URL: http://www.abqjournal.com/opinion/guest_columns/12212433opinion07-12-09.htm

Sunday, July 12, 2009
Mayor Chávez's Cronyism Is Showing, Costing
By Michael Passi
City Charter task force member
   
   
    One of the dubious accomplishments of Mayor Martin Chávez over his past eight years has been an unprecedented politicization of Albuquerque's municipal labor force. It is an achievement that constitutes a serious threat to our civil-service system, if permitted to expand, unchecked, in the years ahead.
   
    Since the current City Charter was adopted, Albuquerque mayors typically appointed a chief administrative officer, perhaps a deputy chief administrative officer, department heads, and a handful of administrative staff for the offices of the mayor and CAO. That was the pattern in the closing year of Mayor Jim Baca's administration as it had been from the first administration of Mayor Harry Kinney.
   
    Eight years ago, there were 34 unclassified employees in Albuquerque city government (35 if you count Mayor Baca), excluding deputy city attorneys and veterinarians — who have traditionally been unclassified — public safety employees, and a handful of low-paid jobs such as lifeguards at the city's swimming pools.
   
    How things have changed! By June 2009, after two terms of Mayor Chávez, the number of similar unclassified employees increased by more than 300 percent to about 140.
   
    At least 53 of the new unclassified employees are "citizen contact" agents or supervisors manning the massively expensive 311 information lines, a major initiative of the Chavez administration. An additional 10 of these new unclassified employees are veterinary technicians or animal adoption counselors hired as part of the effort to improve animal welfare services.
   
    Obviously these are not policy makers, however, they do create a class of workers directly dependent on the mayor for their livelihood. But the most egregious effort to politicize operating departments has been the proliferation of "deputy directors."
   
    For those of a certain age, Mayor Chávez's politically appointed deputy directors remind one of the old Soviet system in which every government bureau had its own commissar, put in place to monitor the political correctness of government employees. Given their thin professional qualifications, it is hard to imagine what else these deputies do.
   
    And this layer of political bureaucracy does not come cheap. Chávez's seven deputies, in salary and fringe alone, cost the taxpayers more than $750,000 per year.
   
    Unfortunately, the days when political appointees occupied a narrow sliver at the top of the pyramid, appropriately concentrated in policy-making positions and as department directors, seem to have disappeared.
   
    Today, there's plenty of evidence to suggest that Mayor Chávez is engaged in a radical departure from that tradition by placing an ever-increasing number of unclassified employees, who depend upon his consent for their employment, into work-a-day jobs.  
   
    The threat to city government is very real. If we lose executive accountability at a time when we've allowed the incumbent to eviscerate our prudent term-limit laws, we are risking a government operation that is purely political and fails to serve the people with integrity.
   
    For example, what possible justification is there for an unclassified landscape construction manager at a cost to taxpayers of about $111,000 per year in salary and fringe or an unclassified medical response system planner at $75,000 per year, or an unclassified cultural services development coordinator earning nearly $70,000? Does the city need an unclassified coordinator of volunteerism and engagement at a cost of more than $75,000 per year and an unclassified volunteer program coordinator at a cost of nearly $50,000? What explains the need for an unclassified accounting program manager at a cost of almost $55,000 annually? And how about that unclassified "environmental urban specialist" at a cost of nearly $50,000? Some of these employees may be performing valuable functions for residents of Albuquerque. But if so, why are they not classified?
   
    During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, urban political machines were constructed on the basis of cronyism and political patronage. This was an approach to municipal government that was decisively rejected by the citizens of Albuquerque more than half a century ago. The next election, however, may well determine whether Albuquerque's future will be a continuation of its strong tradition of professionalism in municipal employment or if it will follow Mayor Chávez's accelerating movement backward toward a 19th century system of a political machine based on patronage and political cronyism.
   
    Passi retired as associate director of the city's Department of Family and Community Services in 2006 and most recently served on the city's task force to review the City Charter. He also has done volunteer work in the mayoral campaign of Richard Romero.