 Though once employed as a carpenter, he now works as a professional activist.In November 1997 Valdez was appointed by the city of Albuquerque to the "Task Force on Police Oversight," a city council convened advisory group formed to make recommendations on a new system of oversight for Albuquerque's police department.He requested appointment to a 2013 task force convened by the council to make a new series of recommendations on the police oversight system, though the council declined to make him a member.