The mayoral race came to an end earlier than Albuquerque expected.
The Oct. 6 Albuquerque Mayoral Election will not continue with a runoff election in November.
According to the City Clerk’s Web site, Richard “R.J.” Berry won the election with 43.22 percent of the vote over Incumbent Mayor Martin Chavez and candidate Richard Romero. Berry had 32.273 total votes. Chavez ended the election with roughly 35 percent of the vote, and Romero had about 21 percent of the votes counted. The election outcome was declared with nearly 90 percent of Albuquerque precincts reporting. Berry needed more than 40 percent of the vote to win the mayoral election.
All the city bond measures on the ballot passed, including bonds for a transportation tax, public safety, energy and water, and public transportation.
Of about 327,000 registered voters in Albuquerque, only about 80,000 votes were cast, according to the City Clerk’s Web site.
The Clerk’s office expected turnout to be between 30 and 40 percent, but instead it was less than 25 percent.
UNM business professor Howard Kraye said he encouraged his students to vote, even if they were apathetic about the race.
“I pushed all my students to go vote. …They didn’t see the connection between their voting and what was happening,” he said. “I said you have to do this because it’s a sacred right. So they all went out and voted, so that’s the good news.”
Mayor-elect Berry attended the University of New Mexico where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in finance.
He and his wife own and operate a construction business in Albuquerque.
Berry’s campaign focused on government transparency, education and public safety. At the debate held Sept. 19, Berry said public safety was an issue that came up as he campaigned door-to-door.
“There is a common thread with the people I’ve had discussions with. People want to feel safe in their homes,” he said at the debate. “And they don’t. They want a bright future for their children. They want a good job that will enable them to support their family. Last year 13,000 people lost their jobs in Albuquerque, and we’ve got to help them out.”
Sean DeBuck, president of UNM-PIRG, said Berry should take a strong interest in public school education and education at UNM.
“I definitely think that he should be involved, and I hope that he realizes how important education is in New Mexico,” he said.
DeBuck said Berry should also focus on supporting a green economy and improving public education.
“I didn’t feel that he was strong in issues such as creating green job initiatives and certain programs that would have my support as a citizen of Albuquerque,” he said. “I do wish him the best of luck and hope that he realizes the importance of those things such as making sure we become a sustainable city and continuing what support we have for our public schools.”
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On his Web site, Berry said government accountability is becoming increasingly important for communities and their constituents.
“The reason for open government is simple: Government should not be afraid to shed light on how they spend taxpayer dollars,” Berry said. “Taxpayers deserve to know how government allocates their money and they deserve to know the results achieved through government spending. Implementation of a system to make government more transparent will be a priority of my administration.”
Berry’s administration will attempt to create a Web site accessible to citizens and advocate groups to watch government in action and monitor how tax dollars are spent.
Kraye said Berry’s fiscal policies will affect UNM.
“It indirectly affects it because if he runs the city well, the city will make more money. More money gets paid to the State Legislature. The State Legislature will give the University more money,” he said. “So, it’s an indirect effect. I think on an economic level, there’s not a lot he can do but possibly on a moral suasion level. Moral suasion means (through) his personality and how he does things, he can create more confidence. If he creates more confidence then people who feel more confident will be more willing to spend their money.”
Kraye said Berry won because of a fiscally conscious wave in public perspective.
“I think this election reaffirms the fact that people are concerned about money and, if economic times were good, Chavez would have been reelected,” he said. “It’s more of a referendum — not on what Martin Chavez did, because he wasn’t a bad mayor — but more of a referendum on people looking for fiscally conservative politicians. One of the things that Berry hit on was to be more fiscally conservative.”
Kraye said the constituency is looking for smart spending, and Chavez’s spending policies may have begun to overstep the current economic conditions.
“Chavez is a career politician. We can’t afford career politicians,” he said.
