Sweetwater probe nets first jail sentence; Former Sweetwater board member gets 45 days

See all posts re South Bay Indictments.

Sweetwater probe nets first jail sentence
Former Sweetwater board member gets 45 days
By Greg Moran
San Diego Union-Tribune
June 20, 2014

Gregory Sandoval, a former Sweetwater schools trustee, on Friday became the first defendant in the South County schools corruption probe to be sentenced to jail for accepting fancy meals and other gifts from contractors seeking business with the district.

Sandoval, who is also a former administrator at Southwestern College, pleaded guilty in April to a felony conspiracy charge and a misdemeanor charge of failing to report gifts he received from school construction executives on required disclosure forms in 2008.

Superior Court Judge Ana Espana sentenced Sandoval to six months in custody. She ordered him to serve 45 days of that in jail, and serve the remaining 135 days on home detention.

He was also fined $7,995, ordered to perform 120 hours of community service and put on probation for three years.

Espana denied a request from Sandoval’s lawyer to reduce the felony to a lesser misdemeanor. She also ordered him into jail custody immediately, to begin his sentence.

Sandoval, 60, is one of 18 trustees, school officials and contractors who were charged in an expansive probe into the cozy relationships between school officials and the contractors angling for work funded by voter-approved bond programs.

The investigation focused on Sweetwater Union High School District but also included officials from Southwestern College and the San Ysidro School District.

Most have pleaded guilty and received sentences of probation or home detention, as well as fines and community service work.

But prosecutors with the San Diego County District Attorney’s office said that Sandoval was one of more corrupt of the defendants, receiving lots of gifts and meals.

For example Jaime Ortiz, a construction management executive with the firm SGI that was involved in the construction work, testified in front of a grand jury empaneled for the case that Sandoval demands for dinners and being treated to other social events was “constant.”

One time Ortiz said Sandoval called him when Ortiz was in SGI offices in Los Angeles and said he wanted to meet. He said he wanted to go to a luau at a Pacific Beach hotel that evening. Ortiz boarded a plane for the short flight then paid for the dinners for himself, his wife and Sandoval and his wife.

Sandoval was initially indicted on 29 charges including bribery and perjury. He ended up admitting in his plea deal to accepting $2,770 in gifts from another contractor, Henry Amigable, and not reporting those gifts on his state-mandated economic disclosure forms.

Jeremy Warren, one of his lawyers, said in court papers that Sandoval accepted responsibility for his acts. He said at the time of the wining and dining Sandoval recently had lost his job at the college in the wake of sexual harassment accusation that he was later cleared of, but he remained a Sweetwater trustee. Warren said he was at a low point in his life when he began being courted by Amigable and others.

In 2010 Sandoval got a new job as an administrator at Moreno Valley College, but resigned from that $151,811 job after his guilty plea in April.

Greg Sandoval resigns as VP for Moreno Valley College after conviction regarding Southwestern Community college

Greg Sandoval
See all posts re South Bay Indictments.


“MORENO VALLEY: College VP resigns after corruption conviction
Press Enterprise
May 23, 2014

Greg Sandoval, the Moreno Valley College vice president of student services, has resigned after his conviction in San Diego County for his role in a massive public corruption scandal.

The Riverside Community College District did not publicly announce Sandoval’s resignation from his $151,811 a year job when it happened April 22…

Sandoval, 60, pleaded guilty April 4 to one felony count of conspiracy to commit a crime and one misdemeanor count of failing to report gifts received as required by state law. He faces up to three years’ imprisonment when he is sentenced June 20.

The district attorney filed 29 felony charges against Sandoval in a case stemming from his time as a member of the board of trustees in the Sweetwater Union High School District in Chula Vista from 1994 to 2010. He was one of 15 defendants in a case involving gifts from contractors and votes that awarded those contractors multimillion-dollar projects.

He was charged with conspiracy, receiving bribes, conflict of interest, using a public position for financial gain, filing a false instrument, perjury on the forms public officials use to report gifts, and receiving gifts with a total value in excess of allowed limits…”

http://blog.pe.com/education/2014/05/23/moreno-valley-college-vp-resigns-after-corruption-conviction/#

What sort of employee is preferrred at a corrupt community college like Southwestern? Court of Appeal decides Poveda case

This Southwestern College employment case has been reversed and remanded by the Court of Appeal. It was argued by school attorneys Atkinson Andelson Loya Ruud Romo. This is the new law firm of Mark Bresee, who has a long history in San Diego and Orange Counties. Mr. Bresee worked closely with school attorney Dan Shinoff in Chula Vista Elementary and other schools.


Mark Bresee

Poveda v. Southwestern Community College Dist.
CA4/1, D062460 (Cal. Ct. App. 2014)
California Courts of Appeal

Date Filed: January 17th, 2014
Docket Number: D062460
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

(Super. Ct. No. 37-2011-00099248- CU-WM-CTL)

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION ONE
STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FERNANDO POVEDA,

Plaintiff and Appellant,

v.

SOUTHWESTERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT,

Defendant and Respondent.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Richard E. L. Strauss, Judge. Reversed and remanded with directions.
v David S. Bristol, Boudreau Williams and Jon R. Williams for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo, Marlon Craig Wadlington for Defendant and Respondent.

Fernando Poveda appeals the trial court's denial of his petition for writ of mandate filed under Code of Civil Procedure section 1085. He contends that during the 39 months after his former employer, respondent Southwestern Community College District (Southwestern), laid him off for lack of funds, he applied for several positions at Southwestern, but Southwestern filled those positions without granting him the reemployment preference to which he was entitled under Education Code1 section 88117. Southwestern counters that it filled all those positions internally with current Southwestern employees. It interprets section 88117 as requiring it to grant Poveda reemployment preference over only external applicants, that is, those not currently employed at Southwestern.

The issue presented is whether the term "new applicants" used in section 88117 applies only to external applicants or to both internal and external applicants. We agree with Poveda and conclude that the latter interpretation comports with the statute's plain terms and the legislative scheme. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment and remand for the court to grant Poveda's writ petition and determine the appropriate relief under Code of Civil Procedure section 1095.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In an October 2011 verified petition for writ of mandate, Poveda alleged that Southwestern hired him in October 1991 as coordinator for outreach/school and community relations, a classified administrative position that later was elevated to a 2 directorship level. In 1999, Poveda held the position of interim dean of student activities for approximately seven months. Effective June 2009, Southwestern eliminated Poveda's job as director of outreach because of lack of work or funds, and not because of his work performance. Southwestern notified him he was eligible for reemployment preference under section 88117. In July 2011, Poveda applied for three deanships, two directorships, three supervisor positions and all open supervisor or administrative positions at Southwestern.2 Southwestern never interviewed Poveda, but instead filled the vacancies internally. Poveda's writ petition sought damages, including employment in one of the positions he had applied for, back pay and lost benefits.

In opposing Poveda's writ petition, Southwestern did not dispute his factual claims; rather, it argued that section 88117 granted Poveda preference over new external applicants only, and not over internal ones. Southwestern acknowledged that although it is not a merit district, section 88117 applies to it under section 88014. Southwestern argued that, faced with massive budget cuts over several years, it was forced to restructure its operations and therefore eliminated certain positions, reduced the total number of full-time employees, and filled other positions internally as permitted by California Code of Regulations, title 5, section 530213. Southwestern claimed that

3 California Code of Regulations, title 5, section 53021 states: "Except as otherwise provided in this section, community college districts shall actively recruit from both

because it does not use promotional or other employment examinations, it could not have violated section 88117, subdivision (a)(2).

Joseph Quarles, Southwestern's interim vice-president of human resources, explained in a supporting declaration why Southwestern did not grant Poveda the reemployment preference. Quarles stated that approximately 87 percent of Southwestern's expenditures are personnel costs, including salaries and benefits. In 2011, in light of reduced state and federal funding, Southwestern reorganized and restructured its operations and programs. Quarles stated that in filling the challenged positions, Southwestern relied on its internal policy titled, "Recruitment and Hiring Policy and Recruitment and Hiring Procedure (No. 7120)," and reviewed all vacancies "for a determination of the necessity of continuing the position and other means of providing services that were less costly. Only where [Southwestern] determined that an absolute need existed for the services provided by a particular position was the position filled. Because the ultimate goal was a reduction in personnel costs, it was determined that instead of following the normal hiring procedure, the vacancies would first be advertised

within and outside the district work force to attract qualified applicants for all new openings. . . . The requirement of open recruitment shall apply to all new full-time and part-time openings in all job categories and classifications." (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 5, 53021, subd. (a).) However, the regulation creates an exception permitting the community college to conduct " '[i]n-house or promotional only' " recruitment under limited circumstances. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 5, § 53021, subd. (b)(1).) The regulation specifies: "For purposes of this section, a new opening is not created when: (1) there is a reorganization that does not result in a net increase in the number of employees; (2) one or more lateral transfers are made and there is no net increase in the number of employees; (3) a position which is currently occupied by an incumbent is upgraded, reclassified, or renamed without significantly altering the duties being performed by the individual." (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 5, § 53021, subd. (c).)

4 internally for current employees only. If no qualified current employees were found, then the position would be advertised to non-employees. The positions identified by [Poveda] in his declaration and pleadings were all advertised internally only and only current employees were permitted to apply for the positions."4

The court denied Poveda's petition for writ of mandate. It ruled nothing in section 88117 required Southwestern to grant Poveda reemployment preference over internal applicants, and if the Legislature had intended that result, it would have specified that laid-off individuals were entitled to preference over "other new applicants." It reasoned that section 88117 did not apply to Poveda because he was a laid-off employee, and not a "new applicant."

