Everyone who cares about public education needs to wake up and face the reality that there is a state-wide white collar crime school bond fraud ring that is stealing from taxpayers, destroying school districts and eroding confidence in future school bonds.
What government institutions are most vulnerable to embezzlement and fraud?
Prison systems and school systems.
Why? Because there is a lot of public money coming in, a lot of contracts going out, and very little competent oversight. Add to it that inmates and children are easy targets for retaliation if anyone in their family speaks up and you have the perfect place to skim off the top, bottom and anywhere else no one is paying attention.
Coined in 1939, the term “ white-collar crime” is now synonymous with the full range of frauds committed by business and government professionals. These crimes are characterized by deceit, concealment or violation of trust and are not dependent on the application or threat of physical force or violence. White collar crime is a problem everywhere, including Santa Barbara County.
How do we deal with the problem of white collar crime? We rely on our public officials who actually have the power to do something about it. Like Superintendent Susan Salcido.
The problem is that we have public officials, like current Superintendent Susan Sacido, who don’t serve their public. In fact, she has discounted in writing the concerns of her constituents about the clear evidence of fraud, misconduct and deceit.
The problem is public officials, like Dr. Salcido, who swore to uphold the law don’t actually care if the law is broken. It is an established fact that Cold Spring School District spent the majority of bond Measure C funds without an Independent Bond Oversight Committee as required by California State law. Yet, Salcido is fine with this.
By ignoring this blatant violation of California law, the Santa Barbara County superintendent of schools is announcing to all the districts in the county that they no longer need the legally required independent bond oversight committee because she isn’t actually going to enforce the law anyway.
By ignoring this blatant violation of California law, Dr. Salcido is putting out a welcome mat to white collar criminals in Santa Barbara county schools. Hey, crooks, do you need a politician who will be willing to turn a blind eye to your violations of the law? Dr. Salcido is your gal!
In her defense, white collar criminals are hard to spot.
What do white collar criminals look like? They look like me and you. They are lawyers, business officers, principals and teachers. They are architects, contractors, board members and politicians. They work together.
They play the victim and cry “personal attack” whenever someone starts asking questions that they don’t want answered. And they count on the average person never suspecting them. That’s how they get away with it.
In her role as county superintendent of schools, Dr. Salcido has the sole power and authority to call in an extraordinary audit from the California State Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. (The governor approved AB 139 in October 2001, which authorizes a county superintendent to call for a FCMAT review or audit of an LEA if they have reason to believe that fraud, misappropriation of funds, or other illegal fiscal practices may have occurred that merit examination). But she refuses.
Edmund Burke was referring to people like Dr. Salcido when he said. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for enough good men (and women) to do nothing.” But he’s not just referring to her, he’s referring to each of us who has the freedom to vote. Or not.
Many of Dr. Salcido’s constituents have asked her to do her job and call in FCMAT to provide an independent review of over $2 million of school bond money that didn’t pay for the repairs and upgrades that the voters are still paying off, and she has refused.
I will NOT be voting for Susan Salcido.
Amanda Rowan
Montecito
