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Sounds like vintage Payne to me. He didn't bother to refute any of the Captain Greg references, so it's a little hard to see his request for a forward as having any meaning at all.
Greg, really, you're going to have to do better than that.
he made a feeble attempt at running the show, but the b*tch richardson was too demanding and so he passively faded away...then he got fired.
Greg, you are the man! Dont let these hangers on put you down. Paulette would be lucky to have you on her team...even though she doesnt. What a 7-layer loser this blog is...
Gee mr. anonymous Mario just let Ms. Richardson and Mr.Payne speak for them selves in their own words, pretty scary huh?
I didn't know anything about this until I heard part of a broadcast of the program The Line on KNME TV -- Channel 5 -- a couple of weeks ago. I'd been halfway listening to it in the background when I heard Greg Payne's name mentioned. A couple of people were laughing it up after someone had mentioned a "smoking gun" (apparently referring to the e-mail of that neighborhood association president) and then one of the panelists used a metaphor to the effect of: the bullets on the table.
That caught my interest because Mr. Payne and I had a little run-in in July of 2003 when he was a City Councilman (the details of which I will not go into here) and at that time I became aware of much of his controversial history & reputation and in the process started to become aware of local politics here in the Duke City, about which I'd had no knowledge or concern before. All I knew about Greg Payne to begin with was that he, as Vice President of the Albuquerque City Council, seemed to have an extraordinary interest in the City's Transit Department (primarily because I had read a lengthy February 18, 2003 article about his criticisms of Transit that had appeared on the cover page of the Metro section in that edition of the Albuquerque Journal. But when I heard this snickering on the KNME TV local politics show I'd had no idea what these political pundits on the local scene were talking about because I hadn't really been paying any attention. I decided to to a little research on the 'net.
One of the first things I found was Mario's blog here. Of course, I had begun my search seeking something pertinent in the Albuquerque Journal or the Tribune (likely to be considered a couple of the most 'credible' sources in this town). I couldn't really find anything and decided to check out one or two of the blog listings that I'd found on Google.
Okay, big deal, the Transit Department Director had been accused of being politically active while "on the clock" as a City employee in the campaign of a woman whom I'd never heard of before who is reportedly running against Brad Winter for City Council. That's a pretty flimsy allegation on the surface, inasmuch as a City employee is certainly entitled to support whatever and whoever he or she should choose to simply by virtue of being a citizen. Oh... and, isn't Transit Director Payne salaried? Who's to say what was being done when something was done, if anything was done at all, involving Paulette de'Pascal character's City Council bid? Certainly not newsworthy....
I did discover an Albuquerque Journal article, "Reward for Tag Tips Offered, written by Dan McKay and published on Friday, July 20... the opener of McKay's piece reads, "Albuquerque's transit director, Greg Payne, is offering $500 out of his own pocket to discover who tagged one-third of the "Rapid Ride" bus fleet with graffiti this week. Someone had told me that Greg Payne had been on KOB radio that Wednesday and repor
Good grief
3/4 of my comments ended up not being displayed here. In fact, I only got about halfway through the introduction of my rant. Too bad... I wrote some really thought provoking stuff about Transit Director Payne and Mayor Chavez.
Is there a word limit on comments here or something? Maybe there were some sort of technical difficulties. My fault... I should have copied it before submitting it. Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise. Some things just weren't meant to be.
It's late. I will now just mention the article Jim Ludwick wrote about Paulette de'Pascal that appeared in the July 11 edition of the Albuquerque Journal bearing the headline, "Bankrupt Candidate Gets Public Funds: Voters Approved New City System."
I wonder if people think of that Sandra Richardson character, the neighborhood association president who wrote the e-mail rant to poor Paulette, as supercilious crone who may have stirred just a little too much meth into her coffee that morning.
Some people have made allegations that Mayor Marty Chavez is trying to tamper with the City Council through Transit Department Director Greg Payne. I seem to recall a rather recent news report about Marty wanting to change the law so City Councilors wouldn't be allowed to confer with one another prior to Council votes. Ha
Well, that's neither here nor there. With the thirty-two thousand dollars in public funds that this Paulette de'Pascal puppet received for her City Council bid I'm wondering who her campaign manager is and what his or her checkbook might look like.
Some have made comments accusing Greg of possibly doing Marty's bidding. Uh... Marty is Greg's boss. I believe the Transit Department is perhaps now in better shape than it ever has been, and the same could be argued about the city as a whole. If Marty wants to be Governor and Greg wants to be Mayor while these guys are beefing up their public images in the interest of their future political aspirations as the public benefits from their efforts, I'm not complaining too much.
Payne isn't exactly your typical transit kind of guy, you know. In fact, the City's own website lists why Chavez chose Payne to be the Director of ABQ Ride.
http://www.cabq.gov/transit/greg.../
gregpayne.html
Greg Payne, ABQ RIDE Director
In December 2005, Mayor Martin Chavez appointed Greg Payne as the Director of ABQ RIDE, the City of Albuquerque’s Transit Department.
Greg is an honorably discharged U.S. Navy Veteran. He attended Portland State University and the University of New Mexico.
Greg vacated his seat in the New Mexico House of Representatives to accept the Transit position. Prior to that, he served on the Albuquerque City Council for four years and represented the Foothills and far Northeast Heights area. He was City Council Vice President in 2003. Additionally, Greg has worked in the commercial insurance industry and has served as manager or consultant for more than 50 different state and local election campaigns. He has written a current affairs column for the Weekly Alibi and fills in as a frequent guest host on 770 KKOB AM.
Greg is a third generation resident of Albuquerque and attended Comanche Elementary, Madison Middle School and Sandia High School. He has two children: Gregory 4 and Madison 2.
He aims for innovation, results and excellent customer service at ABQ RIDE.
A lot of money goes through the City's Transit Department... more than six million dollars in basic federal funding annually, in addition to other revenues. The City's Parking Division is under the auspices of the Transit Dept. if I'm not mistaken. I would guess that supercilious Sandra Richardson nutcase doesn't take the bus....
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