Enemies Lists
Quotes

OC Register: Fleming-era trustees' open meetings law violations were serious and chronic

Oct 29, 2007 Filed in: OC Register
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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."

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McCully intentionally buried his head when it came to the CUSD Enemies List

May 15, 2007 Filed in: McCully, Charles
Charles McCully
Grand Jury transcript, page 1049 “Q. Was it your intention then not to even look into these matters that were basically, let's say, a hit list? A. The answer is, yes.”

When former Interim Superintendent McCully came to CUSD, the existence of the CUSD enemies lists was well known. Accusations that elected officials and high ranking CUSD staff members created the illegal lists were everywhere. So what actions did the superintendent take to ensure that this type of abuse was no longer happening? What actions did the superintendent take to ensure that this type of abuse would never occur again in the future? Once again, McCully admitted under oath that he basically chose to put his head in the sand and completely ignore this obvious abuse by the CUSD leadership!

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Susan McGill denies creating enemies list, but her secretary Bobbie Thacker reveals McGill's involvement

Jul 08, 2007 Filed in: McGill, Susan
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Seema Mehta, The Los Angeles Times "McGill and former district spokesman David Smollar visited the county registrar of voters and were illegally allowed to look at the recall petitions. McGill testified that she never created a list, but Thacker said that McGill gave her a list of those who gathered signatures and had her consult confidential pupil data to look up addresses, the names and schools of their children and other information."

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Resources of cash-strapped district shifted from students to unlawful purposes

Jun 01, 2007 Filed in: Rackauckas, Tony
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Tony Rackauckus, The Trabuco Canyon News “We are bombarded with complaints from educators and parents that our schools are strapped for cash and children have to do with less. It’s a shame that resources were shifted away from students to create an unlawful list of political 'enemies.' ”

Rackauckus is the Orange County District Attorney.

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Fleming trustees failed to exercise oversight of Fleming, failed to protect CUSD families

Jun 01, 2007 Filed in: Beall, Tony
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Tony Beall, Trabuco Canyon News “No family should have to fear their government leaders will retaliate against their children. Those who created the lists – and the school board members who failed to exercise proper oversight of Fleming – must be held accountable before this school district can heal and move forward.”

Beall is the mayor of the City of Rancho Santa Margarita and a member of the CUSD Recall Committee.

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Admin building controversy is just one of many to plague CUSD in recent years

May 09, 2007 Filed in: Mehta, Seema
Seema Mehta, The Los Angeles Times "The administrative center is just one of the controversies to dog the district in recent years. Although many of the district's 56 schools are ranked among the state's best, other brouhahas have included an Orange County Grand Jury probe; a raid of district headquarters by the district attorney; the resignation of its longtime superintendent after accusations he kept an "enemies list"; and disputes over attendance boundaries, a high school's location and portable classrooms."

Mehta is a reporter for The Los Angeles Times.

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Trustees Draper, Benecke, Darnold and Stiff knew about enemies list and "mole"

Jan 11, 2007 Filed in: Casserly, Barbara
Barbara Casserly, The Capistrano Dispatch "CUSD Trustees knew that Jim Fleming was actively involved in fighting the recall and voted to fund an investigation into matters which they knew to have occurred that cost taxpayers over $35,000! ... included in the [Waldrip] report is an April 21, 2005 memo written by James Fleming addressed to Marlene Draper and the entire CUSD Board entitled the “Report on presumed recall effort” that referred to the parent list, and included a report from a “mole” that infiltrated the recall group. The Trustees continued to support Jim Fleming until he retired in disgrace in August 2006, and subsequently voted to pay Fleming’s criminal legal defense fees. Trustees Draper, Benecke, Darnold and Stiff refuse to acknowledge that they knew Jim Fleming was illegally fighting the recall. The self-serving “independent” investigation concluded that the only crime that might have occurred was the leaking of documents by Smollar!"

Casserly is a Mission Viejo resident and PTA leader.

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OC Register senior editor jubilant Fleming resigned

Jul 30, 2006 Filed in: Greenhut, Steven
Steven Greenhut
Steven Greenhut, The Orange County Register "Other stuff happened, too, while I was away, such as the resignation of Capistrano Unified School District Superintendent James Fleming. Hooray. The Register reported that he had compiled a Nixonian enemies list of those who supported a school board recall."

Greenhut is senior editorial writier and columnist for The Orange County Register.

