Fabian Chavez, Jr. 1924 – 2013

Former State Senator Fabian Chavez, Jr. died Sunday January 20, 2013.

He was 88.

He served in the legislature from 1951 into the late 60s. He left the State Senate as Majority Leader in 1968.

Chavez was the 1968 Democratic gubernatorial candidate, but lost to David Cargo by a narrow margin.

I first photographed him while I was in High School and he gave his stump speech, Cargo also spoke a different day.

I covered Democratic Party Candidate for Vice President, Maine Senator Ed Muskie’s airport campaign stop at the Albuquerque International Sunport, October 5, 1968. Muskie sat on the platform with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Fabian Chavez.

Chavez ran for Congress against first-term Rep. Manuel Lujan Jr. in 1970.

In the top photo, Chavez is giving his stump speech during his run for the U.S. House of Representatives to the Albuquerque Press Club.

He lost to Lujan 59 – 41.

I’ll leave the political details to the Capitol Reporters in Santa Fe, the New Mexican’s Steve Terrell, Tom Sharpe, New Mexico Politics with Joe Monahan, and Capitol Report New Mexico’s Rob Nikolewski.

Apologies to Only One

What's Wrong With This Picture?

I don't make endorsements, however, I will call out those candidates who have histories of questionable or outright bad governmental conduct or improper ethical behavior. Those who claim to be above their actual performance on issues critical to this blog's purpose.

My regular readers are well aware of my association with the Saturday morning discussion group.

On January 5, 2013, Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education Member, District 6 David Robbins, below left, attended as a candidate for reelection.

A member of the group, David Walker, above far right, had the floor and was speaking about the behavior of the school board towards citizens who want to communicate with the board.

Walker, a retired Federal Magistrate in Alaska and a former aid for the Virginia legislature in Richmond is acutely aware of the manner that the school board goes about, not only ignoring their constituents, but also suppressing public comments, and any coverage that they determine to be against their self interest.

Walker was recounting how the board had gone about ejecting people for the offense of attempting to speak or petition the board to be heard.

He pointed out that the board and administration were using "banning letters" to keep those deemed nuisances from, not only attending school board functions, but also from entering school property in a manner that he says is unconstitutional because of its lack of any due process.

Walker further went on to say that board members had stood by silently while the  superintendent had ordered his police officers to physically eject people, including several in the room, who had stood silently holding signs asking for recognition of their request to communicate.

Walker pointed out that he had been one of those thrown out of a communities goals meeting while at least three board members stood by silently.

He spoke about how the school system was holding public meetings on how to deal with bullying in schools, yet the leadership was practicing, just such unacceptable behavior themselves.

Robbins was shaking his head in agreement with Walker's condemnation.

James Madison's admonition on the market place of ideas screamed in my head, "more speech, not less speech!"

 Though Robbins had not said a word, he sat demonstrating through his head shaking to those participants of the group that he agreed with Walker's comments of board conduct or lack of denunciation as being a bad thing.

"How dare you, how dare you sir," I called Robbins out for trying to give the impression that he was not one of those board members who remained quiet, during the administrations actions.

Robbins is one of the most flagrant violators in the practice of abusing citizens attending meetings.

It was Robbins who expelled Ched MacQuigg and myself from an August 25, 2010, APS Audit committee of the whole meeting, for my photographing and video recording during a momentary recess while they were going into an executive session and those not privy to the closed session were vacating the room.

My loud verbal comments took the room by surprise.

"So who is the bully now," Robbins stammered.

"Not I," was my reply, " I'm speaking a truth."

The head of the table, co-moderators Frank Ruvilo, Kim Hillard, and former State Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, called out my name.

I was through.

Some might think I owe an apology for breaking in.

I believe I might owe an apology, but to only one person.

Judge Walker.

I was not trying to be contemptuous, of the man I refer to as "you Honor," for I know he has deserved that respect and has it from me.

I apologize for having interrupted his fine indictment of Robbins.

Robbins would leave the meeting before availing himself of the five-minutes given specifically to any candidate for public office.

This is not the first time Robbins and Walker have crossed wits.

During a regularly scheduled school board meeting's public comment session, on August 10, 2011, Arnold-Jones presented a petition with more than 100 signature requesting a citizens advisory council on communications the administration meet with members of the petitioning group.

Mac Quigg was physically barred from entering by an APS Police officer.

On November 10, 2011, Robbins was a guest speaker at a District 28 Republican Ward meeting of Representative Jimmy Hall, Bernalillo County.

A question was asked as to why the petition request was answered with only a "thank you" note from then Board President Paula Maes, but no effort was made on behalf of the board to acknowledge receipt of the documents or to take up the issue.

Robbins pleaded ignorant of knowing anything about the petition, though he was present when Janice Arnold-Jones delivered it to the board.

