Diogenes'six

Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words.

2009-07-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

Lt. Governor Diane Denish would have voters believe that
her ethics reform package is a stand against the culture of corruption.

A number of the great unwashed writing on a KOB Topix Forum, suggest that she prove herself by taking a public stand against House Speaker Lujan's plan to move a highway interchange to his property, link.

Seems reasonable.

The ball, as they say, is in Denish's court.

They make the same demand of Sheriff Greg Solano; that he augment his ethics reform package by taking a public stand against the poster boy for the need for ethics reform.

photo Mark Bralley

Betraying the public trust; a misdemeanor.

2009-07-11T06:37:00.000-07:00

The Journal, link, reports

Former superintendent Joe Baca pleaded “no contest”
to fraud of $250 or less, a petty misdemeanor, and
agreed to pay the state $2,750 in restitution.

Which begs at least one question;
how can you steal $2,750, and then be allowed to plead
"no contest" to stealing $250 or less, a misdemeanor?

A public servant who betrays the public trust, even in an
amount less than $250 should be found guilty of something
greater than a misdemeanor, how about treason?

The POTUS dropped by yesterday.

2009-07-11T06:18:00.000-07:00

No one, who is not a blogger, will ever understand what it is
like to watch a site counter crawl upward. Site counters log
the number of "hits" that a blog receives. A "hit" is some
one ending up on your blog. A brand new blog may not get
any hits at all for a disappointingly long time.

Even the overall number of hits, isn't all that encouraging
because a surprisingly large number of people apparently
arrive by accident as stay for less that five seconds. Unless
they are speed readers, they aren't there to read the blog.

Another thing a site counter will tell you, is where the hits
come from. I look for hits from the APS, and government
offices, in particular NM State Government Offices.

The hit we are all waiting for of course, is the one from God,
and the comment that reads;

"Ched,
stopped by your blog today, didn't realize what was
going on, I'm on it!"

The next best hit would be the one from the;

"Executive Office Of The President USA."

Cool, the PotUS is one of my peeps, and he's on it!

John Q. Public, apparently unimpressed by Denish plan.

2009-07-11T05:46:00.000-07:00

It started with an op-ed piece by
NM Republican Party Chair,
Harvey Yates.

In his missive, Yates argued that
Denish's record does not include
standing up against the culture
of corruption, ever.

Denish responded, (presumably it was hers, the response came over the name of an underling, and not her own) with an op-ed of her own. She was unable to point to the time, the day, and the place where she did, in deed, stand up to the culture of corruption.

Denish upped the ante Thursday, when
she presented an ethics reform package
that would certainly cripple the culture
of corruption, if not end it altogether.

The plan is a good one. If there is a chink
in the armor, it would be Denish's claim
to have been working on the plan "for
months". Her ethics reform package is
not rocket science, none them are, the
answer is transparent accountability
which is not a recent invention, and the
plan really shouldn't have taken hours to pen, much less months.

Never the less, her reform package does not seem to impress the great unwashed. Their voice is heard on the "backside". Being the great unwashed, they have no voice in the legacy media; the Journal, radio and tv. Their only forum is the opportunity to comment on blog posts, or to participate in public forums like KOB's Topix Forum, link.

Comments on forums like Topix, need to be taken with a grain of salt; it is hard to imagine less "scientific" polling than forum comments. That said, they seem to be less impressed by her reform package, than by the argument that she has no record of ever having taken an actual stand against the culture of corruption that she was/is so intimately connected to.

It would appear that John Q. Public still wants to hear some further explanation of her failure, heretofore, to stand on the record, and against the culture of corruption.

However much this hurts her electability, it is more than offset by the fact that the Republicans, even now, still have no plan on the table that would hold Republicans honestly accountable for their corruption and incompetence in public service.

photos Mark Bralley

when I grow up, I want to be an "ombudsman"

2009-07-10T06:51:00.000-07:00

A person who acts as a trusted intermediary between the government and the people, while representing the broad scope of constituent interests.

The ombudsman investigates citizen complaints against the government and attempts to resolve them through recommendations or mediation. An ombudsmen identifies organizational roadblocks running counter to constituent interests.

