Cadigan mailerA large developer hoping to finance a huge mixed-use development on Albuquerque’s West Side—with bonds based on future tax proceeds—is targeting its most vocal opponent on the City Council.

A mailer sent to District 5 voters this week criticizes City Councilor Michael Cadigan, who is seeking re-election.

Cadigan is a longtime vocal opponent of the tax-proceeds scheme — called TIDDs for short — by which SunCal, the developer, hopes to pay for roads, water lines and other infrastructure for the massive development.

The Cadigan mailer is a reminder that Albuquerque’s future growth, and how to manage it, remains a hotly debated, unsettled political issue as city voters go to the polls next week to elect a mayor and city councilors.

The mailer

A group named Moving Albuquerque Forward sent out the Cadigan mailer. The single largest contributor to Moving Albuquerque Forward was Westland Development Co. LP, a subsidiary of SunCal, city campaign finance records show. Westland gave $10,000 through Sept. 25, 2009.

The organization had raised $26,000 and spent $1,160, through Sept. 25 city records show. The Westland contribution is twice as large as the next biggest contribution—$5,000 from Caballero Farms.

A call to the committee was not immediately returned Tuesday.

The two-page mailer goes after Cadigan for what the group says is the councilor’s inaction on fighting traffic congestion after the opening of three new schools on the West Side.

“Michael Cadigan has been our Councilor for eight years. Eight is enough. It’s time for Cadigan to go,” the mailer reads.

Cadigan disputes the mailer’s accusations, saying in a press release issued Monday that he had “spearheaded a successful effort by the City and APS to provide a new and better access” to Volcano Vista High School, one of the three new schools.

The fight over SunCal

Cadigan is open about his opposition to SunCal, which has won high-profile endorsements from Gov. Bill Richardson and Mayor Martin Chavez.

SunCal’s proposed development has stoked a fiery debate in the city and in Bernalillo County.

Opponents have argued that the state would be gambling hundreds of millions of dollars in future tax proceeds on a proposal that might not live up to its billing. Opponents also say that SunCal’s development would increase sprawl at a time when New Mexico has to think carefully how to manage growth. A large, mixed-use development so far from Albuquerque’s core would also increase traffic and create more demand for water, they say.

Supporters of the legislation have countered that the SunCal proposal could mean thousands of jobs created by industrial and commercial employers.

In addition to his past opposition to Sun Cal, Cadigan said Tuesday he traveled to Santa Fe this past legislative session to lobby state lawmakers against legislation that would have helped SunCal.

The SunCal legislation called for giving bonding authority to several Tax Increment Development Districts — TIDDs — that would have then issued $400 million in bonds based on future tax proceeds. The cash would help SunCal pay for roads, water lines and other infrastructure for the planned mixed-use development the company has in mind.

SunCal wasn’t shy about lobbying state lawmakers, or the public, leading up to and during this year’s legislative session. SunCal spent at least $232,000 in a marketing campaign that included billboards, radio and television ads, and direct mail that encouraged people to go to the company’s Web site about TIDDs. That Web site then encouraged its readers to call, write or e-mail their legislators in support of the TIDD legislation.

The SunCal legislation failed on the floor of the state House on the final night of the session, shocking the political class as well as the media.

The company, through Westland Development Co. had eight professional lobbyists working on its behalf during the session, including Mark Fleischer, Chavez’s campaign manager.