On May 16th, the NM Foundation for Open Government and the Alb Journal will host their Continuing Legal Education Seminar on Public Access to Government; Understanding and Implementing NM's Public Records and Open Meetings Laws.According to the agenda, link, at about 3 in the afternoon, Defendant Marty Esquivel will be teaching the attendees, how to maintain order without infringing on constituents’ constitutional rights.I suspect he will not be showing the video of his own performance; conduct which has him headed for an ass-handing...
Restricting speech in limited public forums, according to Esquivel
read more "Restricting speech in limited public forums, according to Esquivel"
APS "leadership" responsible for Manzano Drill Team hazing.
Nearly six years ago to the day, a student on a field trip to the BioPark, did considerable damage to a very expensive piece of acrylic in the aquarium.At the time I wrote a post, link, blaming the incident in no small part, on then APS Supt Elizabeth Everitt.According to school board policy, policy that has never been rescinded, she had a responsibility to offer students character education as part of their curriculum. She had, I argued,...
Defendant Esquivel co-leading FOG seminar on public records and open meetings laws.
The NM FOG invites you, link, to find out about the latest developments in public records and open meetings from FOG Hotline attorneys Martin R. Esquivel, Charles R. Peifer, Charles "Kip" Purcell, Robert M. White, Gregory P. Williams and Dan Yohalem, and Journal Managing Editor Kent Walz.I call your attention to two of the leaders of the seminar, Defendant Marty Esquivel and Kent Walz.Esquivel has been tapped as a presenter, presumably...
Does the APS board even know, the trouble they're in?
The APS Board of Education is being sued; even the just elected. I'm wondering if they even know about it.Every year, the board signs contracts with Modrall and a handful of other law firms, for legal services on behalf of the board. This year, the RFP, link, p24 section 4.4.4, requires law firms to offer the board a candid, forthright and honest appraisal of the trouble they're in, within thirty days of being sued by someone. They deliver the evaluation in secret for a number of reasons, some less worthy than...
"The right time to do the right thing, is always right now."
APS has provided a link, to the videotape of the March 20th board meeting. At approximately 1:33 into the meeting, the discussion and action on the APS Open Meetings Resolution begins.It wasn't exactly as I supposed. I was right about the lack of School Board President Marty Esquivel's honest enthusiasm over increasing the notice on their agendas to 72 hours.For as long as Esquivel has been on the board, the board could have,...
APS Open Meetings Resolution tabled.
The APS School Board met last light. Their agenda, link, was to pass an open meetings resolution that provided only 24 hours notice on public meeting agendas. It is fair to wonder, why? Why stand in front of an idea whose time has clearly come; there will be 72 hours notice given for public meetings in the State of New Mexico.The likely to be signed into law, HB21, link, ends the APS board's past practice of providing...
Last minute agenda item - Open Meetings Resolution
Every year, the APS School Board Passes an Open Meetings Resolution. They intend to discuss and act on one tomorrow night, link, Wednesday, March 20.It has not been discussed in committee - it is a last minute deal. The agenda was posted ten minutes before the deadline. They provide no link to the resolution and therefore no opportunity for community members to examine it before they pass it.Update; after this post was...
Defendent Esquivel, senior-most role model in the APS?
Everyone is a role model; a person whose behavior, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by young people.The Josephson Institute offers access, link, to their library of aphorisms related to character education, including a section on role models.A handful of them on point and on,the need for role models; Example has more followers than reason. Bovee Example is not the main thing in influencing others. ...
Ouch! I found some results on the School Board Officer election.
Journal education reporter Hailey Heinz reported the results on her blog, link. I still can't find the results in the Journal proper; our "newspaper of record". I find no reference in her post, to a report in the paper. Perhaps the editors think anyone who really cares about the results is reading Heinz' blog, so they don't need to publish them in the paper.Heinz reports that school board enforcer Marty Esquivel has been...
APS no longer posting board meeting videos?
If you search the archives APS' award-winning website, link, you won't find a video record posted forthe last meeting, March 6, 2013 or,the one before that, February 20th, 2013, orthe one before that, February 6th, 2013, orthe one before that, January 16th, 2013, or,the one before that, December 19th, 2112.You have to go clear back to December 5th, 2012 to find a board meeting where the video is posted.APS made a commitment to post videos...
You don't want to see the sausage being made! Or, do you?
Our representatives in the Roundhouse have created a sausagefor us and it's a doozy. Even those whose normal tendency istoward more dispassionate reporting are steaming, link.Legislating has been likened to sausage making in that,you don't really want to see either in process of being made.The implication is that you would be disgusted if you really knew what goes into sausage. And according to the saw; you would be disgusted if you really knew what goes on in the legislative process in Santa Fe.So why are we allowing...
Who is the new President of the APS School Board?
The APS School Board met Wednesday, March 6, 2013.According to their agenda, link, it was their intention to;(hold an) Election of 2013-2014 Board of Education Officers;President, Vice President and Secretary.If you search APS' award-winning website for "Election of 2013-2014 Board of Education Officers", link, you won't find out who won; the results are not posted. It was their further intention to;(hold an) Election of 2013-2014 Board of Education Committee Chairs;... Policy and Instruction Committee Chairperson......
