Threats Against Republicans Running Against Darren White

The more I know about Darren White,
the more despicable he becomes.

He is not the kind of man you want to trust.

Check out the story on Democracy for New Mexico link

which links to a piece by Dennis Domrzalski link

If I had to trust a blogger, I would trust Heath Haussamen

I suspect that most blog readers would agree.

He blogs about "New Mexico Politics".

There is a very important "election" coming up.
The Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education
is going to hire the superintendent who will determine
the course of the APS' future; a billion tax dollars and
90,000 children every year.

It is an important "election". The stakes are high.

It is a perfect opportunity for stakeholders
to participate meaningfully in a decision
that affects their interests.

During the only opportunity for stakeholders to meet the
candidates; they will not be allowed to ask a single specific
question; no matter how legitimate.

There will be no opportunity to ask one of the "outsiders"
if they will commission the audit that will end corruption
and incompetence in the leadership of the APS.

There will be no opportunity even, to place the subject of
an administrative accountability audit on the table.

If I may suggest an obligation to Mr. Haussamen,

I think you are obliged to stand on the record regarding the
upcoming town hall meetings and the APS Superintendency,
as it has every bit to do with "New Mexico Politics".

Somebody has to start the ball rolling in the blogosphere

cuz the Journal and TV medioshpere just ain't getting it.

Respectfully submitted.

People of Character are Often Required to do More Than the Law Requires, and Less Than the Law Allows.

At least that is the message given to 90,000 kids in the APS.

They are told that their character counts, and that
their character is manifest in their behavior.

Yet when APS Modrall writes policy for themselves,
they routinely afford themselves
"all of the wiggle room that the law allows";
allowing them to do anything the law permits,
compelling them to do only what the law absolutely requires.

It is blatantly hypocritical, unethical, and dishonest.

"So whadaya gonna do about it?"

More Weaselry From APS' Rigo Chavez

Rigo Chavez is a public servant. A well paid public servant.

He is also the Custodian of Public Records for the APS.

As such, there are things he is required to do; by law.

I filed a request for public records;

which he immediately lost, and did not "find"
until the NMAGO called him on it.

The request was for the fewest number of records possible
in order that an impartial viewer would get a candid,
forthright, and honest understanding of the kind of "law"
being practiced by Paula Maes lawyers against those
who file complaints against APS administrators and board members.

Chavez says that the request is excessively broad.

And that I did not give him "inclusive" dates.

So I will rewrite the request,
he will re-lose the rewritten request,
the NMAGO will re-tell him to look for the request,
he will re-find it,
he (Modrall) will re-find some legal technicality or loop hole,
and the loop will re-begin again.

Each loop takes a couple of months.

If he ever does produce a copy of a record,
he charges a 1000% mark up for copying each page
(in violation of the law, but he gets away with it).

In fairness,
APS may actually be paying some good ol boy vendor
ten times as much as Kinko's charges for the same copies.

Which is why the NMIPRA in the end, amounts to nothing.
Is is a law written by good ol' boys, that contains rat holes
they can crawl through when they need to.


Stakeholders play on the good ol' boys field,
and the under the good ol' boys rules.


With results as predictable as they are inevitable.

NMAGO King Responds "Kind Of"

I asked NMAGO to cut through the crap and take a long
hard look at APS Modrall.

Their record is one of using tax dollars to finance litigation
against the public interest; litigation to except the leadership
of the APS from accountability to the law.

If a competent and impartial investigator took even the
smallest peek into the record of APS Modrall,
they would not be able to stop digging.

Why else is the record of APS Modrall, not on the record?
Why are they hiding it even in defiance of the law?

There is only one reason to hide the truth.

The good ol' boy who fielded my request for the NMAGO
is Phil "the Bean" Sisneros, one of the many local media,
who Bill Richardson moved into positions that presented
less of a threat to the good ol' boys in Santa Fe.
He is one of the state's $5M worth of PIOs;
Public Information Obfuscaters

He wrote;

Mr. McQuigg (sic),
All requests for public comment by the Attorney General or
his office generally come through my office.
I am not familiar with what you term, APS Modrall,
so I’m not exactly sure how to address your concerns.
Do you mean Albuquerque Public Schools and The Modrall Law Firm?

In any case, if you have a specific complaint about a perceived
violation of the Inspection of Public Records Act,
I encourage you to file a written complaint with as much detail
as you can provide to our office at the following address:
Office of the New Mexico Attorney General
PO Drawer 1508 Santa Fe, N.M. 87504-1508

If you have further questions, please contact me. Thank you.
Phil Sisneros Director of Communications
Office of New Mexico Attorney General Gary K. King
505-827-6792 (Santa Fe office) 505-231-5846 (cell)
email: psisneros@nmag.gov

For now then it appears that the good ol' boys in Santa Fe,
will pretend they don't understand the question,
or the need to investigate the good ol' boys in Albuquerque.

APS Custodian of Public Records Rigo Chavez

has responded to my complaint that he failed to surrender
public records as required by the law.

He will tell the attorney general that my request was
archived without having being read - inadvertently of course.

This maneuver will add 60 days of delay in the surrender.

(It is absolutely "legal" of course; but totally unethical.
It is the Juris Mustelidae (legal weaselry) that is being
practiced by APS lawyers, in your name, and against the
public interest.)

Rigo Chavez will not be held accountable.

Maes Modrall will not be held accountable.

And APS stakeholders still do not know how many tax
dollars have flowed from Paula Maes good ol' boys in the APS
to the coffers of her (husband's) law firm;

or what they bought.*

*immunity from accountability, even to the law.

Journal Editor Takes a Stand on APS Accountability

The ax falls on third graders who can't read.

The editor suggests that third graders be kept in the third
grade until they can read on the third grade level.

Still, nothing from him on holding administrators and
board members accountable to meaningful standards of
conduct and competence.

According to Kent Walz and the Journal then;

Social promotion for third graders; is not ok.

Social promotion good ol' boys in the APS however; is still ok.

