The Albquerque Journal has an unmet obligation.

Their obligation is to provide a half page, maybe a whole page
of information that voters will need in order to participate in
the upcoming school board the elections.

Those who will be elected will spend nearly a fourth of the
entire budget for the State of New Mexico.

It is perhaps the Journal's most important obligation to their community. It is their job to give voters the information that they need in order to participate meaningfully in the elections.

There is an election for four of the seven seats on the APS board of education this coming February.

There is every reason to believe that that coverage will not be offered to readers.

Currently, voter stakeholders are being kept in the dark about the vacancy in APS District 7. Voters are being kept in the dark about the school board's plan to install Modrall lawyer, Jon Barela on the board, in order that they have a board member who will not audit APS/Modrall.

Not only do voters need information,
but they need it in time to use it.

If Jon Barela is installed by APS/Maes/Modrall now,
he is all but guaranteed victory in a February election.
Especially because the APS Board of Education
will be in the Journal, on a full page, telling voters what a
wonderful addition to the board, that Jon Barela is;
and how indispensable he has become.

I strain to imagine the circumstances for the Journal's failure
to cover the APS school board for voters.

I can only imagine one. Someone at the Journal is corrupt.

He is deliberately withholding information from voters for the sole purpose of protecting the corrupt and the incompetent in the leadership of the APS from accountability for their corruption, and for their incompetence.

And if there is any other reason at all, I cannot imagine it,
and he steadfastly refuses to articulate it.

He could; right here, right now.

He won't; because he can't.
He cannot refute his record; he can only hide it.


cc Charlie Moore and Kent Walz; Journal editors
upon posting.

APS' first annual administrative accountability audit

On the occasion of the first APS administrative accountability audit, competent and impartial auditors examine the entire leadership of the APS looking for meaningful standards of conduct and competence. And then they look for honest accountability to those standards.

Finding both, they will assure taxpayer stakeholders that the leadership of the APS is free of corruption and incompetence, and that stakeholder confidence in the leadership of the APS is justified.

Finding neither, they will inform taxpayer stakeholders that likely millions of tax dollars have been lost or stolen, and that

there is a need for an immediate full scale forensic audit of the entire leadership of the APS.

Forensic auditors will then examine the leadership looking for the corrupt, the incompetent, and the practices that enable them.

On the occasion of the second annual APS administrative accountability audit, a clean audit report is issued.

Auditors will report that meaningful standards of conduct and competence exist, and that there is honest accountability to those standards.



Or, the superintendent is fired for his incompetence and/or corruption.


And the school board held accountable for hiring the wrong
person for the job.

Journal education reporter, Zsombor Peter has disappeared.

Although I have no idea where he went or why,

I choose to believe that the young journalist had the
character and the courage to refuse to participate any longer
in the Journal's cover up of the ethics and accountability scandal
in the leadership of the APS.

The annual budget of the state of New Mexico is between 4 and 5 Billion dollars.

APS spends about a Billion.

Therefore, between 20% and 25% of the state's annual budget is spent by the APS Financial Division.

The recent Meyners Audit of the APS Financial Division revealed that;

1. the APS Financial Division did not have (and has never had) adequate, written, financially sound policies and procedures, and that
2. the APS Financial Division has never really enforced those policies and procedures that they did have, and that
3. the APS Financial Division has never kept adequate records of the spending of between a fifth and a fourth of the state's entire annual budget. (At least not accurate and complete enough to send anyone to jail for wasting or stealing public resources.)
   

We also know that two subordinates in the APS Financial Division, who should have blown the whistle on the scandal and did not, have been promoted to two of the most senior positions in the cover-up/repair of the division.

We know, that unless there has been a miracle of biblical proportion, millions of dollars have been lost or stolen.

We know that APS school board head honcho, Paula Maes, has said she will never allow an honest and impartial audit of the leadership of the APS, that will name names.

And finally, we know that neither Winston Brooks, nor any
member of the board will discuss any of this on the record.

They don't allow inconvenient questions.

And that's about it.


Unless you can find for yourself,
some reason to go to the board meeting tomorrow afternoon,
and let them know in some way, that all of this displeases you.

They are after all, your servants.
You are after all, their master.

Upcoming school board training; OMA violation?

The APS school board is scheduled for a training.

Despite the fact that they pay a million dollars a year to Monica Armenta et al, bo be communicated with; all that stakeholders really know about the training is that

• it is in response to one of Winston Brook's eight power goals, and that according to Gordy Rowe,
• it will be in October,
• in Houston, and
• really expensive.

Because the training is of public servants, on the public dime, and within their public service, the meeting should comply with the requirements of the NM Open Meetings Act.

Comply with;

• in an ethical sense,
  if they were accountable as role models of the student code of ethical conduct; "comply with" means open to stakeholders except in strict compliance with the spirit of the law.

• in a legal sense,
  "comply with" means; closed to stakeholders except that they can demonstrate an indisputable right to be there.

Students are taught that their character is vitally important,
and that their character rides on their willingness to do
more than the law requires, and less than the law allows.

By their personal example, the leadership of the APS is teaching students the diametrically opposite; that their only obligation is to do
as little as the law requires, and get away with as much as the law allows.



The training is designed to make them better leaders.

Despite two full pages under "Schools"

Journal readers know nothing about the school board vacancy in APS District Seven.

Gordy Rowe is finally resigning formally.

His decision was announced on a Wednesday evening.

By Friday morning, the issue was on another school board meeting agenda as a discussion-action item. That means a long standing tradition of bringing an issue to the table in one meeting, and then taking action on the issue at a following meeting, in order to allow stakeholders meaningful participation,

was ignored.

The process began immediately. By the following Monday, there was already a process in place for soliciting candidates. Candidate, really, as in one.

The board wants to install Modrall lawyer Jon Barela. link.

The board needs to continue to obstruct an impartial forensic audit of the relationship between the APS and the Modrall law firm. The president of the APS and the president of Modrall are married to each other, much the same relationship between the APS and the Modrall.

The Modrall makes millions of dollars (unwitting tax payer support for "education") litigating exception to the law for senior APS administrators.

The leadership of the APS must do everything in its power, to obstruct an honest audit of the APS Modrall relationship. Upon that audit, senior administrators and board members will forfeit their reputations, their careers, and perhaps their freedom, as some of them may even go to jail.

The need to stack the board with board members
who lack either the character or the courage to begin an
honest audit of the leadership of the APS;
is born of their only hope to avoid an audit.

Nothing has been done to advertise the opening.
At most the Journal has admitted that there is one.

If you are not an insider, you don't know that an opening exists.
An opening, that in justice, should not exist at all. There is no reason to fill the long vacant seat of Gordy Rowe, by anything but a fair election.

Instead, the leadership of the APS intends to give Jon Barela an incumbent advantage in the election only a few months distant.

I have tried to get the minutes of the Friday meeting for several days. APS will not surrender them; nor will they post them on the internet.

Nor will the Journal inform stakeholders, and those who would be in the running, were it not for the Journal's steadfast support of the unscrupulousness of the leadership of the APS.