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Smollar says preparation of such lists was Fleming's modus operandi

Aug 10, 2006 Filed in: Smollar, David
David Smollar, The Capistrano Dispatch "But preparation of the list was modus operandi for Fleming. He’s not a great strategic mind; he thinks ahead about five minutes most of the time. He craves information, especially on his many detractors. And he craved information about the recall people. Just examine the raft of e-mails and memos that Fleming prepared and sent across the CUSD universe of parents, principals administrators the weekend of April 23-24, 2005, in preparation for the April 25 board meeting when recall notices were presented. He was consumed with the recall, and had just gotten the 150 names on April 21, off an intercepted Kevin Murphy e-mail. He surely wanted to know who they were. That’s his style. Fleming wrote to trustees on April 22 in a fax that the e-mail appeared to be a “veritable ‘who’s who’ list of San Juan Hills and Arroyo Vista NIMBYS as well as some of the more volatile opponents to the attendance boundary proposal.” The list could not have been done without Fleming’s express knowledge and direction, because its compilation would have required hours upon hours of tedious work using the district’s cumbersome Aeries student information system. No person in his or her right mind would otherwise have spent 10 hours-plus doing it."

Kutnick is a columnist for The Capistrano Dispatch. Smollar is the former Director of Communications at Capistrano Unified School District.

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Smollar explains enenies list facts to dispell drivel of Fleming sychophant Erin Kutnick

Aug 10, 2006 Filed in: Smollar, David
David Smollar, The Capistrano Dispatch "James Fleming denied for two weeks the existence of any hit list, even though the OC Register had three versions of such a list. He first had Asst. Supt. Susan McGill tell the Register that it must be a list from the Registrar of Voters. (Interesting that he remembered his Registrar list instantly, although he later lied to the OC Register and LA Times that he had ever received that list.) The OC Register then faxed him the first two pages of one version to “refresh his memory.” He still claimed no knowledge of the list, and then said that any such list would have been prepared by me! He had special software ordered to put on my old computer to find the list. (Sorry, Jim, I never had it.) He made available to the media various sycophants in his employ, including Dan Crawford and Jeff Bristow, to say what a miserable, disgruntled employee I was (Hmmm, I worked 4 1/2 years under Fleming, and never received any evaluation, oral or written, complaining about my performance.) The Register, fortunately, had the facts and printed the article. And then a week later—two weeks after first asked about the list—lo and behold the good Dr. Fleming issues reams of paper worthy of Rube Goldberg to explain that the list was all part of a hacking investigation. Of course! Just slipped his mind. How risible! To conduct a hacking probe, you don’t need to compile an extensive list of 150 parent names, including the schools attended by their kids and replete with special notations on 40 of the individuals. And Fleming still hasn’t said who created the list, which he now admits was in his possession. “Journalist” Kutnick conveniently glides over the fact that Fleming ordered me to withhold the list from Kevin Murphy, as well as a memo to Fleming from security director Ed Kovac, despite the fact that they were public documents from files in Fleming’s office."

Kutnick is a columnist for The Capistrano Dispatch. Smollar is the former Director of Communications at Capistrano Unified School District.

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Waldrip conspicuously overlooks evidence of Fleming trustees' knowledge of, or involvement in wrongdoings

Jan 11, 2007 Filed in: Waldrip, Stuart
Jonathan Volzke
Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch "The report’s also silent about what the Trustees knew about these lists, and when. Waldrip notes Fleming sent a report on recall proponents’ efforts to trustees early in the campaign, an April 2005 memo stamped “CONFIDENTIAL.” In Fleming’s words, a “mole” had approached the district’s security officer. The memo outlines key players in the recall effort, including four San Juan residents, referring to them as NIMBYs ... That was about the same time the first list was generated, and should have been enough warning for Trustees to tell their superintendent to focus on running the school district and let them worry about the politics. Waldrip didn’t ask Trustees whether they thought the memo was appropriate – the only trustee he even interviewed was Draper, about her daughter’s work with Culbertson Adams."

Volzke is the publisher of the Capistrano Dispatch.

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Fleming trustees have remained tight-lipped, in denial and pointing fingers at others - it's time to take responsibility

Jan 11, 2007 Filed in: Volzke, Jonathan
Jonathan Volzke
Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch "There’s been too much silence on behalf of our elected officials over the past year. And when they did speak, it was denials a single list even existed, much less two and attempts to push the responsibility of the problems onto recall supporters, the media, the whistleblower who made it public, everyone but those elected to be responsible. That raises the most important question: What will the four veteran trustees do to apologize, to rebuild that trust?"

Volzke is the publisher of the Capistrano Dispatch.

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Waldrip leaves the biggest question unanswered: Were the wrongful actions abrrations or business as usual?

Jan 11, 2007 Filed in: Volzke, Jonathan
Jonathan Volzke
Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch "The biggest question is unanswered: Are these actions aberrations or business as usual? Did Jim Fleming, who ran the district for 15 years before retiring last year, routinely compile lists of those most critical of the district and then link those parents with the names of their children, their schools, their teachers, even their home addresses? Was this a bad decision in the heat of a recall battle, or something more along the lines of Nixon’s infamous plumbers? Given that the lists were created more than a year apart, it’s a fair question ... if all of this happened in 2005 and 2006 for the failed recall, isn’t it reasonable to wonder what happened in 2002, during the frenzy of the Whispering Hills/San Juan Hills High battle?"

