School Bonds: “Independent Oversight” To Begin
BY MIKE RYAN
The Broward County School Board is the sixth largest school board in the United States and second largest in Florida. The School Board serves the educational mission for “over 260,000 students and approximately 175,000 adult students in 238 schools, centers and technical colleges, and 102 charter schools.”
There are more K-12 students in the Broward County school system than residents in the City of Fort Lauderdale.
With nearly 33,000 employees, there are more people employed by the School Board than the resident population of 12 cities: Cooper City, Dania Beach, Hillsboro Beach, Lauderdale Lakes, Lazy Lake, Lighthouse Point, Parkland, Pembroke Park, Sea Ranch Lakes, Southwest Ranches, West Park and Wilton Manors. The organization has an operational budget of over $2.0 Billion, with another $1 Billion in other funds and expenses. The budget is here.
Even with the best operational policies and procedures, while unfortunate, naturally there will be times a large, complex organization falls short of perfect execution every day. Many would say expecting perfection is not reasonable.
Broward Officer of Inspector General: School Board is Off-Limits
In 2010, the voters of Broward County voted for the establishment of the Officer of Inspector General (“OIG”). According to the OIG,
The mission of the Broward Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is to act as an independent watchdog for the residents of Broward County. We promote integrity and accountability by investigating allegations of misconduct including fraud, corruption, and abuse and gross mismanagement, by officials and employees of the charter government of Broward County, its thirty-one municipalities, and all entities and persons who provide goods and services to the County and the municipalities.
While the County and every municipality, as well as every employee and vendor thereof, is subject to the OIG oversight, the OIG is not authorized to oversee or investigate the School Board, its employees or its vendors. In addition, the Broward County Code of ethics does not apply to the School Board, employees or vendors. The School Board relies on their Audit Department and policies and procedures.
Miami-Dade County Public School Board Relies on an OIG
Years ago, the Miami Dade School Board entered into an agreement with the Miami-Dade County Inspector General to provide inspector general services. In so doing the Miami-Dade School Board said,
WHEREAS, the School Board seeks to hire an Inspector General that would be responsible, on behalf of the School Board, for conducting independent audits and investigations into school district practices and operations in order to prevent and detect fraud, waste, financial mismanagement, or other abuses, and promote accountability, integrity, economy, and efficiency in government; and
* * *
WHEREAS, the County and the School Board recognize that, given the knowledge, experience, and ability of the staff of the Office of the Miami-Dade County Inspector General in conducting investigations into government waste, fraud, or mismanagement, the Office of the Miami-Dade County Inspector General is in the best position to expeditiously fulfill the services of Inspector General for the School Board;
Here is the link.
What does “independent oversight” look like?
In addition to the educational mission, there is also a challenging capital and facilities mission which has been the subject of much public discussion. In support of the $800 million bond referendum, the School Board identified over $3 Billion in infrastructure needs. That’s a lot of work to prioritize. As a result, the School Board promised “independent oversight” to prove it could be trusted to manage this complex, long-term capital plan. Efforts prior to the November 4, 2014 election to define precisely what “independent oversight” meant were unsuccessful.
Is it a committee of community leaders and those with experience in contracting, construction, finance, accounting and management focused on moving the appropriate projects forward timely and efficiently?
What if the committee lacks the ability to verify facts, meets once a month (or less often) and is appointed periodically through a political process?
Certainly, their input and guidance would still be important, but is that the “independent oversight” promised or needed?
Should “independent oversight” include a mechanism that is truly independent, not beholding to anyone, vested with verifying taxpayer dollars are protected through proper procedures and tasked with ensuring dollars are spent where needed without waste, fraud or improper influence?
Inviting the OIG’s office to serve any role with the School Board may have disadvantages. Perhaps the School Board’s Audit Department and existing procedures are sufficient so there is no need to work with the OIG, as was done in Miami-Dade County. Additionally, there would be increased costs of engaging the OIG as the School Board would have to contribute to the OIG budget.
However, now is the time to define “independent oversight”, especially for those of us who endorsed the bond plan and hoped the School Board would manage the dollars efficiently and with integrity.
(Michael J. Ryan is the mayor of Sunrise. He is a former PTA president and has two children in the public school system. He supported the recent $800 million bond referendum.)
November 17th, 2014 at 7:43 am
We, the sheep of Broward County, are not exactly being led to slaughter, but we are certainly getting sheared.
