Taos Scapegoat Socked with Legal Fees

“The land of the Free! This the land of the free! Why if I say anything that displeases them, the free mob will lynch me, and that’s my freedom. Free? Why I have never been in any country where the individual has such an abject fear of his fellow countrymen.”—D.H. Lawrence

On Val Kilmer

As a reader of the Albuquerque Journal North, I found some amusement in the ironic headline on Friday, May 14, 2010: “Kilmer Will Get Help From ACLU.” According to the report, “The U.S. Constitution precludes the County Commission [San Miguel] from retaliating (my emphasis) against the actor, said Peter Simonson, executive director of the ACLU of New Mexico. Simonson also said in the report “`We still believe there are substantive freedom of speech issues at the heart of the dispute with the county.’”

Val Kilmer is most famous for having played the ill-fated Jim Morrison in a biopic about the 60s rockers, called The Doors. Apparently, the actor made disparaging remarks several years ago about his second home in San Miguel County and was quoted in everybody’s favorite rock’n roll magazine, Rolling Stone. Now, the County Commissioners want an apology before they will approve a request for a change in land use, so the actor can rent three guesthouses on his 6,000-acre ranch.

Retaliation is a common practice in El Norte, as any employee of a municipality, county, school system, or even the media can tell you. If you speak up and focus the attention of the community on the transgressions of politicians or actively protest against public failure, you will be turned into a scapegoat or subjected to malicious prosecution and capricious lawsuits. Recently, the ACLU has focused on torture, say, at GITMO in Cuba or Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan or the lack of habeas corpus—due process–for international detainees, tried by military tribunals. Now, the ACLU has a proper corpse or image to protect here in New Mexico in the person of Mr. Kilmer–a poster child from Hollywood and representative of the Governor’s vaunted film industry.

Longtime observers of local political shenanigans can only sigh and say, if you’re just a run of the mill activist, resident, parent, employee, or journalist you must hire your own attorney to fight against the prejudicial ills of retaliatory politicos or administrators. As Jesus said in another context that might be applied to today’s roiling northern New Mexico environment, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown,” which remark brings us to the case of Mr. Arsenio Cordova.

On Arsenio Cordova

On Friday afternoon, May 14, 2010, a Las Vegas [San Miguel County] judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Mr. Cordova against a local tea-party-like group, called “Citizens for Quality Education.” The judge ruled that Cordova’s lawsuit abrogated the defendant’s First Amendment rights because it violated the SLAPP [Strategic lawsuit against Public Participation] statutes. In turn, the Judge ordered Mr. Cordova to pay attorney fees for the defendants. The lawsuit itself grew out of a prior violation of state statues, according to court documents, when petitioners for a recall against the school board member failed to follow designated regulations.

Indeed, free speech is an issue: the Taos School Board’s, Mr. Cordova’s, the administrators, petitioners for recall, parents and union members, who attend school board members and are subjected to hisses, boos, epithets, and retaliation—if they don’t agree with longtime powerful administrators and their families, aka, “The Fat Cats at CRAB Hall.”

One man or woman’s regard for free speech about politicos or administrators is an excuse for a second man or woman to exercise malicious prosecution or the filing of abusive lawsuits in the courts. Indeed, it’s difficult to know who’s on first in northern New Mexico or which came first: the chicken (shit) lawsuit—EEOC complaint, recall petition, federal civil rights lawsuit, alleged SLAPP suit–or the egg that broke when the peccadilloes of a failed school system were made public by a board intent on reform.

Meanwhile, the ACLU defends celebrities, who can easily afford their own attorneys.

As best can be determined, the tension between Cordova and the school administrators grew, originally, out of his very public criticism of their own failures. He violated the principles of political correctness and exercised free speech. In turn, they hissed and booed, filed spurious claims with the EEOC. Political partisans jumped on the recall petition and The Taos News, KTAO, DMC Broadcasting, the Town of Taos, and the Taos Community Foundation, and the courts have all piled on Cordova. For, Cordova, indeed, had pointed out that the community—due to greed, a lack of competence, and general bungling—had failed the children.

Now Mr. Cordova, the contentious school board member, who has called attention to declining enrollment, increased drop-out rates, low graduation rates, failure to meet standardized benchmarks, and increased administrator salaries–may be forced to pay defendant and plaintiff fees of more than $50,000. And the legal battle continues: possible appeals, more lawsuits, and counter lawsuits, etc.

Love of Children?

It has come to this commentator’s attention that more than 30% of the students in TMS are designated as “special needs.” About 789 are on IEPs (Independent Education Plans) and 100 are waiting for their evaluations. The schools benefit in terms of budget by “labeling” or “defining” children as in need of special services. In turn the state reimburses the schools at several times the rate of so-called normal children. According to insiders at the schools, TMS has been balancing the budget for years on the backs of special needs children—many of whom aren’t getting the services they are due. An increasing number of OCR (Office of Civil Rights) complaints comprise just the tip of the iceberg at TMS. The forensic audit due from the state auditor, called for by Cordova, may ultimately reveal how compliance issues have been fixed and/or ignored. For years, TMS auditors have noted how the administration has refused to keep an inventory of school property.

Now, while the community leaders take sides in the power struggle between the school board and the administrators, hundreds of the most vulnerable members in the community suffer. The bitterness expressed at board meetings by the administrators, teachers, and their relatives is a sign of deep personal and psychological loss—family tragedies in the community, due to suicide, homicide, wrongful-death, gangbanging, and the subsequent incarceration of siblings, children, etc. We can have compassion for those who have suffered tragic losses but the whole ship is sinking in Taos due to envidia–the politics of victimization and the cycles of retaliation.

In the last decade, Taos High has declined from about 1100 students to about 700 today. The trend began long before Arsenio Cordova and his two fellow board members tried to take back the schools from the Fat Cats. This is a community, where we would rather wield words like daggers and fire off lawsuits today like machine guns in Afghanistan–rather than address the facts.

Politics is Personal

In Taos, all politics is personal. Today, it’s about Arsenio Cordova, not the issues or the facts, a failed school, or a community that has turned inward. A native Taosena has said, “Mediation is for Anglos. Chicanos would rather fight whether right or wrong.” And the Anglos involved have gone native. The courts have joined in with the mayor and the local weekly in terms of feeding the fires of outrage. Ironically and historically, the mayor and local newspaper play the role of boosters—not destroyers. They try to tamp down the conflicts—not exacerbate them.

On Thursday, I counted 55 empty storefronts in the main commercial district. KCE Coop is preparing to ask for a rate increase—the first in 18 years—partially due to declining revenue and lack of growth. They are also searching for alternative sources of revenue, due to a changing energy and technological environment in solar and fuel cell applications. In an apparent moment of candor and transparency, the Coop admitted it lost several million dollars in its propane division. They said they made some mistakes. Fine, said the critics, we appreciate your candor and support your efforts at turning the project around. It’s so simple to acknowledge the obvious.

Now that the judge in the Cordova v. Citizens for Quality Education or CQE (an Orwellian euphemism if I ever heard one) has thrown more wood on the flames, the fight will continue. In El Norte, if you corner El Raton, El Raton will fight. Turn the rat into a scapegoat and sacrifice him to the gods but the gods will never get enough blood. The dead still speak long after the scapegoat burns.

Recently, the Holy Father admitted that the Church—due to charges of pedophilia–was a “sinner.” Indeed. I wonder if the community can learn from the Pope’s candid confession? Mea Culpa, mea culpa. Pray for us.

Tags: Bill Whaley