DISCUSSION

Poveda contends that under a plain reading of section 88117, the term "new applicants," over whom he had reemployment preference, applies to both internal and external applicants. By contrast, Southwestern interprets section 88117 to require it to grant a laid-off employee a reemployment preference only over external applicants...

All statutory references are to the Education Code unless otherwise stated.

South Bay judge upholds majority of indictments in pay-to-play

See all posts on South Bay indictments.

South Bay judge upholds majority of indictments in pay-to-play
New charges were dismissed in three South Bay school districts' alleged pay-to-play charges--the bulk still hold
By Susan Luzzaro
San Diego Reader
October 10, 2013

Twenty-two charges were dropped for defendants in a South Bay corruption case during hearings held on October 8 and 9. Twenty charges were dropped by the people, as represented by Deputy District Attorney Leon Schorr, in a pre-trial paring of 232 indictments handed down by the Grand Jury in January 2013.

The case initially became public when high-ranking school officials, trustees, contractors, and a bond salesman linked to South Bay school districts, had their homes or offices raided by the DA's office in 2011. By December 2012, as a result of a broadening investigation, the Grand Jury charged 15 defendants with charges which included perjury, bribery and filing a false statement.

Most charges relate to alleged pay-to-play activity which involved Sweetwater Union High School District's Proposition O for $644 million and Southwestern College's Proposition R for $389 million.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Judge Ana Espana listened to the defendants' attorneys' arguments for additional dismissals; however, in the majority of cases she remained unconvinced.

After the October 9 hearing Schorr commented, "We are very pleased with the outcome of the hearings. Judge Espana's rulings confirm the hard work of the grand jurors and their desire to hold these defendants accountable for their actions."

Two additional charges were dropped for Sweetwater trustee Pearl Quinones following arguments presented by her attorney Marco Carlos, one perjury count and one count for filing a false instrument.

In an October 9 interview Carlos said the charges were dropped because of insufficient evidence. Carlos feels confident that when his defendant comes before a jury, the jury will understand "that my client was doing what every other elected officials does."

Carlos also believes that the former program manager for both Sweetwater's and Southwestern's bond construction, Henry Amigable, who has provided a lot of the testimony on which the charges are based, will prove to be "a weak witness."

Carlos said, "Amigable's memory is horrible, and on direct testimony before 8 or 9 experienced lawyers he will not be able to stand up."

That all politicians do this kind of wining and dining seemed to be a common argument presented by several attorneys.

Paul Pfingst, attorney for former Sweetwater superintendent Jesus Gandara, took issue with the much-publicized lobster dinner that Gandara received--paid for by Amigable. (The lobster was flown in for the occasion and described as "still kicking.")

Pfingst argued that there were no business discussions at the meal and that it was a social occasion and should not be considered bribery.

Schorr countered that the $1,383 dinner at Bacis, which was also attended by Sweetwater's former trustee Greg Sandoval and current trustee Arlie Ricasa, was intentionally lavish to demonstrate "this is how we will take care of you if we are selected."

Schorr also noted that this meal and many others were not disclosed on Gandara's 700 conflict-of-interest form.

Espana did not dismiss the bribery charge. She said that the meal appeared in the context of other meals or events that happened prior to Sweetwater trustees selecting Amigable and his company.

The lobster dinner in question took place in March 2007. The company which Amigable worked for at that time, Gilbane, along with Seville Group Inc. were selected to manage Sweetwater's Proposition O in April 2007. R

Southwestern College board member resigns in protest of secrecy regarding financial information

I've been wondering why school board members ALWAYS accept the corruption in schools, and simply join the club when they get elected. I thought that perhaps the idea of standing up for ethics, the rule of law and the public good had gone out of fashion. But Bill Stewart has proved me wrong.

Several officials have been charged with crimes related to relationships with contractors and Proposition R expenditures, including board member Yolanda Salcido.

How to solve the problem? Recall Yolanda Salcido and replace her with Bill Stewart. And if that doesn't give enough votes for transparency about finances, recall any other board members who are opposing it and replace them with people who believe in transparency.



Bill Stewart served as a Southwestern trustee for four months, December 2012 to March 2013.

Southwestern College trustee resigns in protest
By Susan Luzzaro
San Diego Reader
March 2, 2013

The latest at Southwestern College is the sudden resignation of trustee William Stewart, who gave an exclusive interview to the student newspaper, the Sun, on March 1. He told news editor Thomas Baker that he was quitting in protest; he said he is frustrated with the district’s lack of transparency and lack of shared governance.

Stewart, who is a realtor and a professor of philosophy at San Diego City College, was elected in November 2012 and began serving in December; his campaign rhetoric was optimistic. He told the Sun in October, “I think I bring to the board a very student-centric perspective because the questions are: how are the students being served? Is our budget best focused on meeting the needs of our students?”

