The Arts of Politics: Joe Mike Says “No!”
Apparently Mayor Darren Cordova, as President of DMC Broadcasting, proud sponsor of the annual Mother’s Day event, is going to relocate the event to another community—due to politics. See: http://www.taos-friction.com/?p=7090 . When politicians accuse each other of politics, I always believe that the problem is, indeed, politics.
(The feds, county and the state cooperate and recognize mothers at the Amalia, Questa, Chamisal, and Taos Anciano centers, where prices are reduced for meals, meals on wheels are delivered to the home bound, and free exercise classes are offered to mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers in Taos County– five days a week, 52 weeks a year—not just one day a year.)
We all know that the public good frequently suffers due to internecine battles among politicos and appointed officials, whose self-interest wrongly or rightly understood can be secondary to the competition for power and recognition. Frequently, a lack of cooperation, created by turf wars stems from self-aggrandizement: greed and the lust for power. Big egos require a daily feed and can turn into bullies. Bullies overestimate their ability to blackmail, bribe and/or do both in pursuit of “their way or the highway.”
No matter how wonderful the motive, if the promoter is a cabron or pinche pendejo or vendido, you better believe his past will come back to haunt him or her. The context of history and culture creates a sense of irony and laughter (or tears) while revealing much about the human condition: despite the ensuing chaos. Here, as a case in point, we can look at the current controversy between town and county, illustrated by the feud between Mayor Cordova and County Commissioner Joe Mike Duran.
Mayor Cordova, who has learned much from CEO Luis Reyes at KCEC, has engaged in a second-rate public relations campaign to bully the county into accepting a second-rate and expensive E911—public dispatch operation at the KCEC Command Center. At the same time, the town, under Cordova’s direction, has tried to annex more of the county’s tax base. Then the Mayor, in the corporate personhood of DMC Broadcasting, comes hat in hand to ask the county for dough to support the Mother’s Day project.
For the last year, the town has attacked the county in the news media and on the Mayor’s radio station, saying the county is unreliable or has “no standing” or implying, most recently, that Commissioner Joe Mike Duran is not an authentic member of La Raza or la gente. Sure, Joe Mike can be a bit crude in public and lacks a smooth public demeanor. But his constituents re-elect him because he brings home the gravel and fixes their roads. In fact, he’s the epitome of northern New Mexico’s plebe.
Life can be simple and concrete in the villages: fix the roads, fix the culverts, fix my driveway. As everyone knows, Joe Mike, if necessary, can get up in a dump truck or on a dozer and do the work himself. Whether we agree with Joe Mike’s style or not, he represents a long tradition in county governing.
The Mayor and his cohort, Luis, are smooth modern-day operators when it comes to carrot and stick politics and the arts of (poor) public relations. Commissioner Barrone and Commissioner Blankenhorn try to keep the peace, despite the lies and false claims of the negotiators sitting on the other side of the table. But Joe Mike, a Tasoeno born and bred, knows a bully and a bull-shitter when he sees one. He calls a spade a spade or a shovel a shovel. He’s not as loveable as former Commissioner Virgil Martinez but he’s not afraid to speak up in the public interest.
(Luis and the Coop stopped Joe Mike from running for the board of trustees, due to a technicality but they couldn’t stop him from running for county commissioner. Guess what, Luis: he’s back.)
As for the Command Center, we recommend that Commissioners Barrone and Blankenhorn get on board with Joe Mike, Larry, and Gabe. The Town and KCEC are engaged in political game that trades safety for a political quid pro quo. According to the record and the file, not to mention ongoing leaks, the KCEC office building, presented as a Command Center, is costing ratepayers and taxpayers an arm and leg. Why does anyone expect the community to pay twice for a white elephant and throw good money after bad?
The Town, according to my mole, aims to purchase second-rate equipment with a short-term life span for its PSAP program, while forcing the county and other entities into a long-term lease for a poorly designed but expensive building. The county could remodel its own building, install state—of—the—art equipment, reduce the time it takes law enforcement to make traffic stops, improve public safety for fire fighters and others, train employees, and form a JPA composed of county-wide professionals. They can amortize the investment over ten years and come out way ahead. It’s a no-brainer.
Commissioner Barrone and Commissioner Blankenhorn worry, rightfully, about the demands on the county pocketbook by building a new county command center. But the county didn’t create the E911-Dispatch controversy: the Town and KCEC created the crisis. You can’t trust guys who kick you in public and lie to you in private.