Complaint filed against Brooks, Armenta, and Chavez

A complaint has been filed with APS' whistleblower complaint
program, Ethical Advocate. Previous complaints filed under
the auspices of Ethical Advocate have proved the program is
just another APS scam to create the appearance of honest
accountability where in fact, it does not exist.

Ethical Advocate, link, is a third party vendor whose function
is to strip complainants' identities from their complaints,
supposedly to mitigate the fear of the retribution and retaliation
that auditors have reported is part of APS' "culture".

The current complaint was filed to further document APS' ongoing efforts to obfuscate the surrender of public records which might embarrass the leadership of the APS.

Previously, a complaint was filed alleging that the leadership of
the APS had deliberately mislead an investigator from the
Office of the State Auditor regarding APS' ongoing denial of
due process for whistleblower complaints. That complaint
was closed with a finding of no wrong doing despite the obvious
wrong doing. The complaint was likely handed by the very
people against whom it was filed.

A request for pertinent public records which would establish
who did what in the handling of the complaint, was filed.

APS' Custodian of Public Records
Rigo Chavez has responded to the
request. He informed me that he
has the records and they are
available for inspection in his office
at a mutually agreeable time.

There is no mutually agreeable time.

As I stated in the complaint, there
are a number of legitimate reasons
why a visit by me to APS offices is
completely out of the question. From the complaint;

1) If I show up at Chavez' office, it will count as showing up to APS Executive Director of Communications Monica Armenta's office. She has accused me of "showing up in her office everyday" and "stalking" her. I have no assurance from anyone that if I go to Chavez' office, Armenta will not continue to misconstrue the facts to try substantiate her slander and libel. In truth, I have never gone to Rigo Chavez' office except at his insistence.

2) If I show up at Chavez' office, there is every likelihood that I will be harassed by the Albuquerque Public Schools Police Department who are enforcing an illegal restraining order at the behest of Board Member Marty Esquivel. I have no assurance from anyone, that if I go to Chavez' office, APS' publicly funded, private police force (their Praetorian Guard) will not try to provoke a confrontation.

3) If I show up at Chavez' office, it will aggravate disability that is recognized under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Chavez is aware of the claim and insists that he has the authority to evaluate the extent of, and then deny, my disability.

A recently passed state law will require Chavez to surrender public records electronically; obviating the need for me to go to his (and Armenta's) office ever again.

Chavez, in defense of his refusal, will say only that it is "not his
practice" to surrender documents, or even to communicate,
electronically. He chooses instead to print hard copies (in
contradiction to APS' efforts to go "paperless") and then use
increasingly scarce dollars to buy stamps to mail them, thereby
adding additional days to his delay.

Chavez also insists upon charging 50 cents a page for copies
though under the law, he is entitled to charge only for the
"actual cost" of copying. If APS is actually paying $.50 a page
for copies that cost $.07 across the street at FedEx Kinkos,
it goes a long way toward explaining their overall inefficiency.

Though the moral and ethical obligation to comply with the
law exists, Chavez will exploit the fact that the law doesn't
take effect until July 1st. Then, he and APS' lawyers will
probably argue that the request predates the law and the
law doesn't apply to requests made before the law takes effect.

It would be so much easier, and far less expensive, for the
leadership of the APS to just tell the truth; surrender public
records electronically, upon request.

But then, that's just not the way they roll.

APS Supt Winston Brooks and the Executive Director of Communications Monica Armenta are named in the complaint as co-conspirators in the effort to hide the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS, from public knowledge.

APS has responded to the compliant, indicating that it will take
10 days for them to come up with some kind of response.




photo Mark Bralley