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Source: The Santa Fe New MexicanJan.迷你倉最平 14--State Rep. Emily Kane defeated three opponents, plus the city of Albuquerque, to take her seat in the Legislature.Now her city government will try again to end Kane's political career.Kane is a fire captain in Albuquerque. Her bosses say the city's charter and personnel rules prohibit her from seeking or holding public office.Kane, a Democrat, challenged the city's attempt to outlaw her candidacy and punish her for running. She won her case in state District Court in 2012.She also succeeded at the polls, winning a three-way primary and then defeating a Republican opponent in the general election.But Republican Mayor Richard Berry's administration has appealed the court ruling. It says Kane flouted laws and policies that bar Albuquerque's municipal employees from running for political office.Three judges of the New Mexico Court of Appeals are scheduled to hear arguments in the case Jan. 28, a week after Kane and the state's other 111 legislators begin this year's session.Kane, 57, has been a firefighter for 20 years. She is one of many people on the public payroll who serve in the New Mexico Legislature, but none of the others work for the city of Albuquerque.Teachers, an Albuquerque school administrator and a school superintendent from Logan sit alongside Kane in the House of Representatives. Another teacher and a college president are state senators.In Kane's case, she trades shifts with other firefighters or takes a leave of absence from her job so she can attend legislative sessions.New Mexico legislators receive an expense allowance and can even qualify for a state pension, but they are not paid a salary.Albuquerque's government maintains that, unlike other public employees, Kane expressly was banned from running for the Legislature."... Courts have unwaveringly held that government employer prohibitions against employees pursuing or holding elective public office are not unconstitutionally overbroad," city lawyers wrote in their brief to the appeals court.Their argument迷你倉failed the first time. State District Judge Beatrice Brickhouse ruled that Albuquerque's government had a clear interest in preventing city workers from running for city office, where they could be their own boss.But Brickhouse ruled that the city could not prohibit its employees from running for other political offices.Kane's lawyers say a state law that allows public-safety workers to seek elective office trumps any restrictions in the city code.In addition, they said, the city had been arbitrary in enforcing its law against politicking.One employee of the Albuquerque Fire Department ran for and won a seat as a Bernalillo town councilor. This same firefighter, Eddie Torres, lost a race for Bernalillo mayor in 2010, but the city took no disciplinary action against him either time.At least two other Albuquerque firefighters also were allowed to hold political office. City lawyers say those cases may have gone unnoticed by Albuquerque administrators.Kane notified her supervisors that she would run for the Legislature. The city then said it would discipline her if she entered the race, prompting her to sue.Kane said her constitutional right to free speech and the public's right to elect the representative of its choice were at stake.To counter her argument, the city has cited the case of Jack Harkleroad. As a state police lieutenant in the 1980s, he declared himself a candidate for governor. But the police chief said Harkleroad could not run for the state's highest office while on the state payroll.The chief suspended Harkleroad without pay for 30 days, punishment that was upheld by the New Mexico Supreme Court.Brickhouse, though, found Kane's case to be different because she was running for the Legislature, a body that does not oversee the Albuquerque Fire Department.Contact Milan Simonich at 986-3080 or msimonich@sfnewmexican.com.Copyright: ___ (c)2014 The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) Visit The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) at .santafenewmexican.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage