R.J. Berry accepts his victory as his parents, son and wife cheer. Photo by MG Bralley

When R.J. Berry resigned his position as a state representative on Monday, he removed one from an otherwise growing number of job titles, the biggest one being: mayor of Albuquerque

Rio Rancho mayor Tom Swisstack Swisstack found himself in a similar situation 18 months ago. When he was elected mayor of Rio Rancho in March 2008, Swisstack had a choice: keep his legislative seat and juggle two jobs; or give up his seat in the Legislature and concentrate on running a city facing significant challenges.

Swisstack chose to run the city. He resigned his legislative seat. Eighteen months later, Swisstack still feels he made the right decision.

“Part of why I stepped back, even though it was doable, was perception: [that people might think] I was not able to concentrate enough on either of the jobs. That weighed heavily,” said Swisstack, who had served a single term as Rio Rancho’s mayor in the 1990s. “People expect you to produce. You have to stay focused. That’s why I ended up giving up my legislative seat.”

Berry will take over as Albuquerque’s mayor Dec. 1. Over the past week, a certain level of curiosity had begun to ripple across the political class about whether Berry would resign his legislative post and, if so, when.

Under the state constitution, Berry could have served both as mayor and as a state lawmaker. But Berry ostensibly decided that the challenges of running the state’s biggest city were pressing enough for him to give up his legislative seat days before the Legislature convenes a special budgetary session in Santa Fe.

“With the transition of my administration just getting underway, it is imperative that I give it my full attention,” Berry said in a statement released Monday. “The citizens of my district deserve a full-time legislator representing their needs in Santa Fe and the people of Albuquerque deserve a mayor-elect who is working full time to facilitate a smooth transition at City Hall.”

The state of the economy likely will make running New Mexico’s largest city a challenge, at least initially.

The conditions in local job markets are “grim” according to the Sept. 24 state labor report. In the past year, Albuquerque has lost 14,500 jobs, and the state as a whole has lost 30,900. It’s the worst the state has seen since January 1944, the report said.

Also there is a decline in gross receipts tax, which is largely responsible for funding city government.

Swisstack believed he could have juggled being Rio Rancho mayor and state legislator, he said. But he felt the need to preempt any talk of a divided focus and project an image of total concentration as the city’s chief executive.

Rio Rancho had just come out of a tumultuous period. Former Rio Rancho Mayor Kevin Jackson had resigned in July 2007 over questionable spending with a city credit card.

“We needed to make some tough decisions, and the mayor had to be on hand to meet with the public, with businesses,” Swisstack said.

Swisstack said he’s looking forward to working with Berry, whose time in the Legislature briefly overlapped with Swisstack’s.

“He and I have a really excellent working relationship,” Swisstack said, adding that the two men worked together on a bill during Berry’s first term before Swisstack departed the Legislature. “I’d like to think both of us are somewhat moderate.”

Swisstack said he envisions working well with Berry on regional issues like air quality, transportation and economic development.

Bode’s firm, Bode Aero Services, provides services at the city’s Double Eagle II airport on the West side. Bode is alleging that the city is holding his firm’s lease hostage because he said no to free or reduced air flights.

The mayor and city officials say Bode’s allegations are false.

But now Bode’s allegations are making waves in the mayor’s race with less than two weeks to go, and in a very public way.

In his 391-page deposition, Bode told an attorney deposing him earlier this year that he had videotaped two city representatives who told him that the city staff was OK with the company’s leases but that “it was the mayor who held up these leases.”

That exchange appears on the video up on St. Cyr’s blog.

Bode secretly videotaped the two men when they visited him at Double Eagle II in 2007. Bode said he has offered the videotapes to the city before the start of a state court hearing last year.

Bode says in the deposition that there is a sign in the room where the men were videotaped that a surveillance camera is in use.

On Monday, Romero trotted out the allegations made under oath in a deposition by city contractor John H. Bode, whose firm operates the city-owned Double Eagle II Airport. Bode has alleged in the deposition that Chavez’s staff repeatedly attempted to get free or reduced air travel for the mayor.

