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Tuesday, March 08, 2011
City: Set Union Ruling Aside
By Scott Sandlin
Copyright © 2011 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writer
City officials Monday asked to set aside a judge's ruling that permits fire union president Diego Arencon to conduct union business while working as a city employee, alleging newly discovered evidence shows Arencon "has for some time been engaged in illegal political activities on city time."
The city cites Arencon's e-mails and alleges he violated elections laws and libeled a political opponent during the 2009 mayoral race.
The city motion for relief from the judgment by 2nd Judicial District Judge Theresa Baca in February 2010 claims the activities "could not remotely be construed to benefit the city" under the union contract provision the judge based her ruling upon.
Under the contract, Arencon was allowed to work 40 hours on union business, and an additional union officer was appointed who would perform administrative duties for at least 20 hours a week.
The city quotes an e-mail from the union international director of labor issues and collective bargaining asking Arencon how the provision works as a practical matter.
Arencon's response, according to the court document, was that the 20-hour minimum schedule "is just a smoke screen. We basically have an additional Union Rep on a 40hr workweek. We know there is no way for the admin to monitor this individuals (sic) schedule. He is currently unassigned and serving our Union full time and getting paid for it. Make sense?"
The city contends Arencon "intended all along to exploit (the provision) and fraudulently secure two full-time firefighters to serve the union, not the city, while 'getting paid for it' " and that his own words show he acted in bad faith.
"I find it unusual that the administration takes this action for issues in 2008 as we enter into negotiations this year. We need to work together in preserving a contract that facilitates and preserves public safety and protects the citizens of Albuquerque," Arencon said in a statement late Monday.
The city discovered the e-mails after the city's systems programmer and e-mail administrator, Russell J. Bennett, located e-mails to and from the city electronic mail box assigned to Arencon, according to an affidavit attached to the motion. The affidavit says a series of e-mails, including the request for $6,000 to aid the campaign of then-Mayor Martin Chávez, was sent through the city's electronic mail box.
According to the Bennett affidavit, Arencon also ordered 110 T-shirts in support of Alan Armijo's City Council campaign; ordered four 5- by 3-foot banners for the Chávez campaign and engaged in other political communications.
The city contends in its filing that Arencon has "run afoul of virtually every applicable written rule regarding political activities on city time."
The motion describes how, at the height of the city's mayoral campaign, Arencon wrote to the International Association of Fire Fighters president seeking a $6,000 contribution for help sending a mailer in support of Chávez.
"Marty has asked for another mailer, as he cannot receive and (sic) contributions because this race is a public financed race," the city's motion quotes an Arencon e-mail as saying.
The e-mail continues that to "everyone's surprise, Marty is in second place to Republican Richard Berry and only four points away from scum bag Richard Romero."
Arencon used city equipment to campaign for his candidate and to libel an opponent, the document says.
The color campaign brochure, attached as an exhibit, shows firefighters in relief against a blaze of red at a fire and has the logo of the IAFF Local 244.
The motion contends Arencon used public resources to circumvent the city charter's limitations on the amount Chavez could spend. That, it says, "is perhaps the most nefarious example of the illegal activity thus far discovered. The city unwittingly paid Arencon in 2009 to violate election laws."
The motion says Arencon's activities "cause irreparable harm" and asks that the court's previous injunction be dissolved, that Arencon be barred from engaging in political activities on city time with city equipment, and that the matter go to trial on the merits "to determine the amount of damages cause by Arencon's illegal activities."
The new motion came in a lawsuit Arencon and the Firefighters Local 244 filed last year against the city seeking an injunction permitting him to devote his 40-hour weekly schedule to union business as specified in the firefighters' contract.
Mayor Berry's administration contended that Arencon should report for regular work. The administration also took the position — and Baca agreed — that he was not entitled to an $81,000 salary because of his union leadership role. Her ruling rolled back the salary amount to roughly $49,000, the amount before a pay raise ordered by Chávez.
Both the union and the administration praised Baca's ruling at the time.
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