Barely four months later, in his letter of resignation addressed to the faculty and staff of Southwestern, Stewart wrote:

“I hoped to bring a level of board oversight that was unprecedented in this district…to provide you, the stake holders, with a true sense of assurance that the numbers with which you were provided were real and reliable. I wanted to provide you with a board member that with certainty could tell you that income projections were reflective of most likely case scenarios, and not worst case scenarios, which can lead to significant underestimations in projected funding.

“I wanted to provide you with assurance that the information on our college expenses provided accurate information on real time savings, and did not look artificially inflated due to positions that were on the books but were not filled. In my judgment, such accurate numbers should not be withheld from anyone and certainly should not be withheld from the scrutiny of the board. Such real numbers should be used as the proper framework by which to plan the future and to work with its employees and their bargaining units. It is my opinion that Southwestern has a precious resource in its employees, not dangerous adversaries.”

Last week, faculty members protested to the board that incorrect data was being used to drive the education plan — which in turn is driving the Proposition R facilities plan.

Prior to Stewart’s resignation, a special board meeting — which many fear will pertain to pink slips — was called for March 4.

Southwestern articulation officer Veronica Burton commented on Stewart’s resignation and on the state of the campus:

...“We have all worked so hard to make positive change and this is a huge setback. We are once again making news because of questionable practices at Southwestern. This further perpetuates the atmosphere of lack of transparency and trust...”

Read more.

UPDATED: Arraignments of fifteen defendants connected with South Bay schools

See all posts regarding South Bay school indictments.

JAN. 23,2013 UPDATE REGARDING SAN YSIDRO SCHOOLS' LAWYERS

TWO UPDATES REGARDING SAN YSIDRO SUPERINTENDENT MANUEL PAUL:

1) Civil lawsuit against the district
Jeff McDonald of the Union-Tribune reports on Jan. 15, 2013: "An $18 million lawsuit against the San Ysidro School District has been pushed back by at least three months because a key witness — Superintendent Manuel Paul — is facing criminal corruption charges.

Judge Steven Denton agreed to the delay after the district’s lawyer said Paul planned to invoke his constitutional right against self-incrimination and refuse to answer any more questions in depositions.

“Mr. Paul has been indicted, and I am informed and believe that the superintendent will be asserting the Fifth Amendment on every question posed,” attorney Arthur Palkowitz wrote in a motion to the judge...

2) San Ysidro school board decisions:
B San Ysidro School District parents forced the school board on Jan. 16, 2013 to reject a plan to pay $100,000 each for Manuel Paul's and Yolanda Hernandez' criminal legal defense. (Of course, Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz is still being paid to work with Mr. Paul regarding the civil case mentioned above.) The board also reversed its Jan. 8, 2013 decision NOT to put Mr. Paul on administrative leave.

ORIGINAL POST REGARDING JANUARY 7, 2013 ARRAIGNMENTS

I was surprised to see ubiquitous school attorney Gil Abed at the criminal court yesterday for the arraignment of fifteen individuals connected with three South Bay school districts.

Lawyers from Mr. Abed's law firm, Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz, generally restrict themselves to the civil courthouse one block west.

Apparently San Ysidro taxpayers were paying Mr. Abed to sit next to San Ysidro Schools Superintendent Manuel Paul, providing moral support. Mr. Paul didn't have to testify, so he didn't need his lawyer to prepare him for testifying. In fact, Mr. Abed is Mr. Paul's civil attorney and wasn't directly involved with the arraignment proceedings.

Channel 10 News reports that the San Ysidro school board has shown remarkable generosity to Mr. Paul recently. Shortly after it was revealed that he'd accepted $2,500 cash from a contractor, they gave him a $10,000 raise! I trust that this isn't hush money. The day after his arraignment, the trustees announced that Mr. Paul's job is safe--for now, at least. Board member Yolanda Hernandez, a fellow defendant of Manuel Paul, was not at the January 8, 2013 board meeting.

The highlight of the event
for me was watching the arraignment
of former CVESD board member, and current Sweetwater Union High School District trustee, Bertha Lopez.
Bertha has provided a continuous stream
of fodder for my blogs for many years. Bertha and her fellow CVESD board members channeled a large number of dollars to Dan Shinoff of Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz for civil court legal work when she was a CVESD board member.

I think that the type of corruption being dealt with in these indictments is penny-ante stuff.  There are much bigger problems that should be dealt with.

The real corruption is not so obvious. It's dressed up in legal language. Judges and juries often let the education establishment get away with running a corrupt system because no one likes to pick on schools.

The things that go on at San Diego County Office of Education are shocking, but no one except Jerry Rindone ever complains about it. SDCOE even approves indemnification of their lawyers, a rare policy that was much criticized when Otay Water District indemnified Jaime Bonilla.

