Mayor Martin Chavez Drops a Bombshell on Radio Talk Show

Mayor Chavez hosted a radio talk show Saturday on KKOB radio.

I called to ask him point blank why he is letting Marty Esquivel stand alone in carrying the fight for accountability in the leadership of the APS.

It went something like this.

Mayor, you have been a long time critic of the lack of accountability in the APS. Why are you now abandoning Marty Esquivel and the effort to institute real and honest accountability for the leadership of the APS?

The Mayor answered with a question; What makes you think that I don't support both accountability and Marty Esquivel?

I said; because I haven't read that you have in the newspapers.

He answered; You need to ask the newspapers why they won't report my support.

He elaborated; the gist was that the newspapers were refusing to report upon his concerns and suggestions; just as they have refused for so long to investigate and report upon mine.

The record seems to substantiate the Mayor's claim. The failure of the Journal and Tribune to fully inform stakeholders (voters, taxpayers, parents, ...) is self evident.

Submitted as proof:

There is a question on the table concerning the upcoming audit of the leadership of the APS. Neither the Journal nor the Trib will report upon the issue.

Those who want to end corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APS, are demanding an audit of both process and personnel.

Those who want to protect the corrupt and incompetent from exposure, are demanding as audit of the process only; individual corruption and incompetence will not be examined.

This is problematic. In a previous audit of the leadership of the APS, the Council of the Great City Schools reported a number of critical problems. Not the least of which; they reported that administrative evaluations were subjective and unrelated to promotions. More recently, in their audit of the corruption in the APS PD; they wrote that the leadership of the APS has routinely failed to act on the previous recommendations of audits.

This implies that an audit of the process will expose a system that lacks any kind of meaningful accountability, and the response of the leadership will be to ignore the criticisms.

None of this is reported in either the Journal or the Trib; despite the far reaching importance of the decision. In fact, this is a fork in the road for the leadership of the APS. The future will be profoundly different for the leadership depending on the upcoming audit. In the future, they will be honestly accountable to some meaningful standard of conduct; or they will not.

Never has the future of this school district been so uncertain; and neither the Journal nor the Trib will print the truth.

Nowhere have you read that the audit proposed my Marty Esquivel is being perverted.

Nowhere have you read that Paula Maes/Modrall, Robert Lucero, et al. are demanding an audit will leave their corrupt and incompetent cronies in the leadership of the APS, and their personal corruption and incompetence, hidden from exposure.

I knew a man who routinely settled contradictory stories by, as he said, "getting all the liars in one room."

The opportunity presents itself Wednesday next. There will be a public forum before the school board meeting.

At that forum, Mayor Martin Chavez can stand on the record, and demand a comprehensive and impartial (forensic) audit of the public interests in the public schools. He can demand a transparent selection process for the new superintendent. And, as an outspoken advocate of Character Counts, he can demand that the leadership of the APS re-assume their responsibilities
as role models of the student standard of conduct.

If he is unwilling to stand up for his beliefs; doubt is cast on his contention that he has already stood up on these issues; and the Journal and Tribune have refused to report upon it.

If he is willing to stand up at a public forum, in defense of his beliefs; and the Journal and Tribune refuse to report upon it, then it is proved that the Mayor is telling the truth when he says the papers are deliberately deceiving reader stakeholders.


...which is the same thing I have been saying for years.