“The Mayor had a chance to restore voters’ confidence, instead he’s refusing to provide answers.” – Alex Uballez

Albuquerque, NM. In the latest development in the public records investigation launched by former US Attorney and current mayoral candidate, Alex Uballez, the Albuquerque mayor’s office has refused to release any information.  

Within days of filing the initial requests, Uballez initiated conversation with the City Clerk to facilitate or narrow any requests as needed. Instead, this week, the Clerk informed the former prosecutor that every single one of the individual requests was “overly broad and burdensome.” Without following standard procedure of referring requests to relevant departments in all but one filing, the Clerk appears to have made this decision unilaterally and stated that his office would provide future updates every thirty days. 

“I filed the public records investigation because the people of Albuquerque should have a mayor who doesn’t operate in secret,” explained Uballez. ”Tim Keller could operate with transparency, restore people’s trust, but instead his administration appears intent on hiding the truth until after election day.” 

Uballez continued, “The people of Albuquerque deserve answers to these serious questions.  How are taxpayer dollars being managed? Are public facilities safe? Most importantly, did Tim Keller create a new generation of downwinders through a rushed disposal of toxic asbestos at the Gateway Center?”

Keller’s obstruction of the public records requests – despite certain materials having already been provided to other entities – comes on the heels of the Albuquerque Journal’s report that Tim Keller suspiciously dismissed the city’s Inspector General this past March, days after she informed the public that she had completed reports on  “fraud, waste, or abuse that impact our City” and that “Some of these reports have been completed for months without citizen awareness.” 

Uballez will contest the City Clerk’s designation and request any previously released relevant records, and prioritizing records such as scheduled meetings with companies doing business with the city, use of city resources for promotion, and the manifest that documents how and where the toxic asbestos at the Gateway Center was disposed of.

In order for concerned citizens and voters in Albuquerque to be able to track the latest developments in the public records investigation and review what is being requested, Uballez added a live tracker to his campaign website and made the public records requests available at https://alexforalbuquerque.com/ipra

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