I attribute this to the personal corruption of the Journal's Charlie Moore and Kent Walz.

I have repeatedly informed them that I am writing that the Journal's steadfast refusal to investigate and report upon the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS, was apparently due to their personal corruption.

I have repeatedly offered them the opportunity to put any other explanation on the table. They never even had to identify themselves. They could have, and still can, offer the alternative explanation as an anonymous comment on this post.

Either or both could write;

The real and only reason that the Journal will not investigate and report upon incontrovertible evidence of corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APS is; ________ .

But they won't.

Because there is no good and ethical explanation for their efforts to keep stakeholders in the dark.

Their position is indefensible.

So they are doing the only thing you can do with an indefensible position; you hide it.


The same can be said for the persons whose fists pound the table last, at KOB, KOAT, and KRQE.


cc Charlie Moore, Kent Walz, KOB, KOAT, KRQE upon posting.

DA Kari Brandenburg; APS lackey?

When the leadership of the APS needs an investigation completed at break neck speed,
Kari Brandenburg is more than happy to oblige. link

When the leadership the APS needs her to drag her feet
as with her investigation of the APS Peanut Butter Gate scandal; with its credible allegations of felony criminal misconduct by APS senior administrators,
Kari Brandenburg is more than happy to oblige there as well.

Brandenburg has not prosecuted a single case of public corruption. (I will bow to controverting fact)

Either because there has been no corruption to prosecute;
or because there is no one to prosecute the corruption.

If Kari Brandenburg could deny her personal corruption,
she would.

If she could explain her failure to prosecute public corruption in the Second Judicial District, she would.

She doesn't, because she can't.


cc Kari Brandenburg upon posting.

"Eyes are the window to the soul."

The Holy Bible; Matthew 6 22-23, 58 to 68 A.D.

In so far as that statement is true with humans,
"policy" is the window to the soul of an institution.

Policy is not an "off hand" statement that one later regrets for whatever its shortcoming.

Policy is the result of deliberate thought, as carefully and methodically developed as is possible. It is vetted before everyone; including the lawyers.

Policy is where they say exactly what they mean to say.

In August, 2007, the school board approved a new "code of ethics".
In so far as it is policy, it says exactly what they meant it to say.

It is by their own admission; absolutely unenforceable.

It does not mention anything at all about "ethics", except in its title.

Rule number six reads;

Avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance thereof and refrain from using the board position for personal or partisan gain.

There is an appearance of conflict.

The leadership of the APS and the Modrall law firm are alleged to have conspired to litigate against public interest. Specifically, it is alleged that they spent tax dollars to buy immunity from prosecution for felony perjury, by an APS senior administrator (as but one example).

The leadership of the APS Modrall stand squarely opposed to any forensic audit of their relationship.

As if the APS/Paula Maes/Modrall relationship were not "appearance of conflict of interest" enough; the board intends now, to install another Modrall lawyer to the board link.

They are circling the wagons to prevent an honest audit of the APS/Modrall.

Jon Barela will be appointed to the board.
The board will sing his virtues before the February election.
He will be "re"-elected.
He will serve at least four more years.

He will never have had to answer one simple question on the record;

Will you support or oppose a forensic audit of the APS Modrall relationship?

All of this will go unnoticed by stakeholders because the Journal, and KOB, KOAT, and KRQE will not investigate and report upon the allegation.

Because, imho, Charlie Moore, Kent Walz, and the news directors at KOB, KOAT, and KRQE are personally corrupt; they are in "cahoots" with those whose interests are served by covering up the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS.

And not one of them can offer any alternative explanation, except their personal corruption, that explains their failure to investigate and report upon the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS.

If they could, they would.

Right here; __________________________________


cc. Journal, KOB, KOAT, KRQE upon posting.

Classrooms segregated by sex

There was an article in this morning's Journal about a growing number of schools (450) nationwide which are experimenting with separating boys and girls into separate classrooms. (no link available)

It sounds on its face like a good idea.

It would be interesting if someone in the leadership of the APS would react to the idea on the record. Is APS trying it, will they ever try it, are they even talking about it?

There are questions beside; How much money did you spend on the board room? which cannot be asked and answered within the current relationship between APS and the community;

despite their spending of a million tax dollars a year on "communication".

The blind leading the blind

According to this morning's Journal link sub req

APS, CNM, and UNM have signed off on a plan for improving
co-ordination between the three institutions, all to benefit
APS students.

According to the article;

"One idea, (APS' Winston) Brooks said, is to find perhaps 20 Albuquerque teachers who want to become principals in the district and assemble a specialized program for them at UNM, such as instruction on school finance by the APS finance director."

APS' current finance director has the distinction of never blowing the whistle on the serious problems in the APS Finance Division that were revealed by the Meyners Audit; irregularities which likely cost taxpayers millions of dollars;

• inadequate policies and procedures,
• inadequate enforcement of those policies and procedures, and
• inadequate record keeping.

The finance director will train the budding principals on the fine art of promotion as a result of covering up the corruption and incompetence of the good ol' boys that run the APS.

FBI probes NM Finance Authority on GRIP contract.

If you read the article in the Journal; link sub req

and you are as cynical as I;

you will conclude that people contributed a lot of money
to Bill Richardson, and then got awarded a nice juicy
state contract in return for their investment.

Wouldn't you feel just a little bit better;

if at the end of every fiscal year, there were a full scale
forensic audit of the spending of your tax dollars?

Think of the money you would save.

If only there were honest accountability to meaningful standards of conduct and competence for public servants;

enforced by an impartial system powerful enough to hold even the most powerful public servants accountable even against their will.


At least for the measly few hours a day that
they are working for you.

The APS school board will surely argue

That the board vacancy must be filled before the board
goes out of town for a week, in October, to be trained in
how to be a better board.

They will insist that the replacement needs to go to this
invaluable training; which could not be brought here,
and cannot be recorded for the exclusive viewing of the
person who might ultimately earn the seat on the board.

But they will not take along, any of those who intend to run
against Jon Barela in the February election.

It is necessary only to take Jon Barela along.

And therefore necessary to cut voters and stakeholders
out of the process of filling the empty seat on the board.

Jon Barela avoids tough questions.

The board is moving at light speed to install Jon Barela as
Gordy Rowes' Distrtict 7 replacement on the school board.

Rowe announced his resignation Wednesday August 20, 2008.

By the meeting early in the morning the following Friday,
August 22, 2008, all the ducks were in a row and
the whole process was voted in and ready to go.

With no stakeholder involvement at all.

The process smells like the good ol' days, when board members
changed not by election, but by board appointment. link page 12

From 1913-1962, elections were held every two years but a non-incumbent was rarely elected to the board.
(If an incumbent board member decided not to stand for re-election, he or she would resign early. The board itself, including the departing member, would select the replacement, who would then run as an incumbent in the upcoming election.)

As I foretold, Barela will be appointed to the board without
ever having to stand before stakeholders and answer any
questions at all. He will answer only ten questions; link;

not one of those questions is;

Will you hold yourself honestly accountable as role model of the student standard of conduct?

or

Will you present yourself personally to stakeholders to answer legitimate questions about the public interests; will you respond candidly, forthrightly and honestly?

