Wiener Strikes Back With Own Criticism

Michael Wiener, under intense criticism for his now-infamous photos in the Philippines, is making some counter-punches.

He jabbed at colleague Michelle Lujan Grisham last week for failing to attend a hearing on the county budget proposal. Every other commissioner attended the meeting, which featured departments explaining their spending requests.

Wiener brought up Grisham’s absence when I asked him about his decision not to attend a special meeting held later in the week to consider censuring him.

“I‘m surprised that Commissioner Lujan-Grisham was able to be there in light of the fact that she missed the very important all-day budget hearing we had on Monday,” he said in a written statement.

Grisham says she was traveling Monday and couldn’t make it to the budget hearings that day. She noted that they were originally scheduled to continue Tuesday, and she would have been there that day.

In any case, Grisham said that missing an informational hearing isn’t the same as missing a commission meeting in which a quorum is needed for action items.

“It’s unfortunate that he’s on the offensive in a way that’s distracting and in no way relevant,” she said.

Attendance has been a hot topic among commissioners this year. The special meeting on censure was canceled because Wiener, Art De La Cruz and Wayne Johnson didn’t attend. It was the second time since February that a meeting had to be canceled because those three didn’t show.

Fuel records

An internal audit released recently dinged the city for weaknesses in how it tracks and controls fuel used for the city fleet and equipment.

It said the Golf Management Division, for example, had discrepancies in its records for how much fuel was bought, used and actually on hand. In August, 464 gallons couldn’t be accounted for at the Puerto del Sol Golf Course, auditors said.

It wasn’t clear what happened to the missing fuel, auditors said, but better record-keeping would help identify errors or thefts in the future.

The administration said it would make changes to address the criticism.

The 26-page report was issued by the city’s Office of Internal Audit.

Opponent speaks

Lonnie Talbert, Wiener’s opponent in the Republican primary next month, hasn’t said much about the Wiener controversy, so I asked him for a comment.

“I am troubled by Commissioner Wiener’s actions,” Talbert said in a written statement. “His disturbing behavior has been a pattern throughout his tenure on the County Commission and has no place in government.”

He also said he was grateful for support from other elected officials and looked forward to serving District 4′s constituents.
— This article appeared on page A4 of the Albuquerque Journal