Michael Cadigan

Councilor Michael Cadigan, candidate for reelection

Albuquerque City Councilor Michael Cadigan is taking heat from his two District 5 challengers for planning a public safety postcard initiative using both city funds and a city employee to do the leg work.

The postcards, which have yet to be sent out according to a  KOB-TV report, urge residents to close their garage doors in light of increased burglaries in the area. A city employee who works for Cadigan also sent out a mass email to residents using a city email account.

District 5 city council candidates Jeremy Toulouse and Daniel Lewis have filed an ethics complaint with the city clerk, alleging the campaign is actually part of Cadigan’s reelection campaign, and shouldn’t be funded with city resources.  In response, Cadigan told KOB that all city councilors are allocated $5,000 per year for “constituent communication.”

“We’ve been sending out mailings to constituents for eight years — it’s part of my job as a city councilor,” he said.

While Toulouse is disputing that Cadigan has the right to send the postcards out in his official role as Councilor, he doesn’t seem to disagree with Cadigan. The police department should be making the point instead of Cadigan, he said in an e-mail sent to the Independent:

As a District 5 resident and constituent to candidate Cadigan, I greatly appreciate his common sense perspective on leaving garage doors open, it is a very important point to make… I have been at several meetings where candidate Cadigan has brought this up, but so have APD representatives, whom no doubt identified the problem and as it is their job, should continue to notify the district’s residents…

Toulouse also wrote that while common sense is important, the real need is for more cops on the street:

Common sense is important and we should all use more, but, many of us with growing families, who spend long hours working forget things, it happens to all of us, so garage doors will continue to be left open unfortunately. We can, through more regular community activities get to know one another, so we are better at looking out for each other, but in addition to increase community involvement we quite simply need more police officers on the streets.