Walker cross-examined Robbins so skillfully that Robbins seemed not to have noticed that his throat was slit so cleanly his head would fall off only if he were asked if he was feeling OK and nodded in agreement.

Robbins unknowingly admitted to totally failing to know or follow the board's own policies.

With further pressure being applied to APS, the board agreed to hear from the petitioners on the request to establish a citizens advisory council on communications.

 

Several petitioners gathered on March 23, 2011, to plan on how to best make the case for the board to accept and meet with the committee.

On March 24, 2011,during the Saturday morning meeting a break-out group gathered to discuss final preparations for the upcoming APS committee meeting.

 

Walker, second from left above, was one of four petitioners, along with Galen Smith, far left, Kim Hillard, far right, and Charlie Countee were scheduled to speak at the upcoming committee meeting

On the March 27, 2011 agenda of the District and Community Relations Committee, where the entire board participated as a committee of the whole, was an item, a petition submitted by the Citizens Advisory Council on Communications seeking recognition in establishing two-way communication with the APS administration and board.

Walker, Smith, Hillard, and Countee were the presenters to the committee; Janice Arnold-Jones was invited to join them.

Korte made a statement about why she would oppose the request:

I'm sorry to say, I know that one of your leaders is Ched MacQuigg. I read his blog every now and then. It is the most negative thing I have ever read. So I don't read it, actually. To be honest with you, I don't read it. So I'm suspect of your intentions because I know Ched MacQuigg plays a big Role in this, and he's the most negative person I've ever met in my life.

According to the minutes of the meeting:

Board members felt that APS already has many of these requests in place (Student Service Center, PEAPS, open audit committee meetings, APS website, etc.). Board members felt many people do not utilize the services APS has and does to help engage families and communities.

By November 17, 2011, the board had not taken any action on the request.

APS had held a series of meeting; one in each school board district to gather "Community Input for Goals."

The last of the community input sessions was scheduled at Manzano High School. In addition to Robbins, whose district encompasses Manzano, other board members present were: Kathy Korte, district 2, and David Peercy, district 7.

Fourteen petitioners appeared at the session and six silently raised signs as Robbins began to speak.

APS Superintendent Winston Brooks, below left, told petitioners they would not be allowed to disrupt the meeting with their protest.

It wasn't until Brooks' loud comment, interrupting Robbins, below right, that there was any disruption.

When the petitioners did not lower the placards, Brooks ordered APS Police Chief Steve Tellez to remove them.

Tellez approached Ched MacQuigg and physically removed him by applying an "arm pinch" to induce pain, where there was no resistance.

Tellez returned and removed Walker, above center, who also offered no resistance, but had the pain compliance hold applied beyond the minimum necessary force needed to accomplish the goal.

Other officers removed: Ron Peterson, Charlie Tipton, and Frank Ruvilo, one protester put down her sign and was not removed.

The protestors were allowed to return without their signs.

On January 15, 2013, the Albuquerque Tea Party held its monthly meeting.

The program was an Albuquerque School Board Candidate forum for APS Districts: 3, 5, 6, and 7. The election is February 5, 2013.

Walker, right, was the moderator. There were no sparks, as Robbins, left, was given the same five-minutes each candidate received and was asked the same questions.

At the end of the session, I approached Robbins and invited him to return to the Saturday meeting and he would be given the five-minutes we give every person seeking political office in any race.

He indicated he would not be able to attend this Saturday January 19, but thought he could make the 26th.

Jose Delfino J.D. Maes, Jr 1924 – 2012

The man with the golden carbine who supervised the June 8, 1969, arrest of Reies López Tijerina by U.S. Forest Service Agent James Evans, right, backed up by New Mexico State Police officers was Lieutenant J.D. Maes, Jr., left, died December 17, 2012.

He was 88.

He was born in Maes, NM., on March 11, 1924.

In 1979 he retired from the New Mexico State Police at the rank of Major.

I met J.D. Maes Jr., August 8, 2009 at the home of his son, Chris D. Maes and wife, Dianne, of Rio Rancho. Chris Maes was also a retired New Mexico State Police officer whose last assignment was Executive Protection Unit. They both had many a tale to tell.

J.D. Maes Jr,. had worked protecting various governors including, David Cargo and John F. Simms.

J.D. Maes, Jr., was the shift supervisor at the Española State Police Office on the Sunday in June 1969, when Tijerina's wife Patsy, burned two Forest Signs. When arrests were made Maes left Española driving at high speed, arriving moments after Tijerina was taken into custody.

Ben Luján 1935 – 2012

New Mexico Speaker of the House Ben Luján died Tuesday night December 18, 2012 after a long struggle against lung cancer.

He was 77.

Luján was a life long resident of Nambé, served the House District 46, for Santa Fe County 37 years, and was Majority Whip and Majority Floor Leader before becoming the Speaker.