November 17th, 2014 at 8:45 am
“However, now is the time to define “independent oversight”, especially for those of us who endorsed the bond plan and hoped the School Board would manage the dollars efficiently and with integrity.”
So you openly pushed and pushed for school bonds without any solid plan for oversight????
Forgive them lord for they know not what they do.
November 17th, 2014 at 10:03 am
With a total budget of 3 billion and with 225,000 students, that comes to over $13,000 per student! Wow
November 17th, 2014 at 2:04 pm
Superintendent Robert Runcie’s new proposed membership of the new bond oversight committee includes “three members of a faith based community organization.”
I guess he wants them to pray that the $800 million in bond money will be spent wisely. Because prayers are about all this committee will accomplish.
As I predicted before the vote on the bonds, the committee is simply not what Runcie and his staff promised it was going to be:
(1) It is not independent. It is being created and serves at the pleasure of the School Board and Runcie, who is suggesting the setup.
(2) It will meet as little as four times a year.
(3) There are too many members – 19 – to reach a consensus on anything.
(4) Few of the members are required to know anything about school construction, or construction in general. No architects. No engineers. No financial experts.
Runcie wants the committee to consist of:
One member from the Florida Bar Association
One member form the Urban League of Broward County
One member from Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants
One member from the Broward Workshop
One member from the Broward County Parent Teachers Association
One member from the Broward Teachers Union
One member from Associated Builders and Contractors
One member from Broward County Minority Builders Association
One member from Disability Rights Florida or the Special Needs Advisory Coalition (SNAC)
One member from the Florida Consortium of Charter School
One member from AFL-CIO
One member from the Broward League of Cities
One member from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
One member from the law enforcement community, Broward Sheriff’s Office
One member from fire safety community, Fire Chief’s Association of Broward County
Three members from a faith based community organization
One student from Broward County Public Schools
Since Runcie is unwilling to have a true independent look at bond spending, I wish that a group of parents and/or taxpayers would form an Unofficial Bond Oversight Committee.
They would have access to all the same information the official group would have. And their ultimate cudgel would be publicizing mistakes and misspending through social media, the regular media and websites like this one.
It needs to be done.
Because what Runcie has proposed is just a transparent scam on the public. I saw better cons when I worked at Coney Island. But those cons involved nickels, dimes and quarters. This one involves $800 million.
November 17th, 2014 at 3:24 pm
School Board to contract with Florida TaxWatch to review and evaluate contracts. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/editorials/fl-editorial-bond-oversight-panel-20141117-story.html
FROM BUDDY:
A good first step. Call me a cynic, but I don’t believe anything Runcie proposes unless it is proven. I want to see the contract with Florida TaxWatch and how transparent their work will be. I want to see how their findings will be released to the public.
Mike, you have confidence in Robert Runcie. I don’t.
The editorial you cite here is written by folks who obviously have a profound misunderstanding of the historic problems at the school system. Not one member of the editorial board ever covered the School Board.
(Maybe the editorial board’s members were distracted when they wrote this opinion by the announcement last week that Tribune Publishing –Sun-Sentinel’s owners — will be ending fixed paid vacation effective immediately. In another desperate attempt to save money, almost all Sun-Sentinel writers and editors will now be granted paid vacations based on if their supervisors feel they are worthy.)
The editorial board believes that the unelected Runcie is supposed to decide what happens with the school system. No! He is supposed to carry out the instructions of the elected representatives of the people — the Board. Despite what the Sun-Sentinel says, the Board needs to debate this proposal. It is flawed. For instance, can anyone (the Sun-Sentinel editorial board?) tell me the relevance of having three members of the faith community on the committee?
Past Boards that have been the problem. But it really been the staff that has recommended cost overruns. The staff allowed shoddy construction. The staff recommended work with a select group of favored vendors and bent over backwards to pour money into the pockets of contractors represented by a select group of lobbyists. The staff bought swamp land that couldn’t be used. The staff ignored the eastern schools and built schools instead in the west, where it would benefit developers. The entrenched staff is the problem in the schools and Runcie has done little to change that.
The world is constantly changing. The world has changed since I was in high school. Yet, the Broward school system runs essentially the same way it did decades ago. That’s wrong, just as wrong as the Sun-Sentinel editorial.
