Next step; world class legislative webcasting

OK, so the dust has finally settled; we have bare minimum webcasting of all the important meetings; floor sessions, committee meetings, and now finally, interim committee meetings.

It has taken years, literally, to drag recalcitrant politicos into the 21st century of deliberative decision making in the public interest. Yet even after all that time and all that effort, we are left with what amounts to only audio coverage. Although there is a camera in use (on the floor of the Senate), thanks to Senator John Sapian, link, it is placed so ineffectively as to be useless to stakeholders. Even if a speaker is included in the view of the stationary camera, they are so far away as to be unidentifiable, especially since we see only their backs.

The distance from where we are, to where we should be, with respect to legislative webcasting, is a technological and fiscal baby step.

But then, technology and funding have never really been the issue. The issue is the unwillingness of politicians and public servants to be held honestly accountable for their public service.

If you asked legislators who "settled" for half-assed webcasting, why?, they will tell you, "It was the best we could get; if we had pushed for more, we would have been left with nothing at all."

I will never be satisfied with that argument. I understand it;
I even agree with its pragmatism. I just don't buy it on a
philosophical level. Neither would Winston Churchill
who argued;
"In matters of principle, never give in, never, never, never."

What is, is. We are where we are. But now that "we could lose it all" is no longer part of the discourse, now that the door is irrevocably opened, it is time to open it all the way; robust webcasting to a searchable archive.

Only one question remains; will the reform be the first item on the next legislative agenda, or among the last? Will the next legislative session be another session in the dark, or will the light of day finally shine into every nook and cranny of the legislative process from the very beginning?

There are now only two reasons that legislators will obfuscate the passage of the final reform; their lack of courage, and/or their lack of character. They are either afraid of the consequences of shining light on their public service, or they support continuing to keep the people in the dark regarding the spending of their power and resources.

Thomas Paine wrote;

There is no stopping an idea whose time has come.

Robust webcasting to a searchable archive, is an idea whose time has come.

In the November election, the entire House of Representatives is up for (re)election.

Robust webcasting to a searchable archive is an issue of a magnitude that warrants inclusion in the discourse surrounding their election. It is a deal maker or breaker.

Any candidate who refuses to take a clear and unequivocal stand on the issue, can be reasonably suspected of standing against it. You pick a side when you don't pick a side.

When the question is;
Will you stand in support of robust webcasting to a searchable archive?

any answer except yes, means no.

APS Senior Administrator implicated in fraud.

Taxpayers are the losers again do to APS' lack of internal oversight. APS' fleet manager has been charged with four felony counts of fraud, link.

APS Supt Winston Brooks promised stakeholders a "full audit", but only of that department.

There will be an audit of course (one hopes), but then what?
Specifically what will become of the audit results? If Brooks
performs according to past practice, the audit results will be
secreted from stakeholders in order to limit the fallout.

APS is still hiding the results of the investigations into corruption in the APS Police Department more than three years ago, link.

An APS senior administrator, Maintenance and Operations Director John Dufay, has been implicated. According the Journal and the criminal complaint; Dufay was aware of the fraud.

Brooks intends to fire the fleet manager saying; "I am taking no prisoners." and "I have zero tolerance for people who steal money from the school district."

It remains to be seen how much tolerance he has for the fellow good ol' boy who (allegedly) knew of the corruption and didn't step up.

The senior administrators implicated in the corruption in the police department were sent off with glowing recommendations and/or "retired with honors".

The solution of course is, an honest to God, independent audit of standards and accountability in the entire leadership of the APS, an audit that Brooks and School Board President Marty Esquivel steadfastly refuse to commission.

The Journal steadfastly refuses to follow up on its own story, linked above, and report to stakeholders that evidence of felony criminal misconduct involving APS senior administrators is yet to be turned over to the DA's Office for prosecution, three years later.

Statutes of limitation in prosecuting criminal misconduct
involving APS senior administrators have expired long since.

Dantis to leave with $160K

In the Journal this morning, link, we read that Deputy County Manager John Dantis will leave his employ with a significant check in hand.

The question is not; is he entitled to cash out unused sick leave and vacation hours?; he is.

The question would seem to be, what is fair compensation for public service? and further, is it time to review the compensation packages for all politicians and public servants? Are they too stingy? Or, are they too generous?

In light of the current economic pinch, a comprehensive review is in order, including the effect of the circumstances of the departure. It irks people to see someone leaving public service following a betrayal of the public trust, with a boot full of tax dollars.

And rightfully so.

Jenning's boggle over webcasting

Senate President Pro Tempore and Co-chair of the Legislative Council,
Tim Jennings, fought hard to table
Rep Janice Arnold-Jones' motion
to begin webcasting of interim committee meetings.

It was he, despite the fact that Arnold-Jones mailed "the gist" (correction 7/2/10) of her motion to all of the principles, who represented that he didn't know who submitted the motion, and demanded that her identity be revealed, allowing for their collective groan when her name was finally spoken.

Despite the fact that as many as 48 other states webcast their legislatures, and that the technology and techniques are tested and true, Jennings lobbied hard and long during the Legislative Council debate over Arnold-Jones' motion, in favor of a two month delay while the Legislative Council Services did "some more research" about how it could be done without capturing "legislators scratching their ...s".

He also wondered aloud, why the previous efforts to begin interim committee webcasting failed to pass the Senate. He offered that he would have to go back to see what happened. He would have a hard time doing that since there is no archive of webcasts to search; a situation for which he owns no small part of the responsibility.

Makes you wonder what it is he wants so badly to hide.




photo Mark Bralley

Democratic House Leadership press release hypocritical, at best.

The press release from the leadership of the House of Representatives deserves some scrutiny.
It is pasted here in significant part;

House of Representatives
Ben Lujan, Speaker of the House
Ken Martinez, House Majority Leader
Sheryl Williams Stapleton, House Majority Whip
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release Contact: Bailey Sachs 505-261-2419
June 29, 2010
Webcasting Approved for Interim Committee Meetings
SANTA FE – Today members of the Legislative Council voted unanimously to approve webcasting of interim committee meetings. The decision was applauded by Rep. Jeff Steinborn (D-Las Cruces), who helped pass legislation to start webcasting committee meetings during the regular session. Steinborn was also the first to introduce a joint memorial during the regular session to webcast interim committee meetings.
“This is another step in the right direction. We are always looking for ways to make government more transparent and accessible to the public. Webcasting is a useful service for our constituents,” Steinborn said.
...

What it doesn't tell you regarding the folks in the header; as revealed in Mark Bralley's photograph of the moment of the vote; neither House Majority Whip Sheryl Williams Stapleton, nor Speaker of the House Ben Lujan were even present for the vote. The third, House Majority Leader Ken Martinez, according to one of my allegigators, was central to gutting the webcasting of archiving.

Without archiving, the whole point of webcasting for the overwhelming majority of New Mexicans, is lost.

The Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez also left the room before the vote, as did Minority Floor Leader Stuart Ingle. House Minority Whip Keith Gardner, though allegedly part of the effort to obstruct the creation of a searchable archive, at least stayed around for the vote.

One has to wonder at the commitment of legislative leadership, in either party, to holding themselves accountable to their constituents by means of webcasting anything at all.

They also don't mention that the motion they approved came from Rep Janice Arnold-Jones, the real hero of Roundhouse webcasting, nor do they mention their audible groan heard from the obstructionists when it was revealed to them that the motion was hers.

The only thing they were truly honest about was that this was only a (baby step) in the right direction. Without a searchable archive, webcasting is nearly useless for any practical purpose.

Update; Rep Keith Gardner has taken exception to my description of his part in this process. I have offered him an opportunity to respond, and promised him a retraction and apology as appropriate. My investigation will continue.

Further update; I have done more research and have settled upon House Resolution 1; sponsored by none other than Rep Keith Gardner, here quoted in significant part;

“The live stream shall not be archived.”

and;

The provisions of this rule shall apply when the house is meeting as the committee of the whole and when any standing substantive committee is meeting in the chamber shall not be archived.”

and further; The live video stream shall be produced from cameras configured and operated in such a way that as much of the chamber is displayed as practicable (read; no close ups of their faces, no way to look them in the eyes while they speak)

While there might be nearly inconsequential inaccuracies in my perception of what goes on in secret; I am now confident that my reporting that Gardner is an obstructionist with respect to the single most important aspect of webcasting; archiving, and to webcasting in general (distant cameras a la google earth) requires neither retraction nor apology.

My offer to post his any objection on my blog remains open.

Updated; one last time;
Rep Keith Gardner and I have exchanged a number of emails. I have also learned that the motion was written by the Legislative Council Services, and the denial of archiving was included by them to make the motion consistent with House and Senate Rules.

My use of the word "conspired" was not accurate or fair. I apologize to Rep Gardner for mischaracterizing his involvement in the finally wording.

