APS Police Chief Makes Critical Error

Bill Reed has "mistakenly" responded to my email* to him.
*link

I am both astonished and pleasantly surprised;
it tends to indicate that his gut reaction is to be ethical.

However, he has placed himself in an untenable position;

he now must either start responding to legitimate questions,

or begin stonewalling.

The same thing happened to Tom Savage.
He placed himself on the record as in discussion,
but when I asked him legitimate questions about
the lack of administrative accountability in the APS
he started stonewalling.

And with Brad Winter.
He placed himself on the record with a commitment to
provide a candid, forthright and honest accounting of
the squandering of the public trust and treasure
at 6400 Uptown Blvd,
and then starting stonewalling.

Tom Savage and Brad Winter proved that their character
bends under the influence of APS/Modrall.

What will Bill Reed show us about his character?

Will his response reflect his responsibilities
as a senior administrative role model of
the student standard of conduct;

or will his response reflect his personal corruption and
incompetence.

Time and his responses, will tell.


Bill Reed's response to my email; and mine to his.

Mr. MacQuigg:
At this point in time you are not “banned” from the meetings. I am asking that you do not cover your face at meetings in the future. Had you agreed to go outside last night and discuss this issue without yelling and causing a disturbance, we quite possible could have resolved the matter. I would be happy to meet with you in person and discuss these issues if you are so inclined, and agree to keep our discussion civil and professional. If you would like to do this please let me know and we can schedule a time.
Sincerely,
Bill Reed

Sir,
If I have learned anything at all from my decade long drubbing by APS/Modrall, it is to do nothing that is not on the record,
and with as many witnesses as possible.

I will not meet with you to "discuss" the issue.

But, I can think of no more civilized and professional way
to discuss the issue, than by email.

My first question;

You know the truth about why you wrestled me out of
the board meeting; you know who ordered you to do it.
You know about all of the pertinent public records that were
generated before and after the incident.

The question is; are you prepared to tell the truth?

Are you prepared to be the first administrator in the APS
to hold them self honestly accountable to the student standard of
conduct, as a senior district administrator and role model?

Will you provide candid, forthright, and honest responses to
legitimate questions?

Or have I already received my last email from you?

Who ordered you to order me to remove my mask, or be arrested?

candidly, forthrightly, and honestly.

ched macquigg

Tribune Poll on the APS Superintendent Search

Not that voting in the poll will do any good,

but you should really vote for an outsider,

who is not a member of the APS good ol' boys club, and/or
does not have guilty knowledge of the APS good ol boys club.

link

Open Letter to APS Police Chief Bill Reed

Sir,

It is my intention to continue to exercise my
free speech rights at board meetings.

Since you apparently intend to deny those rights;
and have in fact "revoked" my right to attend and
participate in meetings of the APS Board of Education;

I require from you, at your earliest convenience,
the "rules" that you intend to enforce up me;
with citations please.

Further, explain please, your revocation of my right
to attend board meetings.

Please cite pertinent authority and justification.

On the record, of course.

ched macquigg

APS Police Chief Bill Reed Has Revoked My Right to Attend APS School Board Meetings

Can he do that?

What is this, some third world autocracy?

An Open Letter to Every Reporter Who's Beat Includes the APS

This letter will be forwarded to the Trib, the Journal, KRQE, KOAT, and KOB, with the request that it be forwarded to every reporter on their staff with a stakeholder interest in the APS.

Dear Reporter,

No one has ever argued against the administrative accountability audit proposed by board member Marty Esquivel.

The audit is the single best thing that could happen to restore public confidence in the leadership of the APS.

Yet the leadership of the APS, except for Marty Esquivel,
has prevented the audit from being discussed.

Even though board member Robert Lucero himself, admitted that the audit results would constitute an excellent tool for the next superintendent to use (in cleaning out the good ol boys who are running the APS, so badly). He is on record saying the audit should be done before the next superintendent is hired; for blatantly obvious reasons.

I am offering each of you the opportunity to post a response
to a question. I am hoping that you will agree to accept as
the standard against which your response will be measured,
the APS student standard of conduct; the Pillars of Character Counts, which in circumstances such as these, requires an response that is candid, forthright, and honest.

Why do you think your particular media outlet
will not cover the controversy surrounding the possibility of
an accountability audit of the leadership of the APS;

an audit which in all likelihood,will not leave a single
senior administrator or board member left standing?

(With the exception of Marty Esquivel of course;
the first public servant in the history of the APS
to propose such an audit.)

APS' Praetorian Guard

Praetorian Guard wiki link

The APS Police Department is a publicly funded,
private police force.

It is certified by no one.
It is regulated by no one.
It is investigated by no one

except Paula Maes and Modrall.


It has been used five times now to prevent me from
exercising my rights as a citizen of the United States.

Five times I have been removed from board meetings
for exercising my legal, procedural and ethical rights.

I have never been charged with any misconduct, ever.

No one in APS/Modrall can cite any rule or regulation
that I have broken in my effort to exercise my right
to petition my government, on the record.

I am simply, forcibly removed against my will.

In full view of the media. (They even have video tape.)

The APSPD is being used to stifle protest over the corruption
and incompetence in the leadership of the APS.

It is being used to stifle political opposition.

It is being used to cover up the lack of accountability in
the leadership of the APS, to any meaningful standards
of conduct and competence; even the law.

It is being used to hide public records of public corruption
and criminal conspiracy.

It is being used in what the Council of the Great City Schools
described as a "... culture of retaliation and retribution ... "

It is being used unethically, immorally, and criminally.

Both of its former chiefs left in disgrace after
taking advantage of a system that held them
beyond accountability even to the law.

It is being used as a Praetorian Guard

in full view of the media,


and no one seems to give a crap.


-no offense to the rank and file,
some of whom I know, and
many of whom I respect.-

Marty Esquivel's Name Came Up During My Ejection

I asked him when he was going to do something.