Those are questions of course, that
NO ONE in the leadership of the APS will answer.

Because they have no intention of holding themselves honestly accountable to any standard of conduct at all, and because
they have no intention to ever stand before stakeholders and actually tell the truth about anything.

Nothing in the Journal; nor will there be anything in the Journal
except for the announcement that Jon Barela has been
appointed to serve on the school board, and will enjoy
an incumbent advantage in the February school board elections.

Just like they used to do it when the good ol' boys did whatever
the hell they wanted to, to fill the board with their cronies.

There is no reason to fill the empty seat except by election.
The election is being fixed right before your eyes.

Yet another Modrall lawyer will find himself running a
school system that spends a billion tax dollars a year

• without adequate policies and procedures
• without adequate accountability to those policies, and
• without keeping adequate records.
  (all according to the recent, Meyners Audit)

behind the protection of the Modrall law firm, which makes million of tax dollars litigating exception to the law for APS administrators and board members;

without ever standing for legitimate questions, without
ever answering any questions, and while all the while

refusing to allow an impartial full scale forensic audit of
what ever it is that they are doing.



Because no one will stand up and stop them.

The Open Meetings Act, and the Inspection of Public Records Act

are proof that public servants have arranged it so that you
have to invoke the law, to get them to have to tell the truth.

Unacceptable.

Just as the public has a right to ask legitimate questions about
their interests;

public servants have a corresponding obligation to answer those
questions rather immediately, candidly, forthrightly, and
honestly.

No comment is not an acceptable response from a public servant
in response to a legitimate question about the public interests.


If you believe that, then you need to present yourself at
the APS public forum and join in the demand
for honesty from the leadership of the APS.


Or you can do nothing,
and enable the efforts of all public servants with something
they need to hide from you.


There is only one reason to hide the truth.

Darren White is a superb candidate

according to Rudy Giuliani according to Heath Haussamen link


No matter who says what else;

Darren White is a man who lacks the character and the courage to answer legitimate questions about his public service.

Any public servant has a responsibility to present themselves personally and answer legitimate questions about the public interests and about their public service.

Darren White is ducking that responsibility.

He is still trying to cover up APS' Peanut Butter Gate
and the criminal misuse of public resources under his
supervision.

How anybody could seriously consider voting for
a public servant who has "no comment" in response
to legitimate questions about his public service,

is beyond me.

It defies reason.

DA Kari Brandenburg ducking yet another question.

According to KRQE link

Lorraine Martinez is suing you (taxpayers).

The sheriff's department built a case against her for part in helping Michael Paul Astorga evade capture after the murder of BCSO Deputy McGrane.

According to KRQE;

"During the manhunt sheriff's deputies swarmed Martinez's Albuquerque house and the state Motor Vehicle Division office where she worked. Investigators said they found evidence that she provided Astorga with fake identification and other documents while he was on the run.
Martinez was charged with harboring or aiding a felon and was ordered by the court to stay away from her MVD, the scene of the alleged crime. She was eventually fired.

At the end of last year, the charges were dismissed because the case either was never taken to a grand jury or a preliminary hearing was not scheduled.

"They just simply filed the charges, arrested her, caused her to post bond, barred her from going to work and then neglected the case, dropped it," Martinez' lawyer Pennington said.

The sheriff's department didn't want to comment on a pending lawsuit but said stands by its allegations against Martinez.

On Wednesday the sheriff's department said it didn't know why the charges against Martinez were dismissed.

District Attorney Kari Brandenburg did not respond to a request for comment."

Neither will Brandenburg respond to questions about the evidence she is sitting on, of public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS.

At some point those charges will be forfeit on shelf life issues as well.

Because public servants are permitted to refuse to answer
legitimate questions about their public service.

A privilege she and other senior public servants will enjoy
for as long as you continue to let them.

You have a opportunity next Wednesday to start the ball rolling,
by demanding that the leadership of the APS
present itself to the public for the purpose of responding
to legitimate questions

candidly, forthrightly, and honestly.

The rules of public forum

permit a group of people to stand at the podium together

while each uses their allotted two minutes;

speaking in what ever order they choose.

The rules of the public forum permit audience members
to stand up in support of their beliefs, as well.

It occurs to me that, I am a lightening rod

and people might not want to stand too close to me.


I have never asked,
nor will I ever ask anyone to validate me personally.

You don't have to associate yourself with me any way
in order to stand up and demand that

your public servants present themselves in person
to tell you the truth

when you ask them a legitimate question
about your power and your resources
and about their public service.


The issue really could not be made more clear.


You will either take back control over power and resources that are fundamentally your own,

or you will not,

and you will regret it
for the rest of your life.

The worst thing that any public servant can do

is everything they do in secret.

Why can we not expect public servants to sit still and answer legitimate questions about the public interests?

Why can we not expect them to answer those questions candidly, forthrightly and honestly?

and rather immediately.


Why not?

Bernalillo County "revives" ethics panel

According to an article in this morning's Journal link sub req

The county commission has appointed two new members to
fill vacate seats on the ethics board, which has been "dormant"
since 1999.

According to the article;

The five-member board is mandated by county ordinance but hasn't met for almost a decade. To get it going again, county commissioners on Tuesday appointed former county manager Juan Vigil and optometrist Francis Duffy Jr. to fill the remaining vacancies.

The seats were filled without informing stakeholders that the issue was even on the table.

County Commissioner Alan Armijo is quoted;

"The attorneys realized we didn't have anybody in place for (accepting and "... investigating complaints about employees or officials accused of violating the county's ethics code, which prohibits conflicts of interest, acceptance of certain gifts and use of public property for personal benefit.")."

No body noticed that there is not, and has not been an ethics panel since 1999.
No body noticed. It was finally picked up by "the attorneys."

And ethics reform is not really ethics reform anyway.
Looking at Armijo's statement, it becomes obvious that ethical reform doesn't mean picking any one of a number of legitimate codes of ethical conduct, and then simply establishing honest accountability to that standard.

In our culture of corruption, ethics reform means; identifying a few of the most egregious and indefensible examples of ethical misconduct, and then prohibiting them, and only them.

Faith in the ethics board is reasonable shaken by a closing comment from Armijo;

"The board will meet soon to approve resolutions outlining how it will operate. But after that, it might never meet again if there are no complaints filed ..."

Do you really suppose that there is no need to file any complaint of ethical misconduct by any county employee, on almost a daily basis? If complaints are not being filed, it is for another reason than the fact that there is no ethical misconduct in county government; this is after all New Mexico, which has a national reputation for its "culture of (political) corruption".

Has anyone looked for evidence of a "culture of fear of retribution and retaliation" against those who file complaints against their superiors? Is there whistle blower protection?

Jumping on board with her support for the ethics commission was County Commissioner, Teresa "don't hold my son accountable" Cordova who said; "I think it's always good to have measures of accountability."

Gee, ya think?

It is not apparently, a good idea to have absolute accountability to meaningful standards of conduct and competence, for county employees; in particular the high ranking ones.