Making a complaint to an ombudsman is usually free of charge.

wikipedia derived

One could argue that, it was as our ombudswoman, link,
that Lt. Governor Denish unveiled her new ethics plan.

On the other hand, my request to the actual ombudsman in her Office, link, was apparently ignored.

Dear NMRP, put up, or shut up!

2009-07-10T05:43:00.000-07:00

With the release of Lt. Governor Diane Denish's ethics reform plan, there are now two candidates for statewide office, who have plans on the table to end the culture of corruption in Santa Fe. They are both Democrats. And now it is time for the Republicans to put up or shut up.

If Diane Denish is linked to Roundhouse corruption, what better way to find out than to help her pass ethics reform under which her corruption will be exposed?

The bottom line is that the Republicans have not put up a plan that would see Republican good ol' boys held accountable for their corruption.

As important as Diane Denish's actual complicity or tacit
approval of corruption is, and it is critically important, in this
particular argument, it is a red herring if it is used to hide the
fact that Republicans are not willing to see Republicans
held accountable for their corruption.

The whole idea in ethics reform is to come up with a system
that cannot be gamed by sitting good ol' boys of either party.

The whole idea is to make it impossibly difficult to hide corruption.

The whole idea to make it impossibly difficult to except oneself from accountability for their own corruption and incompetence.

The plan doesn't have to come from a Republican candidate;
it can come from the Republican party. And when they have
that plank in their platform, then they are entitled to stand on it
and take pots shots at whomever they like.

KOB TV misquotes Denish, decides not to retract.

2009-07-10T04:57:00.000-07:00

KOB TV reported on the Lt. Governor's press conference.

During the conference, two questions were asked about the
republican insistence that Denish is linked to Richardson's
pay for play troubles.

Both times, Denish pointed out that neither she, nor her
Office, were linked to any of the allegations, saying

"I have not been part of any of this. My office has not
been part of any of this..."

KOB (10 o'clock news) reported that Denish had said that
Richardson was clean.

They were informed of their error, had time to correct it,
(their error was pointed out to them before sports and weather)
and they chose to let it stand.

fyi and for the record.

The "Denish Plan" is on the table, and it looks good!

2009-07-09T17:19:00.001-07:00

Lt. Governor Diane Denish
put her ethics reform plan
on the table today.

Link,
Office of the Lt Governor.

It is a little more polished
than the plan offered by
candidate Greg Solano,
but doesn't include the
robust funding that he
suggests for the Offices of
the Secretary of State,
Attorney General, and
the State Auditor.

She indicated that her plan is work in progress. I am sure that a number of suggestions will be offered, and some added to her plan as appropriate. She is off to a great start.

In essence, she proposes a robust Ethics Commission, and
unheard of transparency in state government.

She will face opposition; there are those who will oppose
transparency and accountability.

It will be the obligation of the people of New Mexico,
to stand up behind ethics reform and make sure that it is
translated into law.

They say that you get the government you deserve.
If we don't stand up behind those who are standing up for us,
the government we deserve will be one still riddled with
corruption and incompetence.

Denish convincingly severed any connection between her and
the Richardson administration, repeatedly stating that neither
she, nor her Office are involved in any of the many scandals that
the Richardson Administration has tolerated and enabled.

Still nothing from the "transparent accountability party".
Their complaints that she has not stood up against the culture
of corruption will ring hollow in light of the plan she has put
on the table, and in light of the fact that they still have put up
no plan of their own.

We have the best opportunity that we have ever had, to put
an end to the culture of corruption and incompetence,
at once and for all.

All we have to do is get off our collective ass, and fight for
the transparency and accountability that is so sorely needed
in Santa Fe.

It is up to us.

photo Mark Bralley

"... thousands of legitimate New Mexico businessmen get caught up in the culture of corruption..."

2009-07-09T05:47:00.001-07:00

According to the architect "caught up" in the courthouse
scandal, KRQE link.

The Albuquerque Journal comes under scrutiny.

2009-07-09T05:32:00.000-07:00

Any one who has read more than a couple of posts on this blog,
has read my allegations that the Journal is part of the cover up
of an ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the
APS.

