$368M going to highest bidders?

Two Journal reports this week of interest to taxpayers.  One about APS awarding a contract to the highest bidder, link, and another about the school board and senior administration's quest for another $368M to spend on our behalf, in our stead.

School bond issue and mill levy elections are the means by which taxpayers exert their will upon the politicians and public servants who will spend hundreds of millions of tax dollars.  A fair question to ask is, how well are they spending them?  Are they being spent effectively and efficiently?

Did they pay $800 apiece for board member chairs, or not?

There is a record to examine.  If taxpayers want to see how their money will be spent, they want to see how their money just was spent.

If APS COO Brad Winter did a good job spending the last few hundreds of millions of dollars, it it's a good indication that he can spend the next few hundred million dollars effectively and efficiently.

When asked to produce a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd, Winters did not.

For some reason, he doesn't want us to see it.

Either that, or he just doesn't have any records in the first place.

At the time this spending was going on, independent auditors found that APS administrators like Winters, were spending upwards of $50K at a whack "without involving Purchasing."  The auditors found inadequate standards, inadequate accountability, and inadequate record keeping, link.

The rub here is that students really do need buildings and the only way to end the out of our control spending of our resources is to cut off the money.

Either he produces a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd, or we don't trust him with $368 million more.

The Journal will support the mill levy and bond issue, and never report that a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd has never been produced.




 photos Mark Bralley

Winter and the Journal throw Brooks under the bus

Journal education (?) reporter Jon Swedien comes this morning, link, with an investigation and report on the "drama" in the leadership of the APS.

Some of what Swedien reports will come as news to Journal readers; they will not have read about it in the Journal before.  Which is the point.  A simple comparison of the truth they now tell, and the truth they didn't tell points to incompetence or corruption; they couldn't investigate and report, or they wouldn't investigate and report.

The Journal never before investigated and reported on the Winston Brooks administration inside the  most heavily fortified, guarded and electronically surveilled space in the entire APS, the castle keep at 6400 Uptown Blvd.













For the last few years, the APS school board was evaluating Winston Brooks on an annual basis.  Every year they came out of a process in secret, and announced that Winston Brooks was doing a wonderful job, and that they were extending his golden parachute to three quarters of a million dollars.

Now we read the truth, that Winston Brooks was not such a great superintendent after all.  Winston Brooks was not such a great superintendent, and the Journal didn't investigate and report on the problem in time to do anything about it; the democracy was never informed.

The Journal, Kent Walz, whomever, and the news directors, and whomever in the establishment's press cannot be trusted to inform the democracy, regarding the wielding of public power and the spending of public resources by the leadership of the APS.

I submit as proof in facts;

• In February 2007, the Journal exposed, link, public corruption and incompetence in the leadership of APS' publicly funded private police force.  State and federal felonies were committed.  Senior APS administrators were involved.

• A number of investigations were done.  Not one of them was done by any agency not on APS' payroll.  All investigations of even felony criminal misconduct of senior APS administrators and school board members are done internally - the self-investigate their own misconduct.

• Evidence and testimony of felony criminal misconduct involving senior APS administrators has never been turned over to the DA for prosecution.  As old as the original scandal is, the cover up is as new as today.

The establishment's press knows and won't do anything about it.  The only one who ever offered any justification at all, pointed out that the corruption occurred seven years ago.  Yeah and but, the cover up of the lack of consequences for politicians and public servants who squandered the public trust and treasure, is still going on today.

Dr. Brad Winter is in a unique position to answer questions about corruption and incompetence in the APS Police force leadership.  He had immediate oversight over them during most times relevant.

Brad Winter has the authority to tell the truth now.

He could if he wanted, release ethically redacted public records; findings of investigations into allegations of felony criminal misconduct involving senior APS administrators.

Instead, his authority authorizes lawyers to spend money that could hire a teacher, trying to litigate some exception to the law.

Just how moot is, whether it might actually be "legal" to hide his record, is manifest in Winter's refusal to explain "why" he needs to hide an ethically redacted public record of his public service.

The law allows him to hide his record;
it does not require him to hide his record.

Why does he need to hide his record except that
it might embarrass, shame or indict him and others
in the leadership of the APS?

Dr. Brad Winter is in a unique position to inform interest and stakeholders about APS' spending on the administrative digs at 6400 Uptown Blvd.

Auditors found senior administrators spending up to $50K at a whack
 on goodies for 6400 Uptown "without involving purchasing".

That accounting is necessary, because at the time huge amounts of money were being spent, auditors had found; inadequate standards, inadequate accountability to inadequate standards and inadequate record keeping.  Likely, millions of dollars have gone missing.

If so, they went missing on Brad Winter's watch; he was our oversight.

As interim Supt, Winter has the authority to produce a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending at 6400 Uptown.  The accounting is absolutely relevant in the upcoming elections and the hiring of another superintendent.  The establishment's press will not press for its production.

The Journal will continue to help APS polish its apple,
Marty Esquivel's name will be dropped where ever they can,
and Brad Winter will never have to respond candidly, forthrightly and honestly to at least two legitimate questions;

• Assuming the law actually allows you to hide ethically redacted public records of investigations of allegations of felony criminal misconduct involving senior APS administrators, why do you want to? and

• Why will you not produce a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd, from the time APS promised taxpayers they would save money by buying the twins, until today?

Update; Hell, let's make it three questions and get it over with;

• Why will you not explain to students in words they can understand, 

why are students apparently expected to hold themselves
honestly accountable to higher standards of conduct
than the law, and their senior-most administrative role model apparently is not?

Those questions can be asked from the speakers' podium during the public forum during the school board meeting Wednesday afternoon.

Those questions are prohibited under the Marty Esquivel / Modrall rules of etiquette, but they can be asked anyway.

