If asked for my "credentials" as a member of the press.

I will aver;

I am a member of the free press.

The free press is credentialed by definition.

The free press is credentialed on its face.

The free press is credentialed by the First Amendment
to the Constitution of the United States of America.

The free press is credentialed by the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:

"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers"

... so there.

Transparency vs. Privacy and Security

This is 5 pg essay on creating institutional transparency.

It is an excellent read.


link

Imagine a machine.

We will call it an autonomous accountability robot droid thing.

Once switched on, it will relentlessly ferret out incompetence and corruption.

The question is not
if corruption and incompetence will be exposed,
the question is only how quickly.

Once turned on, it cannot be turned off.

Building this machine is a piece of cake,

compared to finding some brave sum bitch
with with character and courage enough, to switch it on.


The question is not can an audit be designed
that will ferret out corruption and incompetence,

the question is;
will some brave sum bitch ever order one up?


The Magic 8-Ball link sez;

in your dreams

Upton Sinclair wrote;

"We should not be nearly so worried that
our children never listen to us,
as we should be worried that
they are always watching us."

Every generation, expects the next generation,
to be the first generation, that holds itself honestly accountable
to some meaningful standard of conduct.


... with dismal result.

White lies

A white lie is a deliberate deception in the best interests of the person being deceived.

If there is such a thing as a small lie, it is not a white lie for that same reason.


At least that's what we're telling the 87,000 of our sons and daughters in the APS.

T H Lang lives!

I have been emailing Alb. Journal publisher T. H.Lang for
the longest time, begging him to cover the APS ethics and
accountability scandal.

He has always stonewalled in response.

So I never knew for sure if he had read my email,
or even if his body temperature was still above ambient.

Today he wrote about how bad he feels about having to lay off good people at the Journal.

Because he can't sell newspapers.

In part, because he won't investigate and report upon
the lack of standards and accountability in the APS.

And why would anyone want to buy a newspaper
that won't tell the truth.

Even on the eve of elections?

Mesa Del Sol wants nothing to do with the APS

In this morning's Journal, link, it is reported that the off again,
off again, relationship between Mesa Del Sol and the APS is
off again. (when was it ever really on?)

And who can blame them?

Who would want to partner up with a school district
who's biggest problem and highest priority is covering up
an ethics and accountability scandal in its leadership?

It's a no brainer if ever there was one.

Shhhhhhh! It's a Silent update:

I have received an email update on the SilentWhistle complaint against APS' Director of Internal Audit, Margret Koshmider.

Quoted in significant part, read;

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 9:35 AM by
Albuquerque Public Schools

This SilentWhistle has been closed.

Still nothing from Koshmider herself in response repeated requests for the identity of the person who closed the complaint and, the identity of her supervisor.

Diogenes costume

On two occasions I went to board meetings masked
as "the elephant in the room".
I was illegally arrested on the second occasion,
and I would not suffer another; so there you are,
no more elephant mask.

It just occurred to me that at some meeting
I could come dressed as Diogenes with a lamp and staff.



And then it occurred to me that, except for the lamp and staff,
Diogenes walked around naked.

wikilink

Innocent, until proven guilty.

With regard to the current upset over the seemingly endless and incontrovertible evidence of a culture of corruption in public service at every level of government;

There are those who would argue that nobody has been convicted of anything.

Never the less,
people's overall faith in the goodness of their government has been diminished.



The law reads;

creating the appearance of a conflict of interest is prohibited.

It is written so,
in recognition of the difficulty in proving the substance of conversations that took place in smoky back rooms,

and in recognition of the fact that damage has been done by creating the appearance of a conflict of interest.


An opportunity presents itself;

Public servants; accountable to meaningful standards of conduct and competence.

Honestly accountable, accountable under systems that are impartial and powerful enough to hold even them accountable, even against their will.

All we have to do is insist upon it.

They are after all, our servants.


There is a School Board election coming up.
And the good ol' boys don't want to answer any questions about standards and accountability, on the record.