Marty Esquivel is the former last best hope
of APS stakeholders to clean up the corruption and
incompetence in the leadership of the APS.


He is the only board member in the history of the APS,
to demand an administrative accountability audit;

an audit that would put the good ol' boys club in the APS
out of business forever.


Apparently,
the good ol' boys were prepared to stop him and his audit.


Paula Maes

• APS School Board President
• President of the NM Broadcasters Association
• President of the Character Counts Leadership Council
• Wife of the President of the Modrall
• De facto Head of the APS Good Ol' Boys Club
  

said,

she will never allow an audit that will allow
individual administrators to be held honestly accountable
for their conduct or competence as public servants.


... and she won't. Even if it means betraying;

• the principles of Character Counts
• her every responsibility as the senior role model in the APS
• the trust of her constituents, and
  
• the public interests in general.
  

Heck, there's a lot of money, a LOT of money,
to be made litigating exception to the law
for APS senior administrators and board members.


Perhaps she is sharing that money with
Thomas Lang, Kent Walz, Phill Casaus,
Michelle Donaldson, Sue Stephens, and
Thomas Pearl.

It would go a long way toward explaining
their individual refusals to investigate and report upon
the ethics and accountability scandal in the local chapter
of the Good Ol' Boys Clubs Everywhere

It is naive to suppose that Marty Esquivel could take on
the APS good ol' boys APS and the media at the same time
by himself, alone.

Perhaps I asked too much of Marty Esquivel.



... but then I was under some duress at the time.

According to One of My "Allegators"

It is alleged that Tim Whalen is not actually a candidate
for superintendent.

The plan is that the new superintendent Linda Sink
will create another level of administration for Whalen
after she anointed.

Linda Sink will put a fresh new face on the ol boys club;
too pretty to be corrupt, incompetent, or an enabler of
the corrupt and the incompetent.

And the most senior good ol boy of them all; Tim Whalen
will be appointed to formally lead the good ol' boys club
from behind the scenes.


The needs of students, teachers, and the community
as usual, don't play.

I Am Not The Only Person Worried About Kari Brandenburg

check out a letter to the editor of the Eye on Albuquerque
link

Expect the Broadcast Version of This Evening's Board Meeting to Be Dishonestly Redacted.

During the board meeting tonight,

the first mask and demeanor

I was physically ejected from the meeting by the new APS Chief of Police and a subordinate.

I was manhandled out of the room by the commander of APS' Praetorian Guard for exercising my right to petition my government(albeit by wearing an elephant mask).

I was told that I was making people feel uncomfortable.
... duh

And, I was told,
there was a safety issue with my wearing a mask,
even if I was standing perfectly still while wearing it.

He repeatedly refused to tell me what rule I had broken,and who ordered him to order me, to take the mask off or be arrested! !!

This is bullshit.

I have made a public records request for every scrap of evidence of what happened tonight.

You will see it as soon as it can be pried loose from APS/Modrall.

It will be interesting to see what the reporters from the Journal and Tribune write.


Update; Neither the Journal nor the Trib wrote about it, and
APS/Modrall never surrendered even one public record
that documented any part of my illegal arrest and
blatant civil rights violation.
Update; 5/20/13 APS did produce a video tape of the police chief and an officer pushing me down onto a couch.

A Public Record of a Request for Public Records

To: Custodian of Public Records,
Albuquerque Public Schools

From: Charles MacQuigg,
(address)
(phone number)

This constitutes a request for public records.

I require the opportunity to inspect and or copy
every public record stemming from my ejection
from the board meeting at approximately
5:15 pm Wednesday, February 20.


Including but not limited to;

any recordings made on official APS equipment assigned to the board meeting

any recordings made by any APS employee that would be subject to the public records act

any belt recorder tapes or similar devices worn by the the Chief of the APS Police and his deputy.

any record of orders given to the chief of police to order me from the meeting

any record of any rule, regulation or policy that I am alleged to have violated at the board meeting.

any record of correspondence to the chief by other administrators or board members that are subject to the Act.

It seems reasonable to expect that as
the Custodian of Public Records
and as a public servant,
you would extend the simple courtesy
of acknowledging that you have received this request.

ched macquigg

In A School District That Spends Just Under A Million Dollars a Year on Vandalism

Which good ol' boy signed off on the remodeling plan for Madison Middle School?

A plan which includes lots of windows and glass doors,

surrounded by a landscape of softball sized rocks?


Submitted as evidence of the deleterious effects of a system
that promotes people to their level of incompetence
and then leaves them there. link

I Know Something Terrible About This Person

Journal link sub req

If someone knows something terrible about one of the candidates for the APS superintendency;
APS/Modrall Attorney Art Melendrez doesn't want the public finding out about it.

It is nice that the leadership of APS/Modrall is willing to shield us from the truth about the candidates for superintendent.

It is even nicer that the leadership of APS/Modrall
is willing to shield us from the "terrible" truth about
the current superintendent, any of her subordinates,
or any member of the board of education.

Nice if you are Beth Everitt (still on the payroll)/
Linda Sink, or Paula Maes, anyway.



Do stakeholders have a right to the truth?

Do stakeholders have a right to the terrible truth?

And who is going to enforce that right?

Who is going to hold APS/Modrall accountable for
their conduct and competence as administrators
of the public trust and treasure in the APS?

Wouldn't You Think That Monica Armenta's Job Description

would include communicating to stakeholders?

Ms. Armenta,

Please explain to student stakeholders,
in words that a child can understand,

why they are held accountable to a widely recognized,
accepted, and respected code of ethical conduct;

the Pillars of Character Counts


and you are not?

Explain in words that a child can understand,
the responsibilities of board members and administrators
as role models of the student standard of conduct.


Monica Armenta, Executive Director of APS Communications
$105K a year.

Not Every APS Administrator and Board Member Should be Fired.

Just the criminally corrupt and incompetent.

Is it really too much to ask?

