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The Albuquerque Free Speech Update.May 16, 2012

Since October 2011, there has been a lot of

information dispersed to the public about what ishappening with the Public Access TV station here inAlbuquerque. The major news in October was thatQuote-Unquote Inc. (QUQ) was subjected to acompletely fraudulent RFP process. A self-appointedad hoc committee with no authority in the matterwent behind closed doors and determined that thecontract to operate the Public Access channels would

be recommended to a higher bidder with noexperience operating a station. In the process theyalso bypassed the Cable Franchise and Hearing Board,the sole authority for advising the City and makingrecommendations on these matters.

Because of this and numerous other irregularities thatoccurred throughout the entire RFP process, between

October 2011 and May 2012, QUQ did painstakingresearch into this matter, and launched animpassioned campaign to educate the communityabout the major issues. They are as follows:

-the numerous legal irregularities pertaining toetc.

-the Comcast Cable proposal, also submitted

behind closed doors, to buy 6 of the 9 etc.-spreading awareness about a national campaignto destroy Free Speech etc.

The bottom line is that May 7th, 2012, the City Council,in a 5 to 4 partisan vote, with all 5 Republicans infavor, approved the ad hoc committees

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recommendation to award the contract to run PublicAccess services to a less experienced, more costlycompetitor. It is important to note that the CableFranchise and Hearing Board, once they wrested backcontrol of the proceedings, voted unanimously forQUQ, but their recommendation was completelyignored by the administration.

Among QUQs numerous objections to the Citysmishandling of the RFP process are thefollowing:

-that our competitors proposal indicates therewill be no live programming-that their organization will be the executiveproducer of all shows-that they indicated on their website they willcensor objectionable content-that marketing and slick production values will bea greater priority than diversity and community

participation

What we have described here is a commercial model,not a model for Public Access. That said, for the pastseveral months QUQ has been consulting with ourlegal team and is pursuing all necessary avenues forachieving justice. As we have already made clearduring numerous City Council meetings, TV shows,

radio shows, PSAs, articles, blogs and other outlets,there is a laundry list of legal irregularities that needto be investigated. We believe the courts are now ourbest opportunity to demand transparency from ourlocal government and hold the City accountable to thewill of the people. In addition to strong legal action,

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we are compiling a comprehensive and incriminatinggroup of IPRA (Inspection of Public Records)documents that the State Auditors office will reviewto determine if there was any misconduct by the Cityof Albuquerque.

To bring everyone up to date, where we standpresently is that QUQs attorneys have filed a requestfor an injunction. This will potentially put a halt to thetransferring of the contract as QUQ prepares its larger

lawsuit (listing all legal irregularities, citing specificCity officials, providing evidence of unfair bias, etc).This injunction is awaiting a judges review, and theoutcome will determine much of QUQs futuredirection in mobilizing our supporters.

We ask that you be patient and keep revisiting this

blog for updates, as much will be decided over thenext few weeks. Our grassroots educational campaignhas been largely successful because of the countlessdedicated community volunteers, free speechadvocates, community media producers, and the QUQstaff and board, so many thanks to everyone forfighting the good fight!

The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is agovernment strong enough to protect the interestsof the people, and a people strong enough and wellenough informed to maintain its sovereign control

over the government. -Franklin D. Roosevelt