February 14, 2011 11:54 PM UTC

A Recall Based on a Fabrication and Threats of Outing

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• by: Middle of the Road

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

POLS UPDATE #2: Call this ‘Exhibit A’ of the kind of lowlife behavior being brought to our attention. Below is audio of a message left for another Colorado Pols reader, not the author of this diary. Personally identifying information has been removed. We believe the threat is related:

Can’t see the audio player? Click here.

Folks, we can only say again that the strength of this community lies in the ability of our users to interact freely, and without any kind of threats or retaliation for participating on our blog. We will never assist anyone in obtaining information about our users, and we will protect all of our readers and commenters to our full legal ability.

And yes, the person who recorded the above message has issues. We don’t know if the person who left the message is Guerin Green, but from what we understand about the timeline of these events, it’s more than possible.

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POLS UPDATE: We take efforts to “out” another Polster very seriously here at Colorado Pols. “Middle of the Road” writes below that Guerin Lee Green, publisher of the North Denver News and the Cherry Creek News, has been on a quest of sorts to uncover her real name (we use “her” only because she uses this pronoun in her writing), and we are hearing more about this story seemingly every hour.

Many Polsters are friendly with other Polsters outside of this website, and it is through those shared friendships/acquaintances that we believe “Middle of the Road” has been partially identified. Any Polster who is found to have any connection whatsoever to attempts to uncover the real name of “Middle of the Road” or any other Polster will be immediately banned from Colorado Pols. For more information, check out our Posting Policies in the right-hand sidebar (or click here).

We appreciate the positive contributions of all of the thousands of people who have contributed to Colorado Pols over the years. For what it’s worth, we’ve got your back — all of you — and we’ll do everything we can to help.

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(Original Post Follows)

The recall of DPS Board President Nate Easley is underway and according to the petition for signatures being circulated, he is specifically being recalled because of his conflict of interest as an employee of Denver Scholarship Fund while also serving as a board director of Denver Public Schools.

According to the petition (full PDF file can be read here):

General Statement: We the qualified voters of Denver Public School District 4 demand the recall of current elected Denver Public Schools Board of Education member Dr. Nate Easley and the election of a successor to his office. Our demand is based on Mr. Easley’s activities related to conflicts of interest and allowing these to affect his representation of his District 4 constituency. Specifically, Dr. Easley’s roles as DPS Board of Education President and his job as Deputy Director of the Denver Scholarship Foundation make him subject to undue influence related to his votes as our representative. As a board member, Dr. Easley supervises the DPS Superintendent who is also a member of the Foundation’s leadership team, thereby having direct influence over Dr. Easley’s employment status. As Deputy Director of DSF, Dr. Easley receives a substantial salary, the threat to which compromises his ability to independently represent District 4.

There is one major problem with that claim–it isn’t true.  

Nate Easley requested a meeting with John Kechriotis, the legal counsel for Denver Public Schools, on March 31, 2009, prior to making a decision to run for the school board and 7 months prior to the election to discuss any potential conflict of interest between serving as Deputy Director of the Denver Scholarship Fund and potentially serving on the school board.

According to an affidavit from John Kechriotis, he met with Nate and advised Easley that there was no conflict of interest that should stand in his way of running for the DPS School Board and if elected, serving.

AFFIDAVIT OF JOHN KECHRIOTIS

State of Colorado )

City and County of Denver )

BEFORE ME, the undersigned Notary, Tiffany Lambalot, on this 9 th day of February, 2011, personally appeared John Kechriotis, who being by me first duly sworn, deposes and says:

My name is John Kechriotis. I am General Counsel for the Denver Public Schools and have held the position since November 2006.

On or about March 31, 2009, I met with Nate Easley, Ph.D., Deputy Director of the Denver Scholarship Foundation, at the Offices of the General Counsel, Denver Public Schools, 900 Grant Street, Denver Colorado. Attached as Exhibit A to the Affidavit is the email string documenting the scheduling and purpose of the meeting with Dr .Easley.

