Minute Criminal” for daring to talk longer than120 seconds at meetings of the [then-named] PoliceOversight Commission. Asked if he would limit his activism after the set-tlement, Bralley laughed. “If APS decides not to play

nice in this thing, I know the way to the courtroom,”Bralley said. “Now that they have given me $59,000, Ican certainly afford the $400 ling fee.”

14 • April 6 – April 19 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS ABQ FREE PRESS • April 6 – April 19 2016 • 15lEttERS/cARtooNScARtooNS/ANAlySiS


8/17


Well, well. … Gov.Susana Martinez hasearned membership in an

elite, by-nomination-only,

New Mexico political club: the

federal-grand-jury-nolle-prossed

group.

Like Gov. Bill Richardson be-

fore her, a grand jury examining

allegations of corruption failed

to issue any indictments. A

lawyer for “Shadow Governor”

Jay McCleskey, Martinez’schief political adviser, said the

investigation had concluded

with no indictments.

But the Martinez machine

didn’t escape the collateral

mud.

The Santa Fe New Mexican,

which virtually alone has

covered the seamy side of

the Martinez administration,

disclosed the two-faced political

maneuverings examined in the

McCleskey probe:

Patrick J. Rogers, the lawyer

for Martinez’s inauguration

committee, wrote to the

committee’s honorary chairman,

former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici:

“The entire process will be

transparent as to the identities,

and the details of the donations

will be disclosed to the public.”

To the committee’s executivedirector, Andrea Goff, Rogerswrote: “Well, since we cannotuse the inaugural money for‘political purposes’ and put itinto the campaign fund, perhapswe can find a way to highlightour transparency and open gov’tapproach. I would, nonetheless,not suggest you report expenses.Just donations.” Indeed, that was a prudent

caution, given that more than

$130,000 of the committee’s

funds reportedly went to com-

panies connected to McCleskey,

the mastermind behind the

whole enterprise. McCleskey,

in turn, emailed Goff that

they were “going to try not to

release expenses unless we get

waterboarded into it.”

The “most transparent

administration in New Mexico

history” rides again.… The 2016 McCleskey-Martinez

investigation ended without

a parting shot from the U.S.

attorney to match that which

closed out the Richardson probe

in 2009.

Then-U.S. Attorney Greg

Fouratt wrote to the investi-

gation targets that the lack

of indictments was “not to be

interpreted as an exoneration

of any party’s conduct.” His

unprecedented letter was an

extrajudicial smear with no

avenue for redress. Fouratt later

was named Martinez’s secretary

of the Department of Public

Safety. Secretary Fouratt retained

his penchant for commenting

on grand jury proceedings he

didn’t like. He weighed in on an

attorney general’s investigation

of Amy Orlando, Gov. Mar-

tinez’s hand-picked Las Cruces

district attorney successor, with,

“This is nothing more than a

clumsy and amateur political

stunt coordinated between a

DA with what appears to be

a personal vendetta (Mark

D’Antonio, who beat Orlando)

and a gubernatorial candidate

who’s just a few weeks away

from an election (Gary King).”

Republican Orlando subse-quently landed a job in Fouratt’sDepartment of Public Safety.Gov. Martinez has never

stopped railing against past

administrations’ alleged

pay-to-play maneuvers, even

while logging a list of her own.

The inaugural funds imbroglio

wasn’t her first.

There were the circumstances

surrounding the hurry-up award

of a 25-year-lease to The Downs

at Albuquerque in Martinez’s

first year in office. Longtime

prominent state Republican

Tom Tinnin said at a legislative

hearing in 2014 that he felt thebidding process was contrived

and planned by members of the

governor’s office and private-

sector allies. Tinnin had earlier

resigned from the state Board

To the Editor:

Hey, I thought I would follow up on mycomment on Facebook about your [March 23]cover. I get the symbolism and it was good, butthe image of Hillary’s butt in a blue pants suitoverwhelmed the cover. I found it demeaningto Hillary and to your newspaper. You guysare a class act. Monahan is a class act, keep itthere. I am voting for Hillary, period. I spend a tonof time reading, watching and thinking aboutour politics and she, in my mind, seems to bethe only leader in the gutter that has becomeour next presidential election. I like Bernie, but I just don’t think we canafford him. I like John Kasich, but he is gettingsquashed in the rhetoric. My point is, don’t let

the Free Press get pulled into the weeds withthe rest of the sordid group. I look to you for political and journalisticleadership. The Santa Fe New Mexican isgreat, the Las Cruces and even the Carlsbadpapers were good till Gannett bought themand turned them in to USA Today Vanilla. TheAlbuquerque Journal has gone from bad topropaganda, and I nd it sad to disturbing. You guys are the hope and maybe I havehigher standards for you than is correct. Satireis good, your reporting is great. Just keep upthe good work. Thanks for listening. — Joe Craig, Los Ranchos