Volzke is the publisher of the Capistrano Dispatch.

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Waldrip report revealed two enemies lists

Jan 11, 2007 Filed in: Volzke, Jonathan
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Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch "We learned there wasn’t just one list that coupled the names of parents active in the recall with information about their children, but two – the second even compiled after the recall attempt officially failed."

Volzke is the publisher of the Capistrano Dispatch.

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Outside investigations in order for both CUSD and registrar

Jul 11, 2006 Filed in: OC Register
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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."

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Smollar says Flemings kept list of names ilegally obtained from registrar's office

Jul 12, 2006 Filed in: OC Register
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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."

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Fears of retribution among recall supporters not surprising

Jul 12, 2006 Filed in: OC Register
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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."

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Outside investigations in order for both CUSD and registrar

Jul 12, 2006 Filed in: OC Register
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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."

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Potential for retribution most chilling aspect of enemies lists

Jan 11, 2006 Filed in: OC Register
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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."

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CUSD concealment of records likely violated Public Records Act

Jan 11, 2006 Filed in: OC Register
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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."

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CUSD likely engaged in illegal express advocacy in preparation of enemies lists

Jul 11, 2006 Filed in: OC Register
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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."

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OC Register says DA should investigate CUSD enemies lists

Jan 11, 2006 Filed in: Smollar, David
ocregister Editorial, The Orange County Register "This is a chilling abuse of power that should be thoroughly investigated by the county district attorney."

The Register's editorial staff reacts to news report previous day that the Capistrano Unified School District “kept lists of 150 families who supported last year’s board recall campaign, detailing such personal information as where their children went to school.”

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Benecke supports Fleming's unethical use of mole to spy on recall proponents in private home

Jul 11, 2006 Filed in: Benecke, Sheila
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Sheila Benecke, The Orange County Register "Do I think it’s good for Jim (Fleming) to know what’s going on out there? I do.”

Benecke told The Orange County Register that she supports Fleming's use of a pro-board informant who infiltrated the recall campaign by entering a private home of recall proponents to spy on them. By condoning and excusing such unethical behavior, Benecke reveals how closely allied she is with Fleming and how corrupt she has become in defending him.

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First hit list was generated from information in email by recall leader

Jan 11, 2007 Filed in: Volzke, Jonathan
Jonathan Volzke
Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch “The first “hit list” was generated in Spring 2005 after district officials sought to see if email addresses in an email blast sent by recall leader Kevin Murphy were improperly garnered from a district computer. Then Superintendent James Fleming initially denied the list existed, then explained it to the board. The district in 2006 determined its records were uncompromised. Fleming denied it was a list to track political enemies, as recall proponents allege.”

Volzke is the publisher of The Capistrano Dispatch.

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Former recall leader offended Fleming's enemies lists targeted kids

Jan 11, 2007 Filed in: Murphy, Kevin
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Kevin Murphy, The Capistrano Dispatch “I always thought those lists were about me, my actions. Whatever I say or do, I stand behind, come after me. I could care less. But you’re going to drag my kids into it? I can’t believe there’s a human being on the planet that would see kids’ names on a list and not be completely offended.”

Former recall leader Kevin Murphy refers to the lists prepared by the district from an email he inadvertently sent to CUSD, containing the names and email addresses of recall leaders and volunteers.

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Enemies list victim angered that Fleming targeted children and used district resources to do so

Jan 11, 2007 Filed in: Lefner, Kim
Kim Lefner, The Capistrano Dispatch “The idea that a Superintendent, whose responsibility it is to protect children, would instead target them, is completely unacceptable. For him to have used district time and resources to do so makes it even worse.”

Capistrano resident Kim Lefner’s name was on the second list. So was her husband’s, their child’s, the school he attends, the grade he was in, their home address and their phone number.

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Enemies list victim offended by evidence that Fleming involved children

Jan 11, 2007 Filed in: Lefner, Kim
Kim Lefner, The Capistrano Dispatch “In my opinion, the existence of the second “enemies” list outlined in Judge Waldrip’s report proves what district officials have denied for so long; that Fleming did indeed involve our children.”

Capistrano resident Kim Lefner’s name was on the second "enemies" list. So was her husband’s, their child’s, the school he attends, the grade he was in, their home address and their phone number.

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Waldrip finds second enemies list more troubling than first

Jan 11, 2007 Filed in: Waldrip, Stuart
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Stuart Waldrip, The Capistrano Dispatch “I find the ‘second list’ to be more troubling than the first ... One must ask why, if the mission was to learn how the process works in the Registrar’s office, the District came back with detailed information on the petition-gatherers and then converted that information to spread sheets organized by the degree of activity in gathering signatures with detailed information about not only the parents but also the students, their grade level, school and home address and phone information – or for that matter, any of the information from the petitions at all.”

