Alamogordo NM
2-02-2025 6:28pm

Tularosa School Superintendent Todd Lindsey Behind the Scenes Attack on a Free Press

Has the Superintendent of the Tularosa Public Schools, Todd Lindsey crossed a legal or ethical line that government employees are not ethically nor legally allowed to cross?

The Norfolk Daily News ran a commentary on the Free Press written by Regional Editor Jerry Guenther, on August 18, 2023...

    In 1787,  only a little more than 10 years after the United States was created — statesman Thomas Jefferson shared this thought: “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

    His words speak to the important role the news media play in a democratic society, so much so that when the three pillars of America’s democratic government — the executive, legislative and judiciary branches — are identified, a fourth usually also is included.

    A free press — guaranteed in the First Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights — is democracy’s Fourth Pillar, or Fourth Estate as it’s also referred to. Think about it: The only private enterprise identified by the Founding Fathers as important in safeguarding freedom is the news media.

    The First Amendment simply states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

    The first amendment protects the press with the right and a mandate on behalf of the citizens of the United States to share information without fear of government interference or intimidation, by its members or representatives, and to promote transparency in government; local, state and federal, with an expectation to hold government leaders to questioning and accountability and much more.

    From the birth of the nation, Americans have embraced the ideal of a free press — and  they still do today.

    As recently as inauguration day, January 20th, 2025, President Donald J Trump issued an executive order entitled “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship.” While this media organization has not supported many efforts of the Trump administration, this executive order reaffirms the commitment of the executive branch to free speech and the rights guaranteed by the first amendment. This order also emphasized the rights of free expression via social media platforms, of which is a method of distribution of many of the news articles written by 2nd Life Media and broadcast via posdcast on streaming KALHRadio.org

    The presidential order states;  "By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:

    Section 1. Purpose. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution, an amendment essential to the success of our Republic, enshrines the right of the American people to speak freely in the public square without Government interference. Over the last 4 years, the previous administration trampled free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms, often by exerting substantial coercive pressure on third parties, such as social media companies, to moderate, deplatform, or otherwise suppress speech that the Federal Government did not approve. Under the guise of combatting “misinformation,” “disinformation,” and “malinformation,” the Federal Government infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens across the United States in a manner that advanced the Government’s preferred narrative about significant matters of public debate. Government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society..."

    Given the rights of a free press shall not be infringed, it is ironic that a local school superintendent for the Tularosa Public Schools System, Todd Lindsey as a government official, would then attempt to stiffle a free press by conducting a letter writing campaign to sponsors of KALHRadio.org. His letter made libelous statements and is an  attempt to persuade sponsors to suspend support, all in an effort to create financial strain to squelch a free press.

    Has Mr. Lindsey violated state and federal laws and crossed an ethical or legal line abusing his authority as a government official in an effort at business interference and an attempt to stifle a free press? 

    Anthony Lucero hosts the podcast and streaming radio edition of the AlamogordoTownNews.org's streaming content on KALHRadio.org. He covers a variety of issues in our daily newscasts. Those news stories are often paired with written insight via the AlamogordoTownNews.org website and published on sister platforms. Stories cover a wide range of topics around the region; from high school sports, to teacher and student successes, to news on crime, government, business and what's happening in the local community. The various platforms have over 25,000 followers that engage with us for information. 

    Based upon public feedback and tips from educators, students and parents within Tularosa schools, Mr. Lucero on air, and Chris Edwards in written format, each have run a few stories that spotlighted concerns by students, teachers and parents with certain decisions made by the superintendent of the Tularosa Public Schools. 

    Mr. Lucero conducted an interview with a student who felt that the superintendent was imposing censorship upon students thus we interviewed him. We attempted an interview with Mr. Lindsey for equity in the discussion, yet he refused our offer for an interview. 
    The student interview can be heard at
    https://youtu.be/3LkFKGe5I8A?si=Rzplnmjf6vX9gd5c

    AlamogordoTownNews.org ran a complimentary story to the student interview of which again Lindsey refused direct comment. https://2ndlifemediaalamogordo.town.news/g/alamogordo-nm/n/282509/censorship-101-tularosa-school-superintendent-bans-cnn-and-political

    As recently as January 15th, 2025 we received the following email from a constituent..

    We ran a commentary on air exercising our first amendment rights, concerning this incident on 1-16-25 and Superintendent Lindsey refused comment... 

    https://youtu.be/XJj6G3Dgp9w?si=PsywNePWsusno3ZS

    On 1-17-25 we ran a followup to the prior story, Superintendent Lindsey again refused to offer any insight and yet we were able to confirm and report that 2 staff members were removed from duty and parents were outraged as reported...

    https://youtu.be/ahLZ1wrkva0?si=4kJGZvuAj7iMPtK8

    As a result, of even more recent tips from individuals within Tularosa concerning issues with the school system, we have submitted one IPRA information request to the Tularosa Public Schools requesting information on turnover stats, student enrollment stats and for records of complaints directed to the superintendent over the last 60 days. Further we've asked for a public release of information surrounding the hiring of Mr. Lindsey and his references all of which are information that the tax paying public has a right to know. Mr. Lindsey then insinuates that our request os costing the school system thousands of dollars and is unnecessary. The fact is IPRA protocols are a state requirement.

    We are awaiting the requested information as per the systems commitment by Feb 12th...

    Mr. Lindsey as the government official as school superintendent of Tularosa Public Schools does not seem to agree with the right of a free press to exercise its rights under state IPRA statutes 14-2-1 based upon the letter he signed with no return address, no email or phone number to respond to. The letter was sent to our media sponsors in an effort to intimidate and to place a financial burden onto our media business enterprise...      

    Mr. Todd Lindsey has shown himself to be a public servant on the government dole that has forgotten the actual constitutional guarantees of which he is entrusted to support and teach.  More to follow in the upcoming days. Stay tuned...

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