DRAMA OUTSIDE THE COURTROOM

San Ysidro Schools employee Jimmy Delgado provided some drama after the hearing by aggressively pointing his finger in the face of Alex Anguiano, president of Sweetwater Education Association, and threatening to sue him if he said anything untrue about Delgado. Apparently Mr. Delgado was angry that Mr. Anguiano (and the large group of Sweetwater teachers accompanying Mr. Anguiano) were NOT supporting Pearl Quinones. The teachers were quite miffed with the arraigned board members and with former superintendent Jesus Gandara, another defendant.

UPDATE: The San Diego Reader has a video of the last few seconds of the encounter. The Reader reports that Jimmy Delgado heads the Latino Political Action Committee of San Diego, which contributed $1000 to Pearl Quiñones in the last election. Ironically, just a few months ago Jimmy Delgado was in court testifying on behalf of Sweetwater board member John McCann's unsuccessful effort to get a restraining order against parent Stewart Payne. Ed Brand says the taxpayers paid about $2,400 for that effort, but others estimate that the cost was over three times that amount. (See the short account of the TRO hearing at the bottom of this post.) Delgado testified that Payne “...aggressively pointed his finger in McCann’s face.” McCann thought this behavior warranted a restraining order, but the judge did not agree.



Indictments Rain Down Across South Bay
By Wendy Fry
Union-Tribune
Jan 7, 2013

More defendants have been snagged in the District Attorney's corruption probe into South Bay school construction projects.

The San Diego Superior Court docket for Monday lists a 2 p.m. appearance date for 15 defendants in the criminal probe. The corruption investigation has expanded in recent days to include new defendants from those originally charged with criminal complaints last year.

The defendants are current and former school officials, elected trustees, and contractors who did work at San Ysidro schools, the Sweetwater school district and Southwestern College. Many have already entered "not guilty" pleas on prior and identical complaints, including Gandara, Sandoval, Ricasa and Quiñones.

The Grand Jury began meeting in early November in a major "pay-to-play" public corruption case that now stretches across three South Bay school districts.

Prosecutors say the school officials traded their votes on multi-million dollar construction contracts for gifts and other favors.

Those who are scheduled to appear in court to be arraigned on indictments include:

Financier Gary Cabello, 53, who did work at both Southwestern College and Sweetwater. Cabello's home and former offices were raided in May 2012. As an underwriter, Cabello was tasked with calculating the size of the bond measure and the tax rate needed to finance the Sweetwater school district's wish list of building projects. His company, Alta Vista contributed $25,000 to the campaign to get the Sweetwater bond measure approved by voters, and then won a contract underwriting the bond. Cabello later worked for Cabrera Capital Markets, LLC., which had a contract with Southwestern College for financing on Proposition R bond funds. He could not be reached for comment, but his attorney said on Dec. 28 that she had not received any documentation that her client had been indicted by the Grand Jury.

Current Sweetwater trustee Jim Cartmill, the CEO of a nutritional supplement company. Cartmill received a $20,000 campaign contribution from a company doing work with the Sweetwater school district. The donation was allegedly procured by then-Superintendent Dr. Jesus Gandara while Cartmill and Gandara were on a trip to Mexico with others, according to court documents. Current Superintendent Dr. Ed Brand was an investor in Cartmill's company, according to bankruptcy documents with the Securities Exchange Commission. Messages left on Cartmill's voicemail since Dec. 28 have not been returned.

Jeff Flores, the president of Seville Construction Services, a construction firm that won a $2.7 million contract to do work under Southwestern College's Proposition R. Court records show Flores had an inside track working with Southwestern College officials on the project before it was officially bid. Some emails in the court affidavits indicate the contractor was allegedly involved in writing the request for proposals, or bidding documents for the college official. The court records also show he wrote the interview questions for the screening process. Flores' company has released repeated statements about the situation, including: "We believe SCS has operated and acted in good faith throughout our relationship with the (Southwestern College) district, including the termination of an employee a year ago for inappropriate actions that included violation of our corporate code of conduct. We believe the independent actions of individuals previously involved in the program are negatively affecting both organizations and the community.”

Former Sweetwater Superintendent Dr. Jesus Gandara. In 2006, Sweetwater trustees Jim Cartmill and Arlie Ricasa flew to Texas to interview Gandara for a position at the recommendation of the head-hunting firm Hazard, Young and Attea & Associates. His rocky tenure included borrowing bond money to pay off daily general fund expenses; inviting contractors to a "money tree" event for his daughter's bridal shower; hiding PR expenses from the board and a controversial exit strategy under investigation by state pension regulators. Prosecutors say he and several other board members spent night after night at expensive meals, sporting events, and trips, funded by contractors seeking work with the district. He has pleaded not guilty.

Current San Ysidro board member Yolanda Hernandez. Hernandez was the alleged recipient of a $2,500 cash drop-off made by a contractor to the San Ysidro Superintendent Manuel Paul in a restaurant parking lot. She also pays the majority of her campaign funds to a company she owns, according to state documents. She has declined repeated requests for comment.

