Open Meetings Law
Quotes

DA concludes old guard did violate Brown Act...again; District spokeswoman Beverly De Nicola’s spin about the “perception” of a Brown Act violation was wrong

Feb 28, 2008 Filed in: Hess, Dan
Dan Hess, Letter to South OC Elected Officials "It appears that the CUSD Trustees who voted for these additional projects did violate the Brown Act by failing to adequately describe – on the agenda – items to be discussed in open session…since each project had been planned and discussed separately, and since all of the projects are controversial, each one should have been individually noticed on the agenda."

The DA's conclusion shows that CUSD attorney Ron Wenkart's "analysis" was wrong again, as alleged by reform advocates. Wenkart presented the sleazy, flawed analysis and De Nicola announced it as cover for the Fleming-era trustees who had been warned about the the violation before their Dec 10 vote. Without Wenkart's "opinion" to coverup their intent to violate the law and their October 2007 agreement with DA, Trustees Benecke, Draper, Darnold and Stiff could (and should) have been prosecuted as criminals. Hess is Senior Deputy District Attorney for the Special Prosecution Unit of the Office of the Orange County District Attorney.

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OC Register's Mickadeit reveals slimey way Fleming trustees avoided a well-deserved criminal prosecution

Oct 22, 2007 Filed in: Mickadeit, Frank
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Frank Mickadeit, The Orange County Register "Prosecutor Bill Feccia concluded this and many other items discussed were not within the law. But because the board can hide behind an attorney – one who wasn’t even there to provide Brown Act advice in the first place – and because Fleming told the board he’d run the agenda items by a second attorney (which the other attorney doesn’t recall), the D.A. would have a hard time proving the board had both the knowledge and intent to violate the Brown Act. Therefore a civil, not criminal, complaint."

Mickadeit is a columnist for The Orange County Register.

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OC Register's Mickadeit explains the "flagrant, obnoxious" and "corrupt" nature of the Fleming trustees' Brown Act violations

Oct 22, 2007 Filed in: Mickadeit, Frank
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Frank Mickadeit, The Orange County Register "D.A. investigators targeted meetings at which the board met in closed session to discuss a variety of topics that went beyond the narrow exceptions under which agencies can meet in private. It was flagrant, obnoxious and the very essence of what Lord Acton was talking about when he said, 'absolute power corrupts absolutely.' Not only were the most routine of district matters (“head lice”) put on agendas to be discussed in private, but also the weightiest, such as the $38 million district headquarters the board was building itself while pupils were attending overcrowded, deteriorating campuses.”

Mickadeit is a columnist for The Orange County Register.

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OC Register columnist emphasizes absurdity of trustee Draper's defense to repeated Brown Act violations

Oct 22, 2007 Filed in: Mickadeit, Frank
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Frank Mickadeit, The Orange County Register "The catch-all Brown Act exception the board used to justify all manner of secrecy was 'Evaluation of Superintendent,' which were it strictly about Fleming’s performance would be OK. However, board President Marlene Draper told the grand jury she allowed the board to discuss just about anything in private because 'all issues pertaining to the management of the district fall under his evaluation.' "
    
Mickadeit is a columnist for The Orange County Register.

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Former trustee Casabianca spills the beans: admits one of the real reasons the Fleming trustees intentiaonally violated the Brown Act

Oct 22, 2007 Filed in: Mickadeit, Frank
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Frank Mickadeit, The Orange County Register "Then-board member John Casabianca admitted, however, that while the board used the legal excuse presumably given by its part-time counsel, the real reason seemed to be political when in 2005 the board discussed in private a $4.3 million cost-overrun on the headquarters."
    
Mickadeit is a columnist for The Orange County Register.

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Fleming-era trustees can't be trusted in closed meetings, especially in judgment of children with zero tolerance policies they would never apply to themselves

Oct 22, 2007 Filed in: Russell, Tom
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Tom Russell, CUSD Board of Trustees Meeting "With what we know now, it is outrageous to expect CUSD parents to entrust their children’s futures to such ethically challenged trustees. After demonstrating that you cannot be trusted, especially in secret meetings, it is audacious for you to assume you are worthy to sit in judgment of children behind closed doors, applying zero-tolerance policies that could scar them -- and have scarred some of them -- for life. If these same zero-tolerance policies had been applied to you, you would have been booted from this district long ago. Talk about hypocrisy."

Russell made these remarks during Public Comments. Russell is the spokesperson for the CUSD Recall COmmittee.

