What do you call it when members of a school board violate the law repeatedly, harming children in the process, then use taxpayer dollars to pay lawyers to cover up those crimes? What do you call it when they then appoint someone with a big name who has been close to someone at the center of district action, and who also did favors for the board during a recent campaign?
I call it a system where voters are inconsequential. How can voters throw out sleazy politicians when they don't know the truth? Larry Cunningham brags that the voters kept the incumbants for some reason other than the habit of voters to vote for incumbants, and the big money and secrecy that has marked the campaigns and official actions of the incumbants. Quit kidding yourself, Larry. If the voters knew the truth about you, they'd throw you out.
I'm not the only one who has noticed the problems with Cheryl Cox, Bertha Lopez, Pam Smith, Pat Judd and Larry Cunningham. On February 1, 2007 Miguel Ramirez wrote to the Union Tribune about the CVESD board's cozy relationship to Bejarano:
District's choice of Bejarano assailed
Regarding the appointment of David Bejarano to fill a school board vacancy:
This is so blatantly a payback that I cannot believe there has not yet been an outcry.
David Bejarano is now on the Chula Vista Elementary school board. You mean the same David Bejarano who sent me a letter urging me to vote Cheryl Cox for mayor of Chula Vista? You mean the same David Bejarano who sent me a letter urging me to vote to re-elect school board members Larry Cunningham, Bertha Lopez and Pam Smith?
Now, I don't remember much Latin from school but I do remember the term “quid pro quo” and it sure seems to be what's going on here. According to the legal definition of quid pro quo, it means a person is “getting something of value in return for giving something of value.” Lend your name to our campaigns and if we win, we will ensure we return the favor. That seems to be the board's action loud and clear.
Then I find out from the Union Tribune's Jan. 24 article, “Ex-police chief to join Chula Vista school board,” that Bejarano's wife is the “secretary of the assistant superintendent” of the school district!
There's something rotten in Chula Vista and it stinks all the way to Denmark. Why would this decorated law enforcement official move backward in his career by taking a seat on an elementary school board? Remember, Bejarano was the chief of police in San Diego followed by his presidential appointment as U.S. marshal for San Diego and Imperial counties.
That Bejarano is yet another Bonita resident is also a sticking point. The constituency and media called for a representative from outside of Bonita, where only three of the district's 43 schools are located. Instead, the board members unanimously voted to appoint their neighbor, the one who was so friendly during their campaigns that they just couldn't help but return the favor and appoint him.
This is disgusting.
MIGUEL RAMIREZ
Chula Vista
I couldn't agree more, Miguel.
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