Sweetwater trustee Bertha Lopez whose home was raided December 2011. Lopez was an early whistleblower, alerting officials to the corruption in the South County school districts. She was re-elected in November to her seat.

San Ysidro Superintendent Manuel Paul is listed in court documents accepting meals from contractors and dining with Sweetwater Superintendent Gandara. He also admitted in a June deposition to accepting thousands in cash from a contractor in a Chula Vista restaurant parking lot.

Sweetwater trustee Pearl Quiñones, 59, was an educator in the San Ysidro School District. Quiñones was also re-elected to her seat in November with strong support from Mayor Bob Filner. The long-time National City resident is listed in court documents for dining at expensive meals and allegedly soliciting a paid position on a state commission in 2006 from a contractor working for the district. She has entered a "not guilty" plea.

Sweetwater trustee Arlie Ricasa, 48, works as an administrator at Southwestern College. Court papers show Ricasa contacted a Sweetwater construction contractor with her college email account to arrange a $3,900 campaign contribution for a state Assembly bid. The contractor, Rene Flores, pleaded "no contest" in April 2012 to a misdemeanor of aiding in the commission of a misdemeanor. Ricasa also asked Flores to fund her daughter's $1,800 trip to the National Young Leaders State Conference, and did not disclose the gift on state-mandated forms, the court records show. She has pleaded not guilty.

Former Sweetwater trustee Greg Sandoval, 58, also worked at Southwestern College as an administrator. He served on the Sweetwater school board for 16 years until 2010. According to court records Sandoval allegedly asked a business development executive working for a Sweetwater district contractor to pay $500 to enter Sandoval's daughter in a Miss South County pageant. The prosecutor's affidavit used to obtain a search warrant at Sandoval's home states Sandoval “had his hand out asking for gifts or donations so often, even employees from SGI remarked that he ‘has no shame.’” He has entered a "not guilty" plea.

Former Southwestern college official Nicholas Alioto, 47, resigned in 2011 amid controversy after the UT San Diego reported on a Napa Valley trip with a construction contractor who weeks later won $4 million work with the district. When the search warrants were served in December 2011, Alioto was found living in the guest house of the Poway home of that contractor. Alioto has entered a "not guilty" plea.

Former Southwestern Superintendent Raj Chopra was brought to Southwestern College in 2007 by the same head-hunting firm that found Gandara for the Sweetwater district. In the wake of state budget woes, Chopra enraged the South Bay community college employees with deep budget cuts. He also presided over the passing of Proposition R, a $389 million bond measure for school construction. There are only scarce mentions of Chopra in the D.A.'s affidavits served in 2011. However, an internal college probe found commingling of funds between the bond campaign and the college's general funds.

Former Southwestern trustee Jorge Dominguez. Dominguez said on Dec. 28 he was unaware he had been indicted by the Grand Jury. He added he declined an invitation to provide testimony during the Grand Jury proceedings, after advice of an attorney.

Former Southwestern trustee Yolanda Salcido. Salcido was a political rival of Dominguez. Her romantic involvement with Southwestern official John Wilson was the subject of a citizen's Grand Jury report several years ago.

Southwestern official John Wilson recommended Seville Construction Services receive the $2.7 million construction management contract in 2009, and then went to work for the company a couple months later.

Last year, three contractors who did work at Southwestern and Sweetwater pleaded to lesser misdemeanor charges and agreed to cooperate with investigators. They were: business development executive Henry Amigable; contractor Rene Flores, and an architect Paul Bunton.


One year ago:

When the Trouble Started for Sweetwater Schools
Rob Davis
Voice of San Diego
January 23, 2012

...investigators have searched the home of Bertha Lopez, a Sweetwater trustee whose husband, Jose, is the Otay Water District's president. They've also searched the homes of two former Southwestern College officials, Nicholas Alioto and John Wilson.

Investigators have interviewed the mayors of Chula Vista and National City, county supervisors and a San Diego city councilman. Jaime Bonilla, another Otay Water District board member, is also mentioned in search warrants; Bertha Lopez and Seville employees had an appointment to dine at his house...

Concerned parents routinely went to board meetings throughout 2009 and 2010, criticizing the board for its oversight of construction spending and for accepting campaign donations from companies working for the district. One parent, Stewart Payne, said he thought the board's behavior was strange enough that he went to the FBI in early 2011. Then he and other parents went to the district attorney.

"I just said: Something's wrong here, I don't know what it is, but something's not making sense," Payne said. "Something was just wrong."


Sweetwater Activist Cleared of Allegations Made by Boardmember
By Susan Luzzaro
San Diego Reader
May 10, 2012

...Jimmy Delgado, an employee of the San Ysidro Elementary School District, provided a witness statement for McCann. According to Delgado, [Stewart] Payne “...aggressively pointed his finger in McCann’s face.” Delgado's description of Payne's gestures agree with Payne’s formal response.