Specifically, the Journal steadfastly refuses to investigate and
report upon

the refusal of the leadership of the APS to submit to an impartial standards and accountability audit, and Board Member Paula Maes' slip when she admitted that she would never agree to an audit that names the names of the corrupt and incompetent in the leadership of the APS, and
the suppression of evidence of felony criminal misconduct involving senior APS administrators; Peanut Butter Gate scandal in the APS police department, and
the fact that the leadership of the APS refuses to be held honestly accountable as role models of the APS Student Standards of Conduct.

Apparently, I am not the only one who has noticed that our
newspaper of record is slanting the news. A couple of former Journal reporters have started a Journal watch, to watch the watcher, link.

A cloud is hanging over Mayor Marty Chavez' AFSCME endorsement.

2009-07-09T05:08:00.000-07:00

The AFSCME endorsement would have been the biggest feather in Mayor Marty Chavez' campaign cap. Instead, the endorsement was met with immediate opposition from within the union itself. A number of members argued that the endorsement did not reflect the sentiments of the membership.

Things got even worse, when a vote was taken to allow union members a direct expression of their sentiments. And worse still, when a decision was made, apparently, to not count the votes. That decision precipitated a series of events which ended with the police being called to the union hall to investigate a complaint of an assault and battery, link.

The veracity of suggestions of impropriety grew when the union president escorted an NMI reporter from the premises. link

If all is as it appears,
the AFSCME endorsement
may turn out to be less of a
feather, and more of an
albatross, for a candidate
who already has a perpetual
stink of allegations of
corruption surrounding him.

photo Mark Bralley

Lt. Governor Diane Denish has a plan!

2009-07-08T20:49:00.000-07:00

Lt. Governor Diane Denish
has announced a press conference
in Santa Fe, at 1:30 tomorrow afternoon.

The subject of the news conference is
the release of her reform package;
her plan to end the culture of
corruption in Santa Fe.

If Denish can show us a plan that will
actually end the culture of corruption,
a plan equal to, or better than Sheriff Greg Solano's plan,
New Mexico will never be the same.

It will be the dawn of a new era.

We will be finally free of the mantle of corruption and
incompetence in state government, that has kept our state
49th or 50th in everything for generations.

If she comes the table with a winner, a plan under which the
governor herself can be held accountable to meaningful
standards of conduct and competence, even against her will,
the election is hers to lose.

And the "transparent accountability" party will need to start
planning for the 2014 gubernatorial election, because they
will have come to this one with too little, and too late.

photo Mark Bralley

Diane Denish's (?) Op-ed Rebuttal.

2009-07-08T07:38:00.001-07:00

"I read with great disappointment, but not surprise,
( Lt. Governor Diane Denish's (?) rebuttal of)
the latest attack by Republican Party Chairman
Harvey Yates in The Sunday Journal"
Ted Martinez, Journal, link. derived

The "champion of accountability"
seen here with the "champion of
the culture of corruption",
chose not to be held personally
accountable for the rebuttal,
on which her name is not found.

She chose, apparently,
not to dirty her hands by
responding directly to pointed
and legitimate questions
raised by Yates.

It reeks of Bill Richardson's last gubernatorial campaign,
where in, he calculated that he was so far ahead in the polls, that
he could deny stakeholders a public debate on the issues,
and still win. He calculations were correct of course, but that
does not excuse or justify his hiding from debates.

There was nothing new in the rebuttal; a list of the issues
that she "pushed", "urged" and "championed".

Conspicuous in its absence, any plan to end the culture of corruption and incompetence in state government.

Is a plan too much to ask for?

Apparently Candidate for
Lt Governor, Greg Solano
doesn't think so.
He has posted his plan on his
website. Like it or no,
his plan is out there for
examination and criticism.

Denish's, if she has one, is not.

It can be done. It should be done.

Voters have an interest in a plan to end the culture of corruption. I would argue that they have a right to see the plan before they vote.

In fairness to Denish, neither Yates nor any Republican
candidate for any statewide office, has laid out their plan
either.

photos Mark Bralley

Damn, I wish I'd thought of that.

2009-07-08T06:29:00.000-07:00

The leadership of the APS are amassed in a couple of controversial office towers at 6400 Uptown Blvd.

