Insurance to cover MDC settlements
The recent settlements with former inmates of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center who had filed excessive force lawsuits will cost the county just a fraction of the combined $1.1 million that was paid out to the three individuals thanks to insurance.
MDC spokeswoman Candace Hopkins told the Journal late Friday that the county will pay a $100,000 deductible and that the New Mexico Association of Counties, its insurer, would cover the remaining $1,025,000.
The Journal reported last week that Susie Chavez settled her lawsuit against the county for $500,000; Joe Ray Barela settled his case for $375,000; and Justin Allen received a $250,000 settlement.
All three suits listed controversial jail supervisor Eric Allen as one of several defendants. Allen, no relation to Justin Allen, has been indicted on a felony count of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm. He has been on paid administrative leave since January 2016, and the county has initiated the process to fire him.
ETHICS HEARING: We’ve previously reported that the city’s Board of Ethics & Campaign Practices has decided to move forward with an ethics complaint filed against Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and former City Council candidate Javier Benavidez.
The complaint alleges that they failed to report attorney fees on their campaign finance reports.
An evidentiary hearing in that case has been scheduled for 9 a.m. Jan. 29 in the basement of the city/ county government building. CODE OF CONDUCT REVIEW: Speaking of ethics board hearings, Bernalillo County’s Code of Conduct Review Board is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. on Jan. 12 to once again take up a complaint filed back in September against then-mayoral candidate Wayne Johnson.
Terry Brunner, who served as USDA rural development director during the Obama administration, alleged in the complaint that Johnson violated the county’s Code of Conduct by accepting nearly $40,000 in campaign contributions from restricted donors. The contributions were made to Johnson’s mayoral campaign.
The Code of Conduct Review Board deadlocked in October on whether the complaint should move forward, and the case has been on pause since then. Board members are scheduled to hold another preliminary hearing on the complaint at the Jan. 12 meeting.