Twin Towers of Tax and Spend

KCEC Secret Meeting

Celebrate Blue Lake

Blue Lake http://www.sacredland.org/

On Friday night, the pesky insect attended Taos Pueblo’s reception at the Kachina Lodge honoring the return of Blue Lake. As outlined in R.C. Gordon-McCutchan’s “The Taos Indians and the Battle for Blue Lake” the struggle began in 1906 and ended at the desk of Richard Nixon in 1970. For Taosenos, especially young Taos Pueblo residents, the McCutchan book is a wonderful narrative about an incredible spiritual and political journey.

“You listen good, girl,” Barry Goldwater said to a Nixon aide, just before he spoke in the U.S. Senate and turned a cliff hanger into a route as Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly supported Taos Pueblo’s victory in a rare bipartisan vote: 70 to 12, 18 absent. Bobbie Greene, the Nixon operative and supporter said, “When the thing passed the hallways were in a frenzy. When you walked out of the Vice President’s gallery…the place was in tears, there were Indians coming out all over, I mean it was really strange in the sense that nobody had ever seen anything like it before.”

The Taos Pueblo victory was a break-through that created opportunities for Native American Tribes across the USA. Furthermore, the claims based on the sacred Blue Lake became a standard for water rights law and priority use in the West. For Taos non-fiction enthusiast, reading Hampton Sides’ “Blood and Thunder” and R.C. Gordon-McCutchan’s “The Taos Indians and the Battle for Blue Lake” are rewarding experiences of the first caliber.

The Twin Towers

Across the Kachina Ballroom I saw the coy duo—the Twin Towers of Tax and Spend—KCEC CEO Luis Reyes and Mayor Darren Cordova, accompanied by their lovely wives at the Blue Lake doings.

Luis looked smug, happy in the knowledge that trustees voted to raise electrical rates for members at the Coop’s secret meeting on Thursday night, Sept. 16. Apparently, Flavio slipped a message to activists who showed up, including Cultural Energy’s Robin Collier. Collier said he would post a recording of the secret event on his web site. Collier, whose Grandfather John was a legendary supporter of Taos Pueblo and famed New Dealer, summarized the meeting for the pesky insect.

(BTW Luis: Quite accusing Trustee Luisa Mylet of speaking to Flavio—Flavio hasn’t spoken to her in months. We have other sources. After you’ve lived in Taos another twenty years, you’ll understand!)

Apparently, KCEC trustees voted to raise rates an average of 13%, according to Collier. He said he would know more as soon as he received a spreadsheet from Luis. Collier said the presenter for KCEC was excellent and the scheme made sense. Basically, the charge per kilowatt-hour for residents would drop about 3 cents but the systems charge on the electric bills would double, for example, from $10 to $20. Collier noted that there were 16 classifications for electrical rates.

With the exception of Collier, there were no print or radio reporters at the secret meeting. We are told that Trustees Virgil Martinez and Luisa Mylet forced the trustees to hold a public discussion: the two populists voted against the rate increase. Among others, Comm. Andrew Chavez, Coop maven Jerome Lucero, and activist Linda Bence were present. After the meeting, most of the Trustees were scheduled to take another out-of-town vacation trip.

We don’t understand why Luis and the Trustees or Darren and the Town Council prefer doing their business behind closed doors, denying citizens and members the right to comment and discuss the issue. This citizen and member of the Coop believes the Twin Towers can make a reasonable case for an increase in GRT or electrical rates. But high-handed back-door dealing angers the populace. Taos Pueblo residents lobbied local, state, and national constituents in an effort to gain political support to get Blue Lake back.

Property Tax Snafu

Concerned citizens are working over the weekend to try and resolve the TMS bond and property tax snafu. Apparently, the state’s PED, which mandated the property tax increase, approved by the County—due to the accelerated sales of bonds–never notified the schools of the coming disaster. And neither did the wimpy commissioners, according to Flavio.

Much will be revealed at the TMS board meeting on Monday at 1 pm. Here’s a question from Flavio “Which of the many interim and/or quasi-permanent Superintendents signed off on the pre-emptive bond sale?” Or does TMS blame St. Jude?

Kangaroo Court?

Apparently, activist Jeff Northrup will be prosecuted on Sept. 23rd and defended by town lapdogs. The town pays the cost for both prosecution and public defender. The tax, gasoline, and fireworks activist is being subjected to what has been described as the Town’s Kangaroo Court. The Mayor and Council control the budgets, hire the employees, etc.

Jeff can appeal a negative decision to District Court. We think the Mayor and Town Council–due to an obsession with Northup–think sign ordinance—are walking straight into a potential civil rights case. You can’t Taser supine drunks or censor the voice of the people and not suffer the fallout. Jeff got less than 200 votes when he ran for Mayor but almost 400 signatures on a petition for the referendum on the GRT. By the time the next Town election rolls around, he may have enough support to gain a seat on the City Council—and he ain’t no rubber stamp.