“It is well past time to lift Albuquerque out of the sewer of corruption that our current Mayor continues to drag us in,” Romero said in the statement sent out Monday. “As Mayor, I pledge to you now, I’m going to restore honest government to Albuquerque.”

The Chavez campaign responded with a short statement Tuesday morning.

“We are saddened that Mr. Romero has continued to mystify everyone with his foulness and clearly his campaign is desperate,” Chavez campaign spokesperson Joanie Griffin stated.

Romero’s press release signals the embrace of a new issue by Chavez’s challengers who so far have struggled to find an issue that sticks to their chief rival. Chavez, of course, is seeking a third consecutive term as the city’s chief executive, and two-term state lawmaker Richard Berry also is running for the city’s top job.

Bode’s deposition was taken as part of a lawsuit in which the contractor accuses the mayor of refusing to renew Bode Aero Services’ airport contract in retaliation for Bode declining to provide free or discounted air travel to Mexico and New Mexico destinations on several occasions.

The Independent broke the story July 24 about the detailed allegations contained in Bode’s deposition. According to Bode’s 391-page deposition, Fred Mondragon, currently the state’s economic development secretary, repeatedly pressured Bode to provide free or reduced-price air travel for Chavez. At the time, Mondragon worked as Chavez’s economic development director before becoming the state’s economic development czar.

At one point during the deposition, Bode is quoted as saying he knows Chavez is holding up the renewal of the contract in question. He says he has two city officials on videotape telling him as much in 2007 — that the mayor was responsible for holding up the leases.

Chavez has called Bode’s lawsuit “absolute garbage” and accused Bode of trying to win a no-bid, long-term contract.

Mondragon, meanwhile, has called Bode’s allegations “completely untrue.”

Romero also implies in the press release that Bode’s allegations carry echoes of another scandal in Chavez’s past — ABQPAC.

That group raised more than $100,000 from city contractors, developers and other contributors and a large portion of that money went to help the mayor earlier this decade. The committee spent as much as $50,000 on Chavez to retire campaign debt, pay for cell phone bills and cover travel expenses for Chávez family trips to Japan, China and Mexico as part of the Sister Cities goodwill program.

Chavez eventually repaid more than $50,000 after the Albuquerque Journal reported on the committee’s activity and the help it gave the mayor.

A city ethics board eventually reprimanded the mayor for his involvement with ABQPAC.

“It was a dark episode in the City’s history and a stain, among many, on the legacy of Mr. Chavez,” Romero said in his press release.

All in all, Romero goes after Chavez aggressively in Monday’s press release, saying “In a nutshell, John Bode, in a sworn deposition, testified that Chavez aimed to shake down his company for free travel in exchange for the city contract to operate Double Eagle airport.”

But Bode’s deposition is more nuanced, with Bode never suggesting that the mayor did the asking but that instead he used emissaries. That does not mean that Bode says the mayor wasn’t the source of the requests. On one occasion in the deposition, as the mayor and others were returning from Mexico, Bode is quoted as saying Chavez asked if they were taking a side trip. This was after Mondragon had asked Bode on that trip to set up a side trip to a Mexican coastal city for a future trip. The implication was that the mayor thought they were taking a side trip but was mistaken.

Beyond accusing Mondragon, Bode alleges that other city staff requested free or reduced-fare flights for Chavez, including on two occasions — to Las Cruces and Carlsbad — during the mayor’s brief run for the U.S. Senate in 2007.

On another occasion a city employee other than Mondragon called to ask Bode to set up the flight to Las Cruces for a fundraiser, Bode alleges in the deposition.

Bode is quoted as saying that Mondragon made his first overture for free or reduced air travel at a Guadalajara bar following a business meeting that morning. Mondragon asked Bode to price a trip and to comp the expenses.

Bode acknowledges that the mayor, who was standing nearby at the time, may not have heard Mondragon’s overture.

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez

With less than three months to go before Albuquerque’s municipal election, Mayor Martin Chavez is facing a politically charged federal lawsuit.

In sworn testimony the plaintiff in that case — a city contractor —  is making detailed allegations against the mayor and some city staff involving pressure for favors.