There are only two school board candidates willing to be held accountable for their character; Patrick Marron and David Robbins link.

They have said that they will sit still and answer legitimate questions, candidly, forthrightly, and honestly; the same standard of conduct that they will hold up for students and staff. They have said that they will lead by their personal example.

There are two candidates for important political office,
who are willing to be held accountable to a standard of conduct that requires honesty.

That in itself, is historic.


But still not newsworthy.


This is JOURNAListic malpractice;
of the worst kind
and right in front of your eyes.

Kent Walz is a Journal editor who has the authority to authorize an investigation of credible allegations of an ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS.

At the very least, he has the authority to tell us why he will not investigate and report upon those allegations.

Should you care to communicate your interest in that investigation, his email address is; kwalz(AT)abqjournal.com


cc Kent Walz upon posting.

I ask again, where in the hell is the teachers union? ??

Having searched the Albuquerque Teachers Federation website, link, I can find no indication that the teachers union gives a rat's ass about the outcome of the February 3rd School Board elections.

This is unfortunate because there is at least one candidate who is willing to do something about out of control students, administrative accountability, transparency, and a wealth of other issues that are vitally important to teachers.

Early voting begins this week, and apparently, the ATF is prepared to sit back and do nothing.

Shouldn't they be telling teachers? that

there are two candidates willing to put student discipline on the table for honest discussion,

and who are willing to give teachers a seat at the table where the decisions about student discipline will be made.?

cc ATF upon posting.

APS Director of Internal Audit continues stonewalling.

APS Director of Internal Audits Margret Koshmider is the subject of an ethics complaint filed with APS' Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline.

She has been accused of denying due process to a complaint filed against APS Superintendent Winston Brooks.

Koshmider has indicated that the complaint against her was relayed to her supervisor and then closed (without the required entry on the SilentWhistle site.

Since then, she has ignored two requests to identify her supervisor, and to identify the person who took it upon themselves to close the complaint against her.

Submitted as evidence that the APS Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline is itself a fraud; a waste of tax dollars, and an abuse of the public trust.

Winston Brooks obligations

In the strictest sense, the superintendent is accountable only to the school board.

School board members are accountable for their selection of the superintendent, at election.

In order for voters to hold school board members accountable for their conduct and competence with respect to the employment of a superintendent, they have to know of the conduct and competence of their superintendent.

If the details of the conduct and competence of a Superintendent are kept secret from stakeholders, how are they to hold anyone accountable for anything?

Winston Brooks owes stakeholders a candid, forthright, and honest appraisal of his successes and his failures. He owes stakeholders a response to a legitimate question;

What have you done since taking administrative control over the APS, that speaks to your conduct and competence as the Superintendent of the APS?

The School Board as well, owes stakeholders candid, forthright, and honest responses to a few legitimate questions;

How has the Superintendent that you have hired, performed.?
Are you satisfied or unsatisfied?
What do you intend to do about your (dis)satisfaction?

A useful tool in evaluating the conduct and competence of a chief administrative officer, is an independent audit of their administration; a full scale standards and accountability audit.

It is an useful enough tool that a Superintendent's contract should should contain provisions for firing a superintendent who cannot manage to create the circumstances that lead to a clean audit.

Yet, neither the Board nor the Superintendent will answer
questions about the first Annual APS Administrative
Standards and Accountability Audit.

They will neither explain, defend, deny, nor even acknowledge their decision to prevent an audit.

And the Journal will allow the board elections to begin without writing a word about it.


Paula Maes constituents deserve to know the Paula Maes stood on the record and said that she would never allow any audit that named the corrupt and incompetent by name.

Mary Lee Martin's constituents deserve to know that Mary Lee Martin refuses to be held honestly accountable as a role model of the student standard of conduct, a standard that she herself, voted to adopt.

And what about their opponents? What if they wanted to tell voters that they would behave differently? How can the Journal justify keep this information secret from them?