Worst case scenario, some board member or administrator will tell their
Praetorian Guard to deprive you of your liberty; your Constitutionally
protected human rights to free speech, to freely assemble and
to petition your government, and they will.

photos Mark Bralley

Our trust and treasure, squandered at 6400 Uptown Blvd, or not

Where is the ethically redacted public record* of spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd?

Did they really spend $800 apiece on chairs?  They won't say no.

*There is a body of records called public records. Every single one of them belongs to the people.

The people, recognizing that some public records should not be make public, provided for that necessity by allowing "redaction" of public records. In what can actually be described as epic disregard of the appearance of a conflict of interests, the Inspection of Public Records Act allows public servants and politicians to redact the public's record of their own public service.

The public record can be redacted in at least two ways; it can be redacted "legally" or ethically.

Ethical redaction is done is in the spirit of the law; with the intention of providing as much access as the law will allow.  It is a manifestation of accountability to higher standards of conduct than the law; the standards that every higher standard is higher than.

"Legal" redaction is done in the self interests of politicians and public servants in order to provide as little access as the law will allow.

"Legal" redaction allows the redaction of everything that unbridled legal weaselry* and cost is no object litigation can enable.

*using weaknesses laws to deliberately circumvent the intention of laws.

If the record of spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd was clean,there would be no need to hide it.  It says something about the record, that the record must be hidden; that a candid, forthright and honest accounting will not be produced.

Taxpayers were promised a money saving enterprise at 6400 Uptown Blvd.  One of the twins was to be rented out to cover costs.  Instead, stake and interest holders were witness to a stampede of administrators promptly filling both towers to capacity.

They began spending money hand over fist.  Auditors, Meyners & Co, were called in to examine the spending.  They found at the time;

1. inadequate standards and
2. inadequate accountability to inadequate standards and
3. inadequate record keeping.

The trifecta of public corruption and embezzlement;
how could money not have been wasted;
how could money not have been stolen?

The players are the same players,
Brad Winter Chief amongst them.

They want us to trust them with
hundreds of millions more dollars
and they can't or won't show us
what they did with the last few
hundred million dollars we
entrusted to their administration.

They are using public resources to hide public records; the findings of every investigation* that has ever been done of allegations of senior administrative and executive misconduct.

*APS self-investigates administrative and executive misconduct and uses legal weaselry and unlimited and without real oversight spending to hide the findings from public knowledge.  No real law enforcement agency, for example, investigated the felony criminal misconduct involving senior APS administrators in 2006 and 7.

photos Mark Bralley

News Tip; APS spending record unavailable to voters

In less than two months, voters will have an opportunity to elect four board members and spend $368M.  96% of them will not.

The few that do, have a need to know how their power and resources are being spent currently, by the folks asking them for hundreds of millions more.  They need to know because, the record of APS' past and current spending is the single best indicator of how they intend to spend the $368M they're asking for in February.

The people who are asking to be re-elected as the stewards of our power and resources are asking to be trusted with hundreds of millions of dollars.  At the same time, they will not produce useful record of their current spending, it is unavailable to voters.

The APS communications department, nearly a million a year, argues APS is transparent because their budgets are posted on line.

I argue, they are not transparent at all.  They don't post all their audit findings on line.  They don't post the finding of investigations of administrative and executive corruption and incompetence.  Though they are public records and enjoy no exception to the requirements of the NM IPRA, citizens who wanted to see those findings will have to sue to sell them.  The records should be online and are not; no where to be found on APS' "award winning" website.

They are not transparent because voters being asked for the better part of 400 million dollars, cannot look up the cost overruns in their spending of the last few hundred million they were trusted with.  Voters have no idea who to hold accountable for the substantial overruns in the construction of the Atrisco Heritage High School.  We cannot look up their spending at their apartments in the sky.

Did we really pay $800 dollars apiece for board member chairs?

Transparency isn't about what they post online, it's about what they won't tell you.  They won't tell taxpayers how APS spends their money, but they would really like it so much, thank you, if we would give them another $368M to spend.

APS Chief Operating Officer Brad Winter was asked to produce a candid, forthright and honest accounting of his spending in the twin towers; the yet to be justified board room, and the millions and millions of dollars he spent remodeling, link.  He never did.

Did you stumble at candid, forthright and honest?

So does Brad Winter.

The words come verbatim from the standards of conduct established and enforced upon students; the Pillars of Character Counts!.

In the event that one is asked a legitimate question, the obligation of a person of character, of a role model of those standards, of an administration of character, and of politicians and public servants in the leadership of the APS, is to respond candidly, forthrightly and honestly.

The board and supt, by and through Brad Winter do not want to produce a candid, forthright and honest accounting of their spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd, at Atrisco Heritage, or anywhere else their incompetence or corruption have cost taxpayers unnecessarily.

Even while asking for $368M, they continue to hide the record of their spending and their competence as stewards of way more than a billion tax dollars a year.  They steadfastly refuse to tell the truth.   They steadfastly refuse to answer any inconvenient questions at all.

Voters will go to the polls, or not go to the polls, based on what they hear and read from whatever press they follow.  If the Journal and the rest of the establishment media KRQE, KOAT, KOB, and KKOB, refuse to investigate and report upon APS' unwillingness to share the truth about their spending record before the elections, they will not have done due diligence on behalf of voters counting on them for just that.

They will do what they have done since the day after February 11, 2007, link, the day the establishment's media's interest in covering corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APS, came to a screeching halt.




photos Mark Bralley

APS Stadium, how much will it really cost?

In November of last year, I asked APS Chief Operating Officer Brad Winter for a candid, forthright and honest accounting of the money they spent on their new boardroom at 6400 Uptown Blvd.

We're still waiting.

Even after a public records request and a complaint filed with APS whistle blower program, he is yet to provide that candid, forthright and honest accounting.

According to internal documents, when Winter was asked about the failure to produce the records, he replied;

I am not responsible for public records requests.