According to a 391-page deposition taken of John H. Bode under oath, the state’s economic development secretary, Fred Mondragon, repeatedly pressured Bode, the operator at the city-owned Double Eagle II Airport, to provide free or reduced-price air travel for Chavez.

Bode accuses the mayor in the lawsuit of refusing to renew Bode’s airport contract in retaliation for Bode declining to provide free or discounted air travel to Mexico and New Mexico destinations on several occasions. At one point Bode is quoted as saying in his deposition that he knows Chavez is holding up the renewal of the contract in question. He says he has two city officials on videotape telling him as much in 2007 — that the mayor was responsible for holding up the leases.

Chavez, now a candidate for reelection, has called Bode’s lawsuit “absolute garbage” and accused Bode of trying to win a no-bid, long-term contract.

“You don’t get long-term no-bid contracts in my administration,” Chavez said late last week.

Bode, whose company, Bode Aero Services, is the fixed base operator at the city’s far Westside airport, says that Mondragon repeatedly asked for special deals on air travel. At the time of the alleged requests Mondragon was Albuquerque’s economic development director, a political appointee of the mayor. He is now Gov. Bill Richardson‘s secretary of economic development.

In one instance, Bode is quoted as saying, “Mr. Mondragon specifically asked for us to set up a vacation for the mayor before or after one of the business trips to Mexico, and he said that he would prefer Acapulco or Puerto Vallarte (sic), and that if we could just arrange something at one of the resorts, it would be, you know, fun for everybody to go do.”

Bode then goes into further detail about Mondragon’s alleged request.

“He asked me to cover the expenses of that for the mayor and said that this was a good way — this is the way that, you know, politics worked in New Mexico. This is a good way for me to grow my business,” Bode is quoted as saying.

Beyond accusing Mondragon, Bode also alleges that other city staff requested free or reduced-fare flights for Chavez on two occasions — to Las Cruces and Carlsbad — during the mayor’s brief run for the U.S. Senate in 2007.

On one occasion a city employee other than Mondragon called to ask Bode to set up the flight to Las Cruces for a fundraiser, Bode alleges in the deposition.

Bode quoted prices and the employee said he’d call back, according to the transcript.

“I don’t know if he called me back or if I called him back, but we ended up talking, and he said that he was going to — to have to fly Marty himself if we wouldn’t do it for free,” Bode is quoted as saying.

On Thursday afternoon Mondragon denied Bode’s statements, saying, “These allegations are completely untrue.”

Chavez punches back

Chavez, meanwhile, has offered a full-throated denunciation of Bode’s lawsuit.

“Let’s understand what is going on here,” Chavez told NMI’s David Alire Garcia late last week in an interview that will be broadcast on KNME’s New Mexico In Focus Friday night. “This is a city contractor. They are out at Double Eagle. What they want is a no-bid, long-term contract to service out there. I said, ‘No.’ They’re not going to have it. They have to bid like everyone else. If they win, then so be it. ”

“For $150 and a lawyer, you can say anything you want,” Chavez added. “That’s all that has happened here.”

A call to a Chavez spokesperson seeking a response to Bode’s allegations was not returned Thursday.

Peter Pierotti, the attorney for Albuquerque’s aviation department who deposed Bode, said Thursday that he had no comment on the airport operator’s allegations other than, “The judge in the federal lawsuit has said this case shouldn’t be tried in the media.”

Bode’s deposition

Bode aired his allegations in the deposition while under oath over several hours May 29 and June 1 at the Albuquerque International Sunport, the city’s commercial airport.

According to Bode’s deposition, Mondragon’s first overture for air travel for Chavez came during a three- or four-day trip to Guadalajara, Mexico. Bode alleges that Mondragon asked Bode to set up a flight and cover the expenses to Puerta Vallarta or Acapulco as a vacation for the mayor tacked onto a city business trip.

Mondragon asked Bode to price such a trip at a Guadalajara bar following a business meeting that morning, Bode explains in the deposition.

Bode acknowledges that the mayor, who was standing nearby at the time, may not have heard Mondragon’s overture.