Though Rep Martinez and I have not discussed it, I owe him the same apology for the same reason. Therefore, I apologize to him as well, for my use of the word "conspired".

Truthtelling a la APS

APS' million dollar Communications Department published a press release claiming to have saved tax dollars, link.

It's title; "APS Saves ... Taxpayer Dollars ..."

The gist of it; a project to install low flow toilets will not only save water but tax dollars as well.

"The project ... generated $338,250 in rebates and should save ... $25,323 annually."

What they didn't tell you; the project cost taxpayers $1,047,271.

Taxpayers won't even break even, much less save money,
for 28 years.

If one accepts the ancient proverb;

A half truth is a whole lie;

then the leadership of the APS has lied to taxpayers, again.

APS continues to deny due process to whistleblowers

APS has a whistleblower program. It has a fundamental flaw;
it is nothing more than a forwarding mailbox that takes
complaints filed against the administration and then forwards
them to that same administration for adjudication.

The "check and balance" provided to address that appearance of a blatant conflict of interest, is a review of the adjudication by the "executive branch" of the APS, the one directly accountable to voters, the School Board.

Their charge could not be more explicit nor more clear;

"School Board Policy B.07D; The Audit Committee reviews and recommends approval of ... any whistleblower complaints ...", link.

The agenda for their next meeting, tomorrow, link, does not include review and approval of the adjudication of the most recent complaints.

To date, they have not reviewed nor approved the administrative handling of even one single complaint; including my complaints that;

Supt Winston Brooks has
abdicated his responsibilities
as a role model of the APS
Student Standards of Conduct,
and that, that complaint was
closed without due process.






Audit Committee Chair
David Robbins response
to my complaint that he is
betraying the public trust
placed in him, by denying
due process to more than
200 complainants;
"We are not breaking any federal law."




"Open Government Lawyer"
and School Board President
Marty Esquivel is content to
ignore the whole issue.

As is the Albuquerque Journal.



photos Mark Bralley

Will Thaddeus Lucero's conduct and competence be investigated?

Deputy County Manager John Dantis is history, link.

What about his boss County Manager Thaddeus Lucero?
Did he know what was going on? Should he have known
what was going on?

An independent investigation, the full results of which are still secret from stakeholders, revealed ongoing public corruption and incompetence in Bernalillo County government. Were it a one time incident, one might argue that it is time to move on.

But it wasn't a one time incident. It appears to be another "that's the way things are done in New Mexico government; state, county, and municipal."

An impartial investigation needs to be conducted to determine who knew about, or should have known about, the problem and what they did to correct it.

Should the County Manager be held accountable for the culture of nepotism, cronyism, bribes and misconduct atop which he sits?

Should the investigation stop short of the top dog?

That seems to be the m.o. in cultures of corruption;
(only) "subordinate heads will roll."

Keep digging. Keep digging until you find someone in the chain of command who couldn't have known, who shouldn't have known, no matter how diligently s/he was doing her job.

Keep digging until we are left with someone we can actually
trust to cover our backs.

Colón's word not worth much apparently.

Lt Gov Candidate Brian Colón said, when asked to talk about the past; his and Lt Gov Diane Denish's relationship with the Richardson administration and its attendant public corruption and incompetence, said they weren't going to talk about the past. Instead, he said, they're going to focus on the future and the issues that are important to New Mexicans, link.

That's what he said. It's not what they're doing.

Instead, they're continuing to run the DA Susana Martinez plea bargains sex offenders ad.

Not only is the ad deliberately misleading, playing on voter's ignorance of the nuances of plea bargaining in the real world, but it proves their lack of interest in the real issues, focusing instead on more negative campaigning, not on the issues that are important to New Mexicans.

Maybe they will behave more honestly if we elect them.

Right, and maybe a pint of Häagen Dazs really does serve four.

Denish "demonstrates a stunning lack of understanding ..."

Lt Gov Diane Denish's campaign ad questions DA Susana Martinez' claim to be taking on the drug cartels operating in southern New Mexico.

In a comprehensive report by Heath Haussamen, link,
Martinez campaign spokesman Adam Deguire writes

“The fact that Diane Denish would even question that members of these cartels are operating in New Mexico’s largest border county, and therefore running into law enforcement in a myriad of cases ranging from misdemeanors to violent felonies, demonstrates a stunning lack of understanding about the situation taking place along the border ..."

I would have to ask, is it Denish's "lack of understanding"
which is stunning, or her willingness to deliberately mislead
voters in order to get elected?