The truth, I suspect, is that he has no idea how much money they spent.

I believe there aren't records at all. Either that, or the records point to incompetence and corruption. Why else will they not produce them?

There was an audit done of the APS Finance Division at the time they were spending more than five and half million dollars renovating a building that they had assured taxpayers, would pay for itself.

The auditors found a profound lack of standards, accountability, and record keeping.

One might hope that in the intervening years, their standards and accountability and record keeping have improved.

One might hope.

Dashing that hope, the facts;

• they still haven't produced a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd,
• they still oppose any independent audit of their administrative standards of conduct and competence,
• the abject lack of due process for complaints filed against administrators.

Laurence Sterne observed;

“Trust that man in nothing
who has not a conscience in everything.”

If Winter won't tell us the truth about spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd, what makes anyone think he will tell the truth about spending on the new stadium?




photo Mark Bralley

Calling Brad Winter's bluff.

City Councilor and APS Chief Operating Officer Brad Winter said; if I file a request for public records, he will surrender a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending on the John Milne Boardroom at 6400 Uptown Blvd.

Ever since they built a still to be justified new Boardroom, I have been trying to find out how much money they spent. I've heard rumors that the chairs that board members lounge in for two hours two times a month, cost taxpayers $800 each. It could be that everyone that tells the story adds a hundred dollars. Or it could be that they actually did spend that much, or more.

It's not so much, the amount of money they spent, as it is, what they could or should have spent the money on instead. At the time they were building and furnishing their board room, elementary school students at Susie Rayos Marmon were going to class in out dated and leaky portable classrooms. At the same time they were building their board room, they had eliminated fire safety inspections in schools as "a cost saving measure".

The first time I asked Winter for a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending on the John Milne Boardroom, he wrote;

"I will get you the information."
and
'We will pull the information for you and have by Friday.
Sincerely, (emphasis added)
Brad Winter"

Well that was more than three years ago. It was January 9th, 2008.

So I called him on his stonewalling; in public and on the record.

He said he would surrender the information if I put it in the form of a formal request for public records.

Every other person who attended the same District Goals meeting at Manzano High School was given a completely different option, they were told;

If you have a question, write it on the green card in front of you and we will get back to you.

No fuss, no muss.

No green card for me. I have to make a "formal" request; disparate treatment under the law.

It means that I now have to "prove" I have the right to see the public records of spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd. I have to go to Rigo Chavez' office in person, to inspect or copy the records. In so doing, I will expose myself to harassment the APS Police Department, and be accused of "stalking" (by) Monica Armenta. I will have to pay for copies at an unjustifiable cost or bring my own scanner.

Winter finds himself in a jam; the leadership of the APS will never surrender public records against their self-interests. It is Winter's job to hide the truth. If pushed, they will dip into their unlimited litigation budget and pay their lawyers to litigate for them, an exception to the law.

Right now, they're burning up dollars that could be spent in classrooms, to pay lawyers to argue that the Caswell Report, an independent investigation of corruption in the APS Police Department, (paid for with more funding otherwise destined for schools) is not a public record.

They and their lawyers will keep the Caswell Report from public knowledge. They will continue to hide the identities of APS senior administrators who committed felony criminal acts. And they will continue to hide the identities of the senior administrators and board members who are covering it all up.

It's the way they roll.

Bottom line; I called Winter's bluff. I filed a formal request for the public records of spending on the board room.

If they respond like they routinely do; I will receive snail mail from Chavez a day after the three day deadline to respond has expired, acknowledging my request and informing me that they will take the "15 days allowed by the law" to surrender the records. The law "allows" 15 days only if necessary. Under the Inspection of Public Records Act, they are required to surrender immediately available records, immediately.

If I complain, I will be reminded that I am free to sue them to recover the truth about the spending of our power and our resources.




photo Mark Bralley

Update; to date, 5/17/13 those records are yet to be produced.

Brad Winter's first Journal self-evaluation

Steve Tellez reported
directly to Brad Winter

Kent Walz and the Journal have been in the habit of offering to the sitting APS superintendent, a monthly column.  As APS' Interim Supt, Brad Winter's first such, appeared this morning, link.

I have taken the liberty of separating for your convenience, his wheat from his chaff. his chaff in italic.

I found myself poised for the challenge, excited about the opportunity to help turn things around.

Is he, or is he not fresh off just that opportunity?  As APS' COO and one of the inner, inner circle, did he not have just such "opportunities to turn things around"?

As APS COO, Winter  could have told the truth about spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd, and he did not.

Bad enough they wasted tax dollars,
worse that they are still covering it up.

As Interim Supt, Winter could tell the truth; he could respond candidly, forthrightly and honestly to questions about the public interests and about his public service, but he will not.

As APS COO, he could have produced ethically redacted findings of investigations into allegations of felony criminal misconduct involving senior APS administrators in and above the leadership of APS' publicly funded private police force, and he did not.

As Interim Supt, he could produce those ethically redacted public records now, but he will not.

As Interim Supt, he represents the senior-most administrative approval of the spending operational funds in a "legal" effort to keep those records hidden from public knowledge in their entirety, and without any real oversight.  Especially none from the Journal or any of the other APS "credentialed" press.

… I have a good idea of what’s working and what’s not. I’ve (been) …involved at all levels...

What Brad Winter has, amounts to guilty knowledge of administrative and executive corruption and incompetence.  A public servant whose is aware of public corruption and or incompetence has an obligation to expose it.  period.

Guilty knowledge in a public servant is malfeasance.

Brad Winter knows about the spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd. He knows how much money was spent during a time when Meyners and Co auditors were finding;

1. inadequate standards, and
2. inadequate accountability to inadequate standards, and
3. inadequate record keeping.

... the trifecta of public corruption and graft

Auditors found APS senior administrators spending up to $50K at a whack "without involving purchasing".

