City Councilor Dan Lewis, who represents District 5, has called for an investigation into a book that was released in September that covers Albuquerque’s response to the pandemic and social issues like the Black Lives Matter movement that broke out throughout the country.
The book is called “City at the Crossroads: The Pandemic, Protests and Public Service in Albuquerque” and was written by former Albuquerque Journal columnist Joline Guttierez Krueger. The city spent “approximately $116,400” on the book, according to a memo sent from Lewis to Melissa Santistevan, city of Albuquerque Inspector General.
Lewis said the city had two separate contracts for the book, one with the author and one with a “marketing, publicity and persuasive writing” specialist.
“I am requesting an investigation into whether this public purchase was consistent with the city’s procurement rules,” Lewis wrote in the memo. “In general, contracts for professional services in excess of $100,000 are required to go out for bid, and the purchasing rules appear to prohibit ‘purchase splitting’ as a way to evade this requirement.”
He also questions the purpose of the book. “Finally, are there adequate controls in place to help ensure that the public benefit is outweighed by any other personal or private benefits that might be gained from the content of this type of book?” Lewis states in the closing lines of the memo.