Role Modeling Not Required of New APS Superintendent

for exactly the same reasons that it is not required of the current superintendent, or any other administrator or board member in the leadership of the APS.

How do you conduct a search for a public school superintendent without discussing the issue of the importance of role modeling?


Well it helps to have the press under control.

It helps to have four PIOs and a million dollar budget.

It helps to have friends like Thomas Lang, Kent Walz,
Phill Casaus, Michelle Donaldson, Sue Stephens, and
Thomas Pearl, in the media.

And it helps that there is no accountability for them
to any standards of conduct as journalists,

or even as members of a community
whose number one priority should be to provide the best
possible education for 90,000 of our sons and daughters;

and not on prolonging the careers of the criminally corrupt
and incompetent in the leadership of the APS.

Will YOU Get to Ask a Question?

The leadership of the APS is planning to have the finalists
in their "search" for APS' next Superintendent, screened by stakeholders.

According to the Journal - link - sub req

"The finalists will gather in Albuquerque on March 7 to be screened by students, business and government leaders, APS employees and parents in a marathon of meetings."

Do you suppose that the leadership of the APS will really limit access to only "... students, business and government leaders, APS employees and parents ..."?

How else will they keep me from asking candidates the question that Paula Maes, Linda Sink, Modrall, et al,
refuse to answer?

How will they keep someone from asking each of the candidates if they,

in stark contrast to every single administrator and board member in the APS,

would be willing to hold them self personally and honestly accountable as a role model 90,000 for this community's sons and daughters,

and for a million other APS stakeholders in Albuquerque?


How else will they keep candidates from having to
stand on the record with their intentions regarding
a full scale forensic administrative accountability audit
of the leadership of the APS?

I for one would like to ask them, on the record,
if they will commit to accountability audit,

or if they intend to waive the audit
in favor of maintaining the good ol' boy style of leadership
in the APS?

No Answer From Superintendent Hopefuls

No response from "insider" candidates;

Linda Sink
Tom Ryan
Diego Gallegos
Tim Whalen
Mike Bachicha, or
Allan Holmquist

to the question;

will you audit the leadership of the APS;

identify and eliminate the corrupt and the incompetent,
even though they are your friends, colleagues, and fellow
members of APS' good ol' boys club?

Stonewalling means; no.

Any answer except yes,
means; no.

APS Board Meetings are Held at a Time and in a Place

inconvenient to almost every single APS stakeholder
except board members and administrators who simply
take a ride in the elevator from one floor to another
in the Uptown Administrative Complex.

The decision to limit stakeholder participation is deliberate.

• Board meetings used to be conducted in the evenings, closer to middle of town, and they often met at individual school sites all over town.
• Board meetings used to be recorded and broadcast to the community. If there is any rebroadcast at all, it is now of a dishonestly edited version designed to mislead stakeholders.

Paula Maes does not want to see stakeholders at meetings.


If enough people show up at a meeting;

Marty Esquivel will stand up again and demand
the accountability audit that will end once and for all,
corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APS.

If more show up, Gordon Rowe will find the courage
to stand up with him.

More still, Mary Lee Martin will find the courage.

More still,
a lot more unfortunately,

Maybe Delores Griego will find the courage to stand up
for the interests of her constituents.

At that point, it would make no difference
what Paula Maes/ Modrall wants;

or Berna Facio,

or Robert Lucero.

Tim Whalen is in the running for APS Supt.

despite the fact that he thinks student violence at his
Manzano High School campus, is best controlled
by a student militia. link

I for one, find this completely unacceptable.

Question for the Candidates

Each of the insiders running for APS superintendent
is confronted with an immediate problem;

the overwhelmingly obvious need for an accountability audit
of the administration and leadership of the APS.

An impartial and competent auditor needs to come
into the leadership of the APS and ferret out
the corrupt, the incompetent, and the practices that
enable corruption and incompetence.

When and if, the audit is ever done;
many of their "friends" in the senior administration and
on the school board;

will see their careers end in disgrace, fines, and maybe imprisonment.


They are between a rock and a hard place.

Will they commission an immediate full scale forensic audit,
or not?

I will ask each; and report back.

Each will be allowed to post their response on D6
without interference; on my honor.

Linda Sink
Tom Ryan
Diego Gallegos
Tim Whalen
Mike Bachicha
Allan Holmquist

Lady and Gentlemen;

As candidates for Superintendent of the APS;
I would like you to respond to the following question;

If you are hired; will you begin an immediate, full scale
accountability audit of the leadership of the APS?

I, and stakeholders, and the Pillars of Character Counts.
require a candid, forthright and honest answer.

Please post your response as a comment on this post.

APS "insiders" compete for superintendent job

Gee, ya think? Tribune -link-

If anyone but an "insider" is hired as the next superintendent;

every corrupt and incompetent administrator in the
leadership of the APS will be held accountable for
their (mis)conduct and (in)competence as a public servants.

Therefore,

the next superintendent of the APS,
will be a member of the APS good ol' boys club;

... an "insider".

The Peter Principle and the Leadership of the APS

the Peter Principle "... is a colloquial principle
of hierarchy(ology), stated as:"

"In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise
to his level of incompetence ." (wiki link) derived

If the goal is to really understand the level of corruption and
incompetence in the leadership of the APS;
one must deal first with the concept of
"innocent" until proven guilty.

It is not an ethical or moral construct.
Innocence is only in the eyes of the law,
a technicality which unscrupulous lawyers like Modrall
can exploit in the interests of clients like the wife of the President of the firm, Paula Maes.

Any senior administrator who spends afternoons
in a hotel room with a subordinate;
paying her apparently with APS bicycles, cars,
alarm systems, and otherwise unearned overtime,

is a public servant who is guilty of betraying the public trust.

Never mind what Modrall might be able to get away with
in District Court Courtrooms like Judge Valarie
"It isn't my job to decide who is telling the truth." Huling's.

