David Campbell returns to City Hall

An old, new face is back at City Hall.

David Campbell, who served in city jobs under mayors Harry Kinney, Louis Saavedra and Richard Berry, has returned to Albuquerque after a stint in the Foreign Service and has joined Mayor Tim Keller's administration.

Campbell, 64, started on Jan. 9 as the city's new planning director.

Campbell left the Foreign Service several months ago after reaching the mandatory retirement age.

I spotted Campbell Tuesday afternoon while waiting in Keller's office for the mayor to begin his news conference on the ART project. He had a city ID that said he was the director of the Planning Department.

We didn't get a chance to talk much, but a mayoral spokesman confirmed that Campbell had indeed been hired as planning director.

Here's a 2014 story from the Albuquerque Journal about Keller's stint in the Foreign Service.

I've always liked Campbell, but we did have a few run-ins when he worked for Saavedra, who was known as the Stealth Mayor. Saavedra served from 1989 to 1993 and held a grand total of four news conferences during his four years in office.

We wish Dave well in his new job.