I came home from some errands today and checked my email to find an email from the Governor of the State of New Mexico which either confused or worried me, (both actually), and raises serious concerns in my mind about whom I gave my vote and felt the need to respond/query said governor:
“Dear Governor of the state of New Mexico,
Last year I thought you said the Albuquerque vote on late term abortions was a city matter and you therefore did not feel you should get involved or provide your backing or endorsement.
I’m therefore a little confused as my limited intelligence leads me to believe that the vote concerning the Albuquerque Public Schools Board would qualify as ‘a city matter’?
I’m very pleased to see your involvement in this current issue but concerned that I voted for someone for the governorship of my state who seems to have a failing memory; (or at least I hope that’s all it is!!!).
More worrisome is the thought that it might have something to do with the fact that we have now provided you with a republican majority in the state which would concern me even more as that would indicate to me that your support in such matters is a purely political matter in which my governor blows in the wind, which ever way required, to play politics with the lives of God’s children!!!
Respectfully, (but a little confused),
Richard T Stambaugh
United States Navy Retired
xxxx XXXXXX Ave NW
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87120”
That was in response to the following email that I had received.
I’ll provide an update as soon as I hear the Governors’ response!!!
On 2/2/2015 4:10 PM, Governor Susana Martinez wrote:
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Richard,Good afternoon! Election Day is TOMORROW and I am asking you to vote for Republican Peggy Muller-Aragon for the Albuquerque Public Schools Board.Peggy is a former teacher who brings 30 years of experience to the job. She has the courage to take on the entrenched special interests and will work hard to put more money directly in the classroom, where it can be spent on things like textbooks and tutors to help struggling students.Unions and dark money groups are spending big to re-elect liberal politician Kathy Korte. They know Korte’s fringe agenda will block local reforms and local control and lead to a “one-size-fits-all” Washington, D.C. approach for our schools.Again, Election Day is tomorrow. Please vote for Peggy Muller-Aragon and keep our schools under local control!To find your nearest polling location, click here.I appreciate your support as we continue to move New Mexico forward and put our students first.Susana Martinez
Governor
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“…fringe agenda will block local reforms and local control and lead to a “one-size-fits-all” Washington, D.C. approach for our schools. Again, Election Day is tomorrow. Please vote for Peggy Muller-Aragon and keep our schools under local control!”
This is blatantly false. “One size fits all” is ACTUALLY what the governor’s education policy is aiming for. The national testing standards implemented this very year for every NM school in every district, and contracted out to one corporation, is one-size-fits-all, and wrests “local control” from the boards and districts.
A “Washington D.C. approach” is what the governor’s education agenda is pushing. Sadly, the email purports the opposite. Though Martinez herself unwaveringly supports her own Education Secretary appointee’s every policy change in public education, which are publicized by the Dept with threats that NM will lose OBAMA’S Race to the Top school money if we don’t swallow these education reforms. Strangely enough, Governor Martinez’s policy is in lockstep with Arne Duncan, OBAMA’S Education Secretary. Yes, she is far over on the liberals’ side when it comes to education. More govt control… That’s Martinez and Hanna Skandera.
There is no local control under Skandera’s regime. Superintendents don’t even have the say-so to make staff hiring-firing decisions. The superintendents must run things by Santa Fe’s education department. Are there any teachers who work for the Public Ed Dept? They’re the ones making the rules for teaching.
So, above, I laid out 4 refutations showing that the 4 accusations in the Governor’s email were actually the actions and goals for which HER administration is culpable.
I am disheartened that the email from the governor was so disingenuous. I hope people saw right through it.