“I told him I couldn’t afford it,” Bode says in the deposition. “I told him — I said I’ve never had a politician ask for — for the things that the mayor asked for and that I don’t want to get involved in anything.”

Bode’s allegations stretch from 2005 to 2007 and center on his belief that that the problems with the renewal of his lease are directly tied to his rebuffing such alleged requests. He also attributes his lease troubles to concerns he and others raised about safety at Double Eagle II and how federal money was spent there, as well as to related complaints he and others filed with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Bode’s deposition suggests that Bode eventually grew tired of the alleged requests.

“Mr. Mondragon constantly tried to get things for free,” Bode said.

In 2007, Bode says in the deposition, he fielded a call from Mondragon, who was asking Bode to set up another flight to Guadalajara for Chavez. Bode said he informed Mondragon and another city employee that neither he nor any of his pilots would do that trip.

“I was tired of being asked to do that, to provide the free services,” Bode is quoted as saying.

That incited the mayor’s anger, Bode said to his interlocutor during the marathon deposition.

As for proof that he has incited the mayor’s wrath, Bode says in the deposition that he has two city representatives on videotape telling him that the city staff was OK with the company’s leases but that “it was the mayor who held up these leases.”

Bode secretly videotaped the two men when they visited him at Double Eagle II in 2007. Bode said he has offered the videotapes to the city.

The city, meanwhile, is denying that Bode and his company were ever asked to provide free air service to Chavez, according to a response to Bode’s lawsuit that was filed in federal court.

The response also contends that Bode never exercised his option to renew the lease, which Bode refutes.

In the deposition, Bode states that his company filed a notice to renew its lease in 2003-’04 and that the proof of its efficacy was the increased rent his company started paying that was associated with the new lease.

The city contends in court documents that Bode’s firm “voluntarily began to pay the increased rents and abide by other provisions of the proposed lease amendments.” The city accepted the increased payments and performance pending the outcome of an appeal of a state district court order requiring the city to enforce the lease amendments, the court documents say.

Bode apparently did offer deep discounts on at least one occasion to the mayor and city staff, according to his own retelling.

For the Guadalajara trip where Mondragon is said to have made the first overture, Bode tells the attorney deposing him that he offered a 40 percent to 50 percent discount, a much steeper discount than the 10 to 20 percent discount his firm usually offers long-time clients.

Bode goes on to say that the mayor was the only politician his company has flown who sought such deep discounts or free air travel. Other politicians who have flown with Bode’s company are Gov. Bill Richardson, U.S. Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, and former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici.

Bode also says the city still has an outstanding bill for a flight his company arranged shortly after the trip to Guadalajara in which a pilot flew from Chihuahua to Las Noches to pick up the mayor and city staff traveling with him.

Mondragon had arranged for a train ride for the mayor and certain city staff through Copper Canyon in Chihuahua state, Bode is quoted as saying. The mayor requested that a plane be sent to pick them up in Las Noches, the train’s terminus.

“We never got paid for the part to go over to Las Noches and pick everybody up — or Las Noches back to Chihuahua, which was one of the change itineraries,” Bode charges in the deposition.

Bode’s firm collected for the flight to Chihuahua from New Mexico after a year or so, and it was his recollection that those who were on the flight, including the mayor, wrote personal checks, he says. Mondragon, Deborah James, the mayor’s spokeswoman, and Jay Evans, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department director, were on that trip, Bode is quoted as saying.

During the time his company was trying to collect payment on that portion of the trip, he recalled a conversation with the city’s then-Aviation Department Director Mike Rice.

“He was trying to work with Fred (Mondragon) to decide if it was going to come out of the aviation budget or if it was going to come out of the Parks and Rec’s budget, and I said, Well, isn’t this supposed to be determined beforehand when you request a flight and agree to — that we’re going to provide these services, and I remember asking him, you know, do I need to start sending out — or getting a credit card from the city, or you know, an authorization number beforehand, and you know, he said something to the effect of, you know, it just depends what the mayor wants.”

NMI’s David Alire Garcia contributed to this story.

