Special Council Meeting Tonight

Tonight at 5pm in the Vincent E. Griego Council Chambers, the City Council will hold a special meeting to hear Election Code/Municipal Elections Bills that were defered from the last Council meeting on December 1st.

At that meeting Vice-President Sally Mayer asked to have these bill discussed and voted on together at a Special Meeting.

These bills are resolutions to some problems that occurred during the first public financed election in Albuquerque in October 2007.

The Bills are O-08-52, O-08-53, and O-08-54;

These bills if adopted:

(1) increases the number of campaign finance reports from six to nine. In
addition it requires campaign contributions of over $250 for a Council election
and over $500 for a Mayoral election to be reported the following day if
received in the week preceding an election;
(2) defines the word "expenditure" for purposes of requiring a campaign
finance report. An "expenditure" under the bill would include the creation of an
obligation to make a payment or provide a service. This is an attempt to deal
with the problem of a candidate incurring an obligation but not paying or
reporting that obligation until later, including after an election; and,
(3) allows a single form to be used both to receipt a five dollar
qualifying contribution and as a candidate petition. Legislation sponsored by
Councilors O’Malley, Benton and Garduno.

Also, to be heard is R-08-142;

This bill if adopted would call on the City Clerk to initiate the process
to amend the regulations governing the Open and Ethical Elections Ordinance. The
bill does not mandate any change but does request that certain changes be
considered. The changes for consideration are:
(1) specifying the time of day when the Qualifying Period ends; and
(2) specifying that seed money is deducted from the amount of public funds
distributed; and,
(3) allow funds to be expended on the last three days before an election if
it is determined that such amounts are to be distributed even if those funds
have not yet been distributed.

Councilor Garduño Speaks to Highland High's Seniors

It has been a GREAT WEEK! The previous post was advocating for the Santa Fe Electorate to pass Public Financed Campaigns, and they did....OVERWHELMINGLY! Congratulations to the Santa Fe community for turning the page to Clean and Honest Elections!

Continuing from that success, yesterday March 6th, Councilor Garduño was a guest speaker at Highland High School for it's graduating class, where he continued to push for a living wage and encouraged the Seniors to become engaged in their community and to use Public Financed Campaigns to run for office themselves. Below is a review from the Highland PAC from Casandra over at SWOP:

Mayor Marty Gets Rotten Tomatoes and Councilor Garduño Takes The Show at Highland High School

SHOUT OUT to Councilor Rey Garduño for visiting High School students in his district today! Councilor Garduño continues to show young people that he sees them as an important and powerful part of the Albuquerque Community.

Yesterday afternoon, Mayor Marty Chavez, City Councilor Rey Garduño, and County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver spoke to an audience of high school seniors to encourage them to become civically engaged.

Bombarded with negative stereotyped messages from the Mayor, the students were fortunate to have another elected official present to give them a different message: young people are an essential voice in local politics.

And Mayor Marty Does It Again…

Mayor Marty Chavez set the stage at Highlands Performing Arts Center with a fifteen-minute monologue themed “you can’t get something for nothing” for an audience of Highland High Schools graduating class. He went on to endorse values of bureaucracy and materialism by telling the seniors they should strive to be employers instead of employees so they can make lots of money, meanwhile he is working hard to make sure there are minimum wage jobs available for when they fail. The Mayor bragged about his youth advisory board and skate park palooza, which in my opinion cater to a specific (privileged) part of the youth community, and tokenize young people at best.

BOOOOO!!! Someone needs to tell the Mayor to stop insinuating that being young is equivalent to being reckless and lazy. ESPECIALLY in a room full of young people?!

Councilor Garduño Comes To The Rescue…

Fortunate for the dismayed audience Councilor Garduño challenged the Mayor, speaking out for a living wage and clean and honest elections that allow true community members to run for elected offices, himself as an example. The Councilor inspired the young minds with insight on his role as a public servant, “I try to always do what’s in the best interest of the community, sometimes it’s very little, and sometimes it’s very hard, but it is always rewarding."