Winter won't produce a candid, forthright and honest accounting of the spending of millions and millions of dollars, because one does not exist.

My immediate goals are to continue efforts… while regaining public trust and creating more stability for the district.

No better way to regain the public trust than to point to a time, a day and a place where he and whomever he needs to sit with him, will sit down and answer legitimate questions about the public interests and about his public service. No better way to regain the public trust than by responding to legitimate questions candidly, forthrightly and honestly.

one of my goals is to reach out to the community and encourage input…

Unless of course the input is negative and delivered from the podium during a public forum. In which case the praetorian guard he commands, will "eject" the offender.

I look forward to talking to you, hearing your concerns, listening to your suggestions. In the meantime, you’re welcome to get in touch with me.

 Hmm, he didn't mention looking forward to "answering your questions".

The best way to reach me is at superintendent@aps.edu

No, the best way to reach you is to stand up during a public forum, look you in the eye, and ask you questions you don't want to answer.

Dr. Winter, as the interim senior-most administrative role model of APS' student standards of conduct, would you care to explain to students in words they can understand,

why students are expected to hold themselves honestly accountable to the Pillars of Character Counts! and you are not.

photos Mark Bralley

6400 Uptown Blvd, a money pit? Winter won't say; never has, never will.

If there is nothing to hide, why hide anything?
Who spent how much and on what during a time when Meyners auditors found;

1. inadequate standards
2. inadequate accountability to inadequate standards and
3. inadequate record keeping;

the trifecta of public corruption and embezzlement?

A great deal of money has been spent at 6400 Uptown Blvd. The same dollars could have been spent on spaces of use to students and teachers.

The twin towers were purchased years ago, after promising taxpayers that new apartments in the sky would actually save them money.  They promised; we'll occupy half and rent out half; it will be great. Then they filled both buildings to overflowing.

Brooks promised to have the truth
about the $800 chairs "by noon"
a long, long, long time ago.

They have not saved taxpayers money, they have hardwood paneled their offices.  They have spent, I'm told and they won't deny, $800 a piece for the rolling chairs that board members sit in twice a month.

This is a test of Brad Winter's mettle.  And of the school board that just voted unanimously, to put the second in command in charge of the cover up.

Every investigation that is done between now and the school board elections and hiring of the new superintendent, will be done under Brad Winter's control.  The findings will be secret because he and they will hire lawyers to investigate rather than a less expensive private eye, and then claim lawyer client privilege.

Lawyer client privilege belongs to the client.  The client can tell the whole truth and nothing but the ethically redacted truth if they want to.  The client is allowed to hide the truth, not required to hide the truth.

Why won't Brad Winter produce a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd?  Is it possible that one such, doesn't even exist?

Do you have any interest at all in knowing how millions and millions and millions of dollars have been spent in a building you can't get into, if they decide to keep you out.

Brad Winter, Steve Tellez, and their Praetorian Guard; a publicly
funded private police force, standing between the the people and
the truth about their squandering of our trust and treasure.

You have a Constitutionally protected human right to speak during the public forum at the next school board meeting, and the next and the next.

You have a right and responsibility to ask for, to demand, that Brad Winter produce a candid, forthright and honest accounting of the money that has been spent at 6400 Uptown.

From the unjustifiable new board room to the $250K they spent installing Kevlar between them the podium from which speakers might embarrass, shame or indict them, and then pull out a gun and start shooting at them.

This after making their way through the most heavily secured and surveilled spaces in the APS; the front doors of their castle keep.

Demand candor, forthrightness and honesty.

The "leadership" of the APS expects candor, forthrightness and honesty from students in the student standards they adopt and have adopted annually since 1994; the Pillars of Character Counts!; a nationally recognized, accepted and respected code of ethical conduct; link.

They are the senior-most role models of student standards of conduct.  They are obliged to role model honest accountability to the standards they establish and enforce upon students.  Whether they like it, whether they agree with it,  and whether their friends in the credentialed media will expose them for their abdication from role model responsibilities.

The day Brad Winter comes up with a candid, forthright and
honest accounting of spending at 6400 Uptown, is the day
you can believe the leadership of the APS might be anything
other than the good ol' boy oligarchy it has always been.

It will also be the day;

• pigs will fly,
• fish will speak,
• rocks won't sink,
• snakes will smoke,
• frogs will grow hair,
• hell will freeze over,
• chickens will grow teeth,
• fish will climb poplar trees,
• grapes will grow on willows,
• the sun will rise in the west,
• white crows will fly upside down,
• crayfish will whistle on the mountain,
• and, monkeys will fly out of my ass.

Adynatons; wikilink





photos Mark Bralley

Steve who?

It seems eerily Stalinesque, the way APS Chief of Police Steve Tellez has disappeared.  Three days ago he was banished from APS' innermost circle under mysterious circumstances and today you can't find him in the news anywhere.  Not even the Journal; not one inch.  It's like he evaporated.

I am told that a meeting is to be held this morning inside the administrative complex at 6400 Uptown Blvd.

The press, I'm assuming, are not invited to a meeting of the leadership of the APS and the entire Albuquerque Public School Police force.  The APS Police force is not a police "department" despite the deliberately deceptive pretense.  They are a publicly funded private police force that reports directly to and only to the leadership of the APS.  As an institution, it is accredited by no one, it is certificated by no one and it is accountable to no one except the leadership of the APS.

Bernalillo County Sheriff Dan Houston "commissions" individual officers, he does not certify them as force or department.

He wrote some rules recently in an MOU with the leadership of the APS, in exchange for his willingness to commission their officers.

The leadership of the APS is as unconcerned about ignoring the MOU as Houston is unconcerned about the MOU being ignored.

He doesn't seem to mind for instance, that the officers he commissions are being employed in the capacity of a Praetorian Guard for the leadership of  the APS; ready willing and able to violate community members' constitutionally protected human rights, at the whim of a board member or senior administrator; just following orders, link.

