Saturday, August 15, 2009

Let Truth Shine
on Postcard Controversy

By Dan Lewis
City Council Candidate

Regarding the op-ed column, "Will Complaint Go Unpunished?" by Joe Valles.

I'm sure Mr. Valles would want the readers to know, in full disclosure, that he does not live in District 5, and that Mr. Cadigan is his personal attorney in a recent New Mexico Supreme Court case. As a result, they have a very close and confidential relationship ... and certainly have a strong interest in the success of each other's businesses and careers.

The ethics complaint against Mr. Cadigan that Joe Valles referred to was dismissed by a three-person subcommittee of the ethics board — not the full board. Their decision was based on a written response to the complaint by Mr. Cadigan that we believe contained several instances of incorrect information. Because of the rules of the ethics complaint process, we were not able to challenge this information prior to the subcommittee's decision, and our only recourse would have been to appeal the subcommittee's decision. Mr. Toulouse and I carefully considered filing an appeal which would have immediately given the issue a hearing before the full ethics board where the unfounded information would have been revealed and we believe the complaint sustained.

Instead, we decided not to appeal since the filing of the ethics complaint accomplished its goal — to stop Mr. Cadigan from mailing a taxpayer-financed campaign postcard to his list of registered voters using taxpayer money. The complaint and Cadigan's resulting decision not to use taxpayer dollars to pay for a thinly veiled campaign mailing resulted in the intended victory for the taxpayers.

Sadly, on a much larger matter, taxpayers lost big — to the tune of about a half million dollars in damages and legal fees (including the city's cost of having to hire a separate lawyer for eight years just to defend Cadigan personally) — in a recent judgment by District Court Judge Ted Baca against the city for Mr. Cadigan's wrongful conduct and abuse of power in a private property matter that almost destroyed an innocent West Side couple. If only the people of District 5 could have caught that one in time.

Dan Lewis is a teacher, small businessman, local West Side pastor, and candidate for the West Side District 5 city council seat.