Retired Orange County Superior Court Judge Stuart Waldrip made these findings about the infamous CUSD “enemies” lists in his 13-page investigation report to the CUSD Board of Education.

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Waldrip confirms students names were used even after recall campaign over

Jan 11, 2007 Filed in: Volzke, Jonathan
Jonathan Volzke
Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch "... the release this week of an independent investigation commissioned by the district disclosed for the first time that names from the recall petitions were also matched with student information – even after the recall was over.”

Parents long ago knew of a reported “hit list” that combined information about recall proponents with information about their students’ school and teachers, and also knew that district employees improperly combined through petitions submitted to the Registrar of Voters after the recall failed. Now they also know that Capistrano Unified district officials matched the names of recall proponents with information about their students even after the recall had failed, and this has prompted a renewed sense of outrage among critics of the district’s leadership. Volzke is the publisher of The Capistrano Dispatch.

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Fleming's explanation for first list implausible; Waldrip finds information too extensive

Jan 11, 2007 Filed in: Waldrip, Stuart
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Stuart Waldrip, The Capistrano Dispatch “... the spreadsheets contain much more information regarding the addresses than would be necessary to investigate the source of the address data.”

Retired Orange County Superior Court Judge Stuart Waldrip writes about the infamous CUSD “enemies” lists in his 13-page report to the CUSD Board of Education.

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Fleming ordered creation of both lists, both included children

Jan 09, 2007 Filed in: Mehta, Seema
Seema Mehta, The Los Angeles Times “According to the [Waldrip] report, Fleming actually ordered the creation of two lists: one with the names of people who received e-mails from recall supporters and a second with the names of those who gathered signatures supporting the recall. Both included personal information such as the schools attended by the children of recall supporters.”

Mehta is a reporter for The Los Angeles Times.

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Waldrip hired at $400 per hour to investigate specific issues

Jan 05, 2007 Filed in: Miller, Sam
Sam Miller, The Orange County Register "Former Orange County Judge Stuart Waldrip was hired last summer at $400 per hour to look into claims that the district had kept a list of political opponents, violated the Brown Act with closed-session meetings, and sent district staff to the Registrar of Voters to examine confidential recall petitions."

Miller is the South Orange County education reporter for The Orange County Register.

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Independent investigator found evidence of Fleming's wrongdoing

Feb 13, 2007 Filed in: Volzke, Jonathan
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Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch “The independent investigation commissioned by the district found Fleming sent district employees to the Registrar of Voters office to review recall petitions -- that alone is illegal -- and then coupled the names of political activists with district information about their children. Parents told the board on Tuesday that should be enough to cut off Fleming's attorney payments.”

Volzke is the publisher of the Capistrano Dispatch.

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Parents tell Trustees about Fleming misconduct identified by Waldrip

Feb 23, 2007 Filed in: Volzke, Jonathan
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Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch "Parents this month told trustees their independent report found Fleming acted inappropriately more than once – including sending district officials to the Registrar of Voters to gather the names of parents who circulated recall petitions against trustees. District employees then used school records to match the names of the political activists to information about their children.”

Volzke is the publisher of the Capistrano Dispatch.

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Waldrip finds lists and employment arrangements inappropriate

Mar 07, 2007 Filed in: Miller, Sam
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Sam Miller, The Orange County Register “A January report by retired judge Stuart Waldrip ... said a variety of actions by staff members were inappropriate or gave the appearance of impropriety. Those included two lists of recall leaders Fleming kept and district staff members' relatives' employment for a contractor doing business with Capistrano Unified.”

Miller is the South Orange County education reporter for the Orange County Register.

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Enemies list victim says Fleming's actions not in good faith

Mar 07, 2007 Filed in: Lefner, Kim
Kim Kefner, The Orange County Register "I don't think anyone here can seriously argue that Fleming's actions were in good faith."

Lefner learned from the Waldrip report that Superintendent James Fleming kept her name and her children's names after her involment in the CUSD Recall campaign.

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Waldrip confirms two lists linking childrens names to activists

Feb 10, 2007 Filed in: Volzke, Jonathan
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Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch "The board received the report a month ago, but didn't comment on it then. The public didn't have a chance then, either, but emotions soared again after learning the district compiled two lists linking the names of political activists with information about their children. The second list was created after district officials and trustees vehemently denied the existence of even the first."

Vozke comments on the lack of any district response to the published report from the special investigator hired to look into allegations of wrongdoing by former Superintendent James Fleming. Volzke is the publisher of The Capistrano Dispatch.

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