APS Character Counts Gate; Hall of Shame and (if there is any justice) Eternal Damnation

imho

• Michael Josephson
• United States Senator Pete Domenici
• United States Representative Heather Wilson
• Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez
• Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce President Terri Cole
• APS School Board President Paula Maes.
• APS Character Counts Leadership Council President Paula Maes
• The members of the Character Counts Leadership Council who's names are still, a secret.
• APS Superintendent Beth Everitt
• and APS Superintendent 2b, Linda Sink

APS Board of Education members;

• Paula Maes
  
• Berna Facio
  
• Gordon Rowe
• Robert Lucero
  
• Delores Griego
• Marty Esquivel
• Mary Lee Martin

Should the Next APS Superintendent Be Honestly Accountable as "a Role Model"?

... who cares?



"Character" counts.
... where?

... on the planet Crack ? ??


Certainly not in public service in the leadership of the APS.

Despite the fact that
role modeling is an integral and significant obligation
of these public servants in particular,

APS' senior most role models

have simply excepted themselves
from honest accountability as role models.

And they are all in on it;
every administrator and board member in the APS;
apparently.



... who cares?

Really; who really cares?

The Only Thing More Certain Than The Outcome of the Search for the Next APS Superintendent

is that s/he will be hired in to that position without ever
having to talk honestly, candidly, and forthrightly
about their intentions with respect to becoming
the most senior administrative role model in the APS
of the student standard of conduct,

a nationally recognized, accepted and respected,
higher standard of conduct;
the Pillars of Character Counts,



School Board President Paula Maes-Modrall,

APS' most senior role model for for students and employees,

the President of the secret, and now thoroughly disgraced
Character Counts "Leadership" Council,

has renounced the Pillars of Character Counts as her
standard of conduct and competence as a public servant.

She has simply abdicated, they all have.
They have simply abdicated as the role models
for a hundred thousand students and employees.

They rewrote board policy in plain sight to do it.

They struck language from the employee code of conduct,
they struck language from their own standard of conduct,
that read;

In no case shall the standard of conduct for an adult
be lower than the standard for a child.

And then they wrote a code of conduct for themselves. It makes no mention of the ethical standard of conduct to which they hold students accountable. It doesn't use the work ethical at all. They enforce the "standard" upon themselves. If anyone else tries to enforce any meaningful standard of conduct against them, they run face on into APS' Praetorian Guard, and the Modrall law firm; a law firm who has earned millions of dollars litigating exception to accountability for APS administrators and board members.

And then the board wrote themselves their own code of "ethics". The title represents the only mention in their code, of the concept of ethical behavior.

It is by their own free admission, absolutely and completely unenforceable.


And Thomas Lang, and Kent Walz, and Mary Lynn Roper,
and Michelle Donaldson, and Sue Stephens

continue to refuse to allow this scandal to be investigated
and reported upon.



Why does that not scare the living shit out of you?

It should.

It does me.

I Have Always Admired the Work of the League of Women Voters

Normally, I would find some considerable comfort in knowing
that League of Women Voters volunteers will be running the
town meetings in the APS superintendent search process.

Then I found out that the leadership of the APS has charged
them with being unwitting "question filters" for specific
and "inconvenient" questions

I don't know how it was accomplished,

but somehow the leadership of the APS has managed to
place the League of Women Voters in the position
of allowing the candidates to avoid being asked
tough, specific, and legitimate questions,
in public, and on the record.

The stakes are high, and "... a general question per theme ..."
in place of specific and legitimate questions
just doesn't cut it.

The League of Women Voters has been placed in the position
of abrogating the rights of citizens
to petition their (prospective) government
(through the asking of specific questions).

The "insider" candidates; the APS good ol' boys
don't want to answer specific questions about standards
and accountability.

And they don't what an "outsider" with relatively
nothing to loose,
(certainly they too can see Linda Sink's name on the wall)
to open Pandora's Box by modeling the character and
the courage lacking in the current leadership of the APS.

So the "insiders" will not allow the "outsiders" to be asked
the questions that they don't want on the table;

• Do you believe the Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, when he says that APS has an earned statewide reputation for their lack of accountability?
• Do you believe Mayor Martin Chavez, and the President of the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce Terry Cole, when they say the the lack of accountability in the leadership of the APS is so profound, that the Mayor's Office must take over the board of education in order to restore order?
• Do you believe the Council of the Great City Schools, when in their audits they revealed that APS administrative evaluations are "... subjective and unrelated to promotion or step placements ...". And when they wrote that the "culture" of the leadership of the APS is one of "... fear of retaliation and retribution ...". And when they wrote that the leadership of the APS routinely deceives stakeholders about crime and violence statistics for public schools.
• Do you believe that there is an obvious need for an immediate and impartial full scale forensic administrative accountability audit?
• Would such an audit, if done before the superintendent was hired, be a useful tool for any superintendent with the character and the courage to dismantle the APS good ol' boys club?
• If hired, will you begin the audit immediately?
• Will you ask the Attorney General to begin a forensic audit of APS Modrall?
  

• Why not?
  

• Would you rather be a "club leader" or a "role model"?

What about the rights of a prospective candidate
who has the character and the courage to stand up
to the responsibilities of the most senior administrative
role model in the APS?

What if one of them wanted to to wow stakeholders by
answering my questions candidly, forthrightly and honestly?
... for a change.

Is this process fair to them?

What if all the outsider candidates are already on board,
and support the efforts of the leadership of the APS,
including their manipulation of the League of Women voters,
in order to avoid having to answer specific legitimate questions themselves?


By some weird circumstance,
the League of Women Voters has been manipulated into
preventing these and other important specific questions
from being even put on the table.

cc. LoWV

For the Record

I told you long ago

that the leadership of the APS would find some way to keep
standards, accountability, and an accountability audit
off the table while Linda Sink is being formally hired
to be the next superintendent of the APS,
and while Tim Whalen is promoted to be the
APS Deputy Superintendent of good ol' boys.



Now you are watching it in real time.

Ms Armenta,

Ms. Armenta,

Are there pieces of paper, or electronic files,
let's call them "public records", that include both the names
of the outsider candidates, and contact information for them?

And if those public records exist,
will you simply surrender them to public knowledge,
or will APS Modrall use public resources to litigate against
the public interest, and fight the surrender of these
documents like they have fought the surrender
of every other important public record of administrative
incompetence and corruption?

macq


Armenta will respond in one of only three ways;

• she will stonewall the request
• she will reply that she has forwarded the request for
  public records to Rigo Chavez, APS Liaison
  to the APS Modrall effort to defeat the NMIPRA in court.
• she will answer candidly, forthrightly, and honestly.

consistent with her obligations and responsibilities
as the APS' most visible senior role model.

