Friday, July 03, 2009

Is the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government a sham?

I know (of) six people who are heavy hitters in the NMFOG.

Patrick Rogers,
Leonard DeLayo,
Teri Cole,
Kent Walz,
Marty Esquivel, and
Paula Maes.

Every single one of those names give me pause.

Patrick Rogers, works for a law firm, Modrall, that is quite happy litigating against the public interest, and in support of corrupt and incompetent APS administrators and board members. Modrall was party to a settlement agreement that saw public funds used to purchase immunity for a senior APS administrator, from charges of felony perjury.

DeLayo, as APS School Board President, encouraged board members to ignore polygraph results at my board hearing, that completely exonerated me of the charges made against me, and substantiated the charges that I had made against various administrators.

Teri Cole, as President of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, abandoned support of Character Counts! rather than stand up the the leadership of the APS as they reneged on their commitment to it.

Kent Walz, as Journal editor, steadfastly refused, and still does, to investigate and report upon credible allegations of corruption in the leadership of the APS. As an example, the Journal refuses to investigate and report upon the fact that the leadership of the APS sat on, and it sitting on, evidence of felony criminal misconduct by APS senior administrators, in the Peanut Butter Gate scandal in the APS Police Department. Statutes of limitation have expired on felony criminal misconduct, while the leadership of the APS kept evidence from the Bernalillo County District Attorney.

Marty Esquivel, as recently as last month, argued that "past practice" a particularly useful tool in compelling open government, does not apply to APS School Board minutes, to himself and to the leadership of the APS, link. He steadfastly refuses to allow an open and honest discussion of standards and accountability in the leadership of the APS, link.

Last, but certainly not least, we have Paula Maes, who stated, on the record, that she would never agree to any audit of the leadership of the APS, that named the names of corrupt and incompetent.

If every single name that I recognize has open government credentials that are suspect, how many other members of the NMFOG are similarly compromised?

Perhaps, Bob Johnson did not set up the NMFOG as a good ol' boys club, but there is reason to suspect that that is what it has grown into.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's very similar (in my opinion) to Gov Richardson putting in Marc Correra's wife as "director of prtocol" while Marc was allegedly robbing the New MExico teacher's retirement Board, with the help of fellow crony Bruce Mullett, who was serving as the retirement's Board chairman, under Gov. Richardson's appointment.
I think another great analogy would be putting active alcoholics in charge of safeguarding the liquor supply, or a fox guarding the henhouse.
I particularly find it appalling that Paula Maes is onboard with the NMFOG. In my opinion and experience, she's nothing but a self-opportunistic fascist.

michelle meaders said...

I doubt that the late Bob Johnson have anything to do with choosing those appointees. Where did they come from? I know Leonard de Layo was appointed to take his place.

And I think you meant "suspect" in this context: ...open government credentials that are subject,...

ched macquigg said...

Yes, I did, thanks for catching it.