Keller Gives Finger to Public's Right to Know
- "Transparency" mayor says public has no right to see APD files
- City continues to stonewall on Jennifer Garcia case
- Refuses to release the investigation on Garcia
- Mayor Bambi's teeth are yellowing
Albuquerque's smiling, Bambi-look-a-like Mayor Tim Keller has repeatedly insisted that he believes in openness and transparency when it comes to the taxpayers—the people who employ him and pay his salary—knowing about every thing that goes on at City Hall.
But that pledge of transparency has turned out to be phony, perhaps as much as the rigid, permanent and manufactured -- plastic -- smile that is glued to Mayor Bambi's face.
Why?
Because Keller's administration has just given a giant middle finger to the public's right to know about what's going on at the troubled Albuquerque Police Department. Specifically, Keller's “transparent” administration has just told a state District Court judge that the public has no right to know the details about wrongdoing—some say criminal wrongdoing—by a high-ranking member of the Albuquerque Police Department.
(Photo: Mayor Bambi says f*** Y** to the public.)
Keller's “transparent” administration told District Court Judge Alan Malott on Friday that the public has no right to see, read, touch, or otherwise have access to an investigation that found that the former head of APD's Internal Affairs unit, now-Lieutenant Jennifer Garcia, backdated official police department records—public records, your records—to make it seem like she met a deadline to complete the investigation on time as required by APD's contract with the Albuquerque Police Officer's Association.
The investigation into Garcia's wrongdoing—which led to her being demoted from commander to lieutenant—was paid for by you, the public, the taxpayers and Keller's and APD's bosses. That's right, you, the people who employ Keller and APD Chief Mike Geier, have no right to see a document that you paid for. In other words, your employee says that you, the boss, have not right to see what they did and what you paid for them to do.
The “transparent” Keller administration's giant middle finger to the public's right to know about the ongoings at APD came in the form of a response to a lawsuit filed against the city by the ABQReport. This publication filed an Inspection of Public Records Act request with the city in July for the complete investigative file on Jennifer Garcia. The city refused to release the report, and we sued them in state District Court.
On Friday, Sept. 7, the city filed its response to our lawsuit. The response basically says that the City Attorney's office ordered the investigation into Garcia after receiving some sort of complaint/notification from the APOA regarding the case and the potential wrongdoing on Garcia's part. The City Attorney's office hired an outside investigative firm to do the probe.
And now, the city is saying that because it ordered the investigation into Garcia because it feared it would be sued by the APOA, that that investigation is attorney/client work product and off limits to the news media and members of the public.
So here's what it looks like: the APOA got pissed that Garcia backdated an IA investigation into a cop who was accused of doing something wrong and filed some kind o complaint against Garcia. The city, instead of launching its own IA probe into Garcia's behavior, hires an outside firm to do it. Then, once that investigation was completed, and Garcia was demoted based on its findings, the city claimed that the investigation, which was paid for with public money, was nobody's business.
Huh?
And Keller's “transparent” administration is saying that you, the tax-paying public, has no right to see what documents the city is preparing for lawsuits and legal actions that you are paying for. They spend your money and you have not right to see what they spend it on.
That's bullshit. And it's fraudulent, and it makes Keller a fraud.
It seems that Mayor Bambi-Look-a-Like's teeth are starting to yellow and his pretty hair is starting to get matted and filthy.