APS Response to My Request to be Allowed to Submit a Question in Writing

The response was through Monica Armenta,
but "the buck stopped" on the desk of a subordinate
employee, the school board manager.
(Emphasis added)

"Mr. MacQuigg,

While we would like to be able to allow community members
to submit questions prior to the community meetings
scheduled on March 7, we are unable to do so because
the meetings would lose meaning and integrity for the people
who actually attend the meetings, and the pace of the
meetings requires a specific structure used in the past by
the League of Women Voters in similar community meetings.

The League of Women Voters is assisting us with taking
questions submitted by audience members at a specific point
in each meeting. These questions, which will be written
on cards and collected by League of Women Voters
volunteers, will be sorted by theme by the volunteers and
asked by the facilitator as a general question per theme
for the candidate.

We do encourage you to attend one of the meetings
of your choice to take part in this important process."




However, if you show up wearing a harmless elephant mask
as an exercise of your right to free speech, freedom of religion, and your right to petition your government,

the APS Praetorian Guard will be summoned, again,
you will be arrested again,
and they will throw your happy little ass out of the meeting,
again.


Every child has a right to a quality public education and APS is committed to providing that education. For more information about Albuquerque Public Schools,visit www.aps.edu.

APS Superintendent Candidates Will Not Discuss the Issue of Role Modeling in the Leadership of the APS

by secret order of the current leadership of the APS.

Paula Maes and Modrall.


The order will be carried out with the aide and abet of
Maes' cronies in the media;

Thomas Lang, Kent Walz, Michelle Donaldson,
Sue Stephens, and Mary Lynn Roper

who are either covering Paula Maes Modrall's ass

or,

who really believe that the subject of administrative role
modeling should not be part of the public discourse
surrounding the hiring of the next APS superintendent.

The one makes them corrupt,
the other, simply incompetent.

There is no other explanation.

If there were,
one of them would offer it.

2nd Request for APS Executive Director of "Communications" Monica Armenta

I want to submit a question in writing to each of the outsider candidates.

It is a tough question, and the candidates have a right
to think about their answer for as long as possible.

Who in the leadership of the APS will forward my question
to each of the candidates,

and then certify that it has been delivered to each individually?

macq


(Armenta is apparently stonewalling my previous request.)

APS Teacher Retention

Education, at least for the time being,
centers around teachers.

The quality of the education that students receive
has a great deal to do with the quality of their teachers.

There is currently a teacher shortage; even though schools
of education are turning out more teachers annually
than are lost to retirement. There should be no shortage.

But there is. And the shortage exists because of the number
of teachers who quit their teaching careers before they retire.

They burn out; some in the first few years, some with many
years of useful experience under their belts.

The leadership of the APS has no idea why its teachers
are leaving before their retirement.

APS does not do exit interviews with teachers leaving APS.

Exit interviews are the most effective method of finding out
why teachers are leaving the APS before they retire.

They do not do exit interviews because they don't want to
compile the data that would show that most of the teachers
who quit teaching, quit due to issues with administration.

(Issues that have to do with heavy handed autocrats who
are unaccountable to anyone for their conduct or competence.)

Rather than gather data, and change the paradigm
to conserve our most precious educational resource,
experienced teachers,

the leadership of the APS chooses instead a system that
protects incompetent and corrupt good ol' boys from the
consequences of their corruption and incompetence;

by choosing not to gather data and document problems
with corrupt and/or incompetent administrators.

Instead they proffer statistics of "similar" teacher drop out
rates elsewhere; a red herring.

If one were able to identify somehow,
the APS administrator who has single handedly
driven more teachers out of the APS than any other,

one would also find the the leadership of the APS has
compiled no data that anyone could use to hold that
administrator accountable for squandering public resources;

decent, hard working, and good teachers.

Furthermore, if any data had been inadvertently compiled
despite the best efforts of the leadership of the APS,

APS Modrall has the will and the wherewithal
to hide that data from public knowledge for ever.

And the community wonders,

why is there a shortage of really good teachers
in the APS?

The Leadership of the APS has made a commitment.

From the APS website;

Friday, March 7:
The public will have an opportunity to meet
the candidates (for APS Superintendent) in
the John Milne Board Room at APS City Centre,
6400 Uptown Blvd. NE
from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 3:30-5 p.m. and 5:30-7 p.m.

By extrapolation, the leadership of the APS has made
a commitment to make the candidates available for
questions from the public.

Because I have reason to believe that the APS Praetorians
will interfere, again, with my efforts to exercise my rights
to free speech, freedom of religion, and freedom to petition
my government; if I show up in person;

I would like to submit one question, in writing,
to each of the "outsider" candidates.

I am a stakeholder, I believe that the request is not unreasonable.

The good ol' candidates, dba the "insiders", have already
taken the question and declined to answer it on the record.



How do I get my question to each of the candidates
before the public meeting?

Who in the leadership of the APS can enable my request?

APS' Incestuous Vendor Relationships

When I wrote to Brad Winter's wife's law firm, Sheehan and Sheehan to confirm that the firm was doing business with the APS, and that Nann Winter is related to APS Administrator Brad Winter.

My email was ignored.

Why? one wonders.

One also wonders how many other good ol' boys in the APS
have lucrative relationships with APS vendors other than
all of their lawyers.

Is Mary Lynn Roper the Kind of Person

who would betray the trust of Channel 7 viewers
in order to cover the ass of Paula Maes,
the President of the NM Broadcasters Association?
(and of a bunch of other little good ol' boys clubs.)

Like for instance;

the Character Counts Leadership Council

a group of community leaders who names are kept
secret; who have applied for tens of thousands of
dollars worth of federal grants, through the assistance
of United States Senator Pete Domenici.

Is any part of that federal grant being used to pay the salary
or any other remuneration or compensation to Carole Smith?

The APS Administrator who's primary responsibilities seem
to be to continue cover up the APS Character Counts Gate link
which includes continuing to hide the identities of members
of the APS Character Counts Leadership Council.

Somebody in that group needs to look up "leadership".

Why Doesn't APS Modrall Have to Defend Their Record?

APS Modrall is absolutely damned by their record.

It is so damning in fact, that APS Modrall has to violate
the law in order to keep their record from public knowledge.