He made it clear that everyone is qualified to represent the people, and challenged the students to become engaged in our government. Echoing the voice of a government that encourages its citizens to take charge and fight for the collective voice of the people to be heard. Councilor Rey also advocated for a youth department within the city, staffed by young people, that would give real and meaningful opportunities for Albuquerque’s younger side.

Councilor Garduño proves to be a genuine ally in the fight against the destruction of the youth community, Bravo Rey!

Written by Casandra Stewart

Also, Councilor Garduño would like to Congratulate the Highland High Boys & Girls basketball teams for qualifying for the State Tournament, and wish them luck as the Girls play @Cibola on Friday, and the Boys play Gallup @ Highland on Saturday. Bring the State Titles to the Duke City and District 6! GO HORNETS!

Our First Mailer Hits 1,000's of Households in District 6

The Rey Garduño for City Council Campaign's first Mail Piece hits Voter's doors on Saturday!

The mail piece talks to Rey's proven service to Albuquerque and let's voters know that just about every progressive public official endorses Rey for City Council. If you haven't already received it, look in your mailboxes!

In record time, District 6 city council candidate Rey Garduño has qualified for the ballot

In record time, District 6 city council candidate Rey Garduño has qualified for the ballot Rey Garduño has collected the necessary petition signatures to officially appear on the ballot for District 6 City Council in record time. Thursday, July 12th was the first day to file nominating petitions with the City Clerk. Garduño's campaign got word late Monday, July 16 that they had met and exceeded the qualifying mark of 544. In response to the news, Garduño replied, "It's a great day in the neighborhood! This is a testament to the strong grassroots community support that this campaign has brought out in our neighborhoods. The number of volunteers that went door-to-door in their own neighborhoods is what made the difference.
We're looking forward to continuing the conversation with the people of district 6," said Garduño. In the talks at people's homes, the issues are clear:

• strengthening our public transportation system that will address our traffic problems;
• sustainable community-lead development; and
• accountable social services that truly reach our elders, children and young families.

Garduño plans on walking every neighborhood between now and October 2nd, and looks forward to meeting you! You can contact Garduño at reygarduno@gmail.com or 266-4424.

Rey Garduno - To Get Public Campaign Finance Funding
by: suz
Wed May 23, 2007 at 15:39:48 PM MDT
( - promoted by LP)If Rey Garduno’s current level of organization is any sign of how he will run his campaign for Albuquerque City Council's District 6 seat, other candidates will have quite a race on their hands. Yesterday Rey turned in exactly the required 271 signatures and $5.00 donations in order to qualify for public campaign financing. Albuquerque City Clerk, Millie Santillanes, said the official announcement won't be made until May 31st, but unofficially Rey's signatures have been accepted.
Rey becomes the first person in NM, and Albuquerque specifically, to quality for public campaign financing. He attributes a portion of his early success to his use of a walk-list of voters in District #6. Rey also noted that he was able to turn in the required number of signatures in two weeks, about half the time given to candidates to collect signatures.
Rey Garduno said that he delivered the signatures in three batches, an initial set of 90, a second set of 175 and a third set of 28. Rey stayed at the City Clerk's office for the counting and validating or "vetting" of the final batch of signatures. The City Clerk's office went through all of the gathered signatures in each batch carefully and eliminated those that could not be identified as registered voters in District 6. Garduno stated that only 8% of the signatures he turned in were rejected while other candidates had rejection rates between 23% and 40%. He also indicated that if he had fallen short of the 271 signatures needed, several people were waiting in the wings to give their signatures and donations.
Rey and Debbie O'Malley, candidate for Albuquerque City Council's District 2 seat, will be guests on the New Mexico Blog Radio show at 4:30 PM Thursday, May 24th to discuss their experience with the new public campaign finance law. Listeners are invited to call in and ask questions during the half hour show. The call-in number is (718) 664-9717. The show will be hosted by Democracy for New Mexico's Barbara Wold, and Suzanne Prescott, who produced the radio show, Insight New Mexico during the NM Legislative session.