NM Governor Susana Martinez could have appointed any one of a number of highly qualified and honest people. She choose instead, former APS good ol' boy and city councilor Brad Winter.
For as long as he was APS' COO, Winter hid the truth from stake and interest holders about at the very, very least, two significant issues.
Brad Winter was behind the wheel when the leadership of the APS decided to hide the truth about their squandering of public resources when they fortified and renovated their castle keep at 6400 Uptown Blvd.
When the buildings were purchased by taxpayers, the purchase came with a promise;
one of the towers would be rented out to pay for the other.
The purchase, they promised, was going to save taxpayers' money.
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| Did Winter spend more than $800 a piece for board member chairs, link? |
Instead, there was a stampede, link, that filled both buildings to the gunwales.
The leadership of the APS went wildly over budget making both towers "livable" for senior administrators and school board members.
This during a time when Meyners & Co. auditors found in their finance department, the trifecta of embezzlement, theft and fraud;
- inadequate standards and
- inadequate accountability to any standards there were, and
- inadequate record keeping.
If anyone just can't accept that fact, all they have to do to disprove it is to produce a candid, forthright and honest accounting of the squandering of the public trust and treasure in the money pit at 6400 Uptown Blvd.
They can ask Brad Winter for a copy; see what he says.
The other cover up led by Winter, was of felony criminal misconduct involving APS senior administrators and the leadership of the APS Police; a public funded private police force; a Praetorian guard if ever their was. The Journal reported on the scandal in 2007, link.
The leadership of the APS and the APS Police, self-investigated the public corruption and incompetence of their leadership.
They hired lawyers to investigate and keep the truth secret.
They never turned over to the District Attorney for prosecution;
- evidence of administrative felony criminal abuse of the FCIC database to harass whistle blowers, or
- evidence of administrative felony misappropriation of money in evidence.
The leadership of the APS covered up the scandal by promoting the deputy chief to chief. This though the deputy chief was fully aware of the corruption and incompetence and never did anything about it.
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| photo by macquigg |
He makes nearly $110K double dipping, and keeps his mouth shut about his investigation of the felony criminal misconduct of his chief and deputy chief.
Brad Winter covered it up. He was there when a decision was made to spend operational dollars, not in classrooms as they were intended by the folks whose dollars they used to be, but spent instead on lawyers and legal weaselry in a, so far, successful effort to hide the truth from stake and interest holders.
He got away with it because the Journal steadfastly refused to investigate and report upon it.
Journal Editor in Chief Kent Walz relentlessly refuses investigate and report upon the ethics, standards and accountability crises in the leadership of the APS.He and his like at the NMBA affiliate stations KRQE, KOAT, and KOB have given aid and abet to the cover ups for as long as I have been trying to get them to expose them.
Walz and the owner/news directors have an obligation as the press (not as the media, as the press) to inform the democracy. In particular, they have an obligation to inform the democracy in anticipation of elections; elections like the upcoming APS Bond Issue election.
They have chosen another path.
They need to be held accountable.
Who will hold them accountable?
When?
Where? and
How?
photos Mark Bralley
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