How can the Journal's steadfast refusal to investigate and report upon the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS

through another board election, through more school bond elections, and through more mill levy elections

except in an effort to cover up the systemic lack of standards and accountability in the leadership of the APS?

Winston Brooks secret evaluation

According to the Journal, Winston Brooks will receive his
first evaluation by the APS Board of Education. link

Based on this evaluation, Brooks' contract will be extended
for a year beyond the unusually long 3 year contract
which he has already.

When the board evaluates a superintendent, they are
in a very real sense, also evaluating themselves.
When they give Winston Brooks a clean bill of health,
they write one for themselves as well.

The results will be kept secret from stakeholders.
How are stakeholders to evaluate their superintendent or
their school board if all of the pertinent information is kept
secret?

This board has a history of problems with superintendent evaluations and telling the truth. link and link.


Keeping the results secret from stakeholders serves
self interests at the expense of public interests.

There are some glaring problems already, not the least of which is the fact that Winston Brooks will not answer legitimate questions about the public interests.

Among those questions;

1. Why are he and the rest of the administration refusing to be held honestly accountable as role models of the student standard of conduct, if only for the few hours each day that they enforce those standards upon students?
2. Why is the phrase;

   In no case shall the standard of conduct for adults be lower than the standard for students,

   no longer a part of the code of conduct that applies to administrators and board members?
   
3. Why has the leadership of the APS taken two years to investigate felony criminal misconduct in the APS Police Department, allowing statutes of limitation to expire and good ol' boys to except themselves from accountability for criminal and ethical misconduct?
4. Did Meyners auditors uncover criminal misconduct in their investigation of the APS Finance Division?
5. Why were employees of the APS Finance Division, who never blew the whistle on the blatant and egregious problems reported by the Meyners Audit, promoted to positions from which they could cover up their own incompetence and corruption?
6. How many tax dollars were lost because of inadequate policies, inadequate accountability, and inadequate record keeping on the spending of more than a billion tax dollars a year?
7. What was the effect on APS' bond rating, and cost to taxpayers, of the results of the fallout from the Meyners Audit?
   
8. How much money has the leadership of the APS spent on the Uptown Administrative Complex, including a completely unjustified new board room, while saving money by ending fire safety inspections in schools?
9. Why won't the APS tell the truth about the million dollar relationship between the APS and Paula Maes husband's law firm; Modrall?
10. Is the record of APS Modrall litigation, so expensive that the total cost is secret, one of excepting senior APS administrators and Board Members from accountability to the law?
    
11. Why is there no written Discipline Philosophy to support district discipline policies?
12. Why has the leadership of the APS never surveyed teachers about the problems they face everyday in schools?
13. Why has no data been collected that documents the negative effect of chronically disruptive students on the education of all students?
    
14. Why is the APS website unimproved after years of complaints? Why is it impossible to find relevant information? Why is there so little transparency?
    
15. Why is the record of the APS Custodian of Public Records, one of routinely obfuscating the surrender of public records to public knowledge?
16. Why is APS spending money on the SilentWhistle; fraud, waste, and abuse hotline, when it is demonstrably a scam designed to give stakeholders a false sense of protection?
    

Winston Brooks has repeatedly refused to meet with stakeholders and answer legitimate questions, candidly forthrightly and honestly. His meet and greets with stakeholders were a sham; he never allowed the asking of any questions except his own.

According to audits by the Council of the Great City Schools;

• Administrative evaluations are subjective and unrelated to promotions or step placement, and
• Anyone who tries to buck the system falls victim to "... a culture of fear of retribution and retaliation..."

Every independent audit of any division of the leadership of the APS has revealed widespread and deeply rooted incompetence and corruption. Audits have pointed out that the leadership of the APS routinely ignores audit results. Even a bonafide request for public records could not turn up any evidence that policy changes were made as a result of audit findings.

And when asked an inconvenient question on any issue at all,
the response is always the same; stonewalling.

APS is run by a good ol' boys club. It always has been, and
apparently it always will be.

