CFAC condemns Old Guard Trustees with "Darkness Award," branding them as foes of free speech and open government
Tomorrow, the California First Amendment Coalition, a freedom of press group, will present its annual Darkness Award to three recipients, including the CUSD Board of Trustees, in recognition of "conduct that thwarts freedom of speech and the public's right to know." The award follows the release of an OC District Attorney's report condemning the CUSD Old Guard trustees for their "disturbing disdain, if not outright contempt" for district residents. The same report praised the CUSD reform trustees for their commitment to end such disgraceful practices at CUSD.
Here is an excerpt from The California First Amendment Coalition's official blog:
The California First Amendment Coalition has named the 2008 recipients of its “Darkness Award,” given in recognition of conduct that thwarts freedom of speech and the public’s right to know. The awards, to be presented Saturday, October 18 at UC Berkeley, are given to:
-- The Capistrano Unified School Board, which was so indifferent to anti-secrecy laws that the Orange County District Attorney issued a public report outlining the board’s many violations of the Ralph M. Brown public meetings law. In a follow-up inquiry, the District Attorney found further violations and concluded that the board had proven itself “incapable or unwilling” of complying with the law. Read More...
Superintendent Carter and Trustee Darnold Sign Secret, Illegal Contract
CUSD Recall leader says contract is unenforceable and calls for complete investigation
Tom Russell, Spokesperson, CUSD Recall Committee
My name is Tom Russell. I am the spokesperson for the CUSD Recall Committee.
On February 25th -- the same night this Board called a Special Meeting to fire hundreds of teachers and increase class sizes, a split Board voted in closed session to offer Superintendent Woodrow Carter (aka Arnold Carter) a new three-year contract and a massive salary increase.
Understandably, a deafening public outcry immediately resulted, and hundreds of constituents urged Superintendent Carter to reject the offensive contract offer for the good of the district.
To his credit, Superintendent Carter publicly rejected the outrageous contract terms and on multiple occasions confirmed he would not sign the contract. Read More...
Secret and Illegal Superintendent’s Contract Discovered
• Superintendent Had Publicly Rejected the Contract Offer
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. Despite numerous public statements to the contrary, it has now been confirmed that CUSD Superintendent Woodrow Carter (aka Arnold Carter) and Board President Mike Darnold executed and delivered a secret and illegal superintendent’s employment contract. This action violated the California Brown Act and other applicable laws, and the contract is unenforceable for numerous reasons, including the following:
See illegal secret agreement, press release, news coverage and speech delivered by CUSD Recall Committee Spokesperson Tom Russell at the May 12, 2008 CUSD board meeting. Read More...
ABC Reform Trustees expose, condemn new Brown Act violation by Fleming-era Trustees and call upon D.A. to intervene
Joint Statement Condemns New Brown Act Violation and Effort to Conceal Critical Information from the Public
Ellen
Addonizio, Anna Bryson and Larry
Christensen, the "ABC Reform Trustees"
San Juan Capistrano, Ca. We believe that during
our most recent March 24th board meeting, the four
Fleming-era Trustees (Marlene Draper, Sheila Benecke,
Mike Darnold and Duane Stiff) violated the Brown Act
-- again. We believe the facts clearly demonstrate
they did so with a specific intention to conceal from
the public critical information they knew should have
been made available to the public. As a result of
this most recent flagrant violation (which continues
a systematic pattern of illegal actions), we hereby
call upon the Orange County District Attorney to
immediately intercede. As a result of these illegal
actions, we also will demand that the official agenda
for our next board meeting on April 21, 2008 include
an item calling upon CUSD to stop all expenditures
and further action to construct the San Juan Hills
High School Football Stadium Complex because all
prior approvals for that project were obtained by
presenting misleading and incomplete information to
the Board of Trustees – and to the public.
On March 24th, we recessed into closed
session for the stated purpose of participating in a
conference with legal counsel related to potential
litigation. Agenda Item 3A was entitled:
“A.
CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL – ANTICIPATED
LITIGATION
Significant Exposure to
Litigation: Two Cases…”
Recall Committee files third complaint re Old Guard Brown Act violations in less than a month
Complaint #3 re Brown Act Violations; Improper February 11, 2008 Meeting Agenda
Tom Russell, CUSD Recall Committee Spokesperson
Dear Trustees Benecke, Draper, Darnold and Stiff:
The purpose of this letter is to demand that you postpone and remove from the February 11, 2008 Board Agenda Items No. 37 – 41 relating to the construction of several multi-million dollar construction projects at the $150,000,000 San Juan Hills High School. For the reasons set forth below, taking action on these items would constitute a knowing and intentional violation of the California Public Records Act, the Brown Act and other applicable laws requiring competitive bidding. Read More...
ABC Reform Trustees issue joint statement calling on Fleming Trustees to comply with Brown Act and transparency in hiring legal counsel
Ellen Addonizio, Anna Bryson and Larry
Christensen, the "ABC Reform Trustees"
San Juan Capistrano, Ca. In the election of
November 2006, the people of Capistrano Unified
School District elected the three of us to the Board
of Trustees by 17% landslide margins of victory – a
clear mandate for change. We ran as the “ABC Reform”
candidates on a reform platform, vowing to restore
honesty, integrity, accountability and transparency
to CUSD.
In October of 2007, the Orange County District
Attorney issued a report citing dozens of instances
where the four Fleming-era Trustees (Marlene Draper,
Sheila Benecke, Mike Darnold and Duane Stiff)
illegally discussed district issues in secret behind
closed doors, in violation of the Brown Act. In order
to avoid further enforcement action by the District
Attorney against them, Trustees Sheila Benecke,
Marlene Draper, Mike Darnold and Duane Stiff accepted
the findings of the District Attorney’s report,
admitted they had repeatedly violated the Brown Act,
and promised to fully comply with the law in the
future.
They have broken that promise.
CUSD Old Guard Trustees Violate Brown Act…Again
Sheila Benecke, Marlene Draper, Mike Darnold and Duane Stiff, the "Fleming-era Trustees"
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – The CUSD Recall Committee filed a formal complaint against Capistrano Unified School District Trustees Shelia Benecke, Marlene Draper, Mike Darnold and Duane Stiff, for actions they took during their most recent CUSD Board Meeting in violation of the Brown Act and other applicable laws.
In particular, Trustees Draper, Benecke, Darnold and Stiff (the four senior, members of the Board who served with recently-indicted former Superintendent James Fleming) voted to approve sending several highly controversial, multi-million dollar construction projects out to bid – projects that were never placed upon an official board agenda. Read More...
Old guard snubs ABC's and voter mandate...again
The status quo Fleming-era trustees continue to prove how out of touch they are with the reform mandate sent by their constituents in the November 2006 general election when the ABC reform trustees were elected in landslide victories. Last night, the contrast between the status quo senior trustees and the ABC reform trustees couldn't have been clearer. It was also clear that the old guard is hunkering down for a fight to the bitter end, leaving no doubt that district reform will be impossible as long as they remain, and leaving reformers no choice but to complete the recall of Benecke and Draper ASAP.
OC Register editorial calls for Fleming-era trustees to resign
Editorial, The Orange County Register The Capistrano Unified School Board’s 4-0 decision last week to accept the Orange County district attorney’s findings that the board had repeatedly violated the state’s open meetings law was perhaps the most sensible decision the board has made in quite a long time. The three newest board members – Anna Bryson, Ellen Addonizio and Larry Christensen – rightly abstained from the vote, given that they had nothing to do with the legal violations of the past board. Read More...
With chronic open-meetings law violations confirmed by D.A., chorus of outrage and demands for resignations grows
Sheila Benecke and Marlene Draper
Two of the Fleming-era trustees Read More...
Trustee Stiff admits the Fleming-era trustees knowingly violated the law!
• It's "case closed" for Benecke, Draper and Darnold.
• The evidence is in and it is time for them to resign.
The October 9th DA report states that the Fleming-era trustees will not be prosecuted criminally for violations of the Brown Act for want of evidence of their intent to violate the law. Ignoring the utter shame of the findings of wrongdoing in this scathing report, Benecke, Draper and Darnold are attempting one last desperate spin, claiming that they didn’t know what they were doing was wrong, that they relied upon bad advice from counsel.
Well, the facts contradict this disingenuous argument and, now, there is direct evidence from one of their own that they intended to violate the law. Read More...
D.A. report confirms numerous CUSD Brown Act violations -- and demands an admission of guilt
Here are links to copies of the District Attorney’s investigative report and cover letter.
The District Attorney has now given the corrupt old guard Board Members a choice. The District Attorney has confirmed that legal action will be commenced against the CUSD Board for these obvious violations of the Brown Act, UNLESS the CUSD Board takes a formal vote to admit their guilt and accept the District Attorney's detailed findings that confirmed the old guard committed numerous violations of the Brown Act. Read More...
Draper reveals yet another excuse for not discussing the peoples' business in public
Thanks for the explanation, Marlene. At least now we can all rest easy knowing that the improper concealment of the district’s financial affairs wasn’t your only purpose in violating the state’s open meetings law.
1990-1991 Grand Jury Report exposes the deep roots of, and players behind the CUSD culture of corruption
CUSD Trustee Benecke Violates Brown Act…Again
The CUSD Recall Committee filed a formal complaint against Shelia Benecke, President of the Capistrano Unified Board of Trustees, for actions she took during the open session of the most recent CUSD Board Meeting in violation of the Brown Act and other applicable laws.
Read More...
Signs that CUSD has learned its lessons
CUSD Trustees Fail To Relieve Superintendent Fleming From His Duties
• CUSD Recall Committee: Trustees Should Invite District Attorney to Investigate.
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. Yesterday, the CUSD Trustees once again failed their constituents.
For more than three weeks, each of seven CUSD Trustees have refused to take any meaningful corrective action in response to the allegations and evidence of the Superintendent’s unethical and illegal activities. During the Board of Trustees meeting yesterday, a meeting that was supposed to be focused upon these issues, they failed to protect their constituents, they failed to hold Superintendent Fleming accountable, and they spent a good portion of their meeting praising Superintendent Fleming. Read More...
CUSD Trustees and Superintendent engage in improper coercion, intimidation and fear
• Specific Examples of Coercion, Intimidation and Fear
• We call upon the District Attorney to conduct a full and complete investigation
$65,000,000 Measure A Bond: Fraud, Conspiracy, Misuse of Public Funds, Conflicts of Interest, Brown Act Violations
• 25% of funds improperly diverted to Fleming pet
project
• District employee improperly chaired Oversight
Committee meeting
• Oversight Committee disbanded with $20 million
still unspent
• Oversight Committee members had financial conflicts
of interest
• More Brown Act violations
On November 2, 1999,
voters approved Measure A – a $65,000,000 bond
measure designed to repair and modernize aging
schools, bring them up to current earthquake
standards, build four new schools, including a new
middle school in San Juan Capistrano and a new high
school, and new classrooms throughout the district to
relieve overcrowding and solve problems associated
with portables, which had covered so many
playgrounds, the children lacked places to play.
The ballot measure (and legal bond documents)
required that an “Independent” Oversight Committee be
established to supervise spending of the bond
proceeds. That Oversight Committee was convened on
December 15, 1999 when CUSD appointed eleven (11)
members. After carefully reviewing the ballot measure
and minutes from the Oversight Committee meetings, it
appears that CUSD officials made numerous false
statements to the public and to Oversight Committee
members, several committee members had financial
conflicts of interest, and Brown Act violations
occurred.