Despite credible allegations of ethical and criminal misconduct,

The leadership of APS Modrall steadfastly refuses to explain,
defend, or even acknowledge their record of betrayal of
the public trust.

How can the get away with it?

They can get away with it because of folks like
Michelle Donaldson, the news director at KRQE TV.

Her Jessica Garate would be all over the story.

They can get away with it because of folks like
Mary Lynn Roper, the manager of KOAT TV.

Her Mitch Blacher would be all over the story.

They can get away with it because of folks like
Sue Stephens, the new director at KOB TV.

Her Jeremy Jojola would be all over the story.

And if it weren't for folks like Thomas Lang and Kent Walz,
their Zsombor Peter would be all over the story.

APS Modrall does not have to explain, defend, or even
acknowledge their abysmal record,
because the folks that run the media are willing to betray
the trust of their readers and viewers;

in order to cover the asses of a few of their friends and
fellow members of River City's privileged class.


The only good news is that we are only one successful
Torches and Pitchforks Parade
away from putting them all out of business for ever.

It is not so much that APS Modrall is breaking "the law"

They probably aren't.

But they are breaking the "something".

Is it really OK for APS Modrall to spend millions of dollars
litigating exception to the law for public servants?

I know that there are lawyers who do that sort of thing,
(just waiting to die, and then spend eternity rotting in hell)
but should the public be paying them three hundred dollars
an hour to do it in the mean time? ??


Instead of spending that money on the purpose for which
it was extracted from taxpayers' pockets;

to finance the best possible education for the 90,000
of our sons and daughters in the APS.

Kari Brandenburg, On Her Way Out

Kari Brandenburg is facing some competition in the upcoming
election; Lisa Torraco; link

Both ladies were on Jim Villanucci's show in response to the
public out roar over Brandenburg's decision to prosecute the
good guy in a recent shooting.

Brandenburg was asked on air, why she won't close the
investigation into public corruption and criminal conspiracy
in the leadership of the APS (police department).

Brandenburg denied that the case is over a year old; and
added that, the case is not a simple one, and it will require
additional investigation(s).

This is news.

There were two investigations of Peanut Butter Gate;

In one investigation, the leadership of the APS investigated
itself. In the other, an impartial private investigator was
hired, ostensibly to ferret out the truth. That report contains
the names of the guilty parties, and their crimes.

Neither APS, nor the District Attorney, will confirm that
APS gave both investigative reports to the DA.

The second report has been kept secret from stakeholders
since the beginning. It still is, even in violation of the law;
the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act.

And now Brandenburg says she still doesn't know enough
of the facts to decide whether or not crimes were committed.

Brandenburg appears to be saying that Peanut Butter Gate
is an even bigger scandal than the leadership of the APS
has admitted to.

Brandenburg can be counted on to continue to hide the
truth at least through the hiring of Linda Sink,
as APS' next superintendent.

It wouldn't look good for the good ol' boys if all this
came up while the public was paying attention to the
leadership of the APS and their sham search for someone
with the "skill set" to continue to hide the truth
from stakeholders for ever.

The stakes could not be higher in the search for
Beth Everitt's successor.

The new superintendent will either institutionalize
meaningful standards of conduct and competence,
and then enforce those standards on everyone from students
to superintendents;

or Linda Sink will be hired to continue the reign
of the good ol' boys who run the APS.

APS Modrall will continue to get fat,
through expensive litigation against the public interest,
to maintain an environment conducive to squandering the
public trust and treasure;

• no transparency,
• no standards of either conduct or competence, and
• no accountability for senior administrators and board members.

The stakes could not be higher.

And stakeholders can not look to the media

Thomas Lang, Kent Walz, Michelle Donaldson,
Thomas Pearl, and Sue Stephens,

for any help at all.

NM Attorney General Gary King, step up, or step down.

You Sir, know better than I, your "lawful" obligations.

I will suggest to you an ethical and moral obligation as well.

APS Modrall is using legal technicalities, legal loop holes, and
legal weaselry, to defeat the intent and the spirit of your
Inspection of Public Records Act.

There is a long standing pattern of willful abuse by
APS Modrall, not just of the IPRA,
but of civil and criminal statutes in general.

Why is it incumbent upon me, an individual,
to some how amass,

over the vigorous resistance of APS Modrall,

"proof" of blatantly obvious crime?

Why do I have to prevail against an organization of the size,
and the political power, and the virtually unlimited
financial resources of APS Modrall?

I suggest to you that you have a moral, and an ethical,
and perhaps even a legal obligation,
to take a long hard look at APS Modrall

and either begin civil and criminal prosecutions,

or,

assure the citizens of the State of New Mexico
that the public servants in the leadership of the APS
have meaningful standards of conduct and competence
for their public service;

and are honestly accountable to those standards.



There is probable cause enough, to begin an immediate
forensic administrative accountability audit of
the public interests in the Albuquerque Public Schools.

And even if that audit is must be done against the will
of the leadership of the APS and Modrall.


APS stakeholders need an Attorney General who will
defend their interests in the APS.

You must either step up to that need, Sir,
or stand down in favor of an Attorney General who will.



Respectfully submitted at this time, to the NMAGO
and to the record.

APS Police Chief to Take One for the Team

APS Police Chief Bill Reed will accept sole responsibility
for Elephant Gate;

the decision to arrest a peaceful protester at a board meeting;

an arrest that was made in the most egregious violation of
the protester's constitutional rights to free speech,
the right to petition one's government,
and the right to freely practice religion;

rather that let that protester draw public attention to
the unethical, immoral, and often illegal conduct of the
President of Everything, Paula Maes Modrall.

That kind of dedication will earn the lad a position of honor
in the good ol boys club; perhaps the

Deputy Superintendent of the APS Praetorian Guard

and with a raise in salary befitting such an esteemed position.


He is doing nothing even remotely courageous;

he will be defended by APS Modrall,
with their unscrupulous lawyers and their
bottomless trough of unwitting taxpayer support
for "education";

who will practice their legal weaselry
behind a cloak of invisibility
provided by Maes' cronies in the media.

Thomas Lang, Kent Walz, Michelle Donaldson,
Thomas Pearl and Sue Stephens.


How else can you explain any of this?

If I'm crazy,
what is the sane explanation? ??

Open Letter to Bill Reed Chief of the APS Police

Sir,

I require;

Citations, for every applicable regulation, law, policy, or mandate of any kind that pertains to my wearing a paper elephant mask during public meetings.