Editor’s note: The cartoon was meant to representBernie and Hillary standing Clint Eastwood-stylein the path of Trump’s Blitzkrieg. There was nointent to make Hillary’s butt look big. Maybe thecartoonist draws through a wide-angle lens.

To the Editor:

Greetings, Freeists. I enjoyed the [March23] column by Robert Reich on Trump andfascism. His somewhat nuanced approach tothe subject compares well with the knee-jerkdenunciations and smugly obtuse predictionsof Trump’s imminent demise by the likesof Lawrence O’Donnell and countless otherpundits for ten months now. In the motley mix of Trump’s schtick he

does say some amazing things, like the Iraqinvasion was a disaster and W lied. This isnot something I ever expected to hear in aRepublican debate. The fallen GOP candidates now coalescingagainst Trump are just as bad, if not worsein my view. Jeb Bush concocted a variety ofvoter suppression methods – notably a fake“felon purge” – to steal the 2000 election for his brother. Ted Cruz is a zealous idealogue who em- braces torture, like Trump, and would try to re-place the present system with theocracy. CarlyFiorina actively incited a crackpot’s killingsat a Colorado Planned Parenthood. And JohnKasich, lately depicted by corporate media asthe embodiment of sanity if not sainthood, was

a principal in that wave of sexual McCarthy-ism known as the Clinton impeachment. I look at the Republicans with the loomingchaos of their convention and I try to likeHillary. I discount 99 percent of what GOPoperatives have thrown at her for 30 years. Butso far I just can’t go past the fact that she’s aninterventionist and hawk. Her latest speech after Brussels terror calledfor intensied bombing in Iraq and Syria.Bombing is terror, too, and has caused in largemeasure the humanitarian catastrophe wehave now. Just ask Doctors Without Borders,whose hospital was hit by the U.S. Air Force.Bombs do not distinguish “good guys” from“bad guys.” But there’s one candidate running whomight actually be a good guy with more thancorporate interests at heart and that’s BernieSanders, the sole progressive. — Bret Raushenbush

McCleskey, in turn,emailed Goff thatthey were ‘going

to try not torelease expenses

unless we getwaterboarded into it’

lEttERS/cARtooNScARtooNS/ANAlySiS

CONT. ON PAGE 15

BY BILL HUME

Susana’s TransparencyVeneer Wearing Thin

ABQ Free Press welcomes letters to the

editor and bylined opinion pieces, subjectto editing by the newspaper for style andlength. Letters may appear in print onthe newspaper’s website, www.freeabq.com. Writers should include their fullname and a daytime phone number thatthe newspaper’s editors can use to con-tact them. Submissions should be sent [email protected]

of Finance rather than vote

on approving the deal.

And then there was the

now thoroughly discredited

behavioral health provider

putsch of 2013, in which Mar-

tinez’s Department of Health

froze payments to all 15

Medicaid nonprofit providers

on spurious fraud allegations,

replacing them with Arizonafirms – some of whom are

alleged to have had political

contribution connections to

the governor.

All but two have been

cleared of the fraud allega-

tions – and clamor is growing

for a federal investigation. But perhaps the biggest

self-serving power grab of

the Martinez years is just now

unfolding. The abrupt move

by the University of New

Mexico Board of Regents

to seize direct control of

the UNM Health Sciences

Center is alleged in part

to be a pre-emptory strike

to head off approval of a

new hospital by the formersemiautonomous HSC board

of directors. Lovelace Health

Systems has long opposed

the proposal. Lovelace was a

campaign contributor to Gov.

Martinez.

The contrast between Gov.

Martinez’s pious transparency

pronouncements and the

actual performance of her

administration sets a new

low in cynical political

doublespeak. This political

back-scratching farce would

be almost comical were it

not so detrimental to New

Mexico.Bill Hume is a former editorial page editor of the Albuquerque Journal and later served as a policy adviser to formerGov. Bill Richardson.