1. There is no reasonable assumption that
the leadership of the APS is free of incompetence
and corruption.

2. Please revisit premise 1; grasp its full impact.

It is not reasonable to assume that;

Paula Maes, Beth Everitt, Tom Savage, Michael Vigil,
Gil Lovato, Brad Allison, Bill Moffat, Darrel Harrell,

and every corrupt and incompetent APS administrator
and school board member,

are somehow excepted from the laws of human nature.

Absolute power; corrupts absolutely. Socrates

Nature abhors a vacuum. unk
Organizational hierarchies abhor (organizational) vacuums.

In the absence of any other organizational plan,
the quick and the powerful will form an organizational
structure of their own; a good ol' boys club.

APS' organizational structure was formed generations ago;
when ex football coaches formed the cadre of the original
APS good ol’ boys club;

indistinguishable in most aspects
from the current leadership of the APS.


Good ol’ boy organizational hierarchies enable
the Peter Principle.

The Council of the Great City Schools wrote that
administrative evaluations in the APS are
“…subjective and unrelated to promotion or step placement …”

In other words;

• the individual most responsible for the current computer fiasco,
• the individual willfully permitted, or negligently allowed, Peanut Butter Gate
  
• the individual willfully permitted, or negligently allowed, Grade Gate
  
• the individual most responsible for the chaos in the budget and financial departments;

never had to prove by any objective measure,
that they had the skill set to do their job.

Obviously they did not.


All they ever had to do or be, is a member in good standing
in "the club".


It is because the organizational hierarchy of the APS
is a good ol’ boys club,

• that there are no standards of conduct or competence, and
• nothing that represents honest accountability, even if there were.

They have been promoted to their level of incompetence
(and corruption).

If this allegation were not true,

all anyone in the leadership of the APS has to do

is to point to a single board policy or a single administrative
procedural directive that makes the allegation "in"credible.

They cannot.


They defend their indefensible position by hiding it.

Which they are allowed to do with the aid and abet of;

Thomas Lang, Kent Walz, Phill Casaus,
Michelle Donaldson, Sue Stephens and Thomas Pearl.

In my mind, traitors and betrayers one and all,
of the good people of Albuquerque.

Shame on them.

Shame on the corrupt and the incompetent,
and on those with guilty knowledge of that corruption
in the leadership of the APS;

and shame on the "journalists" that are shielding them from
honest accountability for their corruption and
for their incompetence.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

If the leadership of the APS bought computers and software
that don't work, and they then don't work;

who is responsible?

Is it the "leader" who bought computers and software
that no one can figure out how to make work,

or the people who can't figure out how to make it work?

- link Journal sub req.

"In 2004, APS projected spending $16 million
to get the system fully running and to purchase
all necessary hardware and software.
To date, the district has spent $24 million,
according to APS records.

Technology Director Tom Ryan said the latest figure
includes maintenance, which wasn't in the original
projection because upkeep is budgeted separately.
(red herring?)

But even without maintenance, SchoolMax has cost
APS $23 million— $7 million more than projected.

Ryan attributes (most of) the extra money to … extra training.

Whenever a new system is rolled out, "the hardest part is the human capital, to teach (people) how to do something in a different way,"

Yet

Ryan apparently admits that the leadership of the APS deliberately low balled the costs of training in order to mislead budget stakeholders.

Zsombor Peter wrote;

"“Ryan suspects cost pressures led the district to (deliberately?) underestimate training demands.

Ryan said the company has promised two more years of support, though he has nothing in writing.""

Andrea Schoellkopf adds; - link Journal sub req

"(Tom Savage) said the finance, human resources and
construction departments need employees
who understand the systems well enough
to program them rather than relying on programmers
in other departments or outside consultants.

"We spend a lot of money paying consultants to come
and build systems, write the software and make the repairs,"
he said. "When the consultants leave,
we haven't done a good enough job of training
our own people to do the job."

Also, staffers and decision-makers who are familiar
with the system are asked to get it up and running
on top of their usual responsibilities.

"It burns people out and they don't stay,
so you lose whatever knowledge they uniquely may have had (about) the project," he said."

As per usual we don't know who
in the leadership of the APS, screwed up;

only who got screwed

... again.

Darren White, Please Respond

to the following allegations which were sent to me;

1. Did you demand money from the legislature in response
to a "prison break" you uncovered; which turned out to be
a big hole your own guards dug to fix utility pipes?

2. Did you spend drug interdiction money on cars
for your staff and new furniture for your office;
and were you then sued by the DOJ to get it back?

3. Did someone named Erin write any/all of your papers
for you at the University of Phoenix?


A simple yes or no, will suffice.



Stakeholder voters are still waiting for your explanation,
defense, or even your acknowledgment of your participation
in the APS Peanut Butter Gate scandal.

I'll ask, if no one else will.

Doesn't it seem just a little weird that a delegation
from the Czech Republic traveling around the world
to learn about transparency and ethics in Democracy,
ended up in New Mexico?



Isn't that a bit like sending marine biologists
to the moon?

link

APS Wastes Millions on Computers Systems That Don't Work

But it isn't the computers that don't work,
and it isn't the software.

From the audit by the Council of the Great City Schools;

"APS Administrative evaluations are subjective and unrelated to promotion or step placement."

In other words,

the administrators who have cost taxpayers
tens of millions of dollars in directly wasted costs,

are good ol' boys who know squat about computers,
software, and vendor relationships.

They are being paid three teacher salaries a year, or more
to be club members first,
and if they are experts at anything at all,
it is only a fortuitous coincidence.

According to the article in the Journal ( link sub req)
these problems have been going on for years.

According to Karen Alarid,
who oversees the district's construction projects.

"There is no way to actually track our budgets."

"Approximately three years into the new master plan,
there's no more ability to create a report or
reconciliation on the projects."

"It's a serious problem."

"To me, it's a huge blunder that was missed ages ago."
according to Zane Myers, a member of capital advisory committee that consults with APS.

Brad Winter, APS Facilities Director, said one of the goals was to make the construction process more transparent.

During the last board election, when complaints of the lack of transparency in the APS, were being heard, Winter had promised new transparency in the District.

Now he admits "key data" are not even available to
APS administrators and board members,
much less to stakeholders.

Brad Winter has been asked to provide a candid, forthright,
and honest accounting of the squandering of the public trust
and treasure at 6400 Uptown Blvd.

and he will not.

I had presumed he was covering up for Beth Everitt et al.
but now it appears that
he couldn't tell the truth even if he wanted to.


Stakeholders are to take comfort from APS' next
Superintendent, Linda Sink who assures tax payers;

"I think there is a light at the end of the tunnel" .

There is no light at the end of the tunnel of course.


If there were, it would be the headlight of a train called
"the City of the first annual
APS Administrative Accountability Audit


A train which APS School Board Members;
Paula Maes,
Berna Facio,
Delores Griego,
Robert Lucero,
Gordon Rowe,
Mary Lee Martin,
and Marty Esquivel

are determined to watch pass by
the leadership of the APS without stopping.


Perhaps if a few hundred people would show up
at the train station at 6400 Uptown Blvd,
next Wednesday, 2/20/08, at 4:45 pm.

and stood together on the platform (of the public forum)

to protest the board's lack of character and courage;

the train just might make a stop.


Despite the efforts of the leadership of the APS, Modrall,
and the media;

Thomas Lang, Kent Walz, Phill Casaus,
Michelle Donaldson, Sue Stephens,
and Thomas Pearl.

Where is Hector Balderas When You Need Him?

Hector Balderas is the New Mexico State Auditor.

Having gotten wind of a $750K fraud in the administration
of the Santa Fe Public Schools; he has begun an audit
that will "begin broad, and then drill down"
to the individual who allegedly stole the money.

Stakeholders and voters in Santa Fe will find out
how the system allowed somebody to walk off
with $750,000, without someone noticing.

In stark contrast;

when the leadership of the APS investigated itself;
in the Peanut Butter Gate Scandal,

they were happy to come to the conclusion that
Gil Lovato's name, would be the only name,
that would be placed on the public record of the corruption.

Kind of like Elsy Fierro's name was the only name
put on the record in the Grade Gate Scandal.


Well OK, exactly like that.


Not one name in the leadership of the APS
has been placed on the public record
for their criminal involvement in Peanut Butter Gate.*

No senior administrator or board member' name
is on the record for having enabled public corruption
and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS
(police department) to remain secret from stakeholders.


APS Board of Education President, Paula Maes
is on the record saying that; she will not allow an audit
that will enable individual administrators
"... like for example, Tom Savage ..."
to be held individually accountable for their conduct and
competence as public servants.



Balderas is going to go into the Santa Fe Public Schools
to kick ass and take names,

because of credible evidence of a fraud of a mere $750K.



There is credible evidence that suggests that
the Paula Maes/APS/Modrall fraud against tax payers
nets them that much in a bad year.

(The actual financial records and litigation history of the APS/Modrall remains secret to this day, even in defiance of public records requests filed under the NMIPRA.)

For example;

I was paid $25K, give or take, by APS/Modrall
not to take evidence of felony criminal misconduct by
APS senior administrators Richard Cangiolosi and
Michael Vigil, to police.

(Yes, that Michael Vigil, the aggravated drunk driver that the leadership of the APS gave $200K, give or take, to allow himself to be fired without embarrassing the leadership of the APS in court. see link, or search my site for "body maps" for additional posts)

Now if APS/Modrall gave even 30 other people $25K,

to purchase immunity from criminal prosecution,

for members of the leadership of the APS and Modrall;

that's $750K in public fraud right there alone.


Spend a little time on whistle blower Joseph Lopez' site,
and you will find more credible evidence against APS/Modrall
than you can shake a stick at; including a covered up fraud
at the APS Charter Vocational High School of
over a million tax dollars.

Joseph, in his soul, is professional law enforcement.
He knows the law.

Perhaps not well enough to beat APS/Modrall in court,

but well enough to put together enough credible evidence
for any competent prosecutor to put together
a slam dunk case against APS/Maes/Modrall.
link

There is probable cause to conduct a criminal investigation
and forensic audit of the administration of the APS/Modrall.

Which brings me back to my title question;


Where is Hector Balderas when you need him?





*through the corruption and/or incompetence of
Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg
Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White

and of course,
Thomas Lang, Kent Walz, Phill Casaus,
Michelle Donaldson, Thomas Pearl, and Sue Stephens.

The Agenda For the Next APS Board Meeting

does not include any discussion or action on
the much needed and long overdue
First Annual APS Administrative Accountability Audit.

There are only two reasons why board members will not
put the issue on the table for public discussion and debate.

Board members either lack the character,
or they lack the courage to take a stand on ethics reform
in the leadership of the APS.

Which is it; an abject lack of character,
or pitiful lack of courage?

Paula Maes
Berna Facio
Delores Griego
Gordon Rowe
Robert Lucero
Marty Esquivel
Mary Lee Martin

This post will be forwarded to each member of the board.

They have the opportunity to respond, or not,
as their conscience compels.

Any one who would argue otherwise
has a similar opportunity, and responsibility,
to put an alternative explanation on the table.

In these circumstances,

stonewalling is a manifestation of cowardice or corruption;

is it not?

If We Can Have A Special Session For Health Care

We can have a special session for ethics reform.

We can establish meaningful standards of conduct and competence for public servants.

And a system to hold them accountable to those standards
even against their will.

... first.

At first it made me laugh;

and then I thought about it.

I wrote a post on the secret anti-ethics coalition in the legislature in Santa Fe. link

A reader's comment suggested that maybe the secret members of the coalition might be the same people who serve on the secret Character Counts Leadership Council.

It was funny until I thought about it for a few minutes,
and then whoa...


