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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Lucero Gets Refund, 'Apology' for Fliers

By Jeff Proctor
Journal Staff Writer
       After 16 months of hassle, the check wasn't in the mail. Instead, it was hand-delivered to Albuquerque Public Schools board member Robert Lucero.
    Along with a letter that said postal officials "sincerely regret" the trouble Lucero went through after his 2007 campaign fliers were delivered late.

Related information Letter of apology from the U.S. Postal Service to Robert Lucero pdf download

    U.S. Postal Service Albuquerque District Manager Matthew Lopez called Lucero on Tuesday and asked him to come to his office so he could personally hand him the letter and check for $628.05 to reimburse him for postage he paid for the campaign fliers.
    The 3,732 fliers were dropped off at the Downtown Post Office five days before the Feb. 6, 2007, school board election, but were not delivered until several days after the election.
    The letter read, in part: "On behalf of the postal service, we sincerely regret the experience that you had in this situation ... I regret this experience, which does not reflect the service we normally provide. We work very hard to offer good service to our customers, and it is genuinely disappointing to hear about instances when we simply do not meet your needs."
    Until Tuesday, postal officials have denied that Lucero was entitled to either reimbursement or an apology.
    The letter, dated Tuesday and signed by Lopez, was to "re-establish a business relationship with Mr. Lucero," local postal spokeswoman Barbara Wood said Tuesday.
    It was not an admission that the postal service had made any mistakes — either in the way it handled dealings with Lucero or in the reasons the USPS Office of Inspector General gave for denying Lucero's request for reimbursement, Wood said.
    In the OIG's report, investigators gave two chief reasons for denying the request:
    "Political mailings" are those sent out by "political candidates." To qualify, the candidates must affiliate with a political party and they must not use their home address on the mailings.
    APS elections, like those for Albuquerque mayor and City Council, are nonpartisan — meaning candidates don't run as part of a political party. Lucero used his home address on the fliers, as do many candidates statewide, regardless of whether their races are partisan.
    Lucero disagrees with the reasons given in the report. So do U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., who assisted Lucero in his dealings with the postal service, and other New Mexico elected officials.
    Wood said Lopez decided to give Lucero a refund independent from the OIG and the findings in its report, which the Journal and Wilson obtained via requests under the federal Freedom of Information Act.
    "The report still stands on its own merits," she said. "What we're admitting is that we want this mailing that didn't get out to customers on time behind us."
    Despite what Wood says, Lucero said the check and the letter do amount to an admission of mistakes.
    "My reaction to the check and the letter was that they were absolutely an apology and an admission of mistakes," he said Tuesday. "Otherwise I wouldn't have gotten my postage back. Mr. Lopez apologized to me for mistakes that were made in how this was handled. He said (postal officials) learned a tremendous amount from this case about how to handle campaign literature, and he assured me that there would be better, more open communication between the post office and this community."
    A telephone message left for Lopez was not returned.
    Lucero said the real satisfaction from the whole odyssey will come when "these kinds of problems with the post office aren't happening anymore, especially on Albuquerque's West Side."
    And his plans for the $628.05?
    "My son is attending West Point, and parents' day is in October," Lucero said. "I will use the money to buy a ticket to see my son at college."