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Legal expert says Fleming should be held accountable for staff's wrongful actions and omissions

Jul 20, 2006 Filed in: Francke, Terry
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Terry Francke, The Orange County Register “It should disqualify him [Fleming] from further public office. Period. Public officials have a specific duty to truth, an obligation to act candidly and honestly.”

Terry Francke, chief lawyer for Californians Aware, a public watchdog group, said that Fleming should be held accountable for any lies told by his administrators with his blessings. Francke, an expert in the state’s public records law, commented that, although there is no penalty under California public records law for giving false information to the media, government officials like Fleming should be held accountable for their wrongful actions or omissions.

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Legal expert calls CUSD worst violator of state open-meetings law seen in 25 years, calls for district attorney to file charges

Jul 27, 2006 Filed in: Francke, Terry
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Terry Francke, The Orange County Register "This seems to be one case for drawing a line in the sand. This is the worst example of a Brown Act violation in closed session I have ever seen in 25 years."

Francke reviewed staff notes on a CUSD closed-session meeting held July 30, 2005, during which 31 items of school business were discussed as part of the "superintendent's performance evaluation." Francke said, "I don't see any noted discussion on the superintendent's performance whatsoever." Francke is one of the state's foremost experts on open-meetings law. He is also general counsel for Californians Aware.

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County counsel denies advising Draper on Brown Act after she blamed him to save her own skin under oath

Oct 18, 2007 Filed in: Wenkart, Ron
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Ron Wenkart, OC Weekly “I went back and double-checked the records,” he says. “I didn’t speak with them. . . . I was not involved with that.” His office was advising the district on “other legal issues” at the time, he says, but nothing relating to closed meetings or the Brown Act.

Past board president Marlene Draper contended in her grand-jury testimony that the closed meetings and the board’s non-disclosure were legal because all of the agendas for Saturday performance-evaluation meetings were pre-approved by counsel from the Orange County Department of Education. But Ron Wenkart, general counsel for the department and the attorney who would have approved such agendas at the time, says he has no records of him or anyone in his office ever having conversations with Fleming about the Brown Act or of approving CUSD closed meeting agendas.

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Former Trustee John Casabianca changes his testimony and joins Marlene Draper in dishing out district doublespeak

Jul 08, 2007 Filed in: Casabianca, John
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Seema Mehta, The Los Angeles Times "Former Trustee John Casabianca initially testified that the timing of the [contractor] settlement, which occurred as district critics were gathering recall signatures, also played a role. But after consulting his attorney, Casabianca said the board kept the settlement confidential on the advice of its lawyer, and not because of the recall attempt."

So, first, Casabianca swears the timing of the settlement was about the recall and, then, he swears it wasn't. Plausible? Hardly. But OK under the advice of CUSD's attorneys! Guess that's why we taxpayers pay those legal beagles the big bucks.

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Draper reveals yet another excuse for not discussing the peoples' business in public

Jul 08, 2007 Filed in: Draper, Marlene
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Seema Mehta, The Los Angeles Times "During the meeting, the board agreed to settle a potential lawsuit with the general contractor for the district's new $35-million headquarters. The district paid the firm an extra $3.8 million and signed the settlement during a closed-session meeting in August. Although potential litigation legally can be discussed during closed session, prosecutors questioned why once the matter was settled it was not made public. Lubinski asked why the district was trying to "hide" the cost overrun and deemed the superintendent evaluation meeting "a secret board meeting.” Draper said the board discussed in closed session that the payment should not be made public because it could make it easier for other district contractors to drive up prices."

Thanks for the explanation, Marlene. At least now we can all rest easy knowing that the improper concealment of your financial mismanagement wasn’t your only purpose when you violated the state’s open meetings law.

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Draper spins herself deeper and deeper to justify secret meetings

Jul 08, 2007 Filed in: Lubinski, Michael
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Michael Lubinski, The Los Angeles Times "How did that go into the superintendent's evaluation? Were you going to name it after him?"

Deputy District Attorney Michael Lubinski repeatedly asked how issues such as the road-naming were relevant to Superintendent Fleming's performance evaluation (the justification used by Fleming and the Board for conducting closed-door meetings to discuss virtually every aspect of the district's business). Trustee Marlene Draper told prosecutors that the board needed to consider a broad swath of topics to evaluate Fleming.

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Draper spins herself sleezy, under oath, to justify secret meetings

Jul 08, 2007 Filed in: Draper, Marlene
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Marlene Draper, The Los Angeles Times "I wouldn't say it was secret. I would say it was supposed to be confidential."