It would explain why the leadership of the APS
has assigned APS two star* administrator Carole Smith
to keep the identities of the leadership council a secret
since 2003. link



*two teacher salary equivalents, maybe more

Sweeping Ethics Reform in Santa Fe; Thwarted

... by whom exactly?

Ethics reform is an odd social dynamic.

In every other controversy there are two sides.
It is obvious to the observer, who is in favor,
and who is against.

Yet we have never seen the "against" side
in the controversy over ethics reform.
There are no (visible) players for Team Against.
No one ever stands up and argues against meaningful ethics reform.

The prevailing position; no meaningful ethics reform,
has never been explained, defended, or even acknowledged.


The refusal to reform has never carried in an honest debate.



It carries, only by preventing the debate;
which enables maintenance of the status quo.


Who is preventing the debate?

I can think of a few names; Thomas Lang, Kent Walz,
Phill Casaus, Michelle Donaldson, Thomas Pearl
and Sue Stephens

Albuquerque's power elite in the "news".


The same folks who are covering up
the refusal to debate meaningful ethics reform in the APS
by the leadership of the APS.

If Joe Monahan's Alligators Really Exist;

then they, and Joe Monahan, know the names of the
members of the anti-ethics coalition in the state legislature.

and voters don't.

Which begs the question;

Joe,
whose side are you on?

The "anti-ethics coalition" in Santa Fe

Parnelli Gonzales link , I believe, coined the phrase
"anti-ethics coalition" to describe the group of state
legislators who stand between the culture of corruption
and meaningful ethics reform.

If the anti-ethics coalition is to be held accountable
at the polls in November,

how are voters to know their names?

The Journal won't print them.
And neither will, I suspect,
any other mainstream media outlet.


Who will tell us their names?


How can we vote them out of office
if we don't know their names?


Every member of the legislature has a record that they
established during the legislative session.

Each either stood up on the record and supported reform
or they did not.


Because when you pick a side when you don't pick a side;

I would suggest that any state legislator
who cannot produce a record of supporting reform efforts;

produces instead, a record of fighting against reform.

Joe Monahan Takes a Page From the Power Elite Handbook

The page on stonewalling.

Blogger Joe Monahan has been taking some heat
from local bloggers lately;

this time for allegedly helping to cover the tracks
of the anti-ethics coalition in the state legislature.

In response to the seemingly legitimate complaints;
"No comment" from Joe.


Were I he,
and the integrity of my blogging had been questioned;

I would probably write something in response;
wouldn't you?

APS Leadership Continues to Survive

based on the mistaken belief that the several allegations
that I have made of public corruption, criminal conspiracy,
and incompetence in the leadership of the APS,

simply can't be true, it can't really be that bad.

The allegations are outlandish, they're crazy, it's lunacy, ...
assign what ever demeaning adjective you like; ______ .


The truth is;

• most are already substantiated by independent polygraphy.
• all can be; without reservation.
• and not one has ever been refuted by evidence or sworn testimony.

No one in the leadership of the APS has ever,
or will ever deny on the record, even one allegation

Not even Monica Armenta.


Perhaps people do not believe the allegations because
they mistakenly believe that if they were true, surely

one of, Thomas Lang, Kent Walz, Phill Casaus,
Michelle Donaldson, Thomas Pearl, or Sue Stephens

would report upon it in their news.


Not one of them will respond to the allegation,
much less try to deny it.


There really is an elephant in the room,
and the media really is part of a conspiracy to keep
stakeholders from seeing it.

Heath Hausamann Failed

as did, NewWest.net,
NM FBIHOP,
Eye on Albuquerque,
Errors of Enchantment,
The Bomb Town News Observer,
m-pyre,
Kate Stone,
The Westerner,
Joe Monahan,
Mario Burgos,
Julia Goldberg,
Burque Babble,
Democracy for New Mexico,
SWOPblogger,
Only in New Mexico,
Inside the Capital,
High Desert Reports,
Capital Report New Mexico,
Sheriff Greg Solano Blog;
and every other political blogger in NM including Diogenes.

Assuming each of these bloggers advocates for
the need for ethical reform in NM state government;

we have failed to make a change.

I believe it is we because cannot, or because we will not
coalesce around issues that advance all of our legitimate
political agendas.

I will of course, bow to controverting fact
and earnestly consider controverting opinion.

gfytaa
ched macquigg

The Failure of the NM Political Blogoshpere

However you slice it;
another legislative session is come and gone
without ethics reform in NM State Government.

The culture of corruption that is public service in NM
remains relentless in its refusal to be held honestly
accountable for their conduct and competence as public
servants.

I would posit that;

there is no more important issue to the people of
New Mexico than ending the culture of corruption
and incompetence in state government.

and further that;

There is no law that cannot be passed in
the NM Legislature by 10,000 voter/taxpayers
on the steps of the roundhouse.

No one outside of the state's largest newspapers has the
wherewithal to even hope to get 10,000 people to Santa Fe.

The record of the media is that they have no interest
in engineering change in NM government.

By their record political bloggers have demonstrated
that they have an interest in engineering change,
but lack the wherewithal to put 20,000 boots on the steps
in Santa Fe.


That is a shame because bloggers are simply the last,
best hope for informed democracy.

It is a shame that there is no cause that will unite them
in a single purpose.

Not even a non, bi, a-partisan issue like ethics reform
in a state government so corrupt and incompetent

as to be a national laughing stock.

Does the Student Council Sponsor at Manzano HS read this blog?

Perhaps someone at Manzano High School would be kind enough forward this link to that person.

http://ched-macquigg.blogspot.com/2008/02/students-cant-handle-thruth.html

gfytaa

ched

"You (students) can't handle the truth!"

There is to be a state wide conference of student councils.

"Albuquerque Public Schools will host the annual
New Mexico Association of Student Councils
conference Thursday through Saturday.