Citations regarding the lines of authority that allow you to take independent action in the absence of any real and credible threat to anyone's safety, actions you have taken and intend to take to restrict my rights to freedom of speech,and to petition my government.

Copies of any accreditation or certification of the APS Police Department, as a department.

The identities of any entities that exercise oversight over the APS Police Department.

Be advised, it has been and is now my belief, that I am also exercising my right to practice my religion; Character Counts by standing up for what I believe in.

Do you intend to comply with the public records request for public records in APS' possession that are germane to the "arrest", whether before, during or after the incident.

Finally, I believe that as a stakeholder, I have the right to ask you for an on the record response to a legitimate question about your public service.

Within your public service as one of the most senior public servants in the APS, and
as a steward of many of the billion tax dollars a year entrusted to the leadership of the APS,
and as one of the most senior role models in the leadership of the APS,

do you intend to hold yourself honestly accountable
as a role model of the student standard of conduct;

by accepting accountability to that standard,
by a system over which you have no control?

macq

cc at my sole discretion

UPDATE: 10:13 am

Mr. Chavez has received your request for documents.
Thank You
Bill Reed

The request for a candid, forthright, and honest answer
to a legitimate question of a public servant; and about their
public service;

... dutifully ignored.


Which means what exactly, in the eyes of APS/Modrall lawyers

"plausible deniability"?

There something wrong, really wrong with any administrator or board member who will not answer the question on the record.

As a senior role model in the APS;

Are you willing to hold yourself honestly accountable to
the student standard of conduct,

the Pillars of Character Counts,

a widely recognized, accepted and respected code of ethical conduct,

by system over which you have no undue influence, and

powerful enough to hold you accountable even against your will?


Any answer except yes is, no.


The leadership of the APS needs to step up, or step down.

Step up as a role model;

or step down as a public servant.



Thomas Lang, Kent Walz, Michelle Donaldson,
Thomas Pearl, and Sue Stephens,

step up to your responsibilities and obligations as journalists,
community members, and the only source of information for
informed democracy,

or step down and the publisher and editor of Journal, and as
the "news" directors of KRQE, KOAT, and KOB TV.

How does one write the words "good and evil" without sounding histrionic?

Yet, what other words would one use?

The leadership of the APS is at a fork in the road.

Down one path, a school district where everyone from
students to superintendents are accountable to meaningful
standards of conduct and competence.

Down the other path, a school district run by a bunch of
good ol' boys. No meaningful standards of either conduct
or competence. No system to hold an administrator or
board member honestly accountable for their conduct or
competence, even if there were standards.


If one of those paths is not good, and the other evil,

what is?

Public Servants Not Accountable for "Old, Old" Incompetence and Corruption

according to the Journal editorial this morning, link sub req

Former NM Secretary of State, Rebecca Vigil-Giron said,
The controversy over the $6.4 million that she spent
on self-promoting ads, is "is old, old news."

Therefore, it should not be an issue in her run for congress.


Apparently, there is a very small window of opportunity
during which public officials can be held accountable for
public corruption, misconduct and incompetence.

Once the news cycle ends/the window closes,
the individual acts of mis, non, and-malfeasance fall off of
the public radar, and depending how far off they fall,
may never come up again.

Apparently, and at least according to Vigil-Giron,
that window has closed on her misappropriation of
federal funds earmarked for "voter education".

The good ol' boys in public service have, over generations,
created and maintained the system under which they
are held accountable.

They wrote the standards; woefully inadequate,

and then created the system for accountability,

a system which they control, and which is too weak and
inconsequential to hold them accountable against their will.

It has been years since Rebecca Vigil-Giron used
millions of tax dollars promoting her image
in advance of the elections.

It has been so long in fact that it is old, old news.

And as far as Vigil-Giron is concerned,

"... so what?"

Good question.

Not Sure How I Missed It - But I Did

A letter to the editor from Nelinda Venegas on the subject of
Grade Gate.

And an open letter from the staff at RGHS.

Link, sub req

Torches and Pitchforks Parade "rules"

Torches.

Obviously a bunch of flaming torches dripping fire all over
the place would be cool on some level;
but would reasonably justify the intervention of
the APS Praetorian Guard.

So lets not go there.

Pitchforks are problematic for similar and obvious reasons.

How about Torches = Flashlights?

and when your representative on the board of education
has the opportunity to speak out against the corruption
and incompetence in the leadership of the APS

you could simply raise your hand and turn on your torch.


footnote; I will do what I can to determine if the APS
Praetorian Guards will want to inspect your "torch"
as you enter the public meeting.

They might want to argue that a 24" long maglite link
is overkill. It would be interesting point to clear up
during litigation; but why complicate things?

Same thing with anything approaching the million candle
range. No point in starting any inadvertent fires,
damaging paint; or scorching innocents.

They arrested me for wearing a paper mask.

No point in pressing that point.

One of my students once asked me if I was alive
when there were hippies.

What are you going to tell the children when they ask what
you were doing when everyone else was at the
torches and pitchforks parade?

Grab a (street legal) flashlight

and come storm the Uptown Administrative Complex.

Bring a friend. Bring a lot of friends.

It is kind of important that this done
before they give Linda Sink a multi year contract;

as the new Grand Oom pa of the APS good ol' boys club.

Anonymity Serves No Useful Purpose Anymore

We have passed the point in the struggle against corruption
and incompetence, where more examples of corruption and
incompetence need to be exposed "anonymously" by those
who fear retaliation.

Enough corruption and incompetence has been exposed.

We are powerless to do anything about the corruption and
incompetence already know about.

We have passed the point where anyone has anything
to contribute to this fight
without actually showing up somewhere to stand up
for what they believe in. (for two minutes.*)

*The maximum amount of time that you can exercise
your right to petition your government
should you decide to speak up during the public forum.

It will be off the record, many board members will not
be paying attention, some will not even be in their seats,
and the TV cameras will not be recording in the public
interest.

The corrupt and incompetent in the leadership of the APS,

and the corrupt and the incompetent in public service
everywhere,

have nothing to fear from stakeholders who cannot
show their faces in public. There is nothing that can be
throw from at them from anonymity, that will stick.


