Thursday, October 11, 2012

KOAT called out on false report

KOAT's Royale Dá reported yesterday on APS School Board Member Kathy Korte's assault and battery on blogger photojournalist Mark Bralley.  KOAT has provided no link to their report.

In her report, she slandered me; not by name but as Bralley's "associate".  She reported inaccurately on Marty Esquivel's unlawful restraining order, and then announced that I had disrupted board meetings, an allegation I deny, and an allegation that is supported by no evidence.  School board meetings are recorded; if I had disrupted one, there would be a recording of it.  APS has provided none, Royale Dá clearly has not viewed, nor listened to one.

My letter to Dá and her news director reads as follows;

Ms Dá,

I write in response to your reports yesterday, which contained false and defamatory information.

I am Bralley's "associate".    Anyone, at all familiar with the situation, knows who I am.
Just because you call me an associate, rather than by name, has not protected me from be identified as the object of your inaccurate and incomplete reporting, or from the effects of the slander.  Anyone who believes you, will believe falsehoods about me.

Contrary to your report, I am not banned from City Centre.

If you had taken the time to do an adequate investigation, you would have at least read the "banning letter",
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9fa0iBA0W4FAFiODfcl7WWlGKg2l1o-BM6ksgmho6l83u23Cg8Xlj3_lfnk2lwf3A_qjssud4RcvowW_IwF9xW_SGKVszeVWsZUl6qG8MnSBTeFpLxm-AcjwiQOsrV74SHAR5/s1600/Scan_Pic0001.jpg
and you would see I am only banned from Board Meetings, not from City Centre.  Any attempt to keep me from entering City Centre or the community input meetings is unauthorized by the letter.

A minor error overall, but an error nonetheless.

Further, you reported that I was banned because I disrupted meetings; an unfounded allegation that you didn't bother to investigate before reporting it.  You couldn't be bothered apparently, to point out that they are allegations, allegations unsupported by any evidence.  Neither you, nor APS, has any evidence whatsoever to support the slander.

APS Board meetings are all recorded.  If I had ever disrupted a meeting, there would be a record of the disruption. You have not viewed or listened to any of the tapes, or you would not be spreading APS' slander.

In truth, I was not banned for disrupting meetings; I was banned because I stand up a public forums and ask questions that board members and the Supt don't want to answer;
why have they abdicated from their duties as role models of the student standards of conduct?
why are they denying due process to hundreds of whistle blower complaints?
why won't they surrender a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending remodeling 6400 Uptown Blvd?
why are they hiding public records of multiple investigations of felony criminal misconduct by senior APS administrators?
If you go to APS website,
http://www.aps.edu/about-us/board/meeting-archives/meetingsfolder_view?past:int=-1&amp=&-C=
select the board meeting of Nov 4, 2009 (one of the two meetings cited in the banning letter) fast forward to 42:00 you will see my presentation at public forum.  You will see I did not disrupt the meeting.  Rather, I petitioned my government, a Constitutionally protected human right.  That right cannot be dismissed, simply because I asked questions they don't want to answer.

The banning letter is unlawful;  it was written by Marty Esquivel acting alone.  Board Policy specifically and explicitly prohibits board members from acting as individuals.  The APS police force, an unaccredited and un-certified police force, reporting only to the supt and board, responsible only to the supt and the board, accountable to no one but the supt and the board,  has no business enforcing the unlawful restraining order.

Why are you not investigating the fact that the APS police force is the only agency of law enforcement to investigate felony criminal misconduct by the leadership of the APS police department?  Why are you not investigating their failure to surrender the evidence they gathered, to the DA? Yet you will slander me for no reason except my willingness to stand up at public forums and ask them to explain why they're hiding the public records of the several investigations.

Your coverage was incomplete and misleading.  You have an obligation to report the truth.

I cannot find on your website, the name of your news director in order to cc this letter.
please forward it.

grateful for your time and attention

ched macquigg

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The only thing you're guilty of is speaking truth to power! In APS, that is suicide, right Ruby?