Some clever soul googled 6400 Upyours Blvd and got about
20,000 hits, including Diogenes' six.

And I, am lmao.

Accord at the highest levels of the Democrat and Republican Parties.

2009-07-08T06:18:00.000-07:00

Given; there is a culture of corruption and incompetence in
state government.

Political candidates have three choices;

embrace it and share in the booty, or
tolerate and enable it by trying to work despite/within it, or
end it, at once and for all.

The leadership of both parties have apparently settled on the
second option.

Embracing it, even in this state, would seem to be political suicide.

Ending it, at once and for all, would mean that a lot of good ol' boys who are part of the culture of corruption will forfeit their reputations, their jobs and in some cases, their personal freedom, and their asses need to be covered.

Therefore, the Republicans and Democrats seem to be in agreement, neither will mention the other's failure to lay a plan to end the culture of corruption on the table for voter perusal.

It is a win/win situation.

If the people are added to the equation,
then it is a win/win/lose.

Let the pissing contest begin!

2009-07-08T06:06:00.000-07:00

Blogger Monahan reports, link, that the Denish campaign
has responded to the op-ed penned by New Mexico Republican Party Chairman, Harvey Yates.

Yates had pointed to Denish's record, which does not include
standing up to the culture of corruption, or to any of the good
ol' boys who run and benefit from it.

Denish's pee stream was rather meager, amounting only to
a rehash of her accomplishments which include a lot of
"pushing", "urging", and "championing", but not to any
concrete plan to end the culture of corruption at once and
for all. The stream was further deflected by Monahan's
report of Denish's upcoming fundraiser which points to her
seemingly insatiable appetite for money to add to her already
insurmountable accumulation.

In fairness, neither Yates nor any Republican candidate
so far, can point to any plan either.

The beneficiaries of the pissing contest are the people of
New Mexico, who will, if the streams get large and powerful
enough, see someone finally lay a plan on the table that will
actually end the culture of corruption in state government.

Denish thumbs her nose at critics.

2009-07-08T05:45:00.000-07:00

Let's begin with a peek at the truth;

it is possible to buy an election.

That is part of the reason to reign in campaign financing.

A loophole in the laws that
Lt Governor Diane Denish
"pushed", "urged", and "championed"
has allowed her to amass a fortune
that virtually guarantees her election.

And still she doesn't have enough money
in the bank to give it a break.

Blogger Monahan reports, link, that
Denish and Bill Richardson's former
fundraiser, Amanda Cooper are planning
to stuff a few more shekels into her already bulging campaign war chest.

Denish is apparently so emboldened by the size of her war chest, that she doesn't need to separate herself from the scandal ridden Richardson administration.

Which works out just fine, because she really shouldn't be
separated from the scandal ridden Richardson administration.

photos Mark Bralley

Mayor Marty Chavez proposes a "surge" in the fight against crime.

2009-07-08T05:26:00.000-07:00

According to the Journal's TJ Wilham, link, Mayor Chavez has proposed raising the number of police officers on the street by about 9%.

The rather obvious chink in the armor of Chavez's new plan, is that he has settled on a rather arbitrary number; 1,200.

It is unlikely that any serious study or understanding of the myriad of issues involved, would arrive at an even dozen.

Wilham reports;

"I don't see how we can afford not to do this," Chávez
said. "Public safety has to be our priority. If we have
to cut elsewhere, we will cut elsewhere. We will find
it in our budget. Hopefully, we will not have to make
those tough decisions."

If public safety were Chavez' real priority, the calculation
would start with the number of officers that are really
necessary, they would be funded, and then the chips would
fall wherever they may.

Picking a number out of a hat
is a gutless and frankly unimaginative
solution that allows Chavez to grab
a headline, and yet allows him to avoid
making the tough decisions that
he continues to avoid making.

photo Mark Bralley

The "shake up" in the Romero campaign.

2009-07-07T07:50:00.001-07:00

Every report that I have read,
describes the change in
Richard Romero's campaign
staff as a "shake up".

Unless your mind runs to
Romero grabbing Neri Holguin
and physically shaking her,
"shake up" has another rather specific meaning;

"a thorough change in a business, department, or the like, as by dismissals, demotions, etc."