Those stakeholders who can stand to be seen in public,
and standing up for what they believe in,

should seriously consider participating in an

APS Torches and Pitchforks* Parade
at an APS School Board Meeting,
APS Uptown Administrative (Retirement) Complex
some first or third Wednesday, at 5 pm
soon.



*The concept of a vast gathering of the great unwashed
armed with nothing but their courage and their torches
and their pitchforks, and overthrowing tyrants
will resonate with some, perhaps not with others.

It is imho,

the only manner by which any tyrant
has ever been overthrown.

And it is the only manner in which tyrants will ever be
overthrown.

Tyrants do not hold elections where the fate of their tyranny
is at risk. Do the math.

If you think that Paula Maes, the President of Everything

is going to be overthrown by anything less than hundreds
of stakeholders showing up at a board meeting
to demand her immediate resignation,

I cannot imagine what that manner might be.
I would also beg that you share it with me,
because this whole torches and pitchforks thing

is a bitch to get rolling.


That Maes' cronies in the media won't cover the parade;
is proof that they will do everything they can
to cover Paula Maes' enormous ass,
(metaphorically speaking, of course.)

Tommy Lang, Kent Walz, Michelle Donaldson,
Thomas Pearl, and Sue Stephens

Grade Controversy Lives On

The Journal ran its speculation on the apparent immortality
of the Grade Gate Scandal, this morning. link sub req.

Why won't the controversy die?

According to the Journal;

State Sen. James Taylor said he doubts the
controversy will end anytime soon.
"There has been no closure," the South Valley
Democrat said late last week.
"That's been the biggest problem with the whole issue.
I think the school district kind of washed their hands
of what was going on."

Fierro now wants her name cleared, prompting
Rio Grande teachers to say they need answers about
what really happened.
"It's like nobody wants to take responsibility for this,"
English teacher David Bleicher has said.

"I think an apology is due the teacher," Taylor said.
"Even APS didn't know how to handle the situation."

Still, he has noticed that rules have tightened,
with administrators demanding syllabuses from teachers
at the beginning of the year.

Anita Lucero, ... Atrisco Heritage Foundation said
people need to be forgiving of Commissioner Córdova.
"I think everybody makes mistakes," Lucero said.
"I know what she did was wrong.
It's a dead dog already. Let's move forward."

There has been no closure, the leadership of the APS
has washed it hands of the whole affair.
Board Members like Robert Lucero will say
"Let's move forward and forget the past."

It is a common position for he and the board to take;
whenever a senior administrator screws up,
the first thing that happens is the drive begins to
move forward and "forget about the past".

When no one in the leadership is willing to take responsibility;
shit rolls down hill. It is the way good ol' boys, and shit rolls.

The leadership of the APS will never apologize. To do so,
would indicate that they have accepted responsibility;
that they have accepted blame;

something the leadership of the APS has never done,
and something the current leadership will never do.

Miguel Acosta, former board member and politico
never admitted that he did anything wrong.

Teresa Cordova, county commissioner, and politica
never admitted that she did anything wrong.

Nor did Nelinda Venegas, Susie Peck, or Beth Everitt.

It just not the way they roll.


Yet "rules have been tightened" at RGHS enabling
the false assumption that lax rules for teachers
were the problem.

Lax rules that led teachers, but not senior administrators,
to screw up the grade change.


Life is good, if you're one of the good ol' boys.

Decidedly less good, if you work down hill from them.

I'm Not Saying That Paula Maes and the Good Ol' Boys in the APS Are Evil

but when Edmund Burke wrote;

All that is necessary for evil to prevail in the world,
is for good men to do nothing.

This is what he was writing about.

Can It Really Be? There is Not One Single APS Administrator From the Educational Interface to the Superintendent's Office

who has the character and the courage,

to role model character and courage,

before 89,000 students in the Albuquerque Public Schools?


If we really want our children to grow to embrace character
and courage and honor,

someone has to show them what it looks like.


Is there really not a single administrator or board member
in the entire APS, who will hold themselves honestly
accountable to the student standard of conduct,

for the few hours a day that they are public servants,
educators

and role models?

O.M.G.

A reader passes along this little gem regarding
APS Superintendent Beth Everitt (still on the payroll)

Ethics forum continues at ATC
2/4/2008

In addition to the keynote address, the forum will cover
two main topics -- ethics in the classroom and
ethics in the boardroom.

Those presenting include Dr. Beth Everitt,

superintendent of Aiken County Public Schools;
Dr. Mike Ritchie, USCA's School of Business;
Dr. Mick Fekula, USCA's School of Business; and
Thomas O'Neil, chief division counsel for the FBI.


lol

Michael McNamara is the Principal at Jefferson Middle School

The home school of Letter to the Editor Gate. link
and for your convenience a link to the Journal report
on Letter to the Editor Gate. (subscription required)

I know Michael McNamara well.

He was the Asst Principal at Hoover Middle School when
I taught shop, landscaping and Character Counts, there.

I took a picture of him negligently allowing, and
knowingly permitting students to break school rules.

I took a picture of him, standing with his arms crossed,
in a hallway full of kids who were "sagging".

This is not about sagging.

It is about children blatantly defying adult authority
in plain sight and without consequence.

Perhaps we can get blogger and JMS teacher, Scot Key
to tell us if Michael McNamara continues to allow students
to defy the authority of adults, in plain view
and without consequence.

I suspect that he does.

Because when I tried to hold him, and Principal Wayne Knight
accountable for professional incompetence and corruption,
by amassing incontrovertible proof,
in the form of photographic evidence of their corruption and
incompetence,

I was fired in retaliation.


Although I was completely exonerated and reinstated
through binding arbitration;

the good ol boys in the APS/Modrall are still there;

still using the power and resources that have been
entrusted to them;

to screw with people who try to hold them accountable
to any meaningful standard of conduct or competence
at all,

even the law.


Witness my arrest by Paula Maes' Praetorian Guard
for trying to draw attention to APS' myriad
of elephants in the room. link

an otherwise,

legal, moral, ethical and constitutionally protected
exercise of my right to free speech
and my right to petition my government.

"It is what it is", or, They are what they are.

Linda Sink's picture was run up the Journal flagpole again
this morning. link sub req

This time in the matter of middle schoolers with
pathetic communication skills.

The letters speak for themselves.

Life is about the work you turn in,
not about the work you could have turned in
if someone else proofreads it and "fixes" all your mistakes.

When these kids go to work,
Linda Sink will not be there to proofread their work.