November 17th, 2014 at 3:36 pm
Here is the Agenda for tomorrow’s workshop on the Bond Oversight Committee:
http://bcpsagenda.browardschools.com/agenda/00984/Agenda-Outline-for-2014-11-18-14-00.htm
http://bcpsagenda.browardschools.com/agenda/00984/Item%202A%20(14544)/index.html
http://bcpsagenda.browardschools.com/agenda/00984/Item%202A%20(14544)/index.html
November 17th, 2014 at 3:46 pm
These 18 group CEO’s will begin to receive a retro active salary of $122.396.00 dated January 1,2014, healthcare coverage, expense account (AMEX Black Card), 2- office managers, 6- office staff, 2- receptionist, Chauffeur driven european vehicles to events where intoxicants are served will be provided.
Monthly clothing stipend check of $5.000.00 will be allotted to all CEO’s, $2500.00 clothing stipend for office managers. Other line staff employees will receive a $100.00 T J Maxx voucher card non-transferable every 90 days.
November 17th, 2014 at 4:59 pm
Buddy,
that list makes an absolute mockery of “Independent”. That is simply a list of special interests with vested interests in the rent-seeking side of things here.
Good lord. That is just asking for another grand jury investigation in a few years.
November 17th, 2014 at 5:19 pm
Shocking!! NOT!
November 17th, 2014 at 6:04 pm
I think the first order of business for the committee is to audit the school board member’s Form 6 filings. Only one board member disclosed what she has her money invested in. How are we supposed to know if there is a conflict of interest if they can’t fill out the forms properly?
Are we supposed to feel warm and fuzzy that we have three men or women of God on the committee? Our own faith-based school board member recently called out Corey Alston for getting free money and not following rules. Here are some rules she didn’t follow
– Didn’t disclose where her income comes from
– Didn’t attach W2s, schedules and attachment to her filing
– She takes IRA distributions, but she doesn’t disclose what stocks/bonds/funds she has the money invested in.
If you look at the MODCO IRS 990 filing these are some of the rules that were not followed
– Even though they get HOPWA (HUD) and Workforce One money, they claim they do not get Government Grants (Contributions) in Part VIII, 1e
– They are supposed to list their accomplishments for the top three services they provide – all they do is list $844K in expenses
– The HOPWA sponsor is supposed to review the 990 to ensure accomplishments are accurately documented – apparently they don’t
– President/CEO is considered an Officer and should be listed even if salary is zero – not listed
– No payroll taxes, legal, accounting, office, IT, or occupancy expenses
I must have learned a different type of accounting in college; maybe this is the Common Core version of accounting.
I am not feeling warm and fuzzy.
November 18th, 2014 at 1:46 am
In the information regarding the Oversight Committee documents, it states the Oversight Committee will prepare a report on the quarterly meetings and the result of that report will go to Superintendent Runcie first – doesn’t sound like transparency to me.
As to the School Board’s Auditing Department, it is too small in number to provide adequate oversight. Because the Board has not approved adding additional staff to the Audit Department, the Audit Department is only able to randomly pick projects to audit. Unfortunately, the School Board does not give the impression they trust their own Auditing Department. This has been a systemic problem for generations.
And what is to become of the Facilities Task Force which has not been given the opportunity by the Superintendent or the Board to perform their oversight duties as recommended by the last Grand Jury – which was supposed to be the reason for its creation. Many of the recommendations of the Facilities Task Force has been ignored for years and put in abeyance while the insanity of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results continues. Couldn’t an Inspector General fire or recommend to fire the incompetent staff members whose mistakes costs hundreds of thousands of dollars yet never lose their jobs?
November 18th, 2014 at 2:33 am
I don’t know many Broward County elected officials, let alone School Board officials but the system hasnt graduated many people of note compared to Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Pinelles, Hillsdale, Orange, or even Monroe Counties. You look at the Broward County School Board’s school graduates and you see people who do NOT go on to academic or financial success, just a political hack or non profit semi´politician whose funded group accomplishes nothing.
On mz block the families with some education send their children to religous or private schools. Not a good record – and why does an Irish Catholic send his kids to public school anyway?
November 18th, 2014 at 8:49 am
Buddy,
As you know, I did not vote for the bond issue because I felt constrained by the School District’s unfair financial treatment of charter schools which they have categorically excluded from receiving local share of capital taxpayer funding.
That said, I’m not at all upset that the bond issue passed. In fact, had the plan been fairer I would have voted for it.
Everyone in Broward wants to see the District succeed in carrying out their newly authorized capital plan and I still hope they will come to their senses and create workable partnerships with their charter schools. Many of their current policies only serve to hurt public school students.
