Timothy M. Keller (born November 22, 1977), is an American businessman and politician who is 30th and current mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as New Mexico State Auditor before resigning to become mayor on December 1, 2017. He is also a former member of the New Mexico Senate, representing Senate District 17. The district is located in southeast Albuquerque.
Video Tim Keller (politician)
Early life and career
Keller was born and raised in Albuquerque, with his two siblings. His father was a founder of Union Savings Bank and his mother was a public school teacher and homemaker. He was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended Catholic schools from kindergarten until his graduation from the University of Notre Dame. Growing up Keller struggled with dyslexia, though he did not discover he suffered from the learning disability until he was in graduate school. Despite this struggle, he went on to co-found a social enterprise, Digital Divide Data (DDD), which employs and trains disadvantaged persons in Cambodia. DDD is now also present in Laos and Kenya, and has more than 1000 employees. The organization was ranked by Fast Company magazine as a global Top Innovator and by The Global Journal as one of the Top 100 NGOs worldwide. Prior to that, Keller worked as an investment banker with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette where he focused on energy technology corporate finance.
After completing his M.B.A. at the Harvard Business School, he returned to New Mexico. Keller later worked in the community, volunteering for groups that foster economic opportunities in Albuquerque's Southeast Heights. Keller has served on the boards of New Mexico Private Equity Funds, the Open Hands Foundation, the Asian American Association, and Albuquerque Southeast Team for Entrepreneur Development.
Maps Tim Keller (politician)
New Mexico Senate
Keller was elected in 2008 to represent the people of New Mexico Senate District 17, otherwise known as the International District. In the 49th Legislative Session, Keller introduced 30 pieces of legislation passing 8; 4 of which were signed into law by Governor Bill Richardson.
In the 2011-12 50th Legislative Session, Keller introduced 55 pieces of legislation, passed 14 pieces of legislation, and 5 were signed into law by Governor Susana Martinez including reforming the In-State Business Preference that gives local businesses bidding preference on state government procurement. In December 2012, Keller was elected to the New Mexico State Senate leadership as Majority Whip and served two years until resigning after his election to State Auditor.
Auditor's election
Keller announced in spring 2013 that he would seek the office of State Auditor. He ran on a platform of transparency and good government policies that would stop fraud, waste, and abuse before it occurs. During the election, Keller released a TV commercial that received national attention for being one of the most innovative and entertaining political ads of this cycle. On November 4, 2014 Keller was elected State Auditor, defeating Robert Aragon, 54%-46%.
New Mexico State Auditor
As State Auditor, Keller focuses on helping government work better by providing transparency and accountability for government spending; informing policy choices; and tackling fraud, waste and abuse.
Special Investigations
As State Auditor, Keller has worked to safeguard New Mexican's tax dollars and shine a light on cases of fraud, waste and abuse across the state. These Special Investigations include:
Statewide Law Enforcement - a special audit of New Mexico's backlog of untested Sexual Assault Evidence Kits, commonly known as "rape kits," Superintendent of Insurance - $200 million uncollected premiums tax, Charter schools/APS/PED - lack of oversight, doctored receipts, City of Santa Fe - misappropriation of a $40-million Park Bond, Public Education Department - special education underfunded by millions,City of Albuquerque/Taser - procurement violations, "greased" contracts to TASER, Developmental Disabilities Planning Council - embezzlement of funds meant for people with disabilities, Alamogordo - water billing fraud, Cibola County Commission - government credit cards used for personal purchases including a semi-automatic weapon, baseball tickets, Hatch - city land purchase in Las Cruces, McKinley County sheriff - misuse of DWI Funds, Taxation and Revenue Department - preferential tax treatment, abuse of power.
GAO-
As State Auditor, Keller created the first Government Accountability Office in New Mexico. The GAO is focused on bringing transparency and accountability to the agencies that receive and spend public money. The GAO aims to make accessible and understandable to the public the important information buried in the 900+ audits and financial reports that New Mexico state and local agencies produce each year.
The GAO has compiled reports including: The Findings Report: A Summary of New Mexico's Governmental Financial Audits, Money on the Sidelines: Report on Unspent Fund Balances, Risk Advisory: School Personnel Act Compliance
Keller conducted a study on "trickle out economics", a tally of how much of New Mexico's government spending is flowing to out-of-state companies. Local business is losing out on more than $500 million due to government agencies contracting with out-of-state companies. The largest percentage of money leaves the state from the IT, health and medical and food services industries. On the other hand, architecture and engineering sectors in state received 91% of the tax dollars spent last year.