These students find themselves in middle school
with atrocious writing and spelling skills,
because there has been no point in their education where
they actually had to perform at some level of competence
before continuing on their education.

If you read letters that these same students will write
in their senior year; they will not be any better.

Students who are behind in any aspect of their education,
will fall further and further behind; they will never catch up.
There is nothing in a system that let them fall behind,
that will catch them up. To suppose so, defies logic.

The problem lies in a lack of accountability.

At such time as there are meaningful standards of writing
(and spelling, and math, and reading, and ...)

and honest accountability to those standards,

there will be "no more" middle schoolers
who write and spell like second graders.

Instead, the leadership of the APS offers excuses as to why
the letters were made public in their "honest" condition;

"Teachers are expected to oversee and, where necessary, correct students' work before publication," Sink said...
Jefferson Middle School Principal Mike McNamara agreed that Wahler should have worked on the letters with his students before sending them.
"It was quite clear that the letters were not edited," said McNamara.
McNamara called the letters an "aberration."
"The letters that were published just do not reflect the vast majority of our kids," he said.

Students are not held accountable to meaningful standards
of conduct and competence in their education;

because an inordinate number would fall short.

This would reflect badly on those charged with "adequate"
student growth (in writing, in spelling, in math, ...);

and who do not want to be held honestly accountable for
their failure.

Linda Sink and Paula Maes steadfastly refuse to be held
honestly accountable to any standards of competence
and conduct in their public service.

Is it any wonder then, that students are not held honestly
accountable for theirs?

Role modeling.
Role modeling.
Role modeling.


Paula Maes, Linda Sink

Step up, ... or step down.

Say What?

A piece in the Trib about Public Information Officers.
It is worth a read. link

In the piece, a quote from APS spokesman Rigo Chavez.

"You have to balance the institution ...
with the public's right to know, (and)
you'll have people within the institution who
don't understand the public's right to know,"

Two problems; last first;

• "... people within the institution
  who don't understand the public's right to know ..." and
• balancing the institution against the public right to know.
  

APS' record is one of failing to train employees.
Rigo Chavez refused a public records request for a list
of the names of people trained by the NMAGO on
open government laws.

They pretend not to understand the law,
as a tool to obfuscate the surrender of public records.

The "balance" between institutions and the public right
to know, implies a relationship between the power and
importance of an institution and their obligation
to surrender public records.

APS/Modrall for instance, considers itself too powerful and
too important to be accountable to open government laws.

The truth is that there is no "balancing" of anything.
The law is clear on its face. The least and the most powerful
institutions have an exactly equal obligation to obey the law.

In truth, APS' exception to the law exists in the minds
of the leadership of the APS and the lawyers of Modrall;

and nowhere else.

If There is NOT Now an APS "Character Counts Gate"

How do you explain away the fact that
the names of the group members of a sham
Character Counts Leadership Council

formed apparently, only in order to get grant money
through the efforts of U S Senator Pete Domenici;

have been secret since February 13, 2003 link

and still are.

APS School Board President Paula Maes Must Step Up, or Step Down

The 90,000 of our sons and daughter in the APS deserve
role models. They need role models.

If the senior most public servant in the APS is not willing
to step up to the obligations of the senior most role model

then she should step down as a public servant.

The same argument applies to the next
APS Superintendent, Linda Sink.


Maes' Presidency of the Character Counts Leadership Council,
a secret group of community "leaders" formed apparently for
the purpose of getting grant money through
Senator Pete Domenici;

coupled with

her personal refusal to be held accountable
to the student standard of conduct;
even for the measly few hours a day
she serves the public;


doesn't cut it as the sum and substance of her sacrifice
as a the senior most role model in the APS
of the student standard of conduct.


Ms. Maes, Ms. Sink,

step up,
... or step down.

Did APS/Modrall Negotiate A Settlement With Gil Lovato and Sam Bregman?

If APS/Modrall and the leadership of the APS has laid
a few hundred thousand tax dollars on Lovato and Bregman,
to keep Lovato from showing his body maps in open court,

"... leaving no senior APS administrator or board member left standing ..."

you wouldn't know about it.


Even if you filed a request for public records under the NMIPRA.


And that should worry you
more than just a little.

APS/Modrall Has Used Unwitting Taxpayer Support of "Education"

to buy immunity for senior administrators and board members,
from felony criminal prosecution.


APS Superintendent Micheal Vigil and APS/Modrall
negotiated the exchange of public funds for an agreement to
withhold hard evidence of felony perjury by then
APS Director of Risk Management, Richard Cangiolosi.

Cangiolosi then moved to a cushy job with an APS vendor.

And aggravated drunk driver, Michael Vigil,
left APS with almost a quarter of a million of our dollars.

And never had to answer, for personally negotiating
Cangiolosi's immunity.

The NMAGO Gives APS/Modrall Until March 6th

to explain why they will not surrender APS/Modrall
records to public knowledge.

APS/Modrall has taken tax dollars and paid plaintiffs
not to file criminal charges
against senior APS Administrators and Board Members;

not to settle a civil claim,
but to buy immunity from felony criminal prosecution.

That is why APS/Modrall is hiding their record,
and why it takes the Attorney General's Office to get
APS/Modrall to simply obey the law.


Assuming of course that the NMAGO can make APS/Modrall
obey the law.

APS Police Chief Makes Critical Error

Bill Reed has "mistakenly" responded to my email* to him.
*link

I am both astonished and pleasantly surprised;
it tends to indicate that his gut reaction is to be ethical.

However, he has placed himself in an untenable position;

he now must either start responding to legitimate questions,

or begin stonewalling.

The same thing happened to Tom Savage.
He placed himself on the record as in discussion,
but when I asked him legitimate questions about
the lack of administrative accountability in the APS
he started stonewalling.

And with Brad Winter.
He placed himself on the record with a commitment to
provide a candid, forthright and honest accounting of
the squandering of the public trust and treasure
at 6400 Uptown Blvd,
and then starting stonewalling.

Tom Savage and Brad Winter proved that their character
bends under the influence of APS/Modrall.

What will Bill Reed show us about his character?

Will his response reflect his responsibilities
as a senior administrative role model of
the student standard of conduct;

or will his response reflect his personal corruption and
incompetence.

Time and his responses, will tell.


Bill Reed's response to my email; and mine to his.