Quite obviously, the School District does not want to invite jurisdiction of the Broward’s Inspector General into the district. If Broward voters disagree with that policy, the recourse falls to them to act in ways that compel such jurisdiction. People either care about that or they don’t.
In the meanwhile, the new bond program needs independent oversight and the topic is the advisability of the 19 member panel outlined in Buddy’s piece above.
Success depends on which members are appointed, specifically what credentials they have help perform this independent oversight.
Broward will need lawyers and accountants, architects and engineers, safety specialists, construction executives and auditors. You can be the greatest human being on earth, but if you can’t read a spreadsheet or a construction schedule, if you don’t understand construction management, if you have no financial background whatsoever, you cannot hope to do well in this role. And your uncredentialed participation will cause you to be blamed for the predictable consequence of that shortcoming.
In addition to highly credentialed and independent members, a modest budget should also be provided to the committee for the hiring of independent consultants. Their scope of work is a capital plan valued at $800 million over time. It would be a highly suspect to deny the committee a budget that allows for the occasional hire of an independent firm to assist them in any number of ways.
Like Buddy, I prefer an OIG arrangement because I think it’s best to bolster public trust in government. Under current rules, the School Board has the legal right to deny that jurisdiction. If the voters believe that’s the wrong policy, they can change it.
If they don’t, they should shut the hell up about it.
Act or fail, do or don’t, care or don’t care. Whining while doing nothing is unimpressive civic behavior. Americans don’t whine we act when we care. We don’t just try, we succeed and it’s high time we started acting that way again.
More important for the moment is that some form of quality oversight be provided. Dependent on the quality of appointees, I have no reason to believe that the format suggested can’t work.
So look carefully to the resumes of those who are appointed to this board. Study the resumes very carefully. If the names proposed are impressive in terms of the high degree of credentials and objectivity, names free of conflicts, etc., then the committee recommended has a good chance to work.
I expect such people to emerge as appointees because given the school board’s past, who would walk into such a bear trap unless they knew what they were dong.
Unless you see uncredentialed appointees or those with conflicts of interest, with transparent documentation from the district and honest testimony, there’s no reason why this committee can’t work.
If we see highly credentialed professionals appointed with no conflicts operating in an honest environment to ensure that these dollars are spent reasonably, then the format proposed can work.
Broward voters have endorsed the school district’s capital bond program. We should all now want to see it succeed in every way. I personally want that outcome for our community.
I also hope that the school board will soon find new ways to revisit old policies, create new history and more closely embrace their partners in education with greater respect and consideration.
I want to see new history evolve for our school district, positive, exciting, clean and successful.
I’ve been outspoken about reforms that I think make great sense there. But I’m a strong supporter of public education who wants to see it thrive and succeed in every way. And I hope it will because Broward’s kids deserve nothing less.
Peace,
Angelo
November 18th, 2014 at 11:12 am
I, too, support the idea of an independent body, with verified bone fides and meaningful authority, having a role in investigating claims of abuse, fraud and waste and ensuring adequate management policies and procedures are maintained and enforced. I support this concept not because I am pre-disposed to believe there will inevitably be, by intentional design, such acts of misconduct. Instead, I recognize there are a lot of priorities to balance, a large number of people who will be involved, and the policies and procedures in place may not fully contemplate the enormity of what the School Board is about to undertake.
The integrity of the process is paramount for everyone. For anyone to suggest that the Superintendent does not recognize this fact is to suggest he wants this to fail. He, clearly, does not. We may disagree with the specifics of any proposed plan or even the concept of the bond but, as Commissioner Castillo deftly points out, no one wants this to fail. Too much is at stake for our children, teachers, schools and community.
As to Buddy’s comments regarding confidence in the Superintendent, I can only share what I have seen personally in the schools. I have personally seen the Superintendent’s commitment to parents and teachers in schools, including under circumstances which challenged the faith of both parents and teachers. I have personally seen him and his administration take action that I, as a former PTA president, know would not have happened under prior administrations. I have seen the Superintendent sit with parents and teachers to hear their grievances and concerns. I have seen him communicate through words and action he recognizes that the priority is education and the students, not protecting those in positions of power in the schools. I have seen his commitment to allow the local units more freedom for innovation and ingenuity, while encouraging stronger relationships with the municipalities. I cannot comment if others have been disappointed or if there are others in the organization who have prevented the change everyone wants; I have seen real support and change in our schools.