Payne says he backed away from McCann’s advances that night: “I had retreated so far that I could feel other people on my heels…. At this point I became concerned that Mr. [John] McCann was becoming irrational and intending to do me harm. It is at this point that I extended my hand pointing my finger to establish my personal boundary and told him not to come closer or I would protect myself.”

Payne, who defended himself during the May 9 proceedings, said, “Have you ever seen anyone who was going to hit someone with their finger?”

McCann was represented by an attorney at the hearing. According to a May 10 U-T report, “Sweetwater superintendent Ed Brand approved the legal expense. He said the affair may cost the school district around $2,400 in attorney’s fees for McCann.”...

[Maura Larkins note: I've heard other estimates of the amount of money Sweetwater spent to intimidate Mr. Payne in the $8000 to $9000 range. Ed Brand has a habit of spending outrageous sums on lawyers. See articles on Sweetwater lawyer Bonny Garcia] (who appears in documents supporting board member indictments).]

FORMER COLLEGE OFFICIALS’ HOMES SEARCHED BY D.A.

Come one, Bonnie. Your Public Integrity Unit looks more and more like its involved in political payback. You never go after corrupt white Republicans. This is all starting to look less like a campaign against corruption and more like legally-sanctioned dirty tricks campaign in support of your political friends.


FORMER COLLEGE OFFICIALS’ HOMES SEARCHED BY D.A.
Wendy Fry
March 20, 2012

CHULA VISTA — District Attorney’s investigators executed search warrants Tuesday morning at the homes of two former elected officials at Southwestern College.

Investigators retrieved pictures, computers, cell phones and documents from the Chula Vista home of former college board President Yolanda Salcido, 54, and the Jamul residence of former trustee Jorge Dominguez, 63.

Teams arrived at each person’s home around 7:30 a.m. Affidavits justifying the searches for a judge are expected to be unsealed within a week.

The D.A.’s office is gathering a case alleging that South County elected officials accepted thousands of dollars worth of gifts, entertainment and meals in exchange for votes on millions of dollars of construction contracts under voter-approved bond programs.

Dominguez and Salcido could not be reached for comment.

The D.A.’s office declined to comment on the investigation, beyond confirming it is in the midst of a broadening corruption probe. Homes of seven other people connected to the college and the Sweetwater Union High School District were searched in December.

A 41-page affidavit used to gain approval for the prior round of searches mentioned Salcido 19 times, alleging she went to meals at the expense of contractor Henry Amigable, who has since pleaded not guilty to bribery charges.

The document says Salcido accepted $960 in meals in 2006 and 2007 from Amigable, a business development executive who worked at Gilbane Building Co. and then Seville Construction Services.

For example, according to the D.A.’s documents, Amigable treated a Sweetwater schools official and his wife, along with Salcido and Southwestern administrator John Wilson, to an $802 meal on Feb. 24, 2007, at Baci Ristorante in San Diego.

The affidavit lists several such meals at which Amigable picked up the tab for Wilson and Salcido before Nov. 18, 2009, when the college board adopted Wilson’s recommendation to grant a $2.7 million contract to Seville Construction Services. The contract was terminated in January.

“Amigable was instrumental in Seville Construction Services being awarded the Proposition R program management contract at Southwestern College due to his close relationship with SWC board member Yolanda Salcido and John Wilson,” the affidavit says.

Regarding Salcido specifically, it adds, “Her dating relationship with Wilson during this critical time frame and Wilson’s relationship with Amigable and SCS clearly appear to be a conflict.”

Amigable’s attorney, Dan Greene, emphasized that none of the entertainment was billed to taxpayers, and all of it was routine business expenses approved by superiors at construction firms.

“These were business expenses, or in other words, part of the anticipated cost of doing business,” Greene said.

The other former board member whose home was searched, Dominguez, is mentioned twice in the previous affidavit, in reference to two $2,000 political contributions he received from Seville Construction Services.

An internal Southwestern probe released last week found that Seville donated $30,000 to Salcido’s failed re-election campaign.

San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis charged four current and former Sweetwater school officials in January, and they pleaded not guilty to corruption charges. No charges have been forthcoming regarding the Southwestern bond program.

In the November 2010 election, she lost her college board seat to challenger Norma Hernandez, the college’s former president. Dominguez lost his seat to Tim Nader, a former Chula Vista mayor.

It's time for David Blair-Loy to stop mincing around and sue Southwestern College, already

Who's side is he really on? David Loy discusses lawsuits spearheaded by other chapters of the ACLU at Thomas Jefferson School of Law on Aug. 24, 2011.

UPDATE FEB. 2012: It's beginning to be clear that San Diego ACLU's David Loy is not a big fan of free speech about what's really going on in public schools.

See other new posts re David Loy and earlier posts under his former name of David Blair-Loy.