Mr. MacQuigg:
At this point in time you are not “banned” from the meetings. I am asking that you do not cover your face at meetings in the future. Had you agreed to go outside last night and discuss this issue without yelling and causing a disturbance, we quite possible could have resolved the matter. I would be happy to meet with you in person and discuss these issues if you are so inclined, and agree to keep our discussion civil and professional. If you would like to do this please let me know and we can schedule a time.
Sincerely,
Bill Reed

Sir,
If I have learned anything at all from my decade long drubbing by APS/Modrall, it is to do nothing that is not on the record,
and with as many witnesses as possible.

I will not meet with you to "discuss" the issue.

But, I can think of no more civilized and professional way
to discuss the issue, than by email.

My first question;

You know the truth about why you wrestled me out of
the board meeting; you know who ordered you to do it.
You know about all of the pertinent public records that were
generated before and after the incident.

The question is; are you prepared to tell the truth?

Are you prepared to be the first administrator in the APS
to hold them self honestly accountable to the student standard of
conduct, as a senior district administrator and role model?

Will you provide candid, forthright, and honest responses to
legitimate questions?

Or have I already received my last email from you?

Who ordered you to order me to remove my mask, or be arrested?

candidly, forthrightly, and honestly.

ched macquigg

Tribune Poll on the APS Superintendent Search

Not that voting in the poll will do any good,

but you should really vote for an outsider,

who is not a member of the APS good ol' boys club, and/or
does not have guilty knowledge of the APS good ol boys club.

link

Open Letter to APS Police Chief Bill Reed

Sir,

It is my intention to continue to exercise my
free speech rights at board meetings.

Since you apparently intend to deny those rights;
and have in fact "revoked" my right to attend and
participate in meetings of the APS Board of Education;

I require from you, at your earliest convenience,
the "rules" that you intend to enforce up me;
with citations please.

Further, explain please, your revocation of my right
to attend board meetings.

Please cite pertinent authority and justification.

On the record, of course.

ched macquigg

APS Police Chief Bill Reed Has Revoked My Right to Attend APS School Board Meetings

Can he do that?

What is this, some third world autocracy?

An Open Letter to Every Reporter Who's Beat Includes the APS

This letter will be forwarded to the Trib, the Journal, KRQE, KOAT, and KOB, with the request that it be forwarded to every reporter on their staff with a stakeholder interest in the APS.

Dear Reporter,

No one has ever argued against the administrative accountability audit proposed by board member Marty Esquivel.

The audit is the single best thing that could happen to restore public confidence in the leadership of the APS.

Yet the leadership of the APS, except for Marty Esquivel,
has prevented the audit from being discussed.

Even though board member Robert Lucero himself, admitted that the audit results would constitute an excellent tool for the next superintendent to use (in cleaning out the good ol boys who are running the APS, so badly). He is on record saying the audit should be done before the next superintendent is hired; for blatantly obvious reasons.

I am offering each of you the opportunity to post a response
to a question. I am hoping that you will agree to accept as
the standard against which your response will be measured,
the APS student standard of conduct; the Pillars of Character Counts, which in circumstances such as these, requires an response that is candid, forthright, and honest.

Why do you think your particular media outlet
will not cover the controversy surrounding the possibility of
an accountability audit of the leadership of the APS;

an audit which in all likelihood,will not leave a single
senior administrator or board member left standing?

(With the exception of Marty Esquivel of course;
the first public servant in the history of the APS
to propose such an audit.)

APS' Praetorian Guard

Praetorian Guard wiki link

The APS Police Department is a publicly funded,
private police force.

It is certified by no one.
It is regulated by no one.
It is investigated by no one

except Paula Maes and Modrall.


It has been used five times now to prevent me from
exercising my rights as a citizen of the United States.

Five times I have been removed from board meetings
for exercising my legal, procedural and ethical rights.

I have never been charged with any misconduct, ever.

No one in APS/Modrall can cite any rule or regulation
that I have broken in my effort to exercise my right
to petition my government, on the record.

I am simply, forcibly removed against my will.

In full view of the media. (They even have video tape.)

The APSPD is being used to stifle protest over the corruption
and incompetence in the leadership of the APS.

It is being used to stifle political opposition.

It is being used to cover up the lack of accountability in
the leadership of the APS, to any meaningful standards
of conduct and competence; even the law.

It is being used to hide public records of public corruption
and criminal conspiracy.

It is being used in what the Council of the Great City Schools
described as a "... culture of retaliation and retribution ... "

It is being used unethically, immorally, and criminally.

Both of its former chiefs left in disgrace after
taking advantage of a system that held them
beyond accountability even to the law.

It is being used as a Praetorian Guard

in full view of the media,


and no one seems to give a crap.


-no offense to the rank and file,
some of whom I know, and
many of whom I respect.-

Marty Esquivel's Name Came Up During My Ejection

I asked him when he was going to do something.

Marty Esquivel is the former last best hope
of APS stakeholders to clean up the corruption and
incompetence in the leadership of the APS.


He is the only board member in the history of the APS,
to demand an administrative accountability audit;

an audit that would put the good ol' boys club in the APS
out of business forever.


Apparently,
the good ol' boys were prepared to stop him and his audit.


Paula Maes

• APS School Board President
• President of the NM Broadcasters Association
• President of the Character Counts Leadership Council
• Wife of the President of the Modrall
• De facto Head of the APS Good Ol' Boys Club
  

said,

she will never allow an audit that will allow
individual administrators to be held honestly accountable
for their conduct or competence as public servants.


... and she won't. Even if it means betraying;

• the principles of Character Counts
• her every responsibility as the senior role model in the APS
• the trust of her constituents, and
  
• the public interests in general.
  

Heck, there's a lot of money, a LOT of money,
to be made litigating exception to the law
for APS senior administrators and board members.


Perhaps she is sharing that money with
Thomas Lang, Kent Walz, Phill Casaus,
Michelle Donaldson, Sue Stephens, and
Thomas Pearl.

It would go a long way toward explaining
their individual refusals to investigate and report upon
the ethics and accountability scandal in the local chapter
of the Good Ol' Boys Clubs Everywhere

It is naive to suppose that Marty Esquivel could take on
the APS good ol' boys APS and the media at the same time
by himself, alone.

Perhaps I asked too much of Marty Esquivel.



... but then I was under some duress at the time.