At the same time, I know there are criticisms of the bureaucracy and some management decisions. There are those who question the pace of change, or who is in charge of change. The School Board is a HUGE organization. The idea, particularly with 33,000 employees, that any change in organizational culture would be rapid is neither realistic nor does it adequately recognize the infrastructure challenges to meaningful change. Much has been done. There is more to do.
Interestingly, there are those who do not relish the OIG getting more projects or more power, particularly where there is already a FY 2015 budget of over $2.4 million, representing a large increase over FY 2013 actual expenditures of $1.7 million. However, in the end, if Miami-Dade County could invite the OIG to assist in the collaborative and mutually shared mission of preventing fraud, abuse and mismanagement, there is no reason it could not be done here.
If not the OIG, then there must be something outside the School Board organization to ensure integrity, not just a committee to meet quarterly.
You would think the School Board and the Administration would welcome such involvement by an outside organization, either to demonstrate a commitment to catch anyone in the organization who mismanages funds and/or to show afterwards the criticisms of the past should be relegated to historical footnotes along the journey to improving the educational and capital missions of the School Board.
If there are no allegations or all investigations are unfounded, terrific. If there are, unfortunately, investigations which yield verified criticisms and those result in improvements, then the system worked.
The worst case scenario would be persistent the whisper campaigns, never discounted or investigated, which feed the conspiratorial leanings of those predisposed to believe the worst in School Board and public education or who have a personal agenda based upon parochial grievances or self-aggrandizement.
FROM BUDDY:
Other than having a difference of opinion over the superintendent, Mike Ryan and I are largely on the same page.
November 18th, 2014 at 1:50 pm
Did we not tell the gullible Broward public what would happen? This is just the beginning.
But wait. At the last Board meeting as soon after the bond passed as they possibly could, under the General Counsel’s place, not the Chief Auditor, on the agenda, was the settlement for two schools. They paid the contractor for Cypress and Palmview just about what they demanded. Hundreds of thousands.
Chief Auditor Pat Reilly’s examination of the two projects concluded that nothing should be paid because the disputed amount was covered by the original contract.
And not one member of the Board voiced an objection or asked questions as to why it was settled.
Why don’t supposedly educated and intelligent people get it? The district doesn’t want real oversight with any accountability.
That would preclude them from hiding the bloats, overpayments and general ineptitude and corruption that will surely follow the $800 million gift, as night follows day.
November 18th, 2014 at 6:00 pm
You mean the same South Florida Sun-Sentinel that for so many years has been so myopic and inattentive to what has REALLY been going on at local City Halls and at myriad govt. agencies, and quite literally, paying so little attention to things right in front of its own eyes, that they didn’t know, oh, for instance, that their OWN website listed people on the Editorial Board that hadn’t been on it for years?
You mean the same Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board that despite having many weeks to learn the pertinent facts, did NOT know prior to its 2012 meeting with Hallandale Beach candidates that HB voters could NOT vote for 3 Commission candidates -despite there being 3 seats open- but rather could only vote for 2?
Why? Because that is precisely the way the HB City Commission wanted it to be, and how they wrote it up!
Once the Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board was informed of that hugely important fact by a friend of mine who was running, civic activist Csaba “Chuck” Kulin -surprise- the Editorial Board didn’t even bother to ask the incumbent HB Commissioner present in the room, Anthony A. Sanders, to fully explain why he and rest of the HB City Commission specifically deprived voters of that opportunity? A deliberate move that actually hurt Minority voters and candidates.
You mean the same Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board that NEVER asked Comm. Sanders at that same meeting in 2012 why he refused to recuse himself in 2009 when he voted as a member of the HB CRA to purchase his own property for what was clearly more than what it was worth? Not that the HB CRA ever had a practical purpose in mind in purchasing the Sanders building since they almost immediately rented it out to a (supposedly) non-profit group for $10 a year. A non-profit group led by a woman who was not just a political pal of Mayor Joy Cooper and Comm. Sanders, but also the city’s former MLK Humanitarian of the Year. LOL! A woman who was finally indicted earlier this Spring by the Broward SAO as a result of what the Broward IG had discovered and what many residents already could’ve guessed -she was using HB CRA funds not for her non-profit but rather for personal purposes.
Not that the Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board ever asked Comm. Sanders at this year’s HB candidates meeting -a two-person Board!- to explain why he as a member of the HB CRA had NEVER bothered to engage in anything even close to appropriate oversight of those CRA funds in his six years to ensure that there was appropriate follow-up, i.e. to make sure the funds were ACTUALLY being used for the stated purpose.
