Son out of wedlock not Domenici's biggest fail

I hold that public servants are entitled to private lives.

The people are entitled to know how their power and resources are being spent by politicians and public servants.  They are not entitled to ignore the Constitutionally protected human right to privacy; not without a warrant.

Further, there are those who are arguing the it was so long ago, it no longer matters.  Following that logic, a more recent failure is more important.  Senator Pete Domenici, within his public service, and ten years more recently, failed 80,000 of his constituents in the APS, and much more profoundly.

He refused to stand up to the leadership of the APS, and against their abandonment of Character Counts! as the standards of conduct for APS students. He did nothing to protest their individual and collective abandonment of their obligations as role models of the nationally recognized, accepted and respected code of ethical conduct, he helped write.

Domenici once wrote, in explanation of his intention to vote to impeach the President,;

"Do not underestimate, my friends, the corrupting and cynical signal we will send if we fail to enforce the highest standards of conduct on the most powerful man in the nation."

It is fair to extrapolate;

Do not underestimate, my friends, the corrupting and cynical signal we will send if we fail to enforce the highest standards of conduct on the leadership of the APS.

He isn't alone in his abandonment of Character Counts!, link.

Domenici cannot right whatever wrong he did in 1978.

He is in a position to right a wrong he continues in today.  He is still, a
Founding Father of Character Counts!.

If we really want students to grow into adults who embrace character and courage and honor, someone has to show them what it looks like.

He could insist upon open and honest public discussion of standards and accountability in the Albuquerque Public Schools.

He could still stand up for the Pillars of Character Counts! and for 89,000 of his community's sons and daughters in the APS.




photos Mark Bralley