Dr. Easley requested the meeting to discuss any potential conflict of interest between seeking and obtaining the position of School District Director for the Denver Public Schools (“Board of Education) in the November 2009 General Election with his employment and position as Deputy Director of the Denver Scholarship Foundation (“DSF”) …

My counsel to Dr. Easley at my meeting with him in March 2009 was that there was no inherent conflict that would preclude Dr. Easley from serving as a member of the Board of Education while continuing to be employed by the Denver Scholarship Foundation.

A full read of the affidavit is here.

To claim this recall is based on a conflict of interest is a complete fabrication. DCTA supported Nate Easley’s candidacy with their time and dime. They knew he worked for DSF before he ran for office. They saw no conflict of interest. The legal counsel for DPS saw no conflict of interest. The public and voters being asked for their signatures are signing a petition that is based on a complete falsehood. Whatever this recall is based on, it isn’t based on a conflict of interest. It’s time the public became aware of the facts and base their decision to sign a petition recall on facts, not fiction.

And now to address the intimidation tactics being used by Guerin Lee Green, a self described “journalist” and publisher of Cherry Creek News and North Denver News, who has resorted to overt attempts to out posters here who have asked questions about DeFENSE.

My advice to Guerin Lee Green: spend more time on fact based research and less time calling Larimer County Democratic Headquarters like you did last Wednesday evening, lying to the office manager that you’re my friend, in order to get my personal information.

Guerin’s conversation to the volunteer manning the phones: “Hi, this Guerin Lee Green. Do you know who [redacted first name] is? She’s a Democratic activist for Larimer County and a friend of mine. I forgot her last name and can’t seem to find her phone number? Could I get that from you? If you think of her name, here’s my number. Can you call me back?”

I guess my multiple, written replies where I did not give him my name and phone number via email on February 1st, 2011 weren’t enough of a hint that I have no desire to share who I am with Guerin or be interviewed by him.

Why does Guerin want to interview me in regards to DeFENSE? Good question. I never did get a good answer. I did ask if I could interview him regarding DeFENSE. He didn’t seem open to that idea. He wanted to know what my “agenda” was, who I supported in the Bennet/Romanoff primary and who I had worked for in the past, where my work had been published and what my name was. I’ve saved his emails–they make for some interesting, albeit bizarre, reading.

I know outing Middle of the Road will make for a must read article over at Cherry Creek News. Don’t get me wrong–I’m sure it’ll be a page turner for all ten of his readers.

Unfortunately for Guerin, outing MotR won’t hurt me. I am my own employer so his impotent efforts at attempting to out me in order to shut me up won’t work because I answer to no one but myself. I have volunteered for multiple candidates and issue campaigns, never been paid, so no astroturfing since I’ve always been up front with what or whom I support.

His efforts harm him far more than any of us that have disagreed publicly with this recall. His campaign to intimidate anyone that requests information about the organization known as DeFENSE provides adequate proof of his ethics or lack thereof. Guerin Lee Green describes himself as a journalist. Journalists don’t engage in the kind of tactics he uses to stifle anyone who disagrees with him. Nope, he’s just a guy with ulterior motives who has a serious problem with anyone that asks questions about DeFENSE.

For those of you who thought we were all barking up the wrong tree about DeFENSE, think again. There is a hidden agenda going on behind the scenes for this organization and it sure as hell doesn’t have to do with concern for the students of DPS and their education. If DeFENSE does not approve of Guerin’s machinations, I fully expect to read their complete denouncement of his activities on this thread.

If you believe bullying, intimidation, threats of outing to a poster’s employer and scare tactics have any place in this conversation, then by all means, send an email to DeFENSE and get on their contact list. Just be sure you never, ever publicly disagree with them because chances are good they’ll be coming after you next.

There are a lot of good folks on this blog that support this recall that I know, without a doubt in my heart, would NEVER support these tactics. If tactics like this make your skin crawl, speak out and speak up. Get involved because the kids are watching and I don’t think this is what most of us Democrats were hoping they would learn when we preach about “democracy in action” in Civics class.