The good ol' boys that the run the Journal steadfastly refuse to report on the Ethics and Accountability Crisis in the leadership of the APS. The Journal steadfastly refuses to report on the school board elections, the candidates, or any of the issues that have compelled them to run for election.


For what it is worth, the editors of the Journal have taken a stand on school lunches. link

A few days after the election, the editors will take another stand
on apathetic voters and their failure to involve themselves in issues or elections.

Two full pages in the Journal on "Schools" today

And still nothing substantial about the February 3rd School
Board Elections.

The exception; 6 column inches in the Metro section, reminding voters that today is the last day to register to vote in that election. In fairness, the Journal did re-mention candidates names, but nothing else. Two candidates have dropped out of the race since filing day; Leonard DeLayo link and Michael Swisher.

Covering election issues is one the main reasons for the existence of newspapers.

If the Journal is not actively engaged in covering up substantial issues in the election, how else can their refusal to cover the election issues be explained? Could this be as simple as the Journal enjoying APS' advertising revenues? Did someone tell the Journal that if they spill the beans, their gravy train will leave the tracks?

NM Repblican Party Central Committee Members to pick sides.

At a meeting this coming Saturday, an amendment to the NMRP Rules will be voted upon.

The amendment provides that deliberative meetings of the NM Republican Party will be run under Robert's Rules of Order.

No one should speak against the adoption of Roberts' Rules,
except in favor of a better set of rules.

Because if anyone votes against the amendment,
they are voting in favor of the status quo;
meetings ruled by the gavel;

meetings where they, or anybody else, can be
thrown out of the meeting for asking a legitimate question,

and have it all explained away with the unmitigated arrogance
of saying;

"My bat, my ball ..." you lose
(your right to participate meaningfully in decision making
that affect your interests.)

I doubt that there is a better set of rules to protect the
powerless in a meeting, than Robert's Rules.


I do know for certain that, the Rule of the Gavel is not one.

APS' "Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline" is a fraud.

APS is paying who knows what, to a company called SilentWhistle as an integral part of its Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline.

The whole thing is a fraud;

deceit, deliberate trickery, perpetuated to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage, calculated to deceive another, a misrepresentation of some material fact that is made with knowledge of its falsity, or in reckless disregard of its truth.

APS, in the December Perspective, promised stakeholders that "unethical" behavior could be reported to SilentWhistle, with the implied promise that complaints would see a principled resolution.

Instead, we find that SilentWhistle is nothing more than a mailbox which forwards complaints to those against whom the complaints are made.

I made a legitimate regarding Winston Brooks' unethical refusal to be held honestly accountable to ethical standards of conduct; specifically that he refuses to be held honestly accountable as a role model of APS' Student Standards of Conduct; a nationally recognized, accepted and respected code of ethical conduct.

SilentWhistle forwarded the complaint to Margret Koshmider, APS Director of Internal Audit. She disposed of the complaint unethically; without due process.

I filed a complaint against her with SilentWhistle. SilentWhistle sent my complaint directly to the person against whom I made the complaint. She claims, in a letter to SilentWhistle, that she forwarded the complaint to her "supervisor". I asked her to identify her supervisor, and she is yet to respond.

I suspect that she reports to Winston Brooks, which means; my complaint that she did not afford due process to a complaint against Winston Brooks, was forwarded to Winston Brooks. If that is true, then Winston Brooks will decide if a complaint against him was properly dismissed or not.

APS School Board Policy prohibits creating the "appearance of a conflict of interest".

This goes way beyond the "appearance" of a conflict of interest, it is a conflict of interest.

APS' Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline, is a fraud. It is also a waste. It is also an abuse of the public trust.

And we still don't know how much taxpayer unwitting support of "education", is being spent to perpetuate the fraud. It could be thousands, it could be tens of thousands of dollars.

I suspect that at least two candidates for the school board would take issue with this fraud.

They would take issue publicly,
if only the Journal did that kind of thing.

APS has a Chief Administrative Officer

He is Superintendent Winston Brooks.