UPDATE: July 22, 2010

I am more concerned than ever about the motivations of local ACLU head counsel David Blair-Loy. He seems deeply concerned with his own career, as evidenced by the effort he must have put in to get busy lawyers to participate in the Daily Transcript's yearly opportunity for lawyers to promote themselves.

The Daily Transcript does not evaluate the lawyers it chooses as "Top Lawyers" of the year; there is no panel of experts making the choice. Nor do all the lawyers in town participate in the vote.

Instead, the voters select themselves. To win, a lawyer has to get his pals to send in ballots. (There is even a section for insurance lawyers.) The Daily Transcript seems to be promoting itself by exploiting lawyers who feel the need to promote themselves. The most highly regarded lawyers do not seem to participate in this contest.

David Blair-Loy has exerted himself mightily for two years in a row to become one of the many "winners" of this contest.

See all ACLU posts.
See all Southwestern College posts.

David Blair-Loy, legal counsel for the San Diego ACLU, gets along too well with school attorneys. He even got an award from the bar association for "high civility" in dealing with them, and with other attorneys.

But the situation at Southwestern has gone on long enough. It's time to stop writing letters to Jonathan Pearl and Raj Chopra, and to take some action.

Southwestern College named one of nation’s worst First Amendment violators

See all posts on Southwestern College.

College administration named one of nation’s worst First Amendment violators
The Southwestern Sun
By Anthony Dacong
May 4, 2010

One of America’s leading defenders of free speech has named Southwestern College one of the nation’s 10 worst violators of the First Amendment for 2010.

SWC Superintendent Dr. Raj K. Chopra and Vice President of Business and Financial Affairs Nicholas Alioto were singled out for criticism by the Virginia-based Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression “for promulgating and enforcing a policy limiting even peaceful and non-disruptive protests to a designated ‘free speech’ patio.” The Jefferson Center awarded its notorious “Jefferson Muzzle” to the college for events that arose from an October 22, 2009 student rally and a February 2010 effort by students to collect signatures for a petition to recall three SWC Governing Board members.

Southwestern College Pushed to the Brink by Brutal Power Struggle; Blackwater connection

Southwestern College Pushed to the Brink by Brutal Power Struggle
February 7, 2010
Voice of San Diego
By SEAN CAMPBELL and LYNDSAY WINKLEY

Andrew Rempt was correcting composition papers at his home when the doorbell rang.

Earlier that day, the Southwestern College English professor had stood with students protesting against class cuts. Now, the college's human resource director was standing on his doorstep alongside an armed campus police officer. Their message: Rempt and three other professors were banned from campus that night.

Three of them later learned they were being investigated for inciting students and not cooperating with campus police.

The incident enflamed the already volatile relationship between the South Bay community college's employees and Superintendent Raj K. Chopra. It has been an almost constant battle since Chopra was hired in August 2007, and there is no sign of letting up, even after the state's accreditation agency put the college on probation on Tuesday.

The president has acted unilaterally to enact massive budget cuts in the face of deep financial troubles, breaking course with previous administrations who involved faculty in decision-making. Now, three pro-Chopra board members are facing a recall, faculty is complaining of a culture of fear and California's college accreditation commission is threatening to shut the whole place down if the campus environment does not change...

They were up in arms about Chopra's decision to associate the college with controversial war contractor Blackwater and its "mercenaries." ...



Blackwater used 'child prostitutes in Iraq'
08 Aug 2009

New disturbing charges have emerged against XE, the infamous private security firm formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, whose operations came under spotlight after its 2007 carnage in Baghdad.

According to a report by MSNBC and based on alleged sworn declarations by two Blackwater employees in federal court, the firm used child prostitutes at its compound in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.

The declarations added Iraqi minors got involve in sexual acts with Blackwater members in exchange for one dollar and Erik Prince, the firm's owner, "failed to stop the ongoing use of prostitutes, including child prostitutes, by his men."

Based on other statements, the firm was involved in another sex scandal; "Prince's North Carolina operations had an ongoing wife-swapping and sex ring, which was participated in by many of Mr. Prince's top executives."

The two employees also alleged that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," The Nation reported...

Southwestern College Free Speech Zone is somewhat larger than a postage stamp

The ACLU's Best and Worst in San Diego, 2009
Voice of San Diego
January 7, 2010
Kevin Keenan

Southwestern College Free Speech Zone: ...Mario Savio... is no doubt rolling in his grave over the state of free speech on many college campuses -- including post-stamp-sized "free speech zones," like the one at Southwestern College in Chula Vista. Southwestern College's president, Dr. Raj Chopra, has designated a tiny patio area as "Free Speech Plaza," while declaring the rest of the 156-acre campus out of free speech bounds. The ACLU sent a demand letter, calling on the college to revise its policies to allow free speech and assembly throughout the campus. In 2010, we resolve to resolve this matter through negotiation or litigation.

Kevin Keenan is the executive director of the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties.




Here is a link to David Blair-Loy's letter to Raj Chopra.