I will concede that there are things these people might want to discuss in private.  I will even concede there are things they are legitimately entitled to discuss in private.

But that's not where the leadership of the APS draws the line on privacy.  They draw the line at "everything"; everything is "private".  Everything is a "personnel" issue.

APS Supt Winston Brooks,  APS COO Brad Winter and APS Police Chief  Steve Tellez testified in deposition and under oath that, they have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars hardening the castle keep on Uptown Blvd.  Security cameras everywhere, monitored 24/7, controlled access and Kevlar ballistic shields to protect them.

Its all to keep people out.  In especially it is to keep people out if those people want to hold them personally accountable for their misconduct and incompetence.

They really don't want interest holders to know what they're doing in there; anymore than they want them to know what they've done in there.

They've spent untold millions in there and cannot (because the records are missing or were never created) or will not (because the record is of abuse) produce the records of their spending.

What have the twin towers cost taxpayers - precisely?

APS Chief Operations Officer Brad Winter flat out refuses to produce a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd.

Spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd is a scandal in its own right.

The media stopped reporting on the current scandal in the leadership of the APS.

I suspect it is because the leadership of the APS is stonewalling them and they don't want to look ineffectual when have to report that APS is stonewalling them and they're powerless to do anything about it.

Today was the day, by the way, when the Journal should have reported to readers that the leadership of the APS is hiding public records from them; records of findings of investigations into felony criminal misconduct involving senior APS administrators, link.

They missed the deadline.  Journal Managing Editor Kent Walz is unwilling apparently, to expose honest to God corruption in the leadership of the APS.

He and his equivalents at KRQE, KOAT and KOB TV.

What an outrage.




photos Mark Bralley
Walz ched macquigg

Journal Editors Strain at a Gnat and Swallow a Camel

To read them write it, link, the editors are much agitated over more tax dollars fattening the wallets of APS administrators.  So was I.  They are upset as well by the administrative junket 18 of them took at taxpayer expense.  So was I.

Straining on the gnat; Journal editors have taken a stand; draw the line on stupid spending.

There is a school board election coming up.  There is a bond issue election as well.  In deciding who to elect and whether to give them millions and millions of dollars to spend, we need to know that they will do it effectively and efficiently.

Past performance is an excellent predictor of future performance.

The leadership of the APS, the school board and senior administration, recently spent a whole lot of  our money refreshing their digs at 6400 Uptown Blvd.

Candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending, hidden from taxpayers.

The manner in which they spent tax dollars there, is a
good predictor of how they will spend tax dollars there.

Citizens have a Constitutionally protected human right to know how their trust and treasure have been spent.  The hiding of the accounting of the spending there, is ethically indefensible.

APS COO Brad Winter steadfastly refuses to surrender a candid, forthright and honest accounting of his spending the last time we trusted him with the money we give him to educate our children.


Did he really spend $800 a piece for board member chairs?
Is it alright with voter taxpayers if he does it again?

Will he refuse to provide candid, forthright and honest accounting of his spending of the money he wants us to entrust to him next February?


The editors admonish the board and senior administration to;

consider how it looks to the many at ground level —

and to the taxpayers who foot the bill.

A gnat, compared to how the ethics and accountability scandal cover up will look to voters, when, if, the establishment news ever gets around to investigating and reporting upon it.

• Denial of due process to whistleblower complaints.
• Cover up of felony criminal misconduct by senior APS administrators
• Universal abdication of role modeling responsibilities by the entire "leadership" of the APS
• A Praetorian Guard; publicly funded private police force

If voters are to hold school board members accountable for their conduct and competence, they must be candidly, forthrightly and honestly informed about that competence and character.  The onus rests upon the shoulders of editors and news directors.

It is they who are covering up the cover ups.

It is they who conspire to manipulate the outcome of the February elections.





photos Mark Bralley

APS' Ethical Advocate is a fraud; at best, frank waste

Below please find, a complaint filed with APS' whistleblower hotline. It has to do with the fact that APS Chief Operating Officer Brad Winter is trying to hide the truth about the money he spent at 6400 Uptown Blvd.

In essence, a request was made for the public record of spending on their new board room. Four months later, Winters and the leadership of the APS still have not told the truth about the money they were spending on themselves at a time when fire safety inspections in schools were being curtailed to curb expenses.

In essence, they have no intention of telling the truth.

Kent Walz, the Journal, and Paula Maes' cronies at NM Broadcasters Assoc affiliate stations, KRQE, KOAT, and KOB have no intention of calling them on it.

Original complaint

APS' Chief Operating Officer Brad Winter made a commitment to surrender a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending on the John Milne Boardroom. He made the commitment in front of witnesses at the Goals Setting Meeting at Manzano High School on November 17th, 2011.

He promised to surrender the record in response to a request for public records.

I filed a bonafide and accepted request for the public records, and Winter (the APS) has failed to surrender the record in violation of the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act.

While he may argue that the surrender of public records is between me and their custodian of public records, it was his commitment to surrender the record. If he was in no position to ensure the surrender, he should not have made the commitment.

12/12/2011 administrative response;

Thank you for using Ethics Line. Please allow two weeks (12-26-2011) for possible update or esolution (sic).

12/14/2011 administrative response;

The response date will need to be changed to 1-3-2012 due to the district offices being closed the week of 12-23-2011 through 1-2-2012. A response will be made to you on 1-3-2012. Thank you again for using Ethics Line.

12/22/2011 administrative response;

We have checked to see if an update is available regarding your request for information on the Milne Board Room. The individual that would have the information was not available. We will check again upon return from Winter Break. An update will be made available by 1-6-11. I am sorry for the delay.

1/6/2012 administrative response;

After following up about your records request, Internal Audit was told that the items have been sent to you electronically as of this date. This complaint is now closed unless we hear from you again. Thank you.