Is there really no other candidate to sit on a county ethics board than a former county manager? What are the chances that a former county manager owes a few favors here and there? Is no one supposed to notice that one of the good ol' boys has been placed in charge of holding good ol' boys honestly accountable for their conduct and competence?

Talk about the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Apparently public confidence in the system doesn't play,
which explains why no complaint has been filed since 1999
and why the panel, after it's organizational meeting is likely to

"... never meet again."

If I won for you, a public forum; would you even go?

If by some circumstance, for the first time ever in public service
the leadership of the APS was compelled to stand still and
answer legitimate questions, candidly, forthrightly, and honestly

would you even go?

Would you stand up to Paula Maes and ask her how many tax dollars were lost or stolen do to the irregularities in the APS Financial Division; significant "irregularities" according to the Meyners Audit.

Would you stand up to Robert Lucero and ask him why he is not honestly accountable as a role model of the student standard of conduct.

Would you stand up to Delores Griego and ask her for an ethically redacted version of her participation in Grade Gate?

Would you stand up to Berna Facio and ask her how many tax dollars were spent on the boardroom at a time when fire safety inspections in schools were being ended to save money?

Would you stand up to Gordy Rowe and ask him why he is stepping aside for a Modrall lawyer (type)?

Would you stand up to Mary Lee Martin, who was on the board of education at the time the pillars of Character Counts! were endorsed as the standard of conduct for APS students,

and ask her; why did you vote to remove from your own code of conduct the affirmation of the importance of role modeling;

in no case shall the standard of conduct for an adult be lower than the standard of conduct for students.

Would you stand up to Marty Esquivel and ask him why he is not demanding a forensic audit of the APS Modrall relationship despite over whelming evidence that a great deal of unwitting taxpayer support of education has been used to engage in a great deal of very expensive litigation against the public interests?

Would you stand up and ask Winston Brooks why he is standing in the way of an administrative accountability audit of the APS?

Would you stand up and ask Winston Brooks;

Are you willing to be held honestly accountable as a role model of the student standard of conduct, even for the measly few hours a day you hold students accountable to that higher standard of conduct?

Or will I be the only one asking questions at that forum as well?


Will you even been there to listen to their answers?


By the way, I sent copies to Journal editors Charlie Moore and Kent Walz; a link to my post where I alleged that they have credible evidence of an ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS

and are refusing to investigate and report upon that scandal.

Further that they are refusing to investigate and report upon public corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APS

expressly to protect the corrupt and the incompetent in the leadership of the APS from exposure.


They were offered the opportunity to offer any other good and ethical reason for their failure to investigate and report upon the lack of standards and accountability in the leadership


and they chose not to respond.

At the very next public forum of the APS school board

I will ask the following question;

Will there ever be an honest to God public forum
where any legitimate question can be asked

and the leadership of the APS will respond
candidly, forthrightly, and honestly?

Their response will be to stonewall the question.

The only defense of an indefensible position is to hide it.
According to the student standard of conduct
people who stonewall are behaving unethically.

They are role modeling unethical behavior.

They removed from their own code of conduct the words;

in no case shall the standard of conduct for an adult
be lower than the standard of conduct for a student.

I would like to ask them why they did that.

And expect them to answer candidly, forthrightly, honestly,
and rather immediately.

If you're wondering why the phrase "candidly, forthrightly, and
honestly" shows up so often, it is because it is cut and pasted
from the student standard of conduct;

a nationally recognized, accepted, and respected code of ethical conduct;

the Pillars of Character Counts!


I think even U S Senator Pete Domenici
actually gave a rat's ass about Character Counts! a long time ago.

And Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez;
he used to give a rat's ass about Character Counts! too.



You have a little over a week to pick a side.
You pick a side when you don't pick a side.

Charlie Moore knows, so does Kent Walz

They know that there is an accountability crisis in the leadership of the APS, which is so grave that Governor Bill Richardson said;

the leadership of the APS has a state wide earned reputation for its lack of financial accountability.

Charlie Moore and Kent Walz know that the Meyners audit
revealed that a billion tax dollars a year are being spent;

• without adequate rules, and
• without accountability to any rules, and
• without keeping adequate financial records.

They know that millions of tax dollars have likely gone missing.

They know that subordinates in the APS financial division,who should have blown the whistle on the irregularities, but did not;

have been promoted to Director of Internal Auditing and Chief Financial Officer.

Charlie Moore and Kent Walz know that there is an accountability crisis in the leadership of the APS which is so bad, that Mayor Marty Chavez insists upon the right to appoint school board members of his own.

They know that the former Chief of the APS Police Department, Gil Lovato has said; if the truth ever comes out, there will not be a singe APS senior administrator left standing.

Charlie Moore and Kent Walz know that school board head honcha, Paula Maes has said, on the record, that she will never allow an audit of the APS that names the names of the corrupt and the incompetent.

They know that there is an obvious and incontrovertible need for an immediate full scale forensic audit of the public interests in the public schools.

They know that the leadership of the APS steadfastly refuses to begin the audit, and just as steadfastly refuses to explain, defend, deny, or even acknowledge their decision.

Charlie Moore and Kent Walz know that there is no explanation for their failure to investigate and report upon the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS;

except in order to protect the corrupt and the incompetent in the leadership of the APS.

Charlie Moore and Kent Walz know they are betraying the public trust.

Charlie Moore and Kent Walz can offer no explanation for their failure to investigate and report upon public corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APS

except their own corruption and incompetence.

If we ignore bullies

If we teach our children to ignore bullies
we are teaching them to ignore bullying.

We are teaching them to stand there and do nothing
while bullies rape their friend with a broomstick.

As much as I do not want a child to be beaten up
better that than to have stood there and done nothing
during a rape.

Darren White cannot pass a vote of confidence.

If Darren White was the subject of a vote of confidence,
he would fail. This according to a number of opinions being
expressed in the blogosphere.

You cannot take very seriously, the "back side of blogs",
where people post anonymously, and the most angry
are the most vocal.

But it does raise the issue; and where there is smoke,
there is usually fire. And there is a lot of smoke in the backside
of blogs; smoke that indicates that there is a very real problem
in the leadership of the BCSO; a very real problem with
Darren White's leadership

Added to a previous failure to pass muster with his own
troops, a vote of "no confidence" by his subordinates
in the New Mexico State Police, the question becomes
even more viable.

Darren White could easily commission a vote of confidence
from employees in the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office.

A vote of confidence, that proved confidence,
would be invaluable asset in his run for congress.

It would prove that he learned from his previous failure;
it would prove that he is finally a leader of his troops
who enjoys the confidence of those he leads.

But Darren White will not conduct a vote of confidence,
he will not even discuss a vote of confidence,

because there are real reasons to believe that he would
once again, fail.

It may be happening, but it is prohibited.

The quote, attributed only to "APS" shows up above the fold
in this morning's Journal, as part of an article on the hazing
incident at Las Vegas' Robertson High School. link sub req

It would be naive to argue that there is a school district
anywhere in which rules are not being broken.
It's the nature of the beast; if there are rules, there are
children who will try to break them.