Romero is on record stating that it isn't really a shake up at all, that it was Holguin's intention all along to not be there until the end, and that she had in fact stayed longer than she had initially intended, link.

So why is everyone reporting this "shake up". Is it just an assumption allowed by the fact that everyone assumes that Romero is lying? And why? just because he is a politician and his lips are moving?

Richard Romero promised to tell us the truth, link.

Neither of the gentlemen running against him has made that
promise, despite ample opportunity.

Mayor Marty Chavez won't make the promise out of fear of
the subsequent lightning strike.

Representative Richard Berry won't make the promise for
reasons, to which, I am not privy.

Even if you don't think any politicians promise is worth as much as a bucket of warm spit, all else equal, whose word would you rather take, the guy who has at least promised to tell the truth, or the other two guys, neither of whom is willing to make any statement at all?, about their intention to tell us the truth,
either before or after they are elected.

photo Mark Bralley

Robert Lucero loses fight to restrict public forum.

2009-07-07T06:02:00.000-07:00

Robert Lucero tried to have the
rights of speakers at public forums
at APS School Board committee
meetings limited to the items on the
agenda for the meeting.

His real interest was in preventing
public comment on the subject of
executive and administrative role
modeling of the APS Student Standards of Conduct; a subject which will never be the subject on any agenda of any meeting of the School Board, if board members like Lucero and David Peercy have their way.

Peercy is the Policy Committee Chair,
and is personally responsible link, for
the fact that the restoration of the role
modeling clause to the standards of
conduct that apply to board members
and administrators, has not been
openly and honestly discussed,
despite the fact that it has been on
his committee's plate for nearly
four months. link

Public forums are the purest form of the exercise of the constitutionally protected human rights to free speech and to petition one's government. Any effort to limit or restrict them is utterly indefensible.

District Relations Committee
Chair Lorenzo Garcia, informed
Lucero, on the record, that speakers
at public forums are entitled to speak
on what ever issues that they choose.

Committee chairs like Lucero and
Peercy, unfortunately, still
have the opportunity to abuse
the power entrusted to them,
by disallowing altogether, public forums at the meetings they chair.

And to their enduring shame, they take full advantage of that opportunity.

photos Mark Bralley

Diane Denish's Op-ed Rebuttal

2009-07-07T02:42:00.000-07:00

Lt. Governor Diane Denish is entitled to fair play.

The Albuquerque Journal gave NMRP Chair, Harvey Yates sixteen column inches to make his point; Diane Denish has not spoken up against the culture of corruption.

Yates' op-ed was presented under a photo that was identified as coming from a "Journal File". Yates himself could not have selected a better photograph to make his point.

And now, Denish, shown here
hugging the face of the culture
of corruption, good ol' boy and
Governor, Bill Richardson,
is going to want the same
sixteen inches, and a five by
eight of her own.

For her piece, she has a right
to insist that the Journal pick
a photograph from their file
that doesn't make her look like she is joined at the hip with the good ol' boys, and their culture of corruption.

She should insist that they choose a photograph that portrays her leading the fight against the culture of corruption.
If they have one.

She may want to furnish such a photograph, of her own.
If she has one.

It's existence flies in the face of the reality.

Her own spin, link, makes an issue of a lot of urging, pushing, and championing on her part, but doesn't point to the time, the day and the place where she made it clear that it was going to be either her or, the good ol' boys and their culture of corruption. They are in fact, both still around.

As important as they are, the end of the culture of corruption will be not be precipitated by campaign finance reform and searchable data bases. Rather, the end of the culture of corruption will come at the advent of transparent accountability enough to make it impossibly difficult to hide corruption, and impossibly difficult to avoid the consequences of that corruption.

It would appear that Diane Denish cannot dispute Yates'
allegations based on her record.

She has two other choices. She can ignore the allegations.
Perhaps she has amassed enough money under the loopholes
in the campaign finance reform that she "pushed" and "urged"
and "championed", that she can just ignore Yates accusations
and buy the election in spite of them.

Or, she can come back in her op-ed,
with a plan to end the culture of corruption, at once and for all.