SUSANA’S, PAGE 14

ABQ FREE PRESS • April 6 – April 19, 2016 • 17SPoRtS


9/17

Q p p ,

You can’t helpbut wonder ifPaul Krebs, UNM’s

vice president ofathletics, should

bring a shovelto all his news

conferences. It

seems King Krebsis either digging himself into a hole – or

out of one.

Krebs, the guy who chased off RockyLong and also hired Mike Locksley,

Yvonne Sanchez and Craig Neal, lookslike he is making a good attempt to

excavate himself with his latest hire –

Mike Bradbury. Bradbury will replace Sanchez as the

holder of the keys to The Pit on thewomen’s side. You remember The Pit,

don’t ’ya? It was once one of the best

venues in the nation to play women’scollege basketball.

Yes, The Pit has faded a bit – well, alot – but it is still above the norm, and

there is hope that maybe The Pit can

recapture its faded glory. There are at least two reasons to

expect Bradbury to be an improvement.There is really only one way to go, and

that is up. And Bradbury looks like a

pretty good hire. Krebs actually mighthave done some research before tossing

out the big bucks. It’s not that Bradbury is a “wow” hire.

He comes from Wright State, which isnot exactly a powerhouse or a big namein women’s basketball. But let’s face it:

There aren’t too many “wow” hires inwomen’s basketball because the sport is

pretty much pushed to the back pages

of the sports pages from the East Coastto the West Coast.

But Bradbury will find things are

different in New Mexico and in Al-buquerque. The heartbeat of New Mex-

ico is still basketball and the potential ofThe Pit has only been scratched (by Don

Flanagan) and not scratched recently.

You have to blame Krebs for thisdecline because he failed to act with

boldness and foresight when hereplaced Flanagan five years back.

Bradbury, 46, says a few things you

want to hear from a guy making$250,000 in his first year and $275,000

a year over the next four. He has afive-year contract. He coached from

2007 to 2010 at Morehead State wherehe rolled out a modest 50-44 record.Not good enough for The Pit. He then

jumped to Wright State from 2010 to2015 and went 128-73. That’s better, but

when you consider The Pit is worth an

80 percent win percentage, you wantmore.

You want the stuff that Flanaganproduced in his early years.

Bradbury could do better. Flanagan

was a dynamic floor coach and polishedhis Lobos with fundamentals and

purpose. He was not a dynamic recruiter,and he never hired a dynamic staff to

make up for this shortcoming.

Bradbury needs to make some

dynamic hires. The Pit already has a fanbase that exceeds most of the colleges inAmerica. The women players don’t really

choose colleges based on ESPN appear-

ances. They want a good experience.They want an education. They want a

chance to win. The Pit is an exceptional

lure.

Bradbury said at the news conferencethat “coaches all over the country know

about this program and are envious.”He said he understands the high

expectations but said he thinks those Pit

dreams are “right on.” He also says his Lobos will run – play

at “full-fledged chaos.” The Lobos willdribble-drive and attack. This is a goodway to play in The Pit with its rabid

crowd. There is energy to be milked outof WisePies Arena – energy that was

wasted over the past several seasons

because the sizzling upside to Lobobasketball was never reached. It would

be nice if Bradbury also throws out afull-court press and some half-court

traps.

And a lot of Flanagan stuff – defense,honoring possessions, focus, prepara-

tion, taking good shots, etc. Krebs emphasized that Bradbury has a

strong desire to work at UNM and that

that was a plus in making the decisionto hire him. Yeah, Locksley, Sanchez and

Neal had the same desire. Would youhire someone who did not have a strong

desire to come to UNM and make an

outrageous salary? Here’s hoping that Bradbury brings a

few other qualities to the table.Richard Stevens is a former sportswriter for The Albuquerque Tribune. More recently, he was an insider at theLobo athletic department. Reach him [email protected]

SPoRtS

BY RICHARD STEVENS

Bradbury Promises to Bring‘Full-fledged Chaos’ to Pit

The Lobos willdribble-drive and attack.

This is a good way toplay in The Pit with

its rabid crowd

SEND IT [email protected]

Include your name, phone number, and your pet’s name,

and we’ll try to reserve their spot in the pet parade.

Joscylyn Huffmeister

sent us this photo of her

“emotional support kitty

of three years, Mau Mau.”