Looking at the issue in a broader context;
we see the "permission of prohibited behavior".

As an example; sagging. Sagging is the wearing of one's pants
low enough on the buttocks to expose underwear. It is a
popular practice that for the most part flies in the face of a
stated rule.

At one point, sagging was a violation of an expressed school
board policy. And yet, it continued at every middle and senior
high school in the APS.

This is not about sagging.

It is about adults laying down rules and children ignoring
those rules in plain sight; in manifest defiance of the supposed
authority of adults.

And they get away with it; without consequence. In the APS
the student intent to sag, was so intractable, that board policy
no longer prohibits sagging. The adults made a rule, the kids
said "no way" and the rule was changed or deleted.

Sagging is not the only example of the permission of prohibited
behavior in the APS.

The most important continuing example is; chronically disruptive
students. If you ask teachers to list the things that prevent
or disrupt an educationally efficient environment, they will
say kids breaking rules, not inadvertently, but deliberately;
kids who simply do not recognize the authority of adults.

APS teachers will not be asked about the permission of
prohibited behavior. There will be no survey that documents
the problem.

Because according to the negotiated agreement; administrators
have the responsibility to enforce school and district policies.

Teachers, of course, share that responsibility; they can't call
an administrator to their classroom every time a kid breaks a
rule. But the ultimate responsibility falls upon the principal,
and above him or her, a chain of command that reaches to
the office of the superintendent.

Ask a teacher, and you will find a breakdown in discipline
that is having a profound and adverse effect on education.
Test scores, truancy, drop outs, most every problem faced
by students and teachers, has its roots in the break down
of discipline in schools.

But teachers will never be asked, problems will never be
documented, because the buck stops on an administrators
desk. And administrators, and board members, do not
gather statistics that support doubt about how well they
are doing their jobs.

The leadership of the APS does not document their own
failures. For the same reason that they will not allow an
impartial audit of the entire leadership of the APS.

They are covering their asses.

And it is just "too bad" for teachers, students, and the
community. And, oh well.

Once a Modrall lawyer, always a Modrall lawyer

If at any time during a legal career, you are of the persuasion
that you (and your clients) can do anything that the law allows;

you have renounced honest accountability to the
APS Student Standard of Conduct, which requires one
to do more than the law requires, and less than the law allows.

The last thing this community needs on the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education is another Modrall lawyer; Jon Barela.

Yet another board member who will not stand up and hold
himself honestly accountable as a role model of the student
standard of conduct.

There is no reason to fill Gordy Rowe's empty seat
four months before an election, except to give Jon Barela
an incumbent advantage in that election.

There are only three kinds of ethical reform in government.

If we can agree to eliminate "accidental" reform as a viable
option;

we are left with two.

Ethical reform "by permission" is an oxymoron.
Those who benefit from public corruption and incompetence,
will never give their permission to end it.

Which leaves us with only; ethical reform "by demand."

And if ethical reform cannot be had by demand,
it cannot be had at all.

And if no one is willing to stand up and
demand ethical reform in government

it cannot be had at all.

What would Winston do?

According to KRQE link

When the superintendent of the Las Vegas Schools found out that there were credible allegations;

that while under school supervision,

a bunch of bullies held some little kids down and rammed broomsticks up their asses.


Superintendent Rick Romero met the returning thugs' bus in the parking lot.

The police were there.


Superintendent Rick Romero "... conceded that at the time
he told the officers this was an internal investigation and that
they were not needed.

I would hope that Winston Brooks is the kind of superintendent
who would have been the first person through the bus door
and then dragged those malicious assholes by the scruff of the necks, to the nearest police car.


In fact, Winston Brooks would probably meet the bus in the parking lot, an obvious obligation and photo op. He would be accompanied by the Albuquerque Public Schools Police. He would insist that there was no need for APS, BCSO, or the NMSP go get involved; that the APSPD had the whole thing under control.

The APSPD is a publicly funded, private police force.
The only one in the entire state.
It is accredited by no one. It is certificated by no one.
It reports directly to Winston Brooks and Paula Maes'
school board.

Winston Brooks would insist that the investigation be conducted by his own Praetorian Guard.

Imagine for a moment that one of those kids that were held down by a gang of bullies, while a broomstick was jammed up their ass

was your baby.


Would you be comfortable allowing Winston's cops to conduct the investigation?

The only reason why APS is the only school district in the state,
with its own publicly funded, private police force;
is so that investigations can be covered up; to hide the truth.

It was former APS Superintendent Peter Horoscak who said

"You can't just tell the truth,
you never know how someone might want to use it."

When APS Deputy Superintendent Michael Vigil was on his
way to jail for aggravated drunk driving; he insisted upon
being allowed to call Gil Lovato, the Chief of the APS Police Department.

Gil Lovato has since said, if he ever gets to court,
if the truth ever gets out,
there will not be a single senior APS administrator left standing.

All Winston Brooks has to do to absolutely refute all of this;

is to sit down at a town hall meeting and answer legitimate
questions about the public interests in the public schools;
all of them.

All he has to do is offer any commitment at all; that he
intends to hold himself accountable to the same standard
he enforces upon students;

candid, forthright, and honest.


He can't, and these allegations are proved,
beyond any reasonable doubt.

Beth Everitt actually promised an audit

When Beth Everitt was busy soft pedaling her "retirement",
at a news conference, she promised that she would cooperate
with any audit of the APS. link

"Everitt asked the board to seek an external audit of the APS administration's structure."

In fact, no audit of the leadership of the APS was ever done;
ever.

Nor will one be done; ever.

Because the leadership of the APS cannot survive an honest audit.

They cannot even survive a public discussion of such an audit.

Superintendent Beth Everitt could not.

Deputy Superintendent Tom Savage could not.

APS COO Brad Winter cannot.

APS CFO Gina Hartman cannot.

APS Director of Internal Audits Michael Kimbrell cannot.

No board member can.

But most of all, Paula Maes and her Modrall law firm cannot.


That is why Paula Maes looked us all in the eye, and said

I will never allow any audit that names names.

The biggest why right now is;
why are the media not saying even one word about any of this?


Does the President of the New Mexico Broadcasters Association
Paula Maes, have so much sway over the media, that
they will betray the public trust just to cover her ass?

Or is there another reason, that no one in the media is proud
enough of, to lay on the table for our inspection?

In a Special APS Board Meeting this morning.

A plan will be hatched to install Modrall good ol' boy Jon Barela
onto the school board.

It will give APS/Modrall's good ol' boy a running start in the
upcoming "election". He will enjoy an over whelming
incumbent advantage in the election. An advantage that he
will have done nothing to earn, except that he is one of the boys.

Like the process that saw Winston Brooks installed as
superintendent, the process will look like there are many
opportunities for "the public" to guide the process.

Like the process that saw Winston Brooks installed; the
process will end with the Board making the final decision.

In any process that ends with a board decision as the final step,
none of the proceeding steps amount to a hill of beans.

For all of the ballyhoo about public involvement in the
Winston Brooks hiring process, Winston Brooks never
found himself in a position where he actually had to answer
a direct question from the public. He is still not in that position.

