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Midway through the June 16 edition of Mayor Martin Chavez's weekly radio show, a woman named "Linda" called in to express her support.

"Thanks for your patience," Chavez said.

"Oh, I'm a very patient soul," the caller said, "except when we're talking about the City Council. What is wrong with those people? They don't want to give me a tax cut. They want to give the county $9 million, no questions asked. And then they want to do a pay raise? You've got to just keep vetoing this stuff, mayor."

The talking points, the anti-council rhetoric: It all could have come straight from the Mayor's Office. And those who frequent City Hall said the voice could have, too.

"Put it this way: I just bought a new car," City Council President Debbie O'Malley said on June 28 after being asked to listen to the clip. "I would bet my pink slip that it is Gail Reese. I've known her for a long time."

"Absolutely the same voice," said Councilor Michael Cadigan, after reviewing the clip. The line about being a patient soul, he said: "That's sort of her . . . lingo - or her style."

If the voice sounded suspiciously like Reese, the city's chief financial officer, there's a good reason.

It was Reese.

Asked by phone on June 28 whether she made the call as Linda, Reese answered with a long pause, punctuated only by a barely audible "Jesus."

"I might have, yes," she finally said. "It's not something I would necessarily remember doing."

But the story altered as the questions kept coming.

"It is a radio show for public comment, is it not?" she said. "I might work for the mayor . . . but I'm also a citizen of this city."

The pseudonym Linda has "always been my alter-ego name," she said.

Reese said she had called other radio shows before, but hadn't gotten through. It was the first time she called her boss's show, she said. The mayor had nothing to do with it, she added.

"I don't know if he recognized me or not," she said.

Reached late on June 28, Chavez said he did not.

"No. Uh-uh," the mayor said. On the air, "that's the last thing I'm focused on."

The two have known each other for 15 years.

"She's an American citizen. She's entitled to call," Chavez said. As to the fake name, "I'm not surprised that she was concerned about retribution from the council."

He added, "I think Gail, if she calls in the future, will give her name."

Art Ortega, director of community affairs for KKOB-770 AM, which airs the mayor's weekly show, said the call was "disingenuous."

"I'm sure we would all agree that that kind of activity shouldn't happen again," he said.

The call follows accusations that a recent round of automated phone calls directed against mayoral opponents on the council were in fact organized by the mayor's political machine. Chavez and his deputies have denied the charges.

On-air dissing aside, Reese and the councilors will still have to work together in the future. She attends every council meeting and frequently stands for questions.

"I think our relationship has already been a bit compromised as it is," O'Malley said.

Said Reese, "I'd have to think about that."