3 finalists in running for city watchdog job

Council will make decision next month

A retired Air Force colonel heads the list of three finalists to serve as City Hall’s inspector general — a position that hasn’t been filled on a permanent basis in three years.

Joseph Grasso, who worked as an inspector general in the Air Force, is the highestranked candidate among the finalists to serve as the city government’s top internal watchdog, according to the city’s Accountability in Government Oversight Committee, which interviewed candidates.

The second-ranked finalist is Robin Hammer, the former independent review officer who investigated complaints against Albuquerque police officers for three years.

Rounding out the list is Vickie Duran, a former police officer who worked this year as interim general manager at The Downs Racetrack and Casino in Albuquerque.

The City Council will pick one of the finalists next month.

“I’m sure we’ll have some questions for all three of them,” Council President Dan Lewis said Monday.

The city hasn’t had a permanent inspector general since Neftali Carrasquillo Jr. resigned in late 2012. Peter Pacheco later took over as acting inspector general.

Under city ordinance, the IG is charged with independently investigating fraud, waste and abuse at City Hall. The office is supposed to be impartial — part of neither the executive nor the legislative branch of city government.

The inspector general does, however, report to the Accountability in Government Oversight Committee, a five-member group appointed by the mayor and City Council.

Here’s a closer look at the candidates:

Grasso is now chairman of Albuquerque’s airport advisory board. He is a former vice president of Leidos Inc., where he managed a division of 140 scientists, engineers and technicians who worked on “directed energy, optics and space technology,” according to his résumé.

From 2001-04, he served as inspector general for the 37th Training Wing at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, where he investigated misconduct, sexual abuse, contract fraud and other matters.

Hammer, a former prosecutor, is now assistant city attorney in Rio Rancho. Before that, she was in charge of investigating complaints against Albuquerque police officers as part of the city’s civilian oversight system.

Hammer faced criticism last year from the U.S. Department of Justice, which found APD had a pattern of violating people’s rights through the use of force.

The DOJ said Hammer and her predecessor had “simply been too forgiving of the department’s use of deadly force.”

Hammer denied that characterization. She said she based her decisions only on the facts of each case, the law and APD’s standard operating procedures.

Duran has worked as interim general manager, support services director and security director at the Downs in Albuquerque. Before that, she worked for seven years as director of the enforcement division for the state Gaming Control Board.

Duran was an APD officer from 1985-99.