In which case she will come out of this little tiff, a step ahead of
Yates and the Republicans, who while pointing to her failure
to speak out against the culture of corruption, have conveniently
ignored their own record of failure to speak out, and their own
failure to come up with any plan to end the culture of corruption and incompetence in Santa Fe.

photo Mark Bralley

Daniels vs Barela, about to get dirty?

2009-07-06T06:56:00.001-07:00

The chosen one, Jon Barela, may get some competition in the race to be the Republican candidate in CD1, in the person of businessman Kevin Daniels.

Blogger Monahan, link, asked the question;

Will the NRCC heavies try to talk Daniels down?

The last time "the heavies" tried to "talk someone down" from running against their chosen one, Darren White, it got dirty. Worse than dirty; it got reprehensible, it got down right disgusting, link.

Denish defense a no-brainer.

2009-07-06T06:05:00.001-07:00

In a Journal op-ed piece,
New Mexico Republican Party
Chairman, Harvey Yates Jr.
pointed out that Denish's record
does not include taking a stand
against the culture of corruption
in Santa Fe.

In her defense,
Lt Governor Diane Denish
needs only to point the place
in her record, link, where she stepped up and spit in eye of the good ol' boys that run and benefit from, the good ol' boy system that is synonymous with the culture of corruption.

Easier said than done. Were Denish's War on the Culture of Corruption, equated to the War on Drugs, all she has done so far is hassle a couple of pot smoking hippies.

If fairness, her record is as good as anyone else's,
maybe better.

The problem is that nobody in the governor's race has actually squared off and gone toe to toe, eyeball to eyeball, and mano a mano with the culture itself.

Yates attack is disingenuous at best.

Denish's best, perhaps her only, defense at this point
would be to call on Yates to point to a republican
who has done better; or even has plans to do better.

So far, the best the Republicans have to offer is Allen Weh.

Weh has no plan to end
the culture of corruption either.

He may have the intention,
but he doesn't have a plan.

No plan anyway, that he will
put on the table for voters to
examine, to see if they think
the plan has any likelihood at
all, of any greater success than
Denish's no plan at all.

If a plan to end the culture of corruption in Santa Fe,
does not strike terror in the hearts of the politically
entrenched corrupt and incompetent,
I submit that it is no plan at all.

photos Mark Bralley

Bill Richardson, America's Education Governor, give me a break!

2009-07-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

Even Richardson couldn't keep a straight face.

Bill Richardson was selected as the winner of the National Education Association's "America's Greatest Education Governor Award." link

Which begs at least one question; why?

New Mexico's education system ranks 48th in the nation;
it hasn't improved; it has always been in the bottom three
or four. Half of our kids are dropping out of school altogether.

Logic would argue that the governor who's state ranked first
would be named the Greatest Education Governor; or
the governor of the second best state, or the third, or fourth,
... or even the governor of the state that placed 47th.

Any one of those governors can promise citizens a better
education system than Bill Richardson can.

As I see it, this all can be explained in one of two ways;

the criteria for selecting an "education governor" have nothing to do with the quality of education that a state can provide for its children. In which case, what is the point of the award? or
he was selected for some reason other than the criteria that the NEA claims to have used in making their selection.

Perhaps they are getting a highway interchange built on,
or very near, some property that they own.

UPDATE; Read this fact filled post on the realities of education in New Mexico under Bill Richardson. link

photo courtesy NEA

Could Allen Weh possibly be any more clueless?

2009-07-05T06:40:00.000-07:00

According to Newsman and Blogger PeterSt Cyr, link,
Allen Weh has a plan to fix education in New Mexico;

"We're going to compel change and
keep kids in schools and in school seats."

Damn, all this time, all this wasted
effort, and all we had to do all
along, to move from 48th in the
nation in educating our children,
was to "compel" kids to stay in
their seats!

Children, the governor has "ordered you" to stay in your seats and pay attention!

Colonel Weh, fails to comprehend an environment where he gives "an order", and no one pays the least bit of attention to it.

One has to wonder if Weh has asked even one teacher, what they thought is the problem. If he had, he would find that teachers have already tried ordering kids to stay in their seats and pay attention. It hasn't worked.

Unless you think 48th in the nation, is "working".

photo Mark Bralley