{"id":4607,"date":"2009-05-29T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-29T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/05\/afscme-endorses-chavez-in-abq-mayoral-race\/"},"modified":"2009-05-29T00:01:00","modified_gmt":"2009-05-29T06:01:00","slug":"afscme-endorses-chavez-in-abq-mayoral-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/05\/afscme-endorses-chavez-in-abq-mayoral-race\/","title":{"rendered":"AFSCME endorses Ch\u00e1vez in ABQ mayoral race"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The political action committee for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees<\/a>, which represents some 3,500 city workers in Albuquerque, has endorsed Mayor Martin Ch\u00e1vez<\/a> in his bid for re-election.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first time AFSCME has endorsed Ch\u00e1vez in a mayoral race, though the union did endorse the Democrat in his unsuccessful bid for governor in 1998 over Republican Gary Johnson.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The union and mayor have often been at odds in the past. Last year, Andrew Padilla, president of AFSCME Council 18<\/a>, hammered Ch\u00e1vez for threatening to veto a binding arbitration bill that had been approved by the city council. A year earlier, when he was running for U.S. Senate, Ch\u00e1vez voiced support for such a proposal.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

After Padilla made a public stink by calling the veto threat a \u201cpunch in the gut to labor,\u201d<\/a> the mayor proceeded to veto the bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But that was months ago, and incumbents usually win elections. The AFSCME endorsement will be seen by many as a practical move that\u2019s indicative of how its members think the election is going to turn out.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Padilla had nothing but praise for the mayor Thursday night in an interview. In addition to confirming that the AFSCME PAC, which he chairs, endorsed Ch\u00e1vez on Wednesday, Padilla said the mayor and council share credit for the fact that the city hasn\u2019t had to lay off employees during the current recession.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And Padilla had this to say:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThe mayor is a very viable candidate, and it\u2019s a new day. We\u2019re hoping to work with the administration and do some good things for the city of Albuquerque and the public, and also continue our work with the city council,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working with the city council, and if we can work with the mayor\u2019s office, then it\u2019s going to benefit the public and the employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez is being challenged by Richard \u201cR.J.\u201d Berry<\/a>, a two-term Republican state representative, and Richard Romero<\/a>, the former Democratic leader of the New Mexico Senate. The election is October 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The political action committee for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents some 3,500 city workers in Albuquerque, has endorsed Mayor Martin Ch\u00e1vez in his bid for re-election. It\u2019s the first time AFSCME has endorsed Ch\u00e1vez in a mayoral race, though the union did endorse the Democrat in his unsuccessful bid […]<\/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-4607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4607","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=4607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4607\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}