Winston Brooks never had to answer a single legitimate
question about;

• administrative role modeling
• administrative standards of conduct and competence,
• administrative accountability to any standards at all, and
• an immediate impartial administrative accountability audit.

He never did, and he never will.

Not one of the "leadership" of the APS will answer even one
inconvenient question about the public interests, or about
their public service.

And, neither will Modrall good ol' boy Jon Barela.


And "the public" will never know what hit them.


Nobody ever said they weren't good at what they do.

But then, how good do they have to be,
for as long as the public are asleep at the wheel?

Now it turns out; Jon Barela is a Modrall lawyer.

link to the Journal archives, sub req

He returned to New Mexico in 1987 to practice law with
Modrall, Sperling, Roehl, Harris & Sisk and
remained with the firm until joining Intel. (1993)

Jon Barela, the designated replacement for Gordy Rowe,
is a Modrall lawyer.

Modrall is the law firm making millions of dollars off taxpayers
litigating exception to the law for APS administrators and
board members.

Litigation that has cost tax payers so much money that APS
had its insurance premiums raised as the direct result of
excessive litigation costs.

Litigation that has cost tax payers so much money that
neither the APS nor Modrall will respond to requests for
the public records that show how much it costs.

The President of the Modrall, just happens to be married
to school board head honcho, Paul Maes.

No appearance of conflict of interest there!

What this all means is;
Paula Maes Modrall, is going to install one of her Modrall
buddies on to the school board.

For more than the next four years.

Never mind the scheduled election next February.

The empty seat on the school board does not have to be filled by appointment. It should be filled by election.

The election is only a very few months distant.
Less time than it took them to fill Beth Everitt's slot
with Winston Brooks.

And now they will select a person more powerful than
a superintendent, in a few weeks at best.

There is no need to fill the seat by any manner
except by election.

There is no need to fill the seat now,
except to give the good ol' boy from Modrall
an "incumbent advantage" in the next election.

There really is no hurry to fill the seat.

It isn't like the seat has not been vacant
for quite some time already.


What do you suppose the chances are that;

the good ol' boys in the APS, and
the good ol' boys at Modrall, and
the good ol' boys in local politics, and
the good ol' boys in the media,

couldn't get together,
and put one of their good ol' boys on the school board;

to help spend a billion tax dollars a year.

Which they would do, according to the Meyners Audit;

• Without adequate polices and procedures, and
• without adequate accountability, and
• without adequate record keeping.

Promoting two subordinates that should have blown the whistle
on the mess years ago, and did not
to the positions of APS Director of Internal Audits, and
APS Chief Financial Officer.

And then simply refusing to allow an independent forensic audit.
Refusing to discuss the audit.
Refusing even to answer legitimate questions about the audit.

Paula Maes said,

"I will never allow any audit that will individually identify
any administrator, like for example, Tom Savage."

She meant it. It has never happened. Even the Meyners Audit
didn't mention a single administrators name. Not even the
ones that the Meyners auditors said were spending more
than $50,000 at a whack "... without involving purchasing."

An audit will reveal millions of tax dollars lost or stolen;
or a miracle of biblical proportion.

Paula Maes Modrall cannot survive an audit.

And now she wants to put another one of her homies on
the school board, to help cover her butt.

What could possibly go wrong?


Seriously, what could possibly go wrong?


Foot note; On Tuesday, November 25, 08
I had the occasion to sit and talk with Jon Barela.
He indicated to my that he had taken umbrage at
my use of the word homie.

I concede that my use of the word was ill advised.
I offered Jon Barela my earnest apology in person,
and in public. link

Kari Brandenburg, I am told

has not prosecuted a single case of public corruption
in the entire time she has been our DA.

Is this true?

And if it is true,
is it because there is no public corruption to prosecute,
or is it because there is no prosecutor of public corruption?

Was there no public corruption and criminal conspiracy in
the Albuquerque Public Schools Police Department?

Or was there no prosecutor of credible evidence of
public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership
of the APS (police department)?

Fair questions to ask, in light of the upcoming election.


It is unfortunate that Kari Brandenburg does not hold herself
accountable to any standard of conduct which would require
her to respond to legitimate questions about her public service

candidly, forthrightly, and honestly.

She, by her own deliberate choice,
does not hold herself accountable to a standard of conduct
which actually requires her to answer at all.


Interesting behavior from the senior most
law enforcement officer in the whole Rio Grande valley.

There are no role models in the leadership of the APS

There is not a single administrator or board member willing to stand up and accept honest accountability as a role model of the student standard of conduct;

the Pillars of Character Counts!;

a nationally accepted, recognized, and respected code of ethical conduct;

for even the few hours a day that they hold students accountable to that standard.

There are two explanations;

1. They are not willing, personally, to be held honestly accountable to a higher standard of conduct.

2. They are afraid of the retribution and retaliation that they will suffer if they stand up for what they believe in.

If there is a third explanation, I cannot imagine it; and the leadership of the APS cannot articulate it.



This posts substantially reflects a discussion thread that I started on the KOB TOPIX FORUM this morning.

Those who are waiting for the perfect circumstances to act;

have found only the perfect circumstance,
for not acting at all.

Open letter to Journal reporter Andrea Schoellkopf

Zsombor Peter has not attended any of the most recent
school board meetings. It appears that Schoellkopf is now
the "education" reporter for the Journal.

I took the opportunity to send her a letter this morning
in response to Gordy Rowe announcing the name of the
successor to the school board seat he is abandoning.

(Ms. Schoellkopf)

Before I write anything unkind on my blog I would
appreciate it, if you would read a couple of posts

(Maes, Esquivel, and now Barela)
(APS' Paula Maes sez NO AUDIT)
(both of which follow this post)

and then perhaps offer me a statement that I can quote
in my essay about why you/the Journal will not
investigate and report upon the need for an immediate
full scale forensic audit of the entire leadership of the APS,
and upon
their refusal to respond candidly, forthrightly and
honestly to even one legitimate question about
why they will NOT begin the audit.

respectfully

ched macquigg

Schoellkopf has personally witnessed the board and administration stonewalling the issue of an audit, and has so far, written not one word.

Maes, Esquivel, and now Barela

It used to be that the APS school board selected its own
members. link page 12

They still do.

When Leonard DeLayo decided to resign rather than answer
tough questions on the record, during a re-election bid,
the board picked Marty Esquivel as his replacement.

I told you at the time about how Paula Maes and Marty Esquivel exchanged a long hug before the first meeting of all of the candidates in the last school board election.

I told you how as everyone spoke their last at that meeting; candidates would leave saying, "If I am elected, I look forward to serving with you.", and I told you how Marty Esquivel said simply, "I look forward to serving with you." His appointment was certain.

If you don't think Marty Esquivel was "appointed to the board,
by the board", how do you explain his subsequent support of
every rotten thing the board is doing; most notably;
refusing to respond candidly, forthrightly and honestly to legitimate questions about;

• administrative role modeling,
• administrative standards of conduct and competence,
• administrative accountability to meaningful standards, and
• their relentless refusal to defend, deny, explain, or even acknowledge their refusal to begin an impartial audit of the entire leadership of the APS (despite overwhelming and incontrovertible evidence of the need.)