This is Draper's testimony before the grand jury as she tried to defend the board of trustees' illegal, secret behavior. Since "secret" and "confidential" are synonymous, she offers a difference without a distinction. Now that really smells.

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Grand Jury finds CUSD closed meeting violated Brown Act

Feb 01, 1991 Filed in: OC Grand Jury
1990-1991 Orange County Grand Jury, Examination of CUSD Mello-Roos Election "A meeting to discuss clandestine 'incentive pay' cannot be reconciled with any of the above listed Code sections [the Brown Act]. Neither can a decision to employ a political consulting firm to assist in the efforts to pass Measure A. Therefore, it is the opinion of the Grand Jury that the closed door meeting held on March 6, 1989, was highly improper."

Not only was the subject matter discussed found to be illegal express advocacy (i.e., incentive pay for school principals who succeeded in obtaining favorable voter results), the closed meeting at which this was discussed was found to be a violation of the Brown Act, as well.

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Smollar exposes Erin Kutnick's blind eye concerning Fleming's serious public records and open meeting violations

Aug 10, 2006 Filed in: Smollar, David
David Smollar, The Capistrano Dispatch "Maybe Erin Kutnick could develop some journalism skills by exploring Fleming’s deliberate underreporting of his true 2004-05 compensation by some $65,000, or his efforts to subvert the public meetings act through bogus closed sessions on his “evaluation,” called by state Brown Act experts the worst violations they’ve seen in a quarter century! An easy question to start with: Why would Fleming even want to have mundane topics about school uniforms, calendars, etc. etc. in a closed session?"

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 report confirms nearly all recall allegations

Jan 11, 2007 Filed in: Volzke, Jonathan
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Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch “The report confirms nearly all of the allegations made during last year’s recall battle, but Waldrip also acknowledges he tried to avoid duplicating the work of district attorney’s office investigators looking into the district, as well as public-meeting-law violations alleged in a civil lawsuit against the district.”

Volzke is the publisher of The Capistrano Dispatch.

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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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Trustees tried to conceal settlement involving millions in illegal, closed session

Jan 02, 2007 Filed in: Winsten, Mike
Mike Winsten, Trabuco Canyon News “The minutes from the illegal July 30, 2005 CUSD closed session meeting which were published in the O.C. Register reveal that Draper attempted to conceal the terms of a multi-million dollar settlement with the construction contractor for the infamous $52,000,000 administration building. Despite the fact that CUSD had a “Guaranteed Maximum Price” contract with Valley Commercial Contractors to construct the building, CUSD agreed to pay an additional $3.8 million in settlement costs without any public explanation.”

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Trustees admit no wrongdoing, but settle and pay Lackey's attorney fees

Feb 23, 2007 Filed in: Volzke, Jonathan
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Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch “Trustees admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement, but agreed to pay $16,000 in legal fees for Dana Point resident Ron Lackey and undergo training in the Ralph M. Brown Act, the state’s public meeting law.”

Volzke is the publisher of the Capistrano Dispatch.

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Lackey filed lawsuit after obtaining evidence of improper closed session

Feb 23, 2007 Filed in: Volzke, Jonathan
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Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch “Lackey filed his lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court after a former district employee provided copies of agendas for Saturday meetings trustees held under the guise of evaluating the performance of then-Superintendent Fleming ...”

Volzke is the publisher of the Capistrano Dispatch.

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Trustees stretch to make excuses for Brown Act violations

Feb 23, 2007 Filed in: Volzke, Jonathan
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Jonathan Volzke, The Capistrano Dispatch “While employee performance evaluations are allowed to be discussed privately, trustees relied on the reasoning that since Fleming was responsible for anything that happened in the school district, a wide range of topics could be discussed privately.”

Volzke is the publisher of the Capistrano Dispatch.

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Trustee Bryson affirms CUSD's obligation to comply with state's open meeting law

Feb 16, 2007 Filed in: Bryson, Anna
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Anna Bryson, The Ladera Post “We want to make sure we have a sunshine effect on anything we do. The public has the right to know. It’s their money.”

Trustee Bryson reacts to the settlement of a Brown Act lawsuit brought by one of CUSD's critics. Facing overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing, but admitting none, the Capistrano Unified School District agreed to record its closed-session meetings for one year. A judge could review the tapes to ensure that the Brown Act is followed.

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