The TUSD race keeps threatening to become just like national politics: dragged through the mud of big-monied interests by a desire to win at all costs. This started last race, when at the last minute a main contender, an ultimate winner, gathered money from wa-a-a-y outside of Tucson: Washington D.C., and ultimately raised over 30,000 dollars. Now two incumbents who vote consistently with that Board member have raised some 60 -80% of their last financial report in a highly questionable way.
Carly Brooks is a young Republican housewife in Paradise Valley, Az. All of a sudden, with no past history of political donations, she donates $5,000 to both Cam Juarez and Kristel Foster....why? The initial story was that her husband is a doctor who met Cam while treating his son.... and decided to support Cam. Problem number one: In Arizona, one is not allowed to donate "through" another person because all financial reports have to include the employer, etc. of each donor. With this story, we are left to assume that helping Cam turned organically into helping Kristel: she doesn't have any kids for the doctor to have been helping.
Then we find out that, in fact, instead of being a doctor, Carly's husband is actually a consultant to a company that has a contract with TUSD. Yes, that’s right, a contract that began in 2014 with a bid that was approximately 1/10th of the closest competitors' bid. The bid and ensuing contract offered the same or more services as the closest competitor, and ends in 2017. Wouldn't it be handy to have two pliant members of the Board majority available to not look too closely if this contract comes around again?
Well, we don't really know. We aren't sure whether the contract is to be renewed. But we also don't know how a consultant can afford to provide $20,000 worth of services for $2500, and we don't know how it occurred to a consultant for that company to donate to our members of the Board majority. But the details don't really matter. This kind of apparent corruption is what we are used to seeing in national elections, not school board elections. I'd like TUSD to be recognized for its increasing enrollment and academic acheivements.... not questionable financial deals like this one.
Read the article here
Carly Brooks is a young Republican housewife in Paradise Valley, Az. All of a sudden, with no past history of political donations, she donates $5,000 to both Cam Juarez and Kristel Foster....why? The initial story was that her husband is a doctor who met Cam while treating his son.... and decided to support Cam. Problem number one: In Arizona, one is not allowed to donate "through" another person because all financial reports have to include the employer, etc. of each donor. With this story, we are left to assume that helping Cam turned organically into helping Kristel: she doesn't have any kids for the doctor to have been helping.
Then we find out that, in fact, instead of being a doctor, Carly's husband is actually a consultant to a company that has a contract with TUSD. Yes, that’s right, a contract that began in 2014 with a bid that was approximately 1/10th of the closest competitors' bid. The bid and ensuing contract offered the same or more services as the closest competitor, and ends in 2017. Wouldn't it be handy to have two pliant members of the Board majority available to not look too closely if this contract comes around again?
Well, we don't really know. We aren't sure whether the contract is to be renewed. But we also don't know how a consultant can afford to provide $20,000 worth of services for $2500, and we don't know how it occurred to a consultant for that company to donate to our members of the Board majority. But the details don't really matter. This kind of apparent corruption is what we are used to seeing in national elections, not school board elections. I'd like TUSD to be recognized for its increasing enrollment and academic acheivements.... not questionable financial deals like this one.
Read the article here
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