1/7/2012 Complainant;

I have received public records requests responses totaling barely $150K; a small fraction of the total amount spent on the board room. The district and Brad Winter have yet to fulfill their commitment to surrender a candid, forthright and honest accounting of the total amount spent on the board room.

1/9/2012 administrative response;

After contacting Rigo Chavez, APS Communications, he indicated that he is still waiting for the rest of the documentation from the M & O Department. Internal Audit will continue to monitor this and respond back to you by 1-23-12. Thank you.

1/23/2012 administrative response;

I have contacted the Communications Dept. for an update on your records request regarding the John Milne Boardroom. Mr. Chavez has not received any more documentation as of today. Do you want us to continue getting updated information from APS Communications or would you like to contact them directly? I am extending the deadine (sic) for another two weeks (2-6-2012). If at the end of two weeks I have not heard from you, I will close this complaint.

1/28/2012 Complainant;

I am not sure how you can close the complaint against Brad Winter when he still has not honored the commitment he made to surrender a full, candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending on the John Milne.

2/3/2012 Complainant;

re; "... extending the deadine(sic) for another two weeks (2-6-2012). If at the end of two weeks I have not heard from you, I will close this complaint." Are we in agreement that you "have heard from me" and are therefore not intending to close the complaint?

2/6/2012 administrative response;

We are still waiting for the cost of the technology from APS Maintenance & Operation. As soon as this information is received, it will be forwarded on to you. A follow up letter dated February 2, 2012, was also sent to you from APS Communications regarding this inquiry. This complaint will remain open until you notify us that your request has been completed. Thank you for your patience in this matter.

3/4/2012 Complainant;

While I appreciate the fact that you are willing to keep the investigation open, it is clear that neither Winter nor anyone else in the leadership of the APS is willing to produce a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending on the board room. Nor are they willing to surrender public records in accordance with the NM IPRA. They well past the legal deadlines for surrender and are in violation of the law. At some point, your investigation should include the fact that Winter et al are breaking the law, rather than just staying endlessly open while they do.

On 3/6/2012 administrative response;

A letter dated 3-1-2012 was sent to you from Rigo Chavez with additional information on your request. I will continue to keep you informed.

3/9/2012 administrative response;

Another letter, dated 3-6-12, has been sent to you by R. Chavez with additional information regarding your John Milne Board Room request.

I will write to them;

Neither Rigo Chavez' letter of 3-1-12, nor of 3-6-12 constitute any real production. Interest holders still have no idea how much of their money was spent, and on what.

It is time to close this investigation. Either conclude that the leadership of the APS has produced a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending on the John Milne Boardroom, or that they have not and clearly have no honest intention to do so.

The Ethical Advocate whistleblower hotline is not unique among venues of accountability for administrators and board members. There is nowhere anywhere in the APS, where a legitimate complaint against an administrator or board member will see due process.

Complainants' only option is to take them to court. Administrators and board members will show up there with a bevy of unscrupulous lawyers and an unlimited litigation budget, a large bore pipeline fed with education dollars otherwise destined for classrooms.

That is the essence of the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS, the culture of corruption and incompetence and how they perpetuate it.

The fact that you can only learn about it here and not in the
paper or on TV, is the essence of the corruption between the
leadership of the APS, Kent Walz and the Journal, and
Paula Maes' cronies in the broadcast media.




photo Mark Bralley

APS' money pit?

When the purchase of the twins was first contemplated, there were those who argued it was an unjustifiable extravagance and would become a money pit. Promises to rent out one of the buildings to cover the expenses of the other weren't kept. The purchase prompted a stampede of administrators looking to get out of schools and into more comfortable digs.

Those arguments were heard and ignored long before the real spending began; long before the building was brought up to standards more befitting APS senior administrators and school board members. And long before the budget overruns began piling up.

The folks who paid the bills for the building and accoutrements will likely never know just how much they paid. They will never be told how much money they spent on an administrative complex with covered parking for bigwigs, instead of on the decrepit classrooms and portables their children were attending.

The simplest questions go unanswered; how much did we pay for the chairs board members sit in a few hours a month; did we really spend $800 a chair?

The clearest indicator that they have something to hide,
is that they are hiding something.

They are hiding a candid, forthright and honest accounting
of all of the public dollars invested in sprucing up the digs
at 6400 Uptown Blvd.

The proof that they are hiding the record is the absence of the record. If they're not hiding it, where is it?

And why else would there not be a record of the spending
except that the record wasn't ever made, or made and lost,
or destroyed, or is being hidden?

As unsettling as that prospect is, there is a bigger issue than
the amount of money they spent at 6400 Uptown Blvd, and that
is the amount of money they've spent and are willing to spend in
the future, continuing to cover up how much they spent.

That and the ongoing aid and abet provided for them by the
establishment media; Kent Walz and the Journal, and the
NM Broadcasters Association affiliates who refuse to investigate
and report upon unjustifiable extravagance in the spending of
scarce educational resources on administrative spaces instead
of in classrooms.




photo Mark Bralley

Some assurance please ...

It is nearly two months now since APS
Chief Operating Officer Brad Winter
promised to tell the truth about
spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd.

If the records were flattering or if
the Journal was asking, they would
have been surrendered long ago,
and before they violated the law by
not surrendering them in a timely
manner.


To date; he has produced public records of barely $150K they spent on electronic gadgetry for the board room; likely as little as 10% of total spending.

When, if, they ever find anymore public records, they will not be forwarded to me electronically. I am told they don't exist in electronic format, there is not a scanner anywhere in the whole Communications offices, and even if there was, the law does not require them to scan them instead of coping them.

I will be required to go to APS Communications offices to inspect and/or copy them (at 50 cents a page).