Three AFSCME Council 18 members hand out free t-shirts during a 2008 civic plaza protest against cuts in wage increases (Photo by aflcio2008/Flickr)

ALBUQUERQUE — The president of the City of Albuquerque’s blue collar workers’ union refused Wednesday night to tally the ballots members had cast to determine whether or not to endorse Mayor Martin Chavez in this year’s mayoral race.

Steven Griego shut down a meeting where nearly 100 votes were supposed to have been certified and where members could have seen for themselves if there was ample support or not to endorse another term for the mayor.

“It’s gotten out of hand,” Griego said, referring to his fellow union members. Some of those members shouted angrily at Griego as he walked out of a large conference room without acknowledging their taunts.

The meeting was held at the American Federation of State County Municipal Employees Council 18 building on Pennsylvania Street NE.

The local’s vote was viewed as a test for the mayor, who received an endorsement from the local’s parent union, AFSCME Council 18, in late May. But some blue collar union members protested that decision and demanded a vote to gauge members’ sentiments.

The vote wouldn’t have amounted to an official endorsement, or lack thereof, by Local 624, but it would have allowed members to express themselves on the mayor’s race.

“I said let’s get the members, let them have a voice,” said local 624 treasurer Lawrence Mora.

“It’s our local. They’re shanghai-ing this thing,” Jake Romero, another member, said referring to Council 18.

Several members of Local 624 interviewed Wednesday night described being angry at the Chavez administration for what they said were smaller raises for the blue collar union than for other unions.

It has become a common refrain from the blue-collar union, some of whose members believe the mayor favors other unions at their expense.

The vote became such an emotional issue that police were called last Thursday to the union hall to respond to an incident involving Griego and the local’s vice president, Jerry Sanchez.

Sanchez blamed Griego for trying to impede the vote, and for hitting him in the head, according to a police report. Griego told police that “he gently patted Mr. Sanchez on the back and invited him outside to discuss the matter.”

That resentment appeared palpable Wednesday night as Griego and a few others faced off against fellow union members over whether to count 91 votes that had been cast. That tally was more than the 10 percent of the local’s 850-member membership required to make the vote official. Fewer than 10 percent of members casting ballots would have voided the vote, according to minutes from a July 1 executive board meeting of Local 624.

When Griego shut down Wednesday night’s meeting, it left some seething.

“We’re here to certify a vote. That’s why everyone is mad,” said an unidentified union member.

Griego said a few minutes after shutting down the meeting that he didn’t know if another meeting would be called to tally the votes. “That’s for the (union’s executive) board,” he said.

Then Griego asked a reporter to leave the premises and had him escorted out.

Future billboard material? (Photos by David Alire Garcia)

ALBUQUERQUE — The Rio Grande Zoo will soon have two new poster boys.

According to the city’s top administrator responsible for the zoo, July 12 will mark the first time the general public can catch a glimpse of the two enormous, saltwater crocodiles that have been in the zoo’s possession since April 1, 2005.

But the more than four-year lapse between acquisition and temporary public viewing set to begin next month raises questions.

Why spend more than $85,000 to acquire the largest reptile in the world — two of them — and keep them in a back warehouse without an exhibit for so long?

Why recently announce an “initial” public viewing for next month when a couple weeks earlier, the reptile curator wasn’t even aware of the plans?

And did NMI inquires into the animals history have anything to do with the viewing now set to begin July 12?

“The mayor doesn’t wait,” Deborah James, Mayor Martin Chavez’s spokeswoman, told NMI on Friday. James added that the mayor has been pushing for expedited public viewing of the crocodiles for months.

Ray Darnell, the mayor-appointed director of the Cultural Services Department that oversees the zoo, confirms James’ account.

“The mayor saying — ‘Can you do something to help get these guys on exhibit? — that’s really what prompted it,” Darnell, the former zoo director, said in an interview last week. “This was ongoing. It just happened that you had an idea to talk about this in the middle.”

Four years, three months of waiting…

But two weeks earlier, during a tour of the zoo’s reptile house, curator Dale Belcher said there was “not currently” any plans to exhibit the approximately 15-feet long, 1,200-pound crocodiles.