The fight over transparency is just beginning
Legislators often argue that they need to do business in secret from the people in order to do the people's business more effectively. I have yet to hear one of them offer a "for instance".What exactly, would two legislators have to say about the public interests, that cannot and should not be said in the presence of the people whose interests are being decided?They won't offer up and then defend a "for instance". What they will do, is to pass laws in the middle of the night; laws that except them from more transparent...
Schultz avoids subordinate evaluation
With his impending retirement, Albuquerque Police DeptChief Ray Schultz dodges a different kind of bullet;another subordinate evaluation, link.He has suffered through one already, albeit a poorly executed survey done by the police officers union. Survey results are skewed because only union members were allowed to participate, and have to be taken with a grain of salt.That not withstanding, the survey indicated that a subordinate...
Ortiz y Pino is obfuscating the issue
Rob Mikolewski reports, link, State Senator Ortiz y Pino voted in favor of HCR1. He reports that Ortiz y Pino offered justification for the apparent hypocrisy of legislators expecting more transparency from the Governor, than the people can expect from legislators.His justification; legislators have no individual "authority" and therefore individual emails aren't public records. His exact words, in response to Mikolewski's question;Isn’t...
HCR1; transparent accountability battleground
Make no bones about it, link, there is a fight going on in the Roundhouse. On the one side, legislators who embrace transparent accountability in their day to day service to the people. On the other, legislators who do not; the complicit and the complacent.The fight is over a fundamental philosophical disagreement; some believe the truth belongs to the people and theirs to control. The others believe the truth belongs to politicians and public servants; theirs to disseminate in their interests.Some see no...
"A clean slate every year"
Senator Linda Lopez is carrying a memorial, SM062, link, that would lead to a Student Bill of Rights. There are a number of problems, not the least of which is, the Memorial will give students a greater voice in running their schools than teachers have. I can't wait to see how that works out.The very worst and most problematic right Lopez would give students;..., students have the right to schools ... in whichstudents...
Legislators climbing aboard Egoff's Ethics Commission Act
Representative Brian Egoff's bill, HB109, link, passed the House 64-1 by those voting, link, and is on its way to the Senate. Despite the fact that it stinks.How many pages of legislation would you think it should take to create an honest and above the board process enforcing ethics laws on politicians and public servants?Egoff, link, has whittled it down for us,to a mere 107 pages.About 24 pages in, Egoff veers off into...
You'll find the agenda taped to the door!
If you have an interest in participating in the legislative process, you can go to Santa Fe, attend any one of a number of committee meetings, and then speak your piece to legislators.For some people, that isn't as simple as it sounds. For us folks in Albuquerque, it means a couple of hours on the road, more hours sitting through endless personal anecdotal evidence for and against, and then, occasionally, running out of time and finding...
Auditors Office funding could quadruple
If Senate Joint Resolution 9 makes it through the process, voters will be given the opportunity to amend the State Constitution.The amendment would dedicate 2/10ths of 1 percent of the state's budget to funding the State Auditors Office.The current state budget is $5.65B. Depending on the actual budget each year, the SAO would have a little over $11M to spend. Their current budget is around $2.3 million.What would State Auditor...
Legislators to re-invoke their weasel clause
Tip of the hat to Rob Mikolewski and Capital Report, link.We are disappointed but not surprised to find a weasel clause the New Mexico Constitution.We are not surprised because, when good ol' boys get together to write the rules, they always add a rule that excepts them from the rules.The good ol' boys who got together to write the Constitution a century ago created for themselves, just such privileges and immunities; Article 4, Section...
Student bullies aren't the only bullies in school
I recommend your time and attention to a post by Michael Swickard, li...
APS Police force crippled by BCSO SOP? BS?
Re; Senate Bill 306, allowing APS to have its own Police Department.According the Legislative Education Study Committee report,APS claims it needs its own police department because, under the oversight of the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office;"... its police force is unable to deal with children and adolescents because the Standard Operating Procedures followed by the Bernalillo County Sheriff's are not tailored for children or adolescents."I'd...
Service on APS School Board begins with disregard for the law
The law, the Open Meetings Act, reads, link;Draft minutes will be prepared within ten working days after the meeting and shall be approved, amended or disapproved at the next meeting where a quorum is present.Steven Michael QuezadaAccording to their agenda, link,we are very disappointed, but notsurprised to find the very first actof the new APS Board MembersSteven Michael Quezada andDonald Duran, will be to vote toapprove minutes from a...
Modrall "wins" big APS contract
It comes as no surprise that APS will continue to funnel untold and untolled numbers of operational dollars to the Modrall law firm; they have "won", link (item 10), no small amount of business from the APS.Operational dollars are the ones that could be spent in classrooms if they weren't being spent in litigation.When school board enforcer and now Defendant Marty Esquivel was running for the board for the first time, he told me he knew...
Reported Crimes in APS schools to plummet - guaranteed!
The proximate effect of Senator Ortiz Y Pino's SB 528, link, will be that the number of reported crimes in APS will plummet. The plummeting numbers will be used in the next few years to convince community members that crime rates in APS are declining, and by extension that the APS police force is doing a great job, and by further extension, that the superintendent and school board are doing a great job; managing to actually reduce the number of crimes being committed in schools.The Bill, quoted in significant part, reads;Each...
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