Worse, by going I will expose myself to more of APS Executive Director of Communications Monica Armenta's libelous and completely unfounded accusations that;
I am in her office everyday,
I am "stalking her" and that
I am whispering to her,
threats against her family.

No complaint was ever filed regarding her allegations, and no investigation was done.

She is seen above, giving an unlawful order to APS Praetorian Guard to eject me from the Eldorado HS Gubernatorial Debate.

By going into the castle keep at 6400 Uptown Blvd, I will subject myself to additional harassment by APS police officers following unlawful orders from School Board enforcer Marty Esquivel.

I would like some assurance that if I go to see records that could have been sent to me electronically, I will not be subject to Armenta's defamation or police force harassment.

We'll see what APS Director of Communications and Custodian of Public Records will offer in the way of assurance. To date; he has not acknowledged the threats from Armenta or their Praetorian Guard.

It has been several years since Kent Walz and the Journal decided to not get to the bottom of outlandish spending on administrative and executive accoutrements for the board room, or anywhere else in the APS, for that matter.




photos Mark Bralley
I took the shot of Armenta

Editors ask APS for the truth

The editorial headline,

APS, Give the Public Information It Deserves,

promises far more than the editors deliver. It turns out that the editors are just upset because when APS puts an employee on administrative leave, they are very closed mouth about what they've been accused of doing. They wonder, is there more to the story? and conclude, who knows?

The editors apparently do understand that

... providing students, parents and taxpayers the specifics allows them to make fact-based decisions on whether the public school district acted appropriately ...

Again, editors strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.

They're upset that "APS" won't tell them specifics about personnel issues, and could not care less that "APS" won't tell them the truth about spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd, far more important information, particularly in light of the upcoming Bond Issue election.

Spending still secret from taxpayers.  Did they spend $800 a piece for chairs for board members? Who knows, and why doesn't the Journal care?

The editorial concern over the comparatively unimportant and lack of concern over the spending of millions of tax dollars is perplexing.

Did APS COO Brad Winter spend the last bond issue money efficiently and effectively? Who knows - it's a secret.

Do taxpayers have a need to know?

Do taxpayers have a right to know?

The editors seem unsure.

That, or the Journal is part of a coverup of unjustifiable spending by administrators on administrative accoutrements; deliberately keeping that information secret while APS floats another multimillion dollar bond issue past unwitting taxpayers.




photo Mark Bralley

cc the editors, upon posting 

APS CFO was making waves; he had to go

The New Mexico Political Report comes with this.

APS Chief Financial Officer Don Moya was rocking the boat when he was pushed over board.  He was openly critical of a procurement process he thought looked suspect.

I won't tell their story; link, but my take from the emails published on the Political Report; it appears as though Moya was doing exactly what he should have been doing, when APS Supt. Luis Valentino decided it was time to fire him, and went looking for allies in that endeavor, in the person of the NM Secretary of Public Education.

APS' history of accountability around the spending of millions and millions of dollars on technology borders criminal. An independent auditor, Meyners & Co, found senior APS administrators were spending $50K at a whack "without involving purchasing".

The  auditors found the trifecta of public corruption, embezzlement and fraud in the spending on technology and renovations.  They found;

1. inadequate standards, and
2. inadequate accountability to such standards as they had, and
3. inadequate record keeping.

Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of dollars were squandered and APS cannot produce a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd.

The Journal has dug as deep as they intend; they have and will publish Monica Armenta's press releases.
Update; the Journal comes with more coverage and my added questions. link.

It appears the NM Political Report is taking a different tack.  Kudos to them and to reporter Joey Peters.  Welcome to the fray.




photo Mark Bralley
Bralley's investigation and report. link 

KRQE shines penlight on APS waste; Journal underdoes them

KRQE's veteran investigative reporter Larry Barker has dug into the squandering of our treasure by the leadership of the APS, link.  He managed to uncover a million and half dollars worth of waste; roughly equivalent to stumbling into a forest and finding a tree.  The Journal coverage, link, was far kinder than Barker's; headlining the new kitchen while Barker headlined the (relentless) waste of tax dollars.

APS has never had an audit of their spending of our money, that did not have "findings".  The finding of inadequate standards, inadequate accountability to such standards as their are, and poor record keeping; the trifeca of corruption and waste.

Barker's piece featured the outgoing Chief Operations Officer Brad Winter.  You will laugh as you watch him try to spin the loss of a $1.6M as an overall savings of $9M.

A few years back, APS decided to abandon their digs on University Blvd and move into the "twins".  The made a commitment to taxpayers at the time; they would occupy half the building and rent out the other half to help pay the bills.

APS' edifice of the squandering of the public trust and treasure.

Then the stampede began, link, and now the building is budging with administrators, their staffs and their publicly funded private police force to keep the people out.

They have spent a lot of money in there.  On the board room alone, in response to a public records request, Brad Winter produced records of spending on their utterly unjustifiable new board room totaling nearly $400K. In stark contradiction, the Journal was reporting at the time, link, that spending was $500K over budget.

Winter still will not produce a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd, link.  KRQE will still not ask him for it.

The Journal has long since abandoned it's obligations to investigate and report upon the standards and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS.

Korte, moments after attacking a blogger

School Board Member Kathy Korte appeared in Barker's report.

She indicated that APS really doesn't have this kind of money to waste.

They don't.

Never the less, last Wednesday, Korte and the rest of the board decided apparently, to not settle the complaints I've filed against them in federal court.  Their apparent decision is going to cost taxpayers a bundle in frank waste.

APS misled Rob Nikolewski of NM Capitol Report into reporting that APS had spent only $250K in defense of Marty Esquivel's ego, link. 

The truth is, they've spent three times that at the very least.  If they actually take this thing to trial, taxpayers will be out six times that amount by the time the dust settles.  They and taxpayers are headed for an ass handing.

Anyone who actually looks at the evidence and understands the law, cannot help but come to that conclusion; regardless of however much manifestly conflicted testimony they are able to assemble.

