Joanie Griffin and Mayor Marty: Cozy Contacts and Contracts

Sometimes a picture, like the one to the left, is worth a thousand words. The photo captures a cozy moment between Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez and Joanie Griffin, a local PR-marketing-advertising maven who served as Chavez's press secretary during his 2005 reelection campaign. Griffin also ran for City Council in District 6 in 2007 against Rey Garduno for the seat vacated by Martin Heinrich. She failed miserably, despite her campaign's illegal push-polling. She was also caught in the act falsely insinuating that she had the blessing of both Gov. Bill Richardson and Heinrich.

Griffin was widely viewed as one of Marty's slate of preferred candidates that year that also included Paulette de'Pascal and Katherine Martinez, when he was reportedly aiming to wipe out opposition to him on the Council. Griffin was a registered Republican until April of that year, and had been a generous contributor of campaign cash to the GOP. Republican Greg Payne, who heads the city's Transportation Department, was allegedly assigned to get the slate elected. He also failed miserably.

Why am I writing about this now? Because Griffin is back in the news in connection with no-bid PR contracts her firm, Griffin and Associates, received from Mayor Marty's administration. Turns out her old pal, Greg Payne, was behind one of them. Today, the Albuquerque Journal reported:

The city awarded about $49,000 in contracts last year to the mayor's former campaign spokeswoman without bidding or a request for proposals.

... City rules allow the awarding of small contracts without a competitive process, and two department heads under the mayor said Griffin's role in his campaign had no bearing on her hiring.

Well, they would say that, wouldn't they, if they wanted to say in the good graces of the Mayor? Griffin also poo-pooed the favoritism charge, suggesting that the almost $50,000 she got from the contracts was just chump change:

"If there was going to be some favoritism, it would be a heck of a lot more money than that," she said Thursday. "It's not like I'm getting rich off it. I don't think that's the case at all."

Councilor Michael Cadigan wasn't so sure:

"I just find it hard to believe that out of all the marketing companies in the city, it's a coincidence that the most qualified is the person who's the mayor's long-term supporter and spokesperson," he said in an interview.

Two no-bid contracts are at issue:

Records released to the Journal show Griffin had a $29,400 contract with the Department of Senior Affairs for marketing and public relations last year. She was initially hired for about $15,000, but the contract was expanded with permission from the city's top administrator, Ed Adams.

Griffin created posters, mailings and news releases as part of a campaign promoting the opening of Los Volcanes Senior Fitness Center last summer. Subsequent contract expansions paid her to develop brochures and other marketing materials later that year.

Transit Director Greg Payne said his department hired Griffin under a $20,000 contract last summer. The department had several vacancies in its marketing division, and Griffin's work cost less than the staff member salaries, he said. It was a one-time situation, and the contract wasn't renewed, he said.

Councilor Cadigan questioned the need for the outside contracts altogether:

Cadigan said the city can do its own marketing without outside hiring.

"At some point, you start wondering why everything has to be done by an independent contractor," he said.

So was the sans-RFP awarding of the contracts to Marty's confidant illegal? Not according to current city rules. But it sure looks bad, leading to a perception of cronyism and favoritism -- something you'd think Chavez would want to avoid given his never-ending campaign to stay in power as Albuquerque's Mayor.

Then again, I doubt if he's embarrassed at all about these revelations. After all, this is a guy who brazenly transferred money meant for capital improvement funding in the new City budget to cover raises, personnel costs and other general spending. In some quarters, the move has been construed as a pay-off of sorts to firemen, police and the city's employees who are members of AFSCME, a union that for the first time in its history -- including three previous mayoral campaigns by Chavez -- has endorsed Marty for mayor. Again, is that illegal? No. But all of this is certainly raising a lot of questions about why Chavez is doing what he's doing in this election year. Marty is known for walking that fine line, especially when the seat of his power is at stake. Keep an eye out for more as we get closer to election day.