Back in 2005, according to documents provided to NMI through a public records request, the city was initially predicting a 2006 exhibit.

That didn’t happen.

“We’re still probably 18 months from finishing their exhibit,” Darnell added. “The actual steel for the building and those things is sitting at the site right now.”

Darnell explained that blueprints for the re-designed exhibit, including an underwater viewing component, are currently in the hands of  the architect. Meanwhile, the crocodiles are housed in a building that used to be used as a fish-growing facility.

“The crocs are in a great holding facility,” Darnell continued. “They do what they do in the wild. They’re hanging out in the water. They’ve grown. They’ve prospered. Everything is fine. So it was a deliberate act to wait.”

But Darnell wasn’t able to explain why Belcher, the zoo’s reptile curator since 1979, wasn’t aware of plans for the public viewing scheduled for next month.

James, however, did have an explanation.

“The mayor tells (department) directors to do things and very honestly, people underneath that level may not know. This is what I’m seeing,” she explained. “I think Ray was waiting until they had some major exhibit put together and the mayor said, ‘No we need something in the interim to have some public viewing.’ We had to do something on an interim basis.”

Referring to the mayor, James added: “He had been asking about the crocodiles for sometime in our directors’ meeting, as long as six months ago.”

Asked why the crocodile exhibit hadn’t been built over the last four years, the zoo’s mammals curator Lyn Tupa, cites delays and escalating prices.

“A lot of it is getting the blueprints up. There’s always delays,” she explained. Tupa said that building materials like concrete have doubled in price over the last few years, and that the zoo also has to prioritize maintenance not just new exhibits.

“We have to make sure we’re keeping up on repairs as opposed to building. We’re trying to manage a lot under small number of staff and money.” The payoff with a redesigned exhibit, she emphasized, will be noticeable.

“It’s gonna be a better exhibit,” she said.

‘The primordial human nightmare’

Late last month, Belcher showed NMI the warehouse where the saltwater crocodiles have been housed since early 2005.

Entering the warehouse, the two croc holding areas come into view beyond a thick metal fence. Each male crocodile was lounging, very comfortably it seemed, in a rectangular pool built into the middle of plain concrete slabs.

Reptile curator, Dale Belcher

According to Belcher, an expert at managing large reptile collections, the two separated male crocodiles are named after the truck drivers — Joe and John — who transported the animals from Los Angeles to Albuquerque.

The pair were acquired at a cost of $85,855.78, according to city records. That figure includes purchase of the crocodiles in Australia, consultant fees, special crates, transit insurance, airfare to Los Angeles and then trucking to Albuquerque.

The two crocs were apparently ”causing problems for someone around Darwin,” most likely attacking boats in the northern Australian port city, Belcher said. He added that the pair had been dubbed “nuisance crocodiles.”

On the recent tour, one of the saltwater crocodiles, Joe, approached the edge of the fence as he saw movement just beyond it.

“It’s the primordial human nightmare for a lot of people,” Belcher remarked.

Asked what the enormous animals eat, Belcher pulls out of a nearby refrigerator one of the whole chickens the animals are regularly fed. He explains that each animal consumes between one and two percent of its body weight per week.

“We’re not allowed to let them eat reporters,” Belcher deadpanned. “Or anybody.”

The Rio Grande Zoo’s most fearsome predators may not look the part given their languishing ways in climate-controlled pools.

But apparently, like a mayor determined to get out in front of even a minor story, corcodylus porosus can move exceptionally fast with explosive bursts of speed when needed.

Come July 12, first-time visitors will likely be hoping to see these extra-large reptiles show off their quickness.

Or at least chomp down hard on a whole chicken.

Either way, it should be a good show.

Many thanks to KNME’s Antony Lostetter for his work on the above video, originally part of New Mexico In Focus’s June 19 broadcast, as well as Dylan Sheriff and Melissa Wike.

Federal stimulus funds are on their way to nonprofit art organizations after $247,000 was awarded to New Mexico Arts, according to the New Mexico Business Weekly. 