Bernalillo County's black eye gets blacker

The healing will not begin until the County comes clean.

We now know enough about the corruption and incompetence at the Metropolitan Assessment Treatment Services center, and in the Community Correction Program, both under the "watchful" eye of Bernalillo County Deputy Manager John Dantis, to know that something is wrong - very wrong.

County Manager Thaddeus Lucero's decision to keep the full investigative report on the problems at M.A.T.S. secret from stakeholders, will only fuel speculation that he is trying to hide something(else).

That or to allow crony Dantis to burn some vacation days before he is finally relieved of his command.

There is no good and ethical reason that the full investigative report cannot be ethically redacted and released forthwith. It has been in Lucero's hands for nearly two weeks; since June 15th.

There is no reason to continue to refuse to release an ethically redacted version, except to hide something the public has a right to know; now.

Martinez steps up on independent reviews

Gubernatorial Candidate Susana Martinez stopped by Rep Janice Arnold-Jones' Saturday morning office hours yesterday.

She was happy to answer questions from the group.

I asked if she would support independent reviews of agencies of state government; allowing "efficiency experts" to come into state agencies and evaluate their effectiveness and efficiency and then report to the public record.

She said; "Absolutely".

It is rare, make that unheard of, for the good ol' boys to agree to independent audits of their conduct and competence; audits over which they have no control, no opportunity to spin or hide the results.

UNM Regents President Raymond Sanchez and President David Schmidly, for example, have no intention of allowing independent reviews of their administration of UNM.

APS School Board President Marty Esquivel and Supt Winston Brooks, for example, have no intention of allowing an independent review of their administration of the APS.

Governor Bill Richardson and Lt Gov Diane Denish, for example, have no intention of allowing any independent review of the effectiveness and efficiency of state governmental agencies.

Martinez has set herself apart.




photo Mark Bralley

Hart-Stebbins to Lucero, talk Dantis into "retiring" or we will find someone who can.

County Commissioner Maggie Hart-Stebbins has little tolerance for criminal and ethical misconduct by County employees.

She is disappointed that County Manager Thaddeus Lucero has not taken care of business regarding the now thoroughly discredited and disgraced Deputy County Manager John Dantis.

The public's trust in County government, deeply damaged by the scandal, continues to erode while Dantis plans to burn up vacations days before he finally cleans out his desk

She said, if Lucero is not up to the task, the County Commission has the authority to replace him with someone who is.

For his part, Lucero said, he isn't going to answer any questions about Dantis' future.

A public servant who refuses to respond candidly, forthrightly, and honestly to legitimate questions about the public interests, has forfeited their right to our trust.

It is past time to get rid of Dantis and Lucero.




photo Mark Bralley

Another APS $1M screw up

The "can't seem to get anything right" APS Financial Department has screwed up again, link, this time for spending 1.15 million dollars illegally.

Perhaps this is why APS CFO Dupuy Bateman is on paid leave until the end of his current contract and, for the full term of his next contract. APS Supt Winston Brooks won't tell stakeholders the truth about what is going on, link, so who knows?

All we know for sure is, APS has no intention of allowing independent auditors to come in and look at administrative standards and accountability; not in the Finance Department, and not in any other department. We are to "trust them" that they have things in order, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

That, and that the Journal has no intention of investigating and reporting upon the ongoing ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS.

Same old, same old.

Dantis Investigation; executive summary

I was going to try to write a synopsis of the report, but that seems silly; it's only seven pages long, link.

The report was completed ten days ago, and was only released to the public today. It begins with a qualifier;

the summary "... does not provide all factual findings from the investigation ...".

Apparently, it is Bernalillo County Manager Thaddeus Lucero's intention to keep them secret from stakeholders, at least for several weeks. Whether the delay is justified is unclear, as Lucero said he intends to answer no more questions.

On the face of it, there is no good and ethical reason why an ethically redacted version of the entire report could not, and should not, be released immediately.

It seems apparent from the summary, that Deputy County Manager John Dantis should be fired, and not allowed to burn vacation days before "retiring", imho.

Brooks hiding the truth.

APS Superintendent Winston Brooks isn't saying why he sent APS CFO Dupay Batemen home on administrative leave; breaking the promise APS made to stakeholders; they wouldn't send people on administrative leave on vacation with nothing to do.

The exAPS CFO was part of APS' Financial Division when the Meyners auditors revealed their

• lack of financially sound policies and procedures, and their
• lack of accountability to such policies as their were, and their
• lack of adequate record keeping.