Though he did not seek reelection, he officially died in office, leaving the Speaker's chair vacant.

Governor Susana Martinez issued a statement:

Speaker Ben Lujan's service to New Mexico spanned four decades and his legacy will live for years to come. He fought for causes near and dear to New Mexicans from all walks of life and guided the House of Representatives through some of the most important debates in our state’s history. Speaker Lujan’s story was one that embodied the New Mexican dream and the American dream.  The son of a sheepherder, he made his living as an ironworker at Los Alamos before running for office and rising to one of the most prominent and powerful positions in the state.

Chuck and I join all New Mexicans in offering our thoughts and prayers to Speaker Lujan's wife, Carmen, his children, and his entire family during this trying time.

His standing as a senior elected office holder gave him great influence, especially within the Democratic Party.

He was only eclipsed in elective seniority by Representative Nick L. Salazar, above right, D– Mora, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Santa Fe, and Taos Counties of House District 40, who has been a Representative since 1973; Luján served since 1975.

Salazar of Ohkay Owingeh was literally a neighbor, friend, their families socialized together, their children were friends. Salazar worked at Los Alamos doing thermonuclear research and knew Luján through Salazar’s brother who was the shop forman over Luján. Salazar, is the longest serving elected official in the state having served a four-year term as County Commissioner.

Salazar said of Luján’s passing:

I’m saddened in fact by his passing.

In my 40 years of the legislature, I have served under four speakers, but Speaker Luján was my speaker.

He died in office. When he came to the last session, he announced he was dying, but he served. That was Ben; he served to his dying days.

We worked on many projects together; I supported him, and he supported me.

He always gave me good advice.

He’s going to be missed by many people.

Luján was an ironworker at Los Alamos National Laboratories and a shop steward before leaving to begin he political career in the mid 1970s.

“He was a good man, good man for labor, a fair man, honest man; did well, not just for labor, but for the people,” said Marty Padilla, organizer for the Iron Workers Local Union No. 495, based in Albuquerque. Contrary to wikipedia, he was not a contractor, but a common worker.

He didn’t leave his ironworker mentality, as he was a strong and often unbending political force. He had perfected the art of being a “union goon” (in the best sense of the word and that’s from one union goon to another), his ability to articulate at the level of the common man, his persuasive manner, his use of coercive tactics, and horse-trading.

He wielded the power of the Speaker’s gavel with an iron fist and members of the minority party often bristled at his ability to shut them out by his use of what committees he would assign legislation.

Luján, above right, partnered with then Governor Bill Richardson, above left, in standing behind, supporting, and sheepherding Richardson’s agenda through the House.

Luján’s wife of 53- years, Carmen, above left, was a constant presence at political events and helped soften his strong personality. His son, Ben Ray Luján, above right, often referred to as junior, was elected to the U.S. Congress for CD-3 Northern New Mexico in 2008. They were among family and friends as Luján passed away at Christus St. Vincent’s hospital in Santa Fe, after being admitted with respiratory problems earlier in the week.

I will leave it to Santa Fe New Mexican’s Steve Terrell to provide other tributes.

Kenneth Byron Coolidge 1936 – 2012

MAN, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, brother, brother-in-law, uncle, and FRIEND; Ken Coolidge, above all, was a human being. All the other accomplishments in his life pale by comparison to what he did for and with people; those close to him and complete strangers.

Coolidge succumbed to cancer after a short struggle. He was 76.

Michael Coolidge, his son responded to an e-mail request for details of his father’s life. I present it here, because it is as complete, concise, and contains all the things I had learned about Ken, but had faded in my memory because of vibrancy of the immediacy of his life when you were in his presence overwhelms the details:

Ken was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, 5 November, 1936, to Ann Gladys Harris, a newspaper woman, and Theodore Coolidge, a professional boxer, who had a varied military, then civilian career, Ken grew up in the newspaper business as his parents owned a weekly newspaper. He grew up in Newmarket, and moved to Somersworth for high school.

His recruiter uncle enlisted him in the Naval Reserve at 17 and he went to submarine school. He got a degree in English from the University of New Hampshire in 1960. Ken and Mariette St Pierre were married 7 February 1959. Their first child, Michael, was born in March 1960, just as Ken went into the Air Force and pilot training. By the time Sharon came along in August 1962, Ken was in Nav/bomb training. His first operational assignment was in the B 66 at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, South Carolina, just in time for the Cuban crisis. Ken also did his first tour in Southeast Asia from Shaw. He did two tours in the F4 Phantom in England for a total of seven years with a return to Southeast Asia in between. Then one day in 1975, his career took an abrupt change of direction when he was declared a cop. He went to Moody Air Force Base as chief of police. Three years later he got his Pentagon assignment -- only they decided that USAF Security Police Headquarters was now in Albuquerque, New Mexico! He also joined the Albuquerque Reserve Police Force while there.