The first general session begins at 6:40 p.m.,
Thursday, Feb. 14, at Manzano High School,
12200 Lomas Blvd. NE."
link

I submit as a topic for discussion by those students;

student discipline issues including;

• standards of conduct and competence; and
• the enforcement of those standards,
  by the adults at schools.

What do student leaders think needs to be done
in order that, adults regain control in schools?

Will the leadership of the APS encourage,
will they even allow some of the most respected student
leaders in the state,

to offer their insight and opinions on the subject of
chronically disruptive students and their interference
at the educational interface?

These young adults represent the interests
of every student in a public school in New Mexico.

Is this a 3-day field trip? fun and games?

or will they be respected enough to be allowed
to do some real business?

The Pillar of Respect, guarantees that
the human right to autonomous decision making,
will be respected.

Autonomous decision making relies upon
the decision maker knowing the whole truth.

Which in turn requires the leadership of the APS
to be candid, forthright, and honest with these kids.

... oops.




These young adults have a wealth of useful information.
Their perspective, and their ability to articulate that perspective, make them an invaluable resource.

If we pay attention at all to the truth that they will tell,
we will jump light years ahead in regaining adult control
over school campuses.


If only they were allowed.

It is important to understand why the leadership of the APS must be held honestly accountable to some meaningful standard of conduct.

It is because they are not now accountable
to any standard of conduct at all; not even the law.

LINK

Constituents of Heather Wilson and Pete Domenici

include 89,000 students in the Albuquerque Public Schools,
their parents, 15,000 teachers and other employees, and
the community at large.

The interests of those stakeholder are adversely affected
by the abject lack of accountability* in the leadership
of the APS;

Tax dollars are being wasted, and 89,000 of this community's
sons and daughters are not getting the education they need.

Both Wilson and Domenici have a responsibility to defend
the public interests in their public schools.

Both have abdicated their responsibility.

All either has to do,

to bring accountability to the administration
of the public trust and treasure, in the APS;

is to break the media embargo on the truth
about the ethics and accountability scandal
in the leadership of the APS.

Heather Wilson, had at one time,
inquired after my allegation of the lack of accountability
and role modeling, in the leadership of the APS.

APS Superintendent Beth Everitt lied to her ( link ),
and Wilson would not follow up.

In fairness, both she and Domenici were at the time,
weathering a storm of outrage over their phone calls
to David Iglesias.

Senator Domenici,
who is a founding father of Character Counts!
had a special obligation to stand up for accountability
to the Pillars of Character Counts, at a time when
the leadership of the APS was standing down.

Darren White seeks to fill Heather Wilson's shoes

and to continue to cover up the rape of one of the largest
constituent groups in the first congressional district.




*It is important to note that this allegation
has never been denied by any one:

it is not denied by the leadership of the APS

nor by any of the media that refuse in investigate
and report upon that lack of accountability.

The allegation is not contradicted by any evidence.

They are damned by their record.

Darren White's Vote of No Confidence

According to an article in the Santa Fe New Mexican, 9/99

An overwhelming majority* of the members of
the New Mexico State Police Association
voted no confidence in Darren White.

Darren White was described as inexperienced, immature, and a glory hound.

"A good leader needs to gain the people's trust,"
said Rick Anglada, the association's vice president.
"You talk to our members, and they don't trust him
because he says one thing and does another."

In White's response one can read his disrespect
for the rank and file;

"I'm not going to reduce myself to the tactics of organized labor unions," he said
(reduce myself to ...?)
"I'm not running for prom king,"
"This isn't a popularity contest."
"I think there's personal issues involved here."

(duh, "personally" the folks who worked for him
thought him a pompous dick.)

White's manifest disrespect for the rank and file
is likely the fundamental source of his disrespect

among the rank and file.



Nothing has changed.

Stakeholders in the APS Peanut Butter Gate scandal,
(a stakeholder group that includes pretty much everyone)

are still experiencing Darren White's disrespect,

as manifest in his efforts to hide the truth about
public corruption and criminal conspiracy in
the leadership of the APS.

Darren White is scheduled for another vote of confidence
this coming June.

The truth about his part in the Peanut Butter Gate
will be public knowledge by then.

And hopefully that will be the last we hear from prom

King Darren I.



* The report, reports that among the 61% voter turnout,
a whopping 89% voted no confidence in Darren White.

Expect Great Things!

Expect Great Things!
argues APS' Communications Department
on every district publication and letterhead.

It is a specious argument.

"Expectation" doesn't play. It is morphine for the masses,
a soporific prescribed by the leadership of the APS,
for stakeholders.

to dull their perception of reality;
the abject failure of the leadership of the APS
to provide the school system that 90,000 of our sons
and daughters deserve.


It makes you wonder what things would be like
if the promise were of something more immediately useful;

like for example;


APS
Leadership Through Personal Example
by means of Inescapable Accountability
to Unequivocal Standards of Conduct and Competence!

DA Kari Brandenburg; To Be Subject of AG Probe

The Office of the New Mexico Attorney General has
accepted a complaint and will investigate Brandenburg
for her part in the Peanut Butter Gate cover up
of the scandal involving the leadership of the APS
(police department) and the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office.

A year ago, Brandenburg took possession of the results of
two investigations into felony criminal misconduct involving
the leadership of the APS and Darren White's BCSO.

These are the same records that the leadership of the APS
is hiding from stakeholders.

Brandenburg has been exploiting weak language in
the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act
to deny public knowledge of those public records
for a year now.


In order to prove the allegation that; she has done nothing
with the evidence entrusted to her,

I asked for the public record of the hours that she
and/or her office has spent following up on the evidence.

She refused to surrender it; (the record of 0 hours spent).

She is claiming the same exception to the law that
she has been using all along to hide the actual evidence
from public knowledge.


The Attorney General will decide whether
Kari Brandenburg can use legal weaselry and the NMIPRA
to cover up her failure to protect the public interests
in the APS and in the BSCO.