... didn't have them then and never did before.

Likely millions of tax dollars have been lost or stolen. APS refuses to answer when asked if the Meyners Audit revealed criminal misconduct.

When APS Asst. Supt Michael Vigil was put on leave following his arrest for aggravated drunk driving, community outrage that he was being paid so much to sit at home and do nothing, prompted APS to promise they wouldn't do it again.

Then APS Police Chief Gil Lovato got in trouble, link. He was sent home on administrative leave for months until his contract expired. Because APS didn't fire him, he was deprived his day in court. Had that day in court happened, had the truth come out, "there won't be an APS senior administrator left standing", Lovato said at the time.

APS senior administrators, in the Lovato case, were involved in felony criminal misconduct. The misconduct was not investigated by any agency of law enforcement except the APS Police, an unaccredited, uncertificated, publicly funded private police force; a Praetorian Guard that has been "investigating" the case for three years, long enough for statutes of limitation to expire and, is yet to surrender even one shred of evidence to the District Attorney.

Now another APS senior administrator is cooling his heels on the taxpayers dime. Not only will he finish out his current contract while on leave, he is going to get to sign another contract good for another half year of doing nothing for the nearly $500 a day he pulls down; total cost to taxpayers, something north of $75K. For doing nothing.

The always kind to the leadership of the APS Journal, reports that Brooks will remain "quiet" on the details stakeholders own.

No shit!

Just like he, and the Journal, intend to remain quiet on APS' abandonment of the student standards of conduct, simply because Brooks, Esquivel, and the rest of the leadership of the APS, cannot summon the character and courage to step up to honest accountability as role models

Just like he, and the Journal, intend to remain quiet on the fraud in APS' Whistleblower program and the ongoing denial of due process for complaints filed thereunder.


photo Mark Bralley

Dantis will vacation before retiring.

According to the Journal this morning, link, John Dantis will likely burn up some vacation time, at $113K per year, before he retires (in lieu of being fired?).

County Commission Chairman Art De La Cruz said Thursday that he did not know when John Dantis' retirement will begin.

"I know he has some leave, and that would mean he'll want to exhaust that."

wtf?

In the same report;

County Manager Thaddeus Lucero "... will release at least an "executive summary" of the report, which presumably details the investigation ..."

The complete investigation is by any reasonable measure, a public record subject to surrender under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act, subject to redaction.

The law on redaction is clear;

the Act requires the applicable records custodian to separate out the exempt information in a file or document before making the record available for inspection. The fact that a file may contain some information that may not be disclosed doesn't protect all the information from public disclosure.

The public has a right to see the entire document subject to ethical redaction, not just the "executive summary".

Hopefully, the NM FOG, link, will step up and express some outrage.

The buck stops where in public corruption?

There are chains of command in bureaucracies.

Within chains of command, the laws of physics seem to conflict;
shit rolls downhill, while responsibility flows uphill.
Gravity seems to favor the first. The second, while eminently
justifiable from a philosophical standpoint, disappears entirely
in the face of entrenched corruption; the little guys heads roll,
the heads of the folks who were supposed to be keeping them
out of trouble rarely do.

Take for example the current public corruption and incompetence scandal involving John Dantis, link. Heads will roll, some already have. But what about the person, who did not participate directly in the corruption, but who failed to prevent it?

Is part of the job of any politician or public servant to police the people over which they have direct supervision, or does
"I knew nothing" get them off the hook?

Isn't "I knew nothing", nonfeasance?

Sloan makes out like a bandit.

Public Regulation Commissioner Carol Sloan was convicted of a felony on April 8, 2010.

She refused to resign from her office, forcing the State Supreme Court to bounce her; June 23, 2010.

At $90K per year, or about $250 a day, it works out to about
$18,500 "earned" in the interim.

Time to reexamine the issues of paid administrative leave and,
public servants staying on the clock after felony convictions.

Dantis quits.

The embattled Bernalillo County Administrator John Dantis has "retired".

The Journal reports, link, that Dantis has quit amid allegations he was part of a cover up of his son's misconduct as a county employee. If I remember correctly, Dantis the younger was also allowed to "resign" as opposed to being fired.

Apparently "three or four" employees have been disciplined following the scandal, including one who has actually been fired.

The County has promised to release more information, though so far has expressed no intention of releasing the full report from the investigation, an investigation for which tax payers footed the bill, link.

Same old, same old; we are to "trust them" that all the players received the consequences they have earned, never expecting to see the actual report.