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Sweetwater Boardmember John McCann Calls Cops on Recall Activist
There is more to the picture than you think. As you can see, Ms. Adato is extremely upset at the things John McCann just said to her. She is even using her hand to emphasize her statement that she has had enough of John. But, I want you to look at John's pose for this incident. Hands behind the back so he won't touch her accidentially, but has his face leaning into her. At the time the photo was taken, Ms. Adato was speaking to John in a loud voice. We teachers call this "our classroom voice." Ms. Adato is either crying or about to due to John's aggressive behavior towards her. If Ms. Adato is speaking so loud, why is John leaning in towards her? It isn't because he can't her her well enough. My bet is he's hoping she will accidentially touch him with her hand, so he can claim assult. This was exactly the same pose he took when he accosted me, Ms. Brinkman, and Stewart Payne. He came so close to me, I could smell his breath. One last thing. The confrontation with Ms. Adato happened within seconds of of his run-in with Mr. Payne. As the four of us (myself, Brinkman, Cheers, and Adato) were shielding Mr. Payne from John McCann and were walking back to our cars, why did John McCann follow us and then proceed to get into Ms. Adato's face and accost her with his "Shake my hand Maty" routine? McCann has reported he felt threatened by Payne, so much he needed to call the police. If McCann was so threatened, why did he follow us? Why did he immediately launch into accosting Ms. Adato? Why did he use the same tactic on her that he had just used on Payne? Yes, there is much more to this photo than meets the eye.— April 22, 2012 10:29 a.m.
Sweetwater Boardmember John McCann Calls Cops on Recall Activist
I know you know this Ms. Luzzaro, but I want to share this with your readers and your post just provided the opportunity. Campaign donations to candidates have very few limitations on them, and are not legally considered to be gifts. For Sweetwater to limit the campaign contributions, they must pass a Board By-Law. Same for term limits, open seating of Board seats, and some other items the "disgruntled ex-employees" support. Gifts can be anything of value that benefits anyone who is in a job description or position that requires them to file a Form 700. At Sweetwater, some of the people required to file a Form 700 are the Board members, senior Admin and so forth. Many of the Form 700 violations are felonies, so that is why the DA's office is taking this so seriously. Many things can fall into the gift category, not just things like dinners, theater tickets, trips, and so on. Many venders have creative minds when it comes to seeing to it that prospective "clients" get these gifts and go to great lengths to hide them from the public. At Southwestern, two people bought cheap seats to the Padres game, and just happened to run into a contractor who had rented a skybox. The contractor invites them up for food and drinks and to watch the game with him. The two people write it off like it was no big thing, they were already at the game. However, the difference in the price of their cheap seat tickets and the skybox price, and the cost of their lavish food and drinks is considered a gift and needs to be on their Form 700. Unfortunately for the two people, the contractor had spoken of the "prearranged meeting" in an email. Busted!!! The SD County District Attorney's Office is investigating both Sweetwater and Southwestern for just this sort of "pay to play" behavior by some members of both school's Boards and top administrators. Stay tuned, the Court date is approaching. Get there early to get a good seat. Nice article Ms. Luzzaro. Well done!— April 21, 2012 4:54 p.m.
Sweetwater Boardmember John McCann Calls Cops on Recall Activist
sorry... sticky key "It was brought..."— April 19, 2012 4:20 p.m.
Sweetwater Boardmember John McCann Calls Cops on Recall Activist
No, it's not a coincidence. I was brought into the article because John McCann likes to bully people in parking lots.— April 19, 2012 4:18 p.m.
Sweetwater Boardmember John McCann Calls Cops on Recall Activist
@Pancho I am friends with Mr. Payne as well. I also shared one of John McCann poorly thought out actions with Mr. Payne, Am I to imply that you are insinuating that I am a liar as well? Perhaps you might want to consider your words in the future before you press "Post." This article wasn't about Mr. Ramirez, it was about John McCann's actions last Monday night. Simply because you don't like Ramirez doesn't make Mr. Payne or myself liars.— April 19, 2012 9:06 a.m.
