Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Cartmill for Sweetwater board — get real

Former trustee who pleaded guilty to run for same seat

Cartmill (left) with attorney Thomas Warwick on April 24, 2014
Cartmill (left) with attorney Thomas Warwick on April 24, 2014

On April 24, former Sweetwater trustee Jim Cartmill pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. Cartmill had accepted gifts over the limits set by the Fair Political Practice Commission from contractors doing business with the district. As a result of his guilty plea, Cartmill had to step down from the board.

On July 14, Cartmill filed papers to run for the Sweetwater board — again — in the November election.

Cartmill was one of 22 charged in the pay-to-play corruption case that has fascinated and nauseated many South Bay residents.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The last time Cartmill ran for the board, in 2010, he had considerable help from vendors contracted by the district; Seville Group, Inc, the program manager for all bond construction under Proposition O, gave Friends of Jim Cartmill $20,000.

Maty Adato, a Sweetwater community advocate, fought for several years to bring campaign finance reform to the district and finally succeeded in January 2014 when the board approved a campaign contribution limit of $750.

Cartmill’s decision to run for the board again confirms the misgivings some community members have had about justice served and lessons learned in the prolonged and costly proceedings.

On July 4, the U-T carried a wrap-up of the South Bay corruption scandal. The headline purveyed the all-fixed feeling in fitting Wild West terms: “South Bay case notched 22 convictions.”

Shortly after the U-T article came out, Dr. Carla Kirkwood, the first person to take concerns about corruption at Southwestern College, posted this prescient response to the article on her Facebook page:

“Significant change DID NOT happen through the courts (nor the political agendas that drove the investigation). The behavior of these administrators and elected Board members impacted the very existence of these schools (Southwestern College and the Sweetwater District). Southwestern was faced with losing its accreditation, and due to the actions of these corrupt officials — employees were removed from their jobs (several of them Union jobs), which led to a series of expensive and lengthy law suits. CHANGE happened because of the involvement of the community, the actions of newly elected board members (at Southwestern) in 2010, and the removal of corrupt leadership from their positions of authority. 

“Because the management and administration at both of these institutions were more focused on ‘deals’ and campaign contributions than they were on the vitality of the educational institutions they were meant to oversee, the schools suffered long term damage. The ramifications were much larger than ‘dotting I s and crossing T s.’ Loss of accreditation, corrupt construction contracts leading to high taxpayer losses, and poor planning are just a few of the effects of these peoples actions. Get real.”

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Live Five: Sitting On Stacy, Matte Blvck, Think X, Hendrix Celebration, Coriander

Alt-ska, dark electro-pop, tributes, and coastal rock in Solana Beach, Little Italy, Pacific Beach
Cartmill (left) with attorney Thomas Warwick on April 24, 2014
Cartmill (left) with attorney Thomas Warwick on April 24, 2014

On April 24, former Sweetwater trustee Jim Cartmill pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. Cartmill had accepted gifts over the limits set by the Fair Political Practice Commission from contractors doing business with the district. As a result of his guilty plea, Cartmill had to step down from the board.

On July 14, Cartmill filed papers to run for the Sweetwater board — again — in the November election.

Cartmill was one of 22 charged in the pay-to-play corruption case that has fascinated and nauseated many South Bay residents.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The last time Cartmill ran for the board, in 2010, he had considerable help from vendors contracted by the district; Seville Group, Inc, the program manager for all bond construction under Proposition O, gave Friends of Jim Cartmill $20,000.

Maty Adato, a Sweetwater community advocate, fought for several years to bring campaign finance reform to the district and finally succeeded in January 2014 when the board approved a campaign contribution limit of $750.

Cartmill’s decision to run for the board again confirms the misgivings some community members have had about justice served and lessons learned in the prolonged and costly proceedings.

On July 4, the U-T carried a wrap-up of the South Bay corruption scandal. The headline purveyed the all-fixed feeling in fitting Wild West terms: “South Bay case notched 22 convictions.”

Shortly after the U-T article came out, Dr. Carla Kirkwood, the first person to take concerns about corruption at Southwestern College, posted this prescient response to the article on her Facebook page:

“Significant change DID NOT happen through the courts (nor the political agendas that drove the investigation). The behavior of these administrators and elected Board members impacted the very existence of these schools (Southwestern College and the Sweetwater District). Southwestern was faced with losing its accreditation, and due to the actions of these corrupt officials — employees were removed from their jobs (several of them Union jobs), which led to a series of expensive and lengthy law suits. CHANGE happened because of the involvement of the community, the actions of newly elected board members (at Southwestern) in 2010, and the removal of corrupt leadership from their positions of authority. 

“Because the management and administration at both of these institutions were more focused on ‘deals’ and campaign contributions than they were on the vitality of the educational institutions they were meant to oversee, the schools suffered long term damage. The ramifications were much larger than ‘dotting I s and crossing T s.’ Loss of accreditation, corrupt construction contracts leading to high taxpayer losses, and poor planning are just a few of the effects of these peoples actions. Get real.”

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Second largest yellowfin tuna caught by rod and reel

Excel does it again
Next Article

Poway’s schools, faced with money squeeze, fined for voter mailing

$105 million bond required payback of nearly 10 times that amount
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader