Oct 29, 2007
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "Supporters of the
recall have called on the four original board
members to resign – a call echoed by the Orange
County Republican Party Central Committee. New
recall efforts are under way to remove two of the
four members. Those four – Marlene M. Draper,
Sheila J. Benecke, Duane E. Stiff and Mike Darnold
– could make a second wise decision. They should
resign and spare the county’s largest school
district continued division."
Tags: Recall Campaign 2007-08, OC GOP Central Committee
Oct 29, 2007
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "The Capo board wasn’t
caught simply making some innocuous errors. It
engaged in a long-running pattern to conceal
information from the public. That board was known
as a rubber-stamp for the imperious former
superintendent, James Fleming, who resigned and is
now under indictment on charges related to his
creation of an enemies list of parents who backed
a recall of his board allies."
Tags: Culture of Corruption, James Fleming, Fleming Trustees, Enemies Lists
Dec 03, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "Another source of
frustration for parents supporting the recall was
the district’s spending of $35 million on a
bluff-top administration building, even as many
schools in the district were stuck with inadequate
portable classrooms. That seemed to epitomize the
mentality at the district under Mr. Fleming’s
reign. Critics had argued that funds for the
headquarters were coming from Mello-Roos fees paid
in various cities, and that such money should not
be used for an administration building. District
officials responded that the building was paid for
with redevelopment funds from San Juan Capistrano.
At a meeting Nov. 28 organized by Mr. McCully to
account for the district’s school construction and
renovation program – itself, a good idea that
promotes openness and accountability – the
district admitted the critics were right. “[CUSD]
officials acknowledged for the first time ... that
they had misled the public about how they would
pay for a new administration building, but urged
the public to move on now that the correct
information has been revealed,” the Register
reported."
Tags: Administration Building, Portables, Dishonesty, Arrogance, Culture of Corruption
Dec 03, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "Mr. Fleming was a
creative and aggressive administrator, but there’s
little doubt that he led the district into some
troubling areas. Although the recall effort never
made it to a ballot, three of Mr. Fleming’s
supporters on the school board were bounced from
office on Election Day. The message to the
district that voters had gotten tired of the
controversy and arrogance apparently has been
heard, loud and clear."
Tags: Reform Election 2006, Reform Mandate
Sep 18, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "The Orange County
Board of Supervisors has seemed reluctant to
tackle a potentially serious problem in one of the
most important offices in the county: the
Registrar of Voters. If the registrar is not
operating efficiently or fairly, the public could
start to question the validity of the entire
election process. It would be troubling to head
down that road ... Rather than deal with the
problem directly, the Board of Supervisors hired
... the Houston-based Elections Center, to review
the specific allegations regarding the Orange
County registrar's behavior in the Capo recall
fracas."
Tags: BOS Investigation, OC ROV, Elections Center
Sep 18, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "The Elections Center
is a trade group that represents registrars and
election workers. Its Web site is filled with
information about how hard they work, etc., so the
skeptic in us thought it unlikely that the center
would be too harsh with one of its own. We weren't
surprised, then, by the tone or conclusions of the
investigation. It confirmed problems that have
been printed in the newspapers, but excused Mr.
Kelley's behavior: Yes, he made mistakes, but he
didn't mean to."
Tags: Elections Center, Conflicts, Neil Kelley
Sep 18, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "We find it odd that
all of the registrar's mistakes leaned in one
direction, especially in light of Mr. Smollar's
accusations ... For instance, the possibly illegal
action involved showing signed petitions,
including names and addresses of the signers, to
the Capo district. The registrar also incorrectly
told the district that the recall election would
cost the school district $600,000, when in reality
the county pays for such elections. This mattered
because the district then used that information as
a prime part of its campaign against the recall.
The report said Mr. Kelley learned about his
mistake in December but didn't disclose that
information for another month, according to
published reports."
Tags: OC ROV, David Smollar, Confidential Records, Defamation
Sep 18, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "David Smollar, the
former district spokesman who blew the whistle on
the wrongdoing, told the Register that he was told
by an elections official and by a colleague in his
district that Mr. Kelley was bending the rules to
allow them to see the petitions. Yet Mr. Smollar
said that the Elections Center never tried to
contact him, despite claims by the center that it
did leave messages."
Tags: Whistleblowers, David Smollar, Neil Kelley, Confidential Records, Elections Center, OC ROV
Sep 18, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "The Board of
Supervisors is left in the same place it was
before it spent $25,000 on this report: There is
still debate over the competence and fairness of
how the registrar's office is being run. The board
needs to decide – publicly, we prefer, and after
hearing from Messrs. Smollar and Kelley – if this
is the way they want elections handled in Orange
County ... The report did offer a range of banal,
but useful suggestions. For instance, it
recommended that written procedures should be
developed to handle recalls and that user-friendly
handouts should be available for
petitioners."
Tags: BOS Investigation, OC ROV
Sep 04, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register “The
‘general guiding principle’ [of CUSD’s attendance
boundaries] that no school shall have a ‘minority’
population greater than 35 percent limits the
number of positions available at each high school
for members of different ethnicities, effectively
discriminating based on race,” the judge ruled.
“This is in direct contravention of the state
constitution as amended by Proposition
209.”
Tags: Race, Attendence Boundaries
Sep 04, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "CUSD is in the midst
of a heated school board race, with many
allegations of mismanagement hovering over the
current board. The racially gerrymandered
boundaries are another symptom of an arrogant
district leadership. Instead of continuing the
fight, the Capo Unified board – regardless of who
wins election in November – should throw out its
attendance boundaries and put together new ones
that treat race and ethnicity in a neutral manner,
as mandated by the law."
Tags: Race, Arrogance, Attendence Boundaries, Reform Election 2006
Aug 21, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "Nothing but bad news
has come from the Capistrano Unified School
District over the course of the summer, with the
latest story coming last week. Investigators from
the Orange County District Attorney’s Office
showed up at Capistrano district headquarters with
a search warrant and seized computers used by
Superintendent James Fleming’s assistant. Several
district employees also appeared before the grand
jury after being served with subpoenas."
Tags: DA Investigations, Grand Jury 2006-07
Aug 21, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "Other issues have
troubled us and parents over the years, including
the district’s attempt to use eminent domain
against a private school and its use of racial
considerations in determining new districts (in
apparent violation of Proposition 209). The common
thread seemed to be one of arrogance of power ...
It’s hard not to agree with a recall supporter who
pointed to a “culture of corruption” at the
district."
Tags: Eminent Domain, Race, Arrogance, Culture of Corruption
Aug 21, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "An investigation
doesn’t mean guilt, of course, but there have been
many troubling revelations about how Mr. Fleming
and the board of trustees have been running the
district. It’s a story of power and arrogance, and
the unraveling of the administration contains
warnings for other districts."
Tags: DA Investigations, Arrogance
Aug 21, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "Mr. Fleming announced
his retirement effective at the end of this month,
but that should not quell the call for serious
investigation into any illegalities or stop the
movement to bring new life onto a board that has
failed in its responsibility to provide meaningful
oversight."
Tags: DA Investigations, Accountability
Aug 21, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "The recall will not
move forward, after an insufficient number of
valid signatures was turned in. Yet the recall
effort sparked a closer look at the district and
how it has done business."
Tags: Recall Campain 2005-06
Jul 12, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "Then, according to
the July 11 Register, the district’s former
director of communications, David Smollar, and
another district official viewed the petition data
at the registrar’s office and Mr. Smollar wrote
down many names of recall signers, and then handed
them over to Superintendent James Fleming. Mr.
Fleming told the newspaper that he was
uncomfortable with the list of names and handed
them back to Mr. Smollar. But Mr. Smollar said
that Mr. Fleming kept the list."
Tags: David Smollar, Enemies Lists, OC ROV, Dishonesty
Jul 12, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "The registrar is
charged with maintaining the integrity of the
election process. The legitimacy of the democratic
process can be undermined if the office charged
with maintaining fair elections is viewed as
unfairly helping one side in a recall
election."
Tags: OC ROV, Confidential Records
Jul 12, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "[Kelly] adamantly
defended the office’s methods, insisting that he
followed the precise rules for counting. Yet it
appears that Mr. Kelley’s office wasn’t quite so
precise in carrying out the law when it came to
handling the petitions, allowing Capo
administrators and other community officials
access to petition data. Mr. Kelley said his
office was unaware at the time that state law
allows only the 10 original recall proponents to
see the data."
Tags: OC ROV, Neil Kelley, Confidential Records
Jul 12, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "Fears of retribution
among recall supporters are hardly surprising
given the Register’s report Monday that the Capo
administration kept tabs on families who supported
the recall. The district also received information
from an informant within the recall
movement."
Tags: Mole, Enemies Lists, Intimidation
Jul 12, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "The scandals that
demand outside investigation are twofold: the
behavior of Mr. Fleming and his administration and
the performance of the Registrar of Voters office.
The former should be conducted by the district
attorney, the latter by the Board of
Supervisors."
Tags: DA Investigations, BOS Investigation, Enemies Lists, OC ROV
Jul 11, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "The scandals that
demand outside investigation are twofold: the
behavior of Mr. Fleming and his administration and
the performance of the Registrar of Voters office.
The former should be conducted by the district
attorney, the latter by the Board of
Supervisors."
Tags: DA Investigations, BOS Investigation, Enemies Lists, OC ROV
Jul 11, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "School districts are
not allowed to engage in politics on public time.
What else can such a list be considered if not
political behavior? The Register reported that
many of the documents about the recall were
printed on district stationary, which seems to
confirm that public resources were used."
Tags: Express Political Advocacy, Enemies Lists
Jul 11, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "Clearly, these board
members don’t grasp the seriousness of what
happened here. Given that it’s their own political
hides they are trying to save in stopping the
recall, they cannot fairly be expected to look
into allegations of misbehavior by their
supporters in the district staff."
The Orange
County Register hits the nail on the head by exposing
the obvious conflict of interest that ultimately led
to the less-than-independent Waldrip
investigation.
Tags: Waldrip Investigation, Conflicts, Accountability, Fleming Trustees
Jan 11, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "The most chilling
aspect of this case is the potential for
retribution against children – something one
recall supporter believes happened to her
elementary school child. Public schools have a
responsibility to keep politics out of the
education process. Whether or not retaliation took
place, it’s natural for parents to suspect the
worst when the district kept tabs on them, noted
where their kids went to school, and used
descriptive terms such as “NIMBY” and “outspoken”
on the spreadsheets compiled of recall supporters.
Parents have every right to be as outspoken as
they please about a recall of a school
board."
Tags: Culture of Corruption, Enemies Lists
Jan 11, 2006
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "Furthermore, former
chief of communications David Smollar “said he saw
copies of the spreadsheets stored in the office of
Superintendent James Fleming, who he says directed
him to keep them secret last spring despite a
public records request by recall supporters,”
reported the Register. Mr. Fleming denies such
behavior, but this is a serious allegation given
that the California Public Records Act would
require the release of such documents."
Tags: Enemies Lists, Public Records Act
Oct 09, 2005
Editorial, The Orange County
Register “Illegal? Probably
not. Unethical? Absolutely. Taxpayers don’t stand
a chance against these orchestrated,
taxpayer-funded campaigns to gain more taxpayers’
money. Tougher restrictions could offer some
balance, although it’s doubtful that any rule
could not be circumvented.”
Tags: Express Political Advocacy
Oct 09, 2005
Editorial, The Orange County
Register “Although Ms. Williams
told the Register that the call was made on her
own time and that no district resources were used
to acquire the phone list (the effort was paid for
by a private anti-recall group), she did identify
herself as the principal of the school. This is no
doubt legal, and Ms. Williams does not forfeit her
free-speech rights by being principal, but she did
start the call: “This is Carolyn Williams,
principal at Dana Hills High ...” If she were
operating as a citizen, as she claims, she should
not have used her position to try to persuade
others as she campaigns for a particular position.
Many corporate ethics policies, for instance,
would limit politicking in areas that could pose a
conflict of interest. School officials should be
bound by certain limits, especially since we’re
dealing with public dollars rather than private
ones.”
Tags: Express Political Advocacy, Carolyn Williams
Oct 09, 2005
Editorial, The Orange County
Register “California outlaws
the use of taxpayers’ dollars for political
messages, but officials at schools and other
agencies routinely push the envelope on their
politicking. For instance, when school districts
propose bond measures or parcel taxes, they send
parents “informational” pieces that are thinly
veiled attempts to garner political support for
the new taxes. Those letters and mailers don’t
urge a “yes” vote directly, but they make the case
for the measure, arguing about school disrepair
and funding shortages. Balance is never
provided.”
Tags: Express Political Advocacy
Oct 09, 2005
Editorial, The Orange County
Register "There is something
inappropriate, even sleazy, about government
agencies and those who work for government
agencies using their posts to lobby for more
government dollars. We’re seeing the latest in
this legal but unethical practice as Dana Hills
High principal Carolyn Williams sent a recorded
message to voters arguing against a recall of the
Capistrano Unified School District Board of
Trustees. The board supports the current school
administration, and it’s no secret that officials
fear a change of power."
Tags: Express Political Advocacy