After discovering that the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance (OSI) had failed to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in premium taxes from insurance companies, Keller initiated a special audit to get to the bottom of how much is owed and how to ensure it is collected.
Following an over-year-late release, New Mexico's FY 13 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), troublingly, reported millions of unaccounted for funds. Auditor Keller immediately launched an audit of the CAFR to ensure all New Mexican's tax dollars are utilized to their fullest extent.
Keller announced the Money on the Sidelines report which found $4.5 billion in unused state funds. This report, the first of its kind from the Auditor's office, is meant as a tool to help the Governor's office and the legislature to identify these funds and how to best appropriate them.
Albuquerque mayoral campaign
In January 2017 Keller announced his intention to run in that year's Albuquerque mayoral election to fight for a safe, inclusive and innovative city. He stated that he would pursue public financing for his campaign by initially raising thousands of five-dollar donations, and pledged to expand the city's Police Department from around 850 officers to 1,200 if elected. Of the final eight candidates to make the Mayoral ballot, Keller was the only one to receive public financing, collecting nearly 6,000 five-dollar donations from the community, an impressive organizing feat. Keller would receive roughly $380,000 from the city to run his campaign, while his opponents would have no cap to the amount of money they could raise.
In spite of his monetary disadvantage, Keller still maintained his position as the clear front-runner in the race.
Throughout the course of the Election, Keller took part in multitudes of debates and forums, ranging from the standard televised debates for local channels, KRQE and KOB, as well as community based such as MIABQ's Forum for Young People, Young Professionals and Young Families, Dukes Up #RealTalk Forum and the Weekly Alibi's candidate Q&A.
On October 3rd, Keller topped the ballot with 39 percent of the vote, 16 percentage points ahead of the second-placed candidate, Republican Dan Lewis, whom Keller would face in a runoff election in November.
Run-off Election: Seen as the front-runner, Keller continued to garner broad support from across the City, including endorsements from the Fraternal Order of Police, recognition for his bipartisan work as Auditor and Senator, and his pragmatic vision for the City's future.
In the Albuquerque mayoral runoff election in November 14, 2017, Keller defeated Lewis with 62% of the vote. Keller resigned from his position as State Auditor on November 30, 2017.
Mayor of Albuquerque
Transition
After his election, Mayor Keller wasted no time getting to work outlining the trajectory of his administration. With just an 8-day transition, the Keller Administration hit the ground running quicklyand named his Executive Team, including the first female Chief Administrative Officer, Sarita Nair.
Public Safety: To restore the faith of both the officers and the community in the Department, a day-one priority for Mayor Keller was to appoint new leadership at the Albuquerque Police Department. On November 28, 2017, Mayor Keller announced he would be naming Michael Geier as interim Chief-of-Police. In addition, Harold Medina, Rogelio "Roger" Banez, and Eric Garcia were named deputy chiefs.
Inauguration
On December 1st, 2017 Tim Keller was sworn in as the 10th Mayor of Albuquerque.
First months in office
Upon assuming office, Mayor Keller worked on making good on his campaign promises, among them:
Joining the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda Convening the first of its kind Transition event, turning government 'inside out' to get the input of hundreds of community members
Stopping the unpopular Edith Transfer Station
Sharing with the public and looking to realistically resolve issues with the Albuquerque Rapid Transit (A.R.T.) project
Continuing his work on clearing Albuquerque's backlog of sexual assault evidence kit backlog
Along with the interim chiefs, strengthen APD and steer them towards community policing
Clean up the Animal Welfare Department to prioritize reducing euthanasia, increasing spay and neuter programs and improve field services response to animal abuse.
Personal Life
In his personal time, Keller is an avid football ball fan and played quarterback for the Albuquerque Gladiators for their 2018 season opener. A heavy metal enthusiast, Keller can be found at many local music venues and even introducing some of his favorite acts. Tim is also an advocate for Dyslexia awareness after being diagnosed and re-learning various reading and processing skills as an adult. He lives in Albuquerque with his wife Liz and their two children, Jack and Maya.
Electoral history
References
External links
- NM State Auditor
- Timothy M. Keller at New Mexico Legislature
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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