It is his responsibility to ensure that there are adequate standards of conduct and competence for all of his subordinates. It is his responsibility to ensure that there is honest accountability to those standards.

The easiest and most accurate and honest method to evaluate standards and accountability is to hire impartial auditors to investigate and report upon both. It would be called an administrative standards and accountability audit.

Reasonably, the Superintendent's contract would include satisfactory performance on an annual audit.

There is no reason not to conduct such an audit right now, except that the administration of the APS would fail the audit, and the need to keep that fact secret from stakeholders.

Reasonable questions, that speak directly to two of the three responsibilities of the school board;

1. policy making, and
   
2. hiring a superintendent

and which should be put to the candidates for the school board are then;

1. Will you create a policy that requires annual impartial administrative accountability audits? and
2. Will you make satisfactory performance on those audits, an integral part of the decision making process surrounding the renewal of the Superintendent's contract?

If not, why not?

Where are the public forums for the school board elections?

Will the February 3rd school board election, and the attendant issues be kept entirely secret from voters?

It is a fair question.

As far as I know, there is not a single public forum scheduled.

The Journal, 3 days before early voting begins, has yet to do anything beyond identifying the candidates on filing day, late last month.

I can see why incumbents Paula Maes and MaryLee Martin would rather not answer any questions in public, about the many problems that have occurred on their watch;

1. How many tax dollars have gone missing in the APS Finance Division due to their inadequate standards, accountability,and record keeping?
2. Was there criminal misconduct revealed by the scathing audit by Meyners and Co?
3. Why is APS spending a secret? How many tax dollars have been wasted at the Uptown Administrative Complex and on other boondoggles?
4. Why won't they support an impartial audit of administrative standards and accountability?
5. Why has two year old evidence of felony criminal misconduct in the leadership of the APS (police department) still not been surrendered to the DA's office?
6. Why are the records of the relationship between Paula Maes' husband's law firm, Modrall, and the millions of tax dollars funneled to it, secret from public knowledge?
   
7. Why have these two board members repeatedly refused accountability as role models of the student standard of conduct?
8. Why won't these two board members agree to meet with stakeholders for the purpose of answering their legitimate questions?

Why isn't Paula Maes going to have to publicly defend her opposition to any audit that names corrupt and or incompetent administrators and board members by name?

Why isn't MaryLee Martin going to have to publicly defend her failure to prevent the second major corruption scandal in the APS Police Department, during her tenure on the school board?

I can see why Paula Maes and MaryLee Martin would hide from these questions and others. I just can't see why anyone else would rather the whole thing be kept secret from voters.

Certainly not their opponents. What about their right to have their positions, ideas, and ideals presented to voter stakeholders by the Journal?

Do voters have a right to know that at least two candidates would press for an immediate, impartial, full scale audit of the leadership of the APS; a diametrically opposite position from their opponents?

Do voters have a right to know that at least two candidates have stated on the record, that they are willing to be held honestly accountable as role models of the student standard of conduct, including the requirement to answer any legitimate question candidly, forthrightly and honestly?

How can the folks that run the Journal, justify their failure to ask important questions and share the responses with voters?

What more important service does a newspaper provide for
democracy, than fully informing voters?

Is the leadership of the Journal corrupt?
or merely incompetent?

Another School Board candidate steps up.

I had the pleasure of meeting school board candidate
Patrick J. Marron.

He is running in APS school board district 7.

Suffice it to say that when asked if he would be willing to be
held honestly accountable to a higher standard of conduct
in his service on the board, he answered; yes.

And when asked, do you understand that that means
telling the truth; answering legitimate questions, candidly,
forthrightly and honestly, he answered; yes.

District 6 candidate, David Robbins link,
answered both questions the same way.

So now we have the potential to have one school board member offer a motion that will establish honest accountability to meaningful standards of conduct and competence in the administration of the APS, and another to second the motion.

This is monumental.

There is not currently, even one board member with the character and the courage to even talk about character and courage.

Voting begins this week.

So far, the Journal has decided not to cover the race.

It is apparently,
not newsworthy.