FPPC Fines Berryessa School Bond Campaign Committees & Treasurer
State Demands $26,000.00

 

The Berryessa community has been shocked to learn that the state's FPPC issued a $26,000.00 fine on April 19, 2005, against two BUSD school bond campaign committees from 1998 and 1999 and the campaign treasurer for both committees. The fine of $26,000.00 has not been reported in the San Jose Mercury News or other daily media to date, even though it is the largest such fine to be levied by FPPC in Santa Clara County.

This news blackout lasted almost a month, but was shattered by the Berryessa Sun in its May 2005 issue distributed Friday, May 13, 2005. Why the coverup by daily media? A good question in light of the "horror" frequently expressed about the $5,000.00 fine levied in the Ed Voss/Terry Gregory city council campaign. Most observers believe that the FPPC fine taints the mayoral campaign of Chuck Reed who was intimately involved on all levels in both school bond campaign committees, even though he now ungraciously places all the blame on the campaign treasurer.

A fine of $26,000.00 is a lot of money to heap on one man's shoulders so we hope the community comes together to raise the money to pay the fine.

FPPC exhibit

FPPC order

 

Superintendent Washes Hands

Everyone understands that a school superintendent usually, if informally, runs campaign committees for bonds and parcel taxes. The superintendent decides on timing, amounts, campaign committee officials, the campaign consultant, and other related issues, usually with a very small cadre of school employees and community leaders. In Berryessa, the current superintendent has gone out of his way to wash his hands of this $26,000 fine by penning these words in the June 2005 issue of the Berryessa Sun, page 28:

"As superintendent, I would like to clarify an article that was in the May issue of the Sun regarding a $26,000 fine levied against the community committee to help pass Measure B, our district’s last bond issue. That committee was not associated with the district in any way. The fine was not levied against the district, nor is the district responsible for the actions or fine of that committee. We are saddened by the action, as the committee was a critical part of getting our community to support the bond that has modernized our schools, but are not responsible for their actions."

While the author of those remarks was not superintendent in Berryessa for either the G (1998) or B (1999) measures, the implicit message is that when you carry out political projects for bettering the schools, you do it at your own risk. We’re still waiting for Berryessa leaders to stand up and launch a fundraising campaign to solve this mess.