Tammy Fiebelkorn has decided that a write-in candidate who runs on issues, seeks dialogue with every element of the community, and hustles to fund a campaign donor-by-donor “is NOT someone we want on Albuquerque City Council.”
What she is really saying is I am entitled to my Council seat and the only democratic process acceptable is unquestioning fealty to my obvious virtue. Any challenger is the pawn of greedy corporate interests and should be ignored. Said another way, “We don’t need no damn democracy!”.
Sorry Tammy; like the individuals and organizations with which you assiduously avoid engagement, or the 3,000 to 5,000 unhoused people living on our streets you choose to just leave there, I am not going to disappear. There is too much real priority work needed urgently in Albuquerque to surrender to your commitment to the status quo.
Tammy has not responded to a single specific public criticism of her positions and performance in office (street homelessness, commercial corridor decay, residential neighborhood re-zoning, unquestioning support for the Gateway System, indifference to the State Fairgrounds redevelopment project and to small business). Instead, in an email to the District, she chooses to paint me and my campaign as a “dirty money” operation backed by $250,000 in PAC funding for “attack ads”. Maxing out volume on performative virtue signaling, Tammy levels a barrage of prevarications to try and undermine a challenge to the incumbency to which she feels entitled.
So,…let me set the record straight. Tammy’s campaign sits atop $57,251 of taxpayer-funded public financing, earned by collecting $2,500 in 500+ donations before July 7. My campaign has received, as of October 25th, $15,186 from individual contributions of which my own personal contribution is by far the largest. The maximum an individual or organization can contribute to my campaign, other than me as candidate, is $2,000.00. The maximum an individual or organization can contribute to my campaign, other than me as candidate, is $2,000.00. The campaign finances of every election candidate are available to the public at https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/#/index.
After meeting with and interviewing me, to know my positions on issues of concern to their members, two representative organizations have contributed the $2000 maximum allowed, the Apartment Association of New Mexico (AANM), and the Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors (GAAR). Both of these groups play a vital role in our community and are doing actual work every day to deliver safe, quality, and affordable housing to every resident of Albuquerque. The evidence of their effectiveness can be seen in the quality of most of our residential neighborhoods which stand in stark contrast to the commercial and human calamity along our corridors, ineffectively addressed by city government during the past 4 years. It is worth reading the statement published Friday on the GAAR website in response to Tammy’s ridiculous calumny.
https://www.gaar.com/blog/article/setting-the-record-straight-realtors-are-community-partners-not-dirty-money
“Attack ads” are campaign messages designed to generate negative emotion toward an opposing candidate by falsely insinuating they stand for abhorrent policy positions and values. The only attack ad this D7 Council race has seen is Tammy’s message Friday. Utter nonsense, simplistic, and typical tactic of the divisive politics that is paralyzing progress in our City and our nation. I’ve seen no evidence of PAC funded “attack ads” though Tammy appears to consider any suggested alternative to her reign, like “Write In Jaemes Shanley“, to be an attack ad. Earning the support of GAAR and AANM required only one major act on my part, to listen and engage in dialogue. I do that wherever I can, on any subject of importance or relevance to Albuquerque. That is where I gain real insight into important issues and priorities and, above all, am made aware of the huge number and high quality of fellow citizens who both care and act daily to make Albuquerque a better city. This process, I have also learned, is alien to Tammy Fiebelkorn, whose reputation for unwillingness to engage in dialogue, unless one is part of her coterie of pet project collaborators, is widespread in District 7 and the community at large.
Clearly well financed with our money, incumbent, on the ballot, and sitting snugly in the bubble of her performative progressivism that feels no obligation to make real progress, Tammy does not consider organizations or individuals that challenge her to be other than “conservative and MAGA-leaning”. In spite of her incuriosity, Tammy would do well to read my article “The Audacity of Contempt”, published on Pete Dinelli’s blog site April 7th.
https://www.petedinelli.com/2025/04/07/jaemes-shanley-guest-opinion-column-the-audacity-of-contempt/.
If Albuquerque were a better and healthier city today than it was four years ago, I would not be running for City Council. On November 4th, the voting citizens of Albuquerque will rightfully determine if they prefer the status quo or a pivot toward real progress. The only VOTER ALERT that should be going out to them is please get to the polls and make your voice heard.
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