If Marty Esquivel could deny any of this he would.
He would take a public stand on role modeling, standards and
accountability, and on an audit.

He can't even look constituents in the eyes at board meetings.

None of them can.


And Jon Barela will be the next board member from District 7.

And he will arrive at that position, never having had to answer
a very legitimate question;

Are you willing to hold yourself honestly accountable as a role model of the student standard of conduct; for the measly few hours a day that you hold students accountable to that same standard?

Any answer except yes, is no.
"Stonewalling" is no.

How can anyone get "installed" on a school board,
how can anyone sit on a school board,
how can one be a superintendent,
the senior most administrative role model in the entire district;

never having had to answer that question?


Because nobody is willing to stand up to them and
put an end to it.

Because when it comes right down to it,
Somebody (else) should do something!

cc Esquivel upon posting

Gordy Rowe announces his replacement; to serve for the next four years.

APS is going to take a giant step into the past tomorrow
morning. At at early morning meeting tomorrow, the board
will begin the process of filling Gordy Rowe's school board
seat with another APS good ol' boy Jon Barela.
Barela currently co-chairs the powerful APS Foundation.

Recently a Town Hall Report was prepared by a group
called New Mexico First. The report revealed the manner
in which the APS good ol' boys used to fix school board
membership. link page 12

From 1913-1962, elections were held every two years but a non-incumbent was rarely elected to the board.
(If an incumbent board member decided not to stand for re-election, he or she would resign early. The board itself, including the departing member, would select the replacement, who would then run as an incumbent in the upcoming election.)

Rowe announced at the school board meeting last night
link sub req. that his replacement will serve for the next
four years - unclear how the election scheduled for February
will be circumvented.

The board's biggest problem right now, is to install their
good ol' boy replacement, while making stakeholders feel
like they actually had a hand in the replacement;
similar to the sham process they used to install Winston Brooks;
a process which you recall did not involve candidates having
to answer a single honest question; even in town hall meetings
whose announced purpose was the opportunity to "grill" the
candidates.

I would like to go on record right now with a prediction;
Jon Barela will find himself on the school board without
ever having to answer questions on the record, about;

1. administrative role modeling of the student standard of conduct;
2. administrative standards of conduct and competence;
3. administrative accountability to those standards, or about
4. an immediate full scale forensic audit of the entire leadership of the APS.

It fascinates me that they can do this in plain sight
and still no one will stand up to oppose them.

APS' Paula Maes sez; "NO AUDIT"

APS school board head honcho, Paula Maes has stated flatly that she will never allow any audit of the leadership that would individually identify any corrupt or incompetent administrator or board member.

Maes, and her husband's law firm, Modrall, call the shots in the APS.

There will never be an audit of the public interests in the public schools despite;

Governor Bill Richardson's admission that; the leadership of the APS has a statewide earned reputation for financial accountability.

And despite the recently completed Meyners Audit, which revealed that APS spends a billion tax dollars every year, without adequate rules, without adequate enforcement of the rules, and without keeping adequate records of spending.

Unless there has been a miracle; millions of tax dollars likely have gone missing.

Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez says, the lack of accountability in the leadership of the APS is so profound, as to justify the appointment of school board members by the mayor's office.

Former APS Chief of Police, Gil Lovato was quoted in the Journal saying, if the truth ever gets out, there won't be a single APS senior administrator left standing.

The APS cannot pass another mill levy or bond issue past voters, even if our children's education depended on it.

There is an accountability crisis in the leadership of the APS.
Paula Maes says she will never allow an audit that would sort it all out.

There is no one in the APS powerful enough to contradict Maes.

There is only one force powerful enough to put Maes in her place; and begin an immediate, impartial, full scale, forensic audit of the APS;

... you. You, and perhaps a hundred or more of your friends and fellow tax payers.

You can go to the board meeting tonight to demand an audit of your interests in the public schools.

Nothing would go further to repair public perceptions of the lack of accountability in the leadership of the APS, than a clean audit.

If the leadership of the APS could survive an audit, they would conduct an audit; if for no other reason than to restore their public image.

There is no reason not to begin the audit, except that it will cost as much as $100,000; less than one ten thousandth of the budget, and far less than the money than will be saved by eliminating corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APS.

The audit is a threat to no one who is doing their job competently and honestly.

There is no reason not to begin the audit,
except to protect the corrupt and the incompetent
in the leadership of the APS.



You are invited to the board meeting tonight
5pm at 6400 Uptown Blvd,
south of Coronado shopping center

to re-establish your control over power and resources
that are fundamentally your own.

Never has there been a more profound opportunity
to strike a blow against public corruption and
incompetence in public service.

I cannot imagine anything more important
that you could be doing instead.

You will be done by 5:30.

Winston Brooks in the Journal

Apparently, Winston Brooks will be given a full column in the
Journal once a month. The first installment showed up this
morning. link sub req

I really can't take issue with anything that he wrote; except
that it is all dishonest. It is dishonest because he will not
take questions on any of it.

Winston Brooks will not sit down at a public meeting and
promise to respond to legitimate questions with candid,
forthright and honest answers.

It is not just my questions about; spending, standards,
accountability, and administrative role modeling that he will
not answer.

He will not answer any question whose answer will reveal
an inconvenient truth. He will not communicate in the
honest sense of the word. He may listen to input, he may
disseminate information, but he will never just sit down and
agree to answer any legitimate question candidly, honestly
and forthrightly. He is not honest.

So what difference does it make, what he promises us in
his monthly column? If he isn't honest, he forfeits the right
to to expect to be believed, even when he is telling the truth.

Is APS' Winston Brooks a role model? of what? so what?

Of course Winston Brooks is a role model.

But of what? for whom? and does it make any difference
at all?

If one puts little credence in the concept, and assigns little
importance to it, then all of these questions become an
exercise in semantics. We will draw distinctions without
difference.

But if one believes in the effect of role modeling, and
assigns some importance to that role, then questions about
role modeling are not only appropriate but useful.

Winston Brooks is a role model, for students, of the
student standard of conduct. Students look to him for
an example of the conduct that is expected of them.

But what if someone was concerned that Winston Brooks
was not a good role model of the student standard of
conduct? Should there be some way, some where, that
they can lodge a complaint and expect a fair hearing of the
complaint?

There is no place in the APS to lodge that complaint.

Language was removed from the administrative code of
conduct, the only language which specifically addressed
the concept of administrative role modeling of the student
standard of conduct was stripped from the administrative
code of conduct, by administrators who did not want to be
held accountable as role models.

There is no where to file a complaint over bad role modeling.

There is no where to file a complaint that the concept of
role modeling has been stripped from the expectations of
administrators and board members.

The only place that a complaint can be lodged is at a board
meeting; and only during the public forum, and only if you
are "allowed" to state the complaint.

And if you do, no matter how you do it, you will be labeled
a crack pot or worse. The abuse will continue until you
either give up or go away.

