Allegations of Disinformation Concerning City Manager Resignation by Alamogordo City Officials

In followup, to the announcement of Alamogordo City Manager Rick Holden's resignation,  multiple city staff members have suggested that; the city of Alamogordo leadership is engaging in a disinformation campaign as a coverup to avoid litigation.

Disinformation poses an unprecedented threat to democracy in the United States in 2024, according to researchers, technologists and political scientists.  Disinformation—the use of half-truth and non-rational argument to manipulate public opinion in pursuit of political objectives—is a growing threat to the public sphere in politics at the national level, and now the citizens of Alamogordo are witness to it, locally. 

Anyone who tuned into the most recent city commission meeting, may have witnessed it being perpetrated first hand by the mayor, Susan Payne and via an "official statement" read by the acting city manager. 

The purpose of the statement read by the acting city manager, allegedly created by outgoing resigning city manager, Rick Holden, and Mayor Paynes statement was allegedly intended to squash 2nd Life Media AlamogordoTownNews.org reporting. The alleged intent of the statements by city officials, was an attempt, to discredit the reports around the sudden departure of Rick Holden as city manager. 

The statement read into the public record, allegedly crafted by outgoing city manager, Rick Holden, and then followed by a 13 minute tirade by the mayor, attacking the character and reputation of 2nd Life Media AlamogordoTownNews.org journalists, is a classic case of “political warfare,” to degrade public trust in media and to amplify social division, resentment, and fear and distrust in our reporting. 

The statement said Holden wanted to make it clear “there has not been any conflict with the mayor or any commissioner that led to my decision.”

The statement said the commission had been supportive during his tenure as they worked well together “for the greater good of our city.”

“City management can be a grueling and ongoing attempt at chasing one’s tail,” he says in the statement. “Outside influences, social media platforms, internal staffing issues and expectations of a governmental body can adversely combine making it difficult to accomplish goals.”

But internal city documents tell another story. 

Mayor Susan Payne at the Tuesday commission meeting gave a speech engaging in "political warfare" which is the use of hostile political rhetoric to compel an opponent to do one's will.

The term describes the calculated interaction between a government leader, Susan Payne, and a target audience (Alamogordo's general population), in 
an attempt to mislead and craft disinformation. 

Government leaders, such as Mayor Payne, are known to use a variety of techniques to coerce certain public responses, thereby gaining relative advantage over an opponent with subversive efforts. The aggressor  (Alamogordo City leadership) allegedly intended to avoid attribution or retribution by creating a potential false narrative around the resignation of Rick Holden.

AlamogordoTownNews.org reported the surprise resignation of Rick Holden and alleged per reports from civil servants (paid city staff), that Holden's resignation was the result of an email exchange involving a constituent concer and occurred between a business leader and a city commissioner that escalated into hostility. 

Our reports suggested Commissioner Rardin and another commissioner were involved. That reported statement MAY have been in error as to which commissioner was involved.

We have now received documentation that supports our findings that hostilities did indeed lead to the sudden resignation of Rick Holden and confirms our reporting.

An escalation event between Holden, a business leader and a commissioner occurred leading to his resignation.

The resignation was allegedly triggered from a meeting that occurred between a business leader, a commissioner and the city manager as confirmed by an internal resignation letter (pictured below) the narrative differs from the statement provided to public at the most recent commission meeting.

Holden’s contract was signed in September 2023 and he began working in November 2023. His resignation is effective October 18, 2024.

Why would the mayor and city staff create a narrative to the public drafted with the intent of deception and to discredit the journalists allegations?

Why present a lie to the public? Trust in city leadership is lost when leadership lies to the public. 

A catalyst to this meeting that occurred between Rick Holden, the business leader and the commissioner was water billing...

The issue appears to be water billing.

A question citizens should ask is why is this water customer watering daily without consequences and not held accountable to adhering to the watering schedule as per current city ordinance? 

The citizens of Alamogordo are owed honest answers and transparency as to what actually transpired in that meeting that resulted in Mr. Holdens resignation? 

The public speeches at the commission meeting are different than the documents released to AlamogordoTownNews.org and demonstrate that a false narrative was presented to the public by city leadership and the mayor. 

Another source within the city has suggested that Holden's resignation; immediate to October 18th, per the terms of his contract, is to avoid potential litigation by the said business leader against the city of Alamogordo concerning another escalating development issue and this incident was the final nail in the coffin. 

AlamogordoTownNews.org has multiple IPRA's submitted to various agencies to get more information and details around this incident and the misinformation perpetuated by the city leadership around Holden's resignation. 

Some have suggested that the New Mexico Attorney General's Office needs to investigate this resignation, the city's initial response of deceit to the public and the business relationship and escalation that led to this resignation. This is an evolving story. 

AlamogordoTownNews.org's Anthony Lucero has reached out to Mayor Susan Payne and other involved parties for comment to realease in the KALHRadio.org streaming service. Stay tuned as this story unfolds...

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