Anyone who thinks city elections don't matter, or that they pale in comparison to national politics, hasn't been paying attention. Truth is, they're probably even more important than the glorified, glossy presidential elections that harangue us every four years, replete with spin-doctors, million-dollar TV ads and men behind the proverbial curtain. They also allow you to exert much more influence as a voter.

Regrettably, councilors failed to conduct their business in buccaneer lingo on International Talk Like a Pirate Day, Sept. 19. But they didn't completely forego lusty swordplay. Councilor Debbie O'Malley asked why the $500,000-plus for the Tricentennial Towers the city is building at the I-40 and Rio Grande intersection didn't come before the Council. John Castillo of the Municipal Development Dept. said the money came from a variety of sources, including G.O. bonds, rather than the 1 percent for the arts funding overseen by the Council.

Ten days before the polls close on the City of Albuquerque's 2005 election season, an eerie quiet cloaks the campaign. By the time you read this piece, it is possible all hell will have broken loose, but I've given up waiting around for that to happen. I guess our mayoral challengers this year are just too nice to turn up the heat under this pot.

Dateline: Japan—A 32-year-old Japanese woman who called police to report an unreliable hit man was arrested last Wednesday for incitement to murder. The Daily Yomiuri newspaper reported on Friday that the unnamed woman contacted a private detective through a website last November and paid him $9,000 in cash to murder her lover's wife. The 40-year-old detective accepted the money and suggested he would carry out the job by chasing the victim on a motorcycle and spraying her with a biological agent in a tunnel. Police also arrested the private detective and found the alleged target unharmed, the newspaper said.

“This could be the same old wolf in a new, improved merino wool coat,” former Albuquerque City Councilor Hess Yntema told me. He was talking about a noteworthy feature of Mayor Martin Chavez' re-election campaign. Of the more than $860,000 in cash raised by Chavez, $105,000 has been paid to his former chief of staff, Teri Baird, and her brand new consulting company.

Listening to the KUNM call in show last Thursday morning while getting ready for work, I perfected the art of brushing my teeth with various degrees of intensity, at times stopping completely in order to hear what was being said. The living wage, pros and cons, yadda yadda, we've heard all the arguments ... or so I thought.

The door's open but the ride it ain't free

And I know you're lonely

For words I ain't spoken

But tonight we’ll be free

All the promises'll be broken

–“Thunder Road” by Bruce Springsteen

I have always yearned to be a judge, a news anchor or a high school girls' volleyball coach. Why? Because these are careers that do not require pants. Judges have robes, anchors have desks and the coaches get probation. Thankfully, pants are essential to American politics. And it isn't just because without them the only thing between you and molten retinas is the lectern on C-SPAN.

The slacks don't make the slacker—the pockets do. No pants, no pockets. No pockets, no ... Hey! Get your hand out of there.

You have likely made up your mind on the Living Wage increase, and I refuse to question your good intentions. However, if you have formed your ideas about Living Wage from the Joseph Crumb article in last week's Alibi, please consider that your understanding of the matter is very one-sided.