Thread by @Eddy4abq

Keller and Manny launch last minute efforts to change their records of the last 4 years

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

The photograph of Bernalillo County Sheriff Manny Gonzales applauding then-State Auditor Tim Keller’s election as Albuquerque mayor in 2017 speaks volumes.

While Manny has since “unendorsed” @MayorKeller—and @GovMLG—his bad judgement cannot be forgotten.

Keller focused heavily on “crime” in his 2017 race for mayor, calling it “the No. 1 issue facing Albuquerque right now.”

“It’s unfortunate but crime is absolutely out of control,” said Keller, a Democrat. “We need to deal with these problems head on.”

Keller ran on a platform advocating “new leadership” at APD, recruitment of more officers, and treatment centers to stem homelessness.

Four years later, Albuquerque already has more murders than ever been recorded in city history, with more than three months left in the year!

Homelessness has skyrocketed. He has dumped tens of millions into new police technologies, buying up property for the homeless, constructing the infamous “tiny village” that remains 85% empty. Homeless encampments litter the cities with tents and trash.

Our motels are constant hot spots for crime and murder. And criminals are getting let out of jail at record pace.

This isn’t complicated. "If the rule that you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule.”

It's become glaringly obviously that a state auditor is no more equipped to curb violent crime and vagrancy than the sheriff who stood by him on election night 2017.

It’s time for change.

This isn’t not rocket science. Eddy Aragon’s platform is simple. Albuquerque needs tough on crime POLICIES, not more rhetoric.

That starts by hiring more officers. You can’t do that without leadership in the mayor’s office that not only backs the police, but pays them well.

Eddy’s first priority upon taking office will be to increase APD salaries, making them the highest paid of any city in the state. Recruitment starts with incentives.

In an era of increasing police violence against officers and city and state agencies throwing the book at anyone who so much as eats a burrito wrong in their squad car, Albuquerque can’t keep trying the same old tactics to staff the police department.

I will throw every resource available at hiring AND RETAINING quality officers, including adding to the perpetually understaffed the detective units. It includes creating gang units, commercial and residential burglary units,

and helping local businesses prevent theft, loitering, and vandalism.

Curbing crime requires ACTUALLY PUNISHING CRIMINALS, and not just felonies! I will direct Albuquerque police officers to arrest all criminals, from shoplifters to trespassers to drug possession & prostitution

You can’t clean up the streets without stopping petty criminals before they become violent. This has been proven time and time again: if the shoplifters and car thieves aren't caught, they will continue to escalate the severity of their criminal enterprises.

Which is exactly how Albuquerque has arrived at nearly 100 murders in nine months.

Rather than pandering to criminals, it’s time this city started focusing on the victims of crime, including the costs to the city in vandalism and theft.

We’re now 42 days from the election, and only NOW are Keller and Manny starting to take crime seriously.

On Tuesday, they each—individually—held simultaneous news conferences to speak out about crime.

Rather than address the underlying problems and accepting responsibility for their failures, they blamed the courts, the state legislature, and inaction from city and county boards.

Rather than addressing officer staffing problems and the city’s failure to arrest criminals walking the streets, Keller actually called for more meetings. BUREAUCRACY WON’T SOLVE THIS!

He blamed “The status quo" without taking accountability for the fact that HE, AS MAYOR, has overseen that status quo for FOUR YEARS.

In a parody of himself in 2017, @MayorKeller called crime “Our first priority,” then went on to pass the buck, calling on the legislature, the county commission, and the city council to fix the problem.

Manny’s press conference was no more substantive, though it was quite a spectacle. Manny brought out the FBI, ATF, DEA, Secret Service, US Marshalls Service, Probation and Parole, as well as 80 deputies from his own Sheriff’s Office.

It was an impressive photo opp that couldn’t have been more perfectly timed to save his struggling campaign and the “tough on crime” platform he’s attempting to project in his bid to be Albuquerque’s next mayor.

“This has turned into a very infested crime area,” said Manny, also a Democrat. “We’re totally committed to fighting crime in this area."

We’re 42 days from the election and suddenly Manny is “committed to fighting crime."