the face of corruption and incompetence?

This is Gil Lovato. He used
to be, APS Chief of Police.

It was alleged that he did
some inappropriate things.

The public still doesn't know the whole truth about the betrayal of the public interest. All the public knows is that he was placed on administrative leave for six months rather than have the whole truth come out in a discharge hearing. He and his lawyer, Sam Bregman, said, when the truth comes out, there won't be an administrator left standing.

So tax payers paid him a half a year's salary after he was removed from duty, rather than have him spill the beans on the record.

This is APS' second in command Tom Savage. His girlfriend had an illegal criminal background check done on her; apparently by the APS Police Department, in apparent violation of pretty serious laws. He said he didn't ask for it.

One of the first things he did when the shit hit the fan in January was to order all APS employees to keep their mouths shut.

Beth Everitt blamed his lack of competence in overseeing the APS Police Force, for the problems there.



This Sheriff Darren White. The computers and/or information systems on which the illegal criminal background checks were made, were entrusted to him.

He steadfastly refuses to surrender any public documents that would indicate whether or not he knew personally of the criminal misconduct.

He would like to be elected to congress.




This is District Attorney
Kari Brandenburg.

Almost a year ago, she was
asked to determine whether
or not there had been criminal
misconduct in Lovato's police
department.

She says that she is too busy to look through the evidence that has been given to her by the leadership of the APS to determine whether or not the leadership of the APS and the BCSO broke the law and would be prosecuted.

She is not too busy however to invite her radio talk show listeners to call her at the office to clear up any problems with recipes.

She will not answer when asked; did the leadership of the APS surrender the results of the independent investigation of the public corruption and conspiracy in the leadership of the APS police.

This isn't the only truth being hidden from stakeholders.

This is County Commissioner Teresa Cordova not answering reporters' questions about grade gate.

Gradegate stirred up a lot of community outrage because the smell of it was that, a powerful politica had gotten special treatment from the leadership of the APS.




The scandal stirred up such an uproar, that Beth Everitt asked State Secretary of Education, Veronica Garcia to investigate APS' handling of the affair.

Garcia agreed, despite the fact that she had already been on television proclaiming Everitt's innocence.

She conducted the investigation anyway, and laid the blame on Elsy Fierro.

The "investigation" team included the head of the New Mexico Educator Ethics Bureau, Paul Calderon. Between them all, they managed to investigate the whole scandal without taking a statement on the record, from either the County Commissioner, or the Superintendent.

Everitt appears to be teflon coated. The NM PED won't do an honest investigation; the NM Educator Ethics Bureau will not to an honest investigation; and apparently, she can prevent an accountability audit of her administration as well.

It is almost as if she traded a quiet resignation for the promise of no investigation of her conduct and competence as a public servant.

This School Board President Paula "let's get in a teacher's face" Maes.

She is the reason that the leadership of the APS is not honestly accountable to any meaningful standard of conduct.
(photo by Mark G. Bralley)
Despite the fact that she is the President of the Character Counts Leadership Council; the board has removed the Pillars of Character Counts as their own standard of conduct.

Her husband is the President of the Modrall law firm.

APS spends millions of dollars at Modrall, for among other things, litigating exception to the law for senior administrators and board members.

Maes/Modrall makes so much money off taxpayers that they will not surrender public records that reveal the exact amount.

She is on the record saying, there will not be an audit of the administration of the APS that identifies the incompetence or corruption of individual APS administrators; "... like for example Tom Savage."

She will also vigorously oppose any honest audit of the APS/Modrall relationship, because it will reveal that public power and resources have been used against the public interest.

This is Phill Casaus, editor of the Trib. He is on the Board of Directors of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, and the Trib won't investigate and report upon the ethics and accountability scandal in the APS. I cannot find a picture of Kent Walz. If I could, I would show you the face of a man who sits on the Executive Committee of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, and who also will not investigate or report upon the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS.