{"id":3203,"date":"2008-05-09T13:40:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-09T19:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/05\/report-examines-mayors-ties-to-disgraced-architect\/"},"modified":"2008-05-09T13:40:00","modified_gmt":"2008-05-09T19:40:00","slug":"report-examines-mayors-ties-to-disgraced-architect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/05\/report-examines-mayors-ties-to-disgraced-architect\/","title":{"rendered":"Report examines mayor&#8217;s ties to disgraced architect"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/SCSpesWXb-I\/AAAAAAAAFrk\/iRBKYB12wr0\/s1600-h\/Chavez,+Martin.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/SCSpesWXb-I\/AAAAAAAAFrk\/iRBKYB12wr0\/s200\/Chavez,+Martin.jpg\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198466214658535394\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>Several months ago, the Albuquerque-based Center for Civic Action stepped into the publishing business with <a href=\"http:\/\/clearlynewmexico.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Clearly New Mexico<\/a>, a Web site and blog that opines from a progressive view on happenings in politics and government.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Today, the group unveiled its first in-depth attempt at impactful journalism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The group hired Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eileen Welsome to look into the relationship between Albuquerque Mayor <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cabq.gov\/mayor\" target=\"_blank\">Martin Ch\u00e1vez<\/a> and Marc Schiff, a former architect in <st1:state st=\"on\"><st1:place st=\"on\">New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> who has admitted to felony crimes stemming from the Bernalillo County Metro Courthouse scandal \u2013 crimes that <a href=\"http:\/\/haussamen.blogspot.com\/2007\/07\/metro-court-architect-voluntarily-gives.html\">ended his career<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">What Welsome found was a very close relationship between the two during the expensive construction of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.balloonfiesta.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Balloon Fiesta Park and Museum<\/a>, but no smoking gun that proves wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Still, her report is quite an interesting read. Schiff was an influential and well-connected architect whose work on the <a href=\"http:\/\/haussamen.blogspot.com\/2007\/05\/in-light-of-metro-court-scandal-feds.html\">Do\u00f1a Ana County Government Center<\/a> was also questionable. Any public project he worked on has to be viewed with suspicion, though Schiff\u2019s attorney has told me Schiff was only involved in stealing money from taxpayers in the case of the courthouse in <st1:city st=\"on\"><st1:place st=\"on\">Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Journalistic endeavors undertaken by groups that also lobby have to be scrutinized, and it\u2019s fair to point out that the center is no fan of the mayor. Click <a href=\"http:\/\/clearlynewmexico.com\/page\/content\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a> to learn more about the center.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Regardless, Welsome is a respected journalist, and she appears to have put together a solid piece of reporting that\u2019s worth your time. Click <a href=\"http:\/\/clearlynewmexico.com\/page\/content\/special1\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a> to read it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Several months ago, the Albuquerque-based Center for Civic Action stepped into the publishing business with Clearly New Mexico, a Web site and blog that opines from a progressive view on happenings in politics and government. Today, the group unveiled its first in-depth attempt at impactful journalism. The group hired Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eileen Welsome to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3203\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}