The money can be used for salary support, artists’ fees and contractors. Around 15 to 20 grants are expected to be given out.

KOB-TV reports on Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez and the city council battling over where $160M of taxpayer money goes in the capital improvement budget.  This budget funds project such as the mayor’s dream to create a swimming area at Tingley Beach and a west side soccer complex.  But a majority of city councilors believe that the mayor exceeded his legal authority. NMI’s Marjorie Childress advances the story here.

Meanwhile, a new, free magazine  called New Mexico Family is now available around Albuquerque.  Despite the happy family pictured on the front cover, magazine editor Robert Castillo has been charged with fraud and forgery during the creation of the magazine, so reports KRQE-TV.

And lastly, a contest is underway to design the first flag for the town of  Portales, New Mexico. Read all about it here.

NMI’s Danielle Bauer contributed mightily to this post.

Maybe one of those things he needs to look into is how much money he can raise.

He’s already started, with a fundraising lunch coming up in December. You can get a seat at the luncheon for $500. Purpose? To be determined, I guess.

Charges Against Brennan Dismissed

Domestic violence charges against former chief Second Judicial District Judge W. John Brennan have been dismissed because of the unavailability of “a necessary witness,” the Albuquerque Journal reports. The witness is presumably Marsella Duarte, the woman who was at Brennan’s home in March when a neighbor called and reported that he heard someone screaming. The dismissal was made without prejudice, which means the case could be filed again. The case is being handled by the 11th Judicial District in McKinley.

DA Target of Motion

Two-term Democratic incumbent District Attorney Kari Brandenburg is the target of a motion by a defense attorney who claims the DA reneged on a plea agreement for political reasons, the Journal is reporting. Defense attorney Linda Kerr, representing three-time accused killed Clifton Bloomfield, says Brandenburg’s conduct is so egregious that the charges against her client should be dismissed. Brandenburg, who is being challenged for her seat by Republican Lisa Torraco, says it is unlikely the motion will be litigated.

Tecton To Sell?

The Houston-based company that has had its eye on drilling for oil in the Galisteo Basin might be trying to sell its mineral leases, the Santa Fe New Mexican says. “Last week, Meagher Oil and Gas Properties Inc., a divestiture firm serving the industry, began listing Tecton’s leases on more than 100,000 acres in the Albuquerque Basin and 75,000 acres in the Santa Fe Hagen Embayment, which includes the Galisteo area,” the New Mexican says, adding:

William Dirks, president of Tecton, said the company has been “seeking investors to join us in this basin since 2006.” The company isn’t necessarily backing out of New Mexico. “We are looking for a potential partner who wants to invest their (own) capital to continue the drilling opportunities,” he said.

But Julia Foster of Meagher in Denver said, “They’re looking to sell the property.”

River Otters To Be Released

River otters will be swimming In the Rio Grande for the first time since the 1950s when five of the animals are released near Taos, the Associated Press reports. The adult otters will be imported from Washington State and will be held in confinement a few days before they are released, AP said.

Chavez Is Guest Lecturer

Guest lecturer Martin Chavez, mayor of Albuquerque, told students in the University of New Mexico’s Honors Program Thursday he believes Albuquerque will lead the nation in renewable energy production in the next five to seven years, the UNM Daily Lobo reports.

The “Destination Albuquerque: An Experimental Journey” class has been looking into the history of Albuquerque this semester and interviewing prominent citizens and city workers, the student paper reports, adding that:

Chavez said the city is at a pivotal point in its history. “It is important that we understand the history of this great city – right after we celebrated our tricentennial, which so few cities can – so that we can understand where we should go.”

…Chavez said he and city administrators are working to expand the city skyward and create larger buildings to accommodate the growing community.

…”We cannot talk about whether or not Albuquerque is going to expand – we are,” he said. “The conversation should be about how to expand in the best possible way. Being able to balance the water sources that we have along with investing into other options is important for us right now.”

…”When I see Albuquerque in five to seven years, I believe that we will be leading the country in renewable energy production,” he said. “All of the energy production will also create jobs in Albuquerque and help steady our economy.”