The APS School Board has a Code of Ethics, albeit, by their own admission, utterly unenforceable.  Their first ethic reads clearly and unequivocally;

Make the education and well being of students
the basis for all decision making

Yet the board will continue to spend in their own interests;
on their own "legal"defenses. The spend from operational funds; money that would otherwise be spent in classrooms.

And spend, and spend and spend without any oversight at all.
Not from KRQE for whom Esquivel works.
Not from the Journal run by APS and Esquivel's good friends.

There is a manifest need for an independent standards and accountability audit of the entire leadership of the APS; school board members and senior administrators alike.

If they had adequate standards, if they had honest, actual accountability to them, they would point to them proudly, not hide from questions about them.

The "credentialed" press has a clear obligation to investigate and report upon standards and accountability in the leadership of the APS either way.  It is manifest Journalistic malpractice; another utterly unenforceable code of ethical conduct.




photos Mark Bralley

Journal coverage of APS School Board election begins - finally

This morning, Journal Staff Writer Jon Swedien began Journal coverage on the election, link.

The Journal reporter handed in the report late without notice or apology;

Early voting already has begun in the election ...

 He wrote about the stakes on the table;

 ... voters will decide who ultimately hires ... the superintendent and (will set) policy for the district, which has about 90,000 students, some 14,000 employees and a $690 million operating budget. emphasis added

And then, apropos of nothing in particular, (Kent Walz et al dba staff write Swedien) gave Interim Supt Brad Winter's public image a little boost;

Acting Superintendent Brad Winter has taken steps to improve that relationship (with the NM PED)...

Good for Brad! Go Brad!

The editors; Kent Walz et al, relentlessly choose to not point out that;

• Brad Winter has negligently allowed or knowingly permitted public resources to be used to cover up a cover up of felony criminal misconduct involving senior APS administrators*.  
And or that
• Brad Winter has not taken steps to produce a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd*.

*All anyone has to do to refute either or both of these allegations to produce the truth;

• The ethically redacted findings of investigations of allegations of felony criminal misconduct involving senior APS administrators, and or 
• a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd.

If they won't tell you the ethically redacted truth about what they did yesterday;
if they won't tell you the truth what they are doing today;
why in the world would you believe they will tell you the truth any thing the do in the future?

Whatever else this Journal coverage is;
it is not candid, forthright and honest.
It does not sustain the democracy.
It thwarts it.
It is a betrayal of trust.

It is at the very least, journalistic malpractice.

APS' $865,000 settlement - who got what?

I signed settlement papers yesterday in my lawyers' offices.  Taxpayers are out $865,000.  (APS' insurer is out $513K but they will get in back in premiums over the next several years; because that's how insurance companies roll.

Taxpayers won one thing worth every penny of the $865K, though it should not have cost them a cent.

1. If anyone of them finally gets pissed off enough speak out about what's going on, they can now stand up in public forum at an APS school board meeting, speak truth to power - individually and by name, without getting arrested and banned from public forum entirely.

The real winners were a politician and handful of public servants who traded tax dollars for admissions of no guilt.

Even former school board enforcer Marty Esquivel.  He who is manifestly the most responsible for the squandering of the public trust, admitted no guilt.

The famous First Amendment expert's record and reputation will not reflect the truth; there is incontrovertible evidence that he violated my civil rights.  His record and reputation will not suffer from the truth; a federal court judge found him found him guilty of violating my civil rights.

He who is entirely responsible for the size of the settlement (not me, not my lawyers, not even his own lawyers (who were just following their client's orders) is not out one thin a dime.

If there is a shred of controverting evidence, it lies in public records of meetings wherein the board knowingly permitted him to squander hundreds of thousands of dollars on a non-viable defense of his ego.  That or, there are no such records and the board negligently allowed him to squander the public trust and treasure in their name.

Armenta, gathering "evidence" against me.
Wasn't able to. Nor were any of the staffers
she assigned to photograph me doing something
wrong.  Not one photo, ever. 

In exchange for the $865K, APS Executive Director of Communications Monica Armenta admits no guilt despite incontrovertible evidence of her libel, and compelling evidence of her personal participation in the violation of a number of my Constitutionally protected human rights.

Tellez whispers in boss Brad Winter's ear.

In exchange for the $865K, now disgraced former APS Police Chief Steve Tellez didn't admit his part in defaming me to the point he was able to convince the board they needed to install a quarter of million dollars worth of Kevlar between them and me.

Tellez admitted no guilt with respect to his part in felony public corruption in the leadership of the APS police "dept."; a publicly funded private police force.  Nor did he have to admit guilt for his part in the ongoing cover up of the felony criminal misconduct; including the hiding of public records detailing his involvement in both the scandal and cover up.

Secretary of State Brad Winter remains unscathed by the record setting settlement.  His part in the cover up of state and federal felony criminal misconduct remains secret.

As the direct result of Winter's incompetence and corruption, spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd remains secret from stake and interest holders; millions of dollars wasted, stolen or lost.

His ongoing efforts to hide the truth about spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd. will go unpunished.  Winter's incompetence and or corruption and will not be covered by the Journal (Editor in Chief Kent Walz, chief among them) or any other of APS' media cronies.

The twins; a taxpayer money pit and Winter's big secret.

In exchange for the $865K, Winter's admits no guilt even  for his perjury in a sworn statement contradicted by an audio recording.

In exchange for the $865K, disgraced former APS Supt. Winston Brooks admits no guilt for his direct involvement in the repeated violations of my civil rights.

left; Brooks is caught here by photojournalist Mark Bralley in the midst of ordering his Praetorian Guard to remove protesters for standing quietly, unobtrusively, holding up posters in the back of a meeting held for the purpose of gathering public input.

Tellez giving us the "APS thumb" - You're outta here!

photos Mark Bralley