He retired from the Air Force in 1982 and immediately joined a company called California Plant Protection. They moved to Camarillo Calif. as a regional director. CPP provided security for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and later purchased Pinkerton to become the largest Security Business.

In 1994, Ken left Pinkerton to start a company of our own; doing mostly guards at US Embassies overseas. That kept us busy until he was diagnosed with lymphoma in 1997. He handled the treatment well and it seemed to do the job until New Years Eve when we learned the cancer was back. Ken underwent a stem cell transplant early in 1998; after that we decided to make the most of each and every day and succeeded.

We are blessed with wonderful children and their fabulous spouses, 7 amazing grandchildren, as well as 2 great grandchildren and one more on the way who will surely be even more amazing than their parents!

I have left out many things, from Ken’s additional education, his military awards and decorations, amazing trips and adventures, but most of all the wonderful people who so blessed and enriched our lives.

Ken took enormous pleasure in everything he did. His cup always ran over!

So, What’s Wrong With This picture?

 

This is one of the last pictures I took of Ken and his wife of 53-years, Mariette, at the Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in May, for their grandson Alex Kingsley.

I chose this picture because it shows how Ken saw himself. If this is not a portrait of pride, you’re not going to find one anywhere else. Ken was extremely proud of his entire family and he is one of the few people who, when talking about his family, you didn’t need a scorecard to keep up with the players. From the way he so artfully told stories, you always knew exactly of whom he was talking.

The stories he told always had a flair about them; he found humor, pride and joy in his offspring.

This picture also shows the pride he had in his public service. He loved to fly! The Air Force would send him and other crewmembers up into hostile skies in multi-million dollar jets to go find and or make trouble over enemy lines. The necktie is covered with F-4s the lapel pin is also of an F4. It was the plane in which there was only one other crewmember, the pilot; it offered him the greatest opportunity to practices his skills, and it gave him the best view. His specialty was navigation, with a sub-specialty of reconnaissance, taking picture for planners of air strikes to analyze for future missions and for analysis of the effectiveness of earlier attacks. He had flown the RB-66 as navigator and was a navigator-training officer.

He has a camera around his neck. He always wanted high quality pictures and he made sure he got it.

He was not one of those often-typical fathers who have hundreds of pictures of the first-born, then fewer and fewer pictures of the other children as they came along. He was more likely to have more pictures as the grand children came along. I didn’t get to see too many pictures of his great grandchildren, but I sure heard about them.

After his family and his national service, he never looked at change as a set beck, but as a challenge. When the Air Force took him off the flight line and assigned him to a desk, he quickly realized it didn’t have a tail number, controls, or switches, and levers, so he set about learning how to be a Chief of Police.

It is quite a switch when you think about it. You are suddenly the boss in a job you’ve never done. He joined the Albuquerque Police Department Reserve program as much to learn about civilian policing as he had for his real quest to learn more so he could put his experiences into his work. He was then the wordsmith for writing Air Force wide security policy and understanding the realities of the street made him cautious about writing rules that could be carried out.

He and I became partners patrolling the streets, mostly because I allowed Reserve Officers to drive the patrol car.

Along the way he had obtained a master’s degree in counseling and put it to great use.

He prepared himself for the civilian world, in part to share his passion for flying, by becoming a certified flight instructor. I became his first student. He was not really that hard to teach how to teach.

In one of those nervous moments, while practicing night landings, at a small private airport, where turning on the runway lights was controlled by clicking the aircraft radio, we got around to practicing the problem of approaching a runway where the light went out after the set time or as an emergency procedure. To try to break the tension I was experiencing I asked a stupid question. “what do you do if you turn on the landing light and see something on the runway you don’t like (I was thinking an airplane, without lights, or a deer)? Ken’s answer, ”Turn off the light.” It broke the tension and snapped me back to reality – land beyond the obstruction or go around.

His humor was always on the surface, it wasn’t biting, but he would nip you.

He was always good counsel and a great listener. However, the true mark of his friendship was best demonstrated in those rare times he sought out my counsel, because he knew I had experience in the subject he was just entering.

We were good friends and enjoyed each others company. He also was a rare individual were the other people who were his friends, were instantly your friends also.

He was a faithful supporter of my efforts in the on-going battle to improve government. He always advocated a firm letter to open the challenge against a governmental encroachment on civil liberties and personal rights. His suggest draft was right to the point. (For my readers who don’t mind his eloquent, yet accurate choice in the use of the English language, click on the lightened area below to see his word choice).

Dear Sir,

FUCK You very much! Strong message to follow!

Love and Kisses

Mark

He will be placed to final rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

I made this personal, but I believe everyone Ken knew has an equally compelling story.

If one believes in Heaven, then I’m sure Ken is already signing up angels to take his flight navigation course for those new wings.