Assistant to mayor not new

IT SEEMS LIKE some Burqueños, including the Journal Editorial Board, are missing the point in this whole flap about the new “Assistant Mayor” Gary Lee. Everyone seems to think (Mayor Tim) Keller has dreamed up some kooky new high-paid position, and this is just not true.

Most importantly, the title is misleading: Lee is just an assistant to the mayor. The mayor’s old assistant left for another position, and he’s replacing her. This is not a new position. It’s just a new title for a position that’s always been there.

Lee will make about 17 percent more than the mayor’s old assistant did, but he has stronger credentials. His salary is exactly where the city’s salary guidelines say it should be given his educational background and work experience. He is not a “mini-mayor.” He will not do any mayoral work. He’s a new executive assistant.

The likelihood is that this title is all the Keller administration could offer Lee in the way of incentive to take a job that he’s probably too good for. Yes, $75K may seem like a lot in Albuquerque, but an attorney with this guy’s qualifications and experience would be making far more anywhere else in the world. In fact, he would be making at least twice as much at any law firm in Albuquerque.

Changing the title of an assistant position in this way may have been a risky move, because it’s exactly the sort of thing Keller’s critics will jump all over and twist around. But, heck, if a puffed-up title will get us a super-qualified lawyer with federal connections to be our mayor’s assistant, why not give it to him?

Albuquerque, sometimes I think you don’t believe you deserve nice things. RANDI OWLGLASS Albuquerque