Truly, experience has taught me not to hope for much.

Especially now that Leonard DeLayo,

who hid the truth about the ethics and accountability
scandal in the leadership of the APS for decades,

is running the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government.
(the only advocate that most citizens had in their search for the truth).

Talk about hiring John Dillinger to guard the bank.
wiki link

Have you ever filed a grievance/complaint of any kind against an employer?

This is the last of six background questions that must be answered by candidates for APS Superintendent.

Not, has an employer filed a complaint against you,
but rather
have you filed a complaint against your employer?

Which begs at least one question;

Why does the leadership of the APS care
whether or not a candidate has a history that includes
filing formal complaints against their employer?

Does filing a complaint; being willing to "go public"
with the truth, automatically disqualify a candidate?

The good ol' boys don't like it
when you take their business outside the club.

They like to handle complaints internally, and privately.

Is it a manifestation of the culture of APS leadership
which still maintains, enables and condones
a culture of retaliation and retribution
against those who file complaints
against administrators or board members?


It is;
at least according to a recent audit by
the Council of the Great City Schools.


The questions they really need to ask candidates,
and in all likelihood they are asking candidates in secret, are;

1. Will you reject the Pillars of Character Counts as your
personal standard of conduct and competence?, and

2. Can you avoid a public discussion of APS role modeling;
while excepting yourself, and the rest of the APS leadership
from any sort of honest accountability as role models?, and

3. Will you protect from identification and consequences;
all other administrators and board members who have
abandoned the Pillars of Character Counts as their standard
of conduct and competence?, and

4. Can you be trusted to avoid an administrative accountability audit without raising public attention to the issue? and

5. Will you hide the truth about the record of APS/Modrall? and

6. Can you,with the aid and abet of a corrupt local media,
do all of this in secret from stakeholders?


Candidates who have previously "gone public" with complaints,
and candidates who answer no to any of the questions,
will be removed from further consideration,

... in secret, of course.

Senator Pete Domenici and APS Character Counts Fraud

APS Character Counts has received a lot of federal money courtesy of Character Counts founding father; and
United States Senator, Pete Domenici.

Yet the identity of those who influence its spending,
the Character Counts Leadership Council,

is being kept secret by the leadership of the APS,
and has been secret since February 13th 2003. link

Why won't Senator Domenici renounce the secrecy
surrounding the identification of members of the
APS Character Counts Leadership Council?

Why won't he renounce APS' Character Counts Gate?

the hypocrisy and betrayal of the public interest
manifest in their abdication as role models and
by their self-exception from accountability to
the Pillars of Character Counts.

If he got them federal money,
shouldn't he be looking after how they are spending it?

Does he not owe taxpayers and stakeholders as much?


APS Character Counts Gate;

Why are they hiding their identities?

What else are they hiding?

... if not some kind of fraud?

People do not hide things unless
they have something to hide.

The worst thing any public servant can do
is anything they say they have to do in secret.

APS Character Counts Director, Carole Smith

is paid two or three teachers salaries to model and promote Character Counts in the APS.

She is not herself accountable to the Pillars of Character Counts.

As proof of that allegation; I submit the fact that
she is still hiding the names and the contact information for
the membership of the Character Counts Leadership Council.

Deliberately, and with the blessing of the leadership of the APS;

Paula Maes, Linda Sink.

the "I see nothing!" APS board of education

and the media.

Monica Armenta Claims Ignorance of Peanut Butter Gate

Monica Armenta was all over the guy who wore an elephant mask to the board meeting.

"I know its not Halloween", she said, so what was I doing?

"Drawing attention to the elephant in the room", I responded.

• Peanut Butter Gate
• Grade Gate
• Special Ed Gate
• Principle Shuffle Gate
  
• Character Counts Gate
• Maintenance and Operations Gate
• Bookkeeping and Accounting Gate
• Role Modeling Gate
• Administrative Accountability Gate
• Uptown Administrative Complex Gate
• APS/Modrall Gate
  
• and every other APS Gate in the unrelenting stream of scandals flowing from the well of the abject lack of accountability in the leadership of the APS.
  

She indicated that she hadn't heard of Peanut Butter Gate.

I told her to google it. link

APS Set to Axe Elective Classes for Unsuccessful Students

It would take several posts to list and discuss the many advantages of elective classes.

I won't take the time, because those who support electives don't need to read it; and those who don't support electives will not be moved by it.

In any event, the leadership of the APS, (unidentified in report in the Journal link) has apparently decided that students who are unsuccessful in reading and math, will be compelled to take additional math and reading classes instead of their electives.

Crazy, has been occasionally defined as;
doing the same thing over and over and in the same way
and then expecting a different result.

This new plan is crazy.

And I hope that someone pays attention and
involves stakeholders meaningfully in a decision
that directly affects their interests,
before it's too late.

Character Counts is for Kids

The Pillars of Character Counts represent
a widely recognized, accepted and respected
code of ethical conduct;

a code which can be enforced upon children and others
too weak to assert their own authority.

It is a roundly rejected standard of conduct for adults
who have the wherewithal to except themselves from
accountability to it, or to any other standard of conduct.

A childhood belief in;
honest accountability to meaningful standards of conduct

is much like believing in Santa Claus, the tooth fairy,
and the story about George Washington and the cherry tree.


You grow out of it.

Albuquerque Public Schools Liberal Leadership

Because the leadership of the APS
is the manifestation of a liberal political philosophy;
(wiki link)

students are not held accountable for their misconduct;
nor for their incompetence.

And neither is a single board member or senior administrator.

3:10 to Yuma

For readers unfamiliar with the plot line; (a wiki link )

At the end of the story you have to ask;
was the sacrifice all for nothing?

I have been trying to get even one of APS' good ole boys
on the 3:10 to Accountability for anything at all,
for fourteen years now;

with no success; none.

And I am beginning to wonder

if it has been, even in its smallest measure,

worth it.