If we really want our children to grow up to embrace
honor and courage and character, someone has to show
them what it looks like.

If you think the obligations of role modeling start at the
top, start with the superintendent and the school board,
the only place you can express your beliefs is at a school
board meeting, and during the public forum.

If you can get anyone at all to stand up too,
both of you will be less likely to be branded as crack pots
or worse, for trying to put the issue on the table.

Open letter to NMAG Gary King

Sir,

Almost two years ago, credible allegations of felony criminal abuse of Darren White's NCIC criminal data base, by senior administrators of the APS, were made public.

Impartial evidence of the public corruption and criminal conspiracy was gathered by an independent investigator.

The evidence was supposedly turned over to 2nd Judicial District Attorney Kari Brandenburg for a decision whether or not to pursue felony criminal prosecutions of any or all the the APS senior administrators that were implicated in the scandal.

In response to a public records request for an ethically redacted version of the evidence that had been surrendered to her, she refused.

She claimed that every word was excepted from the requirements of your New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act. She claimed that every word was protected by virtue of "ongoing investigation".

Your office offered no help in making her comply with the law.

In response to a request for any public record that showed that there actually was any "ongoing investigation" taking place; she choose to simply ignore the request, claiming the same exception.

The subsequent complaint to your office has been ignored as well; it has not even appeared on your website as you have promised.

Further, I am in hope that it falls within your ability, to hold District Attorney Brandenburg's toes to the fire on her failure to complete the investigation in a timely manner.

The two highest ranking APS administrators implicated in the scandal have already retired; one, Beth Everitt, has already fled the jurisdiction. and the other, Tom Savage, has announced plans that he will.

It is important that Kari Brandenburg's "investigation" be completed and released to voters before the re-election of incumbent school board members, and before her own re-election.



The abject lack of accountability is disconcerting. The lack of candid, forthright and honest responses to legitimate questions about the public interests is frankly, frightening.

It serves only to cement a wide spread public perception that public service is corrupt and incompetent, and invulnerable to attempts to hold individual public servants accountable for their public corruption and incompetence.

The perception that there is no justice in the justice system
for the little guy; only for the good ol' boys in public service.

There is little if any, evidence to the contrary.


cc Gary King upon posting.



end note: after posting, and after Gary King acknowledged receipt of the cc.

I have asked repeatedly for an accommodation of a personal disability in the inspection of the public records that I have requested. Rigo Chavez has ignored as many as four emails regarding the disability and the requested accommodation.

Assistant Attorney General Zackary Shandler refuses to acknowledge receipt of my fax asking for his assistance on the issue.

DA Brandenburg sitting on evidence

Nearly two years ago, the Albuquerque Journal and broadcast media reported on a scandal in the leadership of the APS (Police Department).

Then US Attorney David Iglesias reported that the criminal misuse of Darren White's criminal background check system was criminal misconduct of the highest order.

An independent investigator was hired to investigate and report upon the alleged public corruption and criminal conspiracy.

His report was (supposedly) turned over to 2nd Judicial District Attorney Kari Brandenburg, to determine if criminal misconduct had occurred, and then to decide if the public interest would be served by criminal prosecution of the APS administrators who had been implicated.

Almost two years later; still nothing.

All DA Brandenburg had to do was read the report(s) and make a decision whether or not to prosecute.

In the time that Brandenburg has been sitting on the evidence, two of the highest ranking APS administrators implicated in the scandal, have retired and moved on to greener pastures.

Brandenburg apparently intends to run for re-election without ever having taken action on a case so important to the community.

Why?

It is a fair question; one worthy of the asking, and
one worthy of a candid, forthright, and honest answer.

Brandenburg will not even admit that the impartial investigation was even turned over to her office.

There is the possibility that it may not have been.

APS will neither confirm, nor deny, that it turned over this important evidence to the office of the District Attorney for her consideration.

And the beat goes on,
and on, and on.

Perhaps Lisa Torraco, who is running against Brandenburg
in the upcoming election, will make answering the question a priority.

APS/UNM; polishing the image conundrum

The Journal reports, link sub req, that UNM is going to spend
another 4M tax dollars to polish its image.

"The university plans to spend more than $4.4 million
this year on strategists, marketing campaigns and
in-house communications staffers, a Journal review
has found. "

If they spent the same four million on a plan to
actually address the problems that are tarnishing its image;
their image likely would not need polishing.

"The university's reputation is directly connected with
student success," (UNM President) Schmidly said ..."

Well ya, it is; but in the opposite direction. Student success
is more likely to improve the University's reputation than
their reputation is likely to improve student success.


By the same logic, if the APS spent $4M polishing its image,
if they hired another $4M worth of Monica Armentas,
strategists, marketing campaigns and in-house
communications staffers, Albuquerqueans would have
the finest school system in the country.

And while APS will be inclined to follow in UNM"s footsteps,
and increase its spin budget, to increase student success;

there is still time to stand in the way of their plan.

It is too late for the 4M tax dollars that will be spent
spinning the truth at UNM.

Do you feel afraid to petition your government?

One of the most important rights that you own as a citizen of the United States is your right to petition your government.

How comfortable do you feel doing it?

Could you go a school board meeting, city council meeting, or a county commission meeting and express your disapproval of some aspect of their public service?

If you are afraid, it is because you are afraid of the abuse of power.

Why would you be afraid that a public servant might abuse their power?

Is it because for the most part, there is no real accountability for the abuse of power, or for those who abuse power?

Socrates argued that, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

I would add that it is only "power without accountability" that corrupts; absolutely.

There is no reason that you should be afraid of your servant, except that your servant is out of your control.

For as long as they can keep citizens afraid to petition their government, they will continue to abuse their power to make citizens afraid to hold them accountable; afraid to petition them.

For as long as you are afraid to petition your government
you will remain afraid to petition your government.


imho

What keeps you from standing up?

What keeps you from standing up at the public forum at the
next school board meeting and reading the following statement;

There is a public perception of a lack of accountability in the leadership of the APS.

New Mexico State Governor Bill Richardson said; the leadership of the APS has a state wide earned reputation for its lack of financial accountability.

The recent Meyners Audit of the APS Financial Division
revealed that a billion tax dollars were being spent every
year in a division where;

• there were not adequate written financially sound rules,
• there was inadequate enforcement of those rules, and
• there was inadequate record keeping.

Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez tried to change the law
to allow him to appoint school board members, out of his
concern for their lack of accountability.

Former Albuquerque Public Schools Chief of Police,
Gil Lovato, who was placed on administrative leave for six
months, rather than allow him to testify in open court,
said;

when the truth gets out, there won't be a single senior
administrator left standing.

There is every reason to demand an immediate full scale
forensic accountability audit of the entire leadership of the
APS.

There is no apparent reason not to begin that audit,
except to protect the corrupt and the incompetent in the
leadership of the APS.

If you have a good and ethical reason that you are not
beginning the audit; you must share it with stakeholders.

If you have a good and ethical reason to prevent even the
discussion of your refusal to begin the audit; you must
share it with stakeholders.

thank you.