Mary Han Part III: Shades of White

"Darren White has long fought against shady deals, corruption, and ethics violations throughout his career – from Santa Fe to Albuquerque. Darren White will shake up the political bosses, shady lobbyists, and the traditional power-brokers in Washington, D.C., and promises to govern in an open and transparent manner."

 

Displayed herein is a chart showing all the connections between many of the high level players at Ms. Han's death. The thicker lines represent thicker relationships. As you can see, Kennedy and White have the most connections and the thickest connections.
 

The above statement came from Darren White and his campaign on October 15, 2008, prior to being beaten by then city councilor, and now U.S. Senator, Martin Heinrich. White made the remarks as then state senator pro-tem Manny Aragon plead guilty to charges of conspiracy and mail fraud in a public corruption case which brought down the once mighty politico.
 

Two years later, White himself would be in the center of orchestrating the greatest and most macabre police cover-up in APD's history. In it White would be promoting the desecration of a crime scene, tampering with evidence, lewd acts of voyeurism, grand theft, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and the cover-up of the murder of one of Albuquerque's most high profile and successful civil rights attorneys.
 

The call to APD Dispatch came in at 12:35 on November 18, 2010, and in it Ms. Han's former partner and rejected state supreme court justice Paul Kennedy reported an "accidental suicide." Kennedy stated to the dispatcher that he had gone by to check on her because she had not gone in to work that day. Instead of the silver Mercedes convertible Kennedy is known to drive, he arrived at the scene in a black Range Rover. But 911 is not the only call Kennedy made.
 

As the city's Public Safety Director, Darren White received a call, that his records indicate as being from an "Unknown Caller" moments later, White made a flurry of calls to City Attorney Rob Perry, to his own PIO TJ Wilham, to APD Deputy Chief Allen Banks, and to APD Chief Ray Schultz. From there those persons called other familiar names in Albuquerque's current affairs including then APOA President Joey Sigala, APD Deputy Chief Paul Feist, Assistant City Lawyer Kathy Levy, APD PIO Trish Hoffman and other unidentified persons including an APD detective.
 

As this mob of scoundrels descended upon Ms. Han's residence, the first responders were rapidly displaced by a never ending parade of stars and suits. DCOP Allen Banks and DCOP Feist went into the house and removed all first responders. Their actions, and the actions of others, remain inexplicable to this day. In the course of their actions triggered by White's flurry of phone calls, a crime scene was destroyed by people who had taught and overseen crime scene training and instruction. A scene was invaded by onlookers that seem to show a flurry of data transfers (that we are sure can be pinged to the cell towers near Candelaria/Rio Grande) which can only mean images were sent away. When those images and/or phones were "replaced" evidence of the scene was also tampered with and destroyed by the very people who provide instruction and oversight to thousands of city employees. And then there are the diamond rings.

Were they too tempting of a trophy for the offenders?

Or were they articles of nostalgia for one boxed into a corner by years of nefarious actions, unrequited love and bold rejection?
 

Displayed herein is a chart showing all the connections between many of the high level players at Ms. Han's death. The thicker lines represent thicker relationships. As you can see, Kennedy and White have the most connections and the thickest connections.

Help us fill in the blanks.....

Manny Era Gone - The Patron System Lives On

The era of Manny Aragon has come to an end. The once all powerful Senate Pro Tem who ruled the Senate with an iron fist and sticky fingers, pled guilty to pocketing over $600,000 of taxpayer money (ABQ Journal - Subscription).

This was one of the cases that former U.S. Attorney David "I'm not in my officer right now, please leave a message" Iglesias was sitting on two years ago. This was one of the performance issues stupidly referred to by former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. This is one of the cases that didn't get moving until after Iglesias was sent packing... but we digress.

The patron system in New Mexico certainly lost a power player in yesterdays proceedings. Federal attorneys contend that the conviction sends a strong message to public officials who might be lining their pockets with public money. However, the deterrent effect is somewhat lessened by the fact that this case fell into the Fed's lap and without a civil court case where two contractors were fighting over company assets, Manny and company would have gotten away clean.

(Sidebar)
A note to Kari Brandenburg... This is how you plea bargain. The U.S. Attorney brought down Aragon's house of cards by flipping defendant after defendant. Unlike your "deal with the devil" the pleas entered into by the U.S. Attorney included agreements to testify against Aragon. Meanwhile two potentially innocent men sit in prison accused of killing Pak and Pung Yi. If you believe the two were involved your deal with Bloomfield should have included testimony.
(End Sidebar)

We have a dismal record prosecuting public corruption cases in New Mexico primarily because government has been dominated by one party for over 80 years. The pressure on elected officials to "go along to get along" is enormous. Particularly when they run in the same circles and count on each other's support to keep their jobs. Even honest officials don't want to cross someone as powerful as the former Senate Pro Tem was at the height of his power.

The fact is that although the Era of Manny is over, the fastest way to clean up the system is to wash out the players who use their political power for everything from the petty to the profitable. We can't count on the Feds to get lucky and we can't expect elected officials who play on the same team to prosecute their teammates. And so... the Patron System lives on.

Indictments... Finally!

Now this is what we're talking about! Finally the long rumored indictments were handed down. Indictments that have been promised for at least six months now. Indictments that accuse political power broker Manny Aragon and three others of money laundering and mail fraud related to the construction of the Bernalillo County Courthouse. (ABQ Journal - Subscription Required)

Seems that former Senate Pro Tem Aragon, former metro court administrator Toby Martinez, P2RS engineering partner Raul Parra, and Sandra Mata Martinez, the afore mentioned Toby Martinez's wife, engaged in a scheme to pocket $4.2 MILLION of public money (at least according to the federal indictment).

Three others, architect Marc Schiff, contractor Manuel Guara, and former Republican Mayor Ken Shultz have already signed plea agreements relating to the scheme. According to KRQE News 13:

"Schultz worked as a lobbyist for one of the contractors on the courthouse construction project.

Schultz, Schiff and Guara admitted to conspiring with the other four defendants to defraud taxpayers of more than $4 million during the design and construction of the courthouse."

The reason that we emphasized Republican Mayor Ken Shultz is because news outlets both nationally and locally have either directly or indirectly implied that Congresswoman Wilson and Senator Dominici put pressure on former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias in order to get Democrats. The fact of the matter is that this state is run largely by Democrats and has been for the last 80 or so years. It should come as no surprise that a prominent Democrat was caught up in the FBI's investigation.

Democrats don't hold the exclusive right to greed and unscrupulous Republicans can and do get caught with their hands in the cookie jar. That's why it is so important to have a strong U.S. Attorney that will face down corruption no matter who's involved.

Former U.S. Attorney Iglesias failed us all badly in this regard by letting this rabidly corrupt dog lie. Our Eyes on the Inside (yes we had eyes even before The Eye) have been telling us that indictments have been in the works since at least August of last year and that the FBI investigation had concluded well before that time.

Now it's all up to the attorneys, the judge and the jury... Finally!