Happy Days, Albuquerque!

As the saying goes, there's wisdom in crowds. We trust then that you, Albuquerque voters, have good sense, want to be well-informed and will attend a neighborhood mayoral forum or City Council debate. Seeing and hearing these candidates in person is always revealing in ways that reading descriptions of them in a newspaper cannot be. But if such a task is too much of a strain on your busy schedule, we'll do our best to assist in the only way we know how. We'll call it like we see it, and you can take or leave our advice.

The first step on the path to enlightenment is to recognize the scent of phony political rhetoric wherever a campaign might be stewing. We hate that. The good news is that once you clear the air of this menacing smell, there is usually a bona fide candidate who emerges from the crowd. If you're lucky—as is the case in this year's four-man mayoral race—there could actually be two excellent candidates to choose from.

This is also a big year for the City Council, with five seats up for grabs. Endorsements in these races were, for the most part, easy for our staff to make. We look for candidates that understand city politics as well as the workings of city government. We endorse candidates that can speak intelligently on the issues that impact their districts and the city as a whole. We want candidates with imagination, a commitment to the city and common sense; people who see Albuquerque with both eyes: keeping one on our potential, the other on our problems. However, if a candidate was unable to give specific, informed answers to our list of questions, we wish them well, but encourage them to pursue some vocation other than local politics.

We also strongly urge you to support the minimum wage intiative on the ballot; it will help our economy, not hurt it. We also hope you will support the public campaign financing initiative on the ballot.

Our editorial panel consisted of Steven Robert Allen, Christie Chisholm, Jessica Cassyle Carr, Laura Sanchez and Tim McGivern. Our staff interviewed each mayoral candidate and 13 of the 14 City Council candidates, and we attended a few candidate forums as well. We deliberated and debated. Then we made a collective choice with the best interest of our city in mind. (District 9 candidate and incumbent City Councilor Tina Cummins was the only candidate who declined to be interviewed.)

And now the moment you've all been waiting for. …

—Alibi editorial staff