Sweetwater Boardmember John McCann Calls Cops on Recall Activist
Yes they did Joe. The police even interviewed the two security guards, who told a completely different version of events. The security guards version supports ours, and hence, Mr. Payne's version of events. John McCann deliberately tried to provoke his perceived enemies. He only forced his "handshake" on me, Fran Brinkman, Stewart Payne, and Maty Adato. He was forcing his "handshake" on us after he had personally insulted each of us, individually and by name, in his interview with KUSI. This was a "set up" confrontation by John McCann. The police even told McCann that the security guards did not support his claim. So, John McCann did what John McCann does, call a news paper and fabricate a story. So you now have to decide which of the the two news source have it right. The Reader, written by Susan Luzzaro, who was witness to the event, or the U-T article written by someone who was told of the incident by John McCann.— April 19, 2012 8:59 a.m.
Sweetwater Boardmember John McCann Calls Cops on Recall Activist
I read in the U-T that John McCann was going to explore the possibility of getting a restraining order against Stewart Payne. Go for it John. Just don't get lost in the woods when you go exploring. Just remember this John, the two women you were intimidating in the parking lot have told me they felt threatened by you. It's just not a good idea to harass women, especially in front of a camera. Look at the face of Ms. Adato. Does that not look like a woman in distress? What did you do to her to make her cry like that?— April 18, 2012 7:22 p.m.
Recall Committee Activists Ape Sweetwater Union HS District Board
The campaign contributions while being legally acceptable, are just not acceptable by a very skeptical public.— April 17, 2012 6:57 p.m.
Southwestern College Seeks Redress from Contractors
Let me see if I have this straight. A paid lobbyist says he doesn't know Jim Cartmill. Jim Cartmill says he doesn't know the paid lobbyist. A paid lobbyist, who has a contract with the City of Chula Vista says he had no interest with Chula Vista. A paid lobbyist who is illegally contributing to Jim Cartmill's campaign says he is only vaguely aware of Jim Cartmill's campaign. The City of Chula Vista has a local ordinance limiting campaign donations to $250.00 per person, and yet this paid lobbyist knowingly made numerous campaign donations to two candidates' campaigns, including that of Jim Cartmill. A paid lobbyist says he doesn't know Jim Cartmill. Jim Cartmill says he doesn't know the paid lobbyist. Jim Cartmill's campaign received questionable contributions from a paid lobbyist. Jim Cartmill says someone else did it. A paid lobbyist says he doesn't know Jim Cartmill. Jim Cartmill says he doesn't know the paid lobbyist. That's a lot of saying. Just sayin' "Donald K. Brown, a veteran lobbyist whose firm, Advocation Inc., is regularly ranked among the top ones in Sacramento, was found by the Fair Political Practices Commission to have used family members and employees as proxies for donations to two City Council candidates in Chula Vista and to a state Senate candidate." "The lawyers said Brown was the true source for 13 contributions of $99, each made in 1996 to Chula Vista City Council candidates John Moot and Jim Cartmill in the name of Brown's family members and employees." "The contributions to the Chula Vista races, they said, circumvented a local ordinance that limited individual campaign donations to $250 per candidate." "...at the time that the contributions were made, Mr. Brown, through Advocation Inc., had a contract with the city of Chula Vista..." "FPPC investigators said that when Brown was served with a subpoena he told them he was vaguely aware that Cartmill was a candidate for office but he had no interests in Chula Vista." "The agency staff member noted that Cartmill appeared to have received many $99 contributions." "Cartmill, a 41-year-old motivational speaker, said he did not know Brown and had made no arrangement for the hidden contributions." "I had many people fund-raising for me. My relationship with him was through people on my campaign," "He said he first heard Brown's name when contacted by an FPPC representative about a year ago." "The commission said it is levying the highest possible fine against Brown because money laundering is one of the most serious violations of the state's Political Reform Act of 1974."— April 13, 2012 9:56 a.m.
Southwestern College Seeks Redress from Contractors
"There is no political motive to anything I do," Quiñones said. Said the spider to the fly.— April 13, 2012 8:57 a.m.