In the shadow of the world’s most advanced nuclear laboratory, Los Alamos is currently locked in a surreal political standoff – two men (David Izraelevitz and Antonio L. Maggiore) and the core debate is whether the office itself should be eliminated. At the Dusoma Foundation, our question is “Why do we say there are no jobs when there is so much work on this earth to be done?
So we will use this election to illustrate this point, because as we face Los Alamos Medical Center shutting down Labor and Delivery, there is actually a lot we can do – from the County fighting it (article coming soon) to the “Rabbit Medical Transport” plan below that can get a patient to a Santa Fe hospital around the same speed as a helicopter.
The lucky duck who wins the role will earn roughly $7,900 a year. Yet, we will drop $35,000 in a single afternoon to fly a patient over a traffic jam because we haven’t coordinated a $100 police escort. So we recommend making this a $70k position, like everywhere else in NM, and then the job won’t be done by, essentially, a volunteer.
1. The Election
The Los Alamos Sheriff’s race has become a proxy war over the definition of “essential.”
| Perspective | The “Abolitionist” View | The “Traditionalist” View |
| Core Goal | Win the election to legally dismantle the office and move its few tasks to the LAPD. | Maintain the office as a democratic “check” on law enforcement. |
| Main Reason | It’s a relic of the past that creates needless expense and potential legal liability. | The Sheriff is an elected official accountable to the people, unlike the appointed Police Chief. |
| Redundancy | LAPD and Lab security already cover 100% of the county’s needs. | Having a Sheriff ensures there is a “Constitutional” officer available if needed. |
- The Cons: Critics point out that the Sheriff has no jail and no patrol mandate. The LAPD does the heavy lifting, leaving the Sheriff with little more than the sex offender registry. It feels like a 19th-century solution to a 21st-century administrative overlap.
- The Pros: Supporters argue that the Sheriff is the only law enforcement officer accountable to the voters, not an appointed manager. In a town dominated by “The Lab,”
2. The Pitchfork Party Proposal: Expansion into Advocacy
But what if the binary choice- keep it or kill it- is the wrong question? Imagine a Sheriff who wouldn’t look for criminals; they would look for friction. They would audit the “broken” intersections of town life—the opaque housing markets, the construction-choked streets, and the lopsided negotiations with federal entities. This is systems oversight, ensuring the “Secret City” actually works for the people who live there.
And the Sherriff could build the “Rabbit Medical Transport.”
3. The Labor of Necessity: The Santa Fe/ Espanola Death Run
We say there is “no work to be done,” yet our town is gasping. The recent shutdown of Labor and Delivery at LAMC is the perfect example. We are told the “logistics” don’t support it, leaving the ~150 pregnant women in town to navigate a 45-mile gamble to Santa Fe in an emergency (noting there are areas with no cell reception to call an ambulance).
Currently, when the “system” fails a laboring mother, we reach for the most expensive tool in the shed: the helicopter.
- The Helicopter Cost: A 15-minute flight to Santa Fe carries a base fee of roughly $15,000, with a total bill often exceeding $35,000. But with helicopter set up, it’s still 45 minutes total.
- The “Rabbit” Alternative: A Sheriff’s “Rabbit” escort—where a deputy clears intersections through Pojoaque—achieves a similar door-to-door arrival time (approx. 35–45 minutes) for a fraction of the cost.
- The Math of Neglect: A deputy’s hourly wage is about $34. Even factoring in vehicle wear and fuel, a high-speed escort costs the county less than $100.
The Rabbit Medical Transport system is 0.3% of the cost of a helicopter flight.
If the Sheriff’s Office facilitated just two successful escorts a month instead of two helicopter launches, the savings to the community (and the insurance pool we all pay into) would be over $70,000 a month. That is $840,000 a year—more than enough to fund a full-time advocacy department.
4. Why Are We Eliminating Roles that Could Improve the Town?
We say there is no work, yet mothers are being forced off the mesa to give birth in transit. We celebrate the “heroic” $40,000 helicopter flight because we’ve forgotten how to build a $100 road solution. The work is there—it’s in the canyons, on the roads, and in the gaps between our institutions. We just need a Sheriff brave enough to see the badge not as a relic, but as a tool for repair.