She said Mau Mau is a

very loving flame point

Siamese who is “a con-

stant source of entertain-

ment for our family with

his antics,” and who is

supportive of a baby girl

born into the family on

Feb. 14.

CALLING ALL PETS

Submit your purr-fect cat videos by April 30

Submit entries to: [email protected]

Prizes to be awarded at the event:

$250 Best in Show Cash PrizeGift Baskets for 2nd & 3rd Place

Guidelines available at: AnimalHumaneNM.org/FelineFilmFestival

Presented by

Animal Humane New Mexico and CABQ Film Ofce

18 • April 6 – April 19, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS ABQ FREE PRESS • April 6 – April 19, 2016 • 19ARtS/FoodoBituARy


10/17

CONT. ON PAGE 20

BY DAN VUKELICH

ARtS/Food

Giving Ballet a Whirl at KeshetOrganic Herb Farmer, PilotTom Kuehn Dead at 69

oBituARy

BY KARIE LUIDENS

Thomas William Kuehnwas a man who knewno limits but the sky. In his 35 years as a cer-tied ight instructor inAlbuquerque, Tom becameknown for his professional-ism, his insistence on safetyrst and his habit of goingto war with the powers that

be over needless red tape– be it the FAA, the City ofAlbuquerque, or the phone company. Tom died peacefully at age 69 onMarch 19 at his South Valley home. Heis survived by his wife, Corey, and their10-year-old son, Robert, the most curiousand energetic of children. Tom began his career in ight instruc-tion as a freelance teacher with no planeand no ofce. He and his students wouldhop the fence at the Albuquerque Inter-national Airport to gain access to rentalplanes owned by his past students. Tom’s early students practiced at Dou- ble Eagle II Airport on the West Side long before there were buildings there. On theday Tom deemed a student ready to solo,he would get out of the plane, propel-ler turning, sit on the ineld grass by therunway, smoking a cigar, and watch ashis edgling pilots bounced their way to

their rst landing. Tom taught a basic ground schooland instrument ground school for theUniversity of New Mexico’s ContinuingEducation program for several years. Healso taught the basics of aviation at Al- buquerque High School. He eventually became founder andchief ight instructor at West Mesa Avia-tion, a ight school at Double Eagle thatgrew to become a full-service xed-baseoperator that fueled, rented and servicedaircraft. At its peak, Tom oversaw a halfdozen instructors and mechanics and aeet of 15 single-engine and multiengineaircraft. In his career, Tom instructed hundredsof private pilots, many of whom wenton to become pilots for major airlines.In the 1990s, a national ying magazinesought out the U.S. ight instructor withthe most hours in a Cessna 172, a basictraining aircraft. The magazine’s editors

found Tom and awarded him the prize ofan all-expenses-paid trip to the Farnbor-ough Air Show near London. He laterscored a ight on a British Airways Con-corde to London. For many years, Tom performed

charity work by ying oph-thalmologists deep into thestate of Chihuahua, Mex-ico, to perform cataract sur-geries on the Tarahumaraindigenous people. Tom was known for hisacerbic and often self-dep-recating wit. While he wasgruff on rst appearance,people who came to knowhim found him a caring,

unselsh man with an unending curios-ity and a desire to learn. He was generouswith his time and talents, most recentlyas a volunteer on the governing council atthe International School at Mesa del Sol. Tom was a veteran of the U.S. CoastGuard. He served most of his enlistmenton the icebreaker Sebago, which was fre-quently stationed in the North Atlantic.He used his GI Bill benets to learn to y. Early in his adult life, he worked asan Outward Bound instructor in Maine,as a carpenter, as a club hockey player,and as a New Mexico motorcycle safetyinstructor. He served as a mountain-climbing expedition logistician in theAndes. On one expedition, after a NewZealand climber fell thousands of feet tohis death, Tom camped weeks near theravine where the body lay, as required

by Chilean law, waiting for relatives toarrive from New Zealand to identify andclaim the body. Tom met his wife, Corey, who workedat a convenience store near his farm. Hewould stop by frequently to invite herout for coffee. His weeks of persistencepaid off, and they eventually married.

Tom was a life-long fan of whateverhockey team represented his home stateof Minnesota. He enjoyed poker, golf, agood cigar, good whiskey and workingthe land on his South Valley farm. Heloved shing, especially with his son. For the last decade, Tom owned andoperated Bethany Farms, a certied or-ganic farm in the South Valley that grewh

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