Did they not ask Comm. Sanders about that salient fact because they endorsed him, not surprising given their well-known penchant for #RaceIndentity politics in Broward? Or did they not ask because this very same Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board has NEVER once written an editorial about the HB CRA scandal involving tens of millions of dollars in the 19 months since the Broward IG’s damning report? Nothing in 19 months is a real tribute to Rosemary Godreau’s style of leadership.
Yes, after reading this spot-on essay and the cogent and knowing reader comments of people I trust, like Charlotte and Comm. Castillo, it sounds very much to me like the myopic Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board and Supt. Runcie are perfectly content to have an Oversight Board composed of no-account hacks like Comm. Sanders and his clones around the County being the eyes-and-ears for Broward taxpayers and parents.
No thanks!
I already know how THAT story ends!!!
November 18th, 2014 at 6:37 pm
“under the General Counsel’s place
And not one member of the Board voiced an objection or asked questions as to why it was settled.”
I am with you Charlotte Greenbarg. I really wonder why the Attorneys recommended this settlement to the Board. I am at a lost.
November 18th, 2014 at 7:34 pm
castillo…yawn. again
November 19th, 2014 at 1:35 am
I had an opportunity to review the School Board’s audit of the two schools mentioned above and I was in total agreement with Pat Reilly’s Auditing Committee. I believe the reason there was a settlement was to prevent a lawsuit in the middle of proposing the $800 million dollar bond. The legal staff was also in agreement with the Auditor’s conclusion not to pay because the contractor had a phased construction project and did not even conclude the first phase by the scheduled conclusion of both phases. The new kitchen wss to be constructed while the older one served the students. The new kitchen was to be completed prior to the end of the school year but the contractor delayed their construction until mid summer when work on the older building’s renovation could have commenced when school closed for the summer.
November 19th, 2014 at 9:46 am
So, without knowing the facts of the case, it would appear to me that the School Board was advised by Legal Counsel to settle this law suit. As attorneys for a defendant in a criminal or civil case there is a fiduciary responsibility to advise the client of the consequences of going to trial. In a criminal case it could mean a choice of pleading guilty to a lesser charge in lieu of having the courts decide guilt or innocence at trial. It works similarly with civil cases too, if the respondent calculates high risk and cost of going to trial, then it would behoove such entities to approach the plaintiff to negotiate a settlement. It is my understanding that the cadre attorneys for the Board recommended such a settlement and this may account for no questions being asked at the open public Board meeting when the recommendation for acceptance of the settlement approved. The cadre attorneys making the recommendations are credentialed in Construction Litigation and therefore I would assume that the decision to settle the case was the best choice. Like every civil legal action, legal interpretation of the facts is usually at the core of the dispute. The facts are the facts and if both sides agree then it is the legal interpretation and consequences of the facts by the Judge that prevails. So it appears that the cause for the Contractor filing suit against the Board was because the recommendations of the Auditors were accepted and such actions were taken which precipitated in the legal actions by the contractor.
November 20th, 2014 at 2:06 am
To Response,
I am amazed your are making a decision about the case when you don’t know the facts of the case. Go to the Auditor’s Department at the School Board and you can find the Auditor’s report regarding this case. Your description of lawyers is idealistic. I had one attorney tell me, “I lie all of the time”…. Another who represented me was offered $200,000 to get me to settle for $10,000 and then turned against me when I refused to take the public’s money and threatened to withdraw a week before going to court and not allow another attorney to represent me. Welcome to the real world of lawsuits. I’ve also had an attorney who represented me in a lawsuit demand to eat a meal while I was charged their hourly fee for their conducting a deposition on my behalf. It has been my experience with attorneys; the legal profession has a long way to go to reestablish integrity for members of their profession. I presume you are an attorney.
November 20th, 2014 at 1:51 pm
Clearly you misunderstood my comments I am so sorry that That there was a Lawyer who question your truthfulness. The audit report may not be the full accounting of the facts. I’m so sorry that audit reports are sometimes inaccurate or incomplete are not examining all the issues from a legal standpoint
November 21st, 2014 at 8:45 am
Becky your last post does not help the discussion in this instance. Your General opinion about the attorney you have dealt with in the past Offers an insight as to your comments in this blog. Please rethink. and be more objective in your comments specific to the article in concern