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More Corruption Charges in South Bay
@michaelreid Michael, your post is full of half truths. First, Paul Bunton commited crime(s). As such he was charged and indicted. His GUILTY plea to a misdemeanor as part of a plea bargain only infers that there were other more serious allegations against him. As payback for the dismissal of the inferred more serious charges, he now sings in the "South Bay Glee Club." Please spare us the "Paul’s involvement was no where near as serious as others involved." Paul was part of the action, and as such got caught with his fingers in the cookie jar. As far as I am concerned, eating only a few illicit cookies is the same as eating a lot. Second, Your statement about Paul "helping others understand the state's complex reporting laws," is patently false. The County DA's Office doesn't need help in that matter, and even if they did, they wouldn't be getting advice from a convicted criminal. The DA's Office has experts in issues surrounding the State's reporting laws already on their payrole. If you need proof, just count all the indictments they have issued in these matters of "pay to play." Third, if your statement of Paul being "a good and honest employeer" were true, than why did Paul not advise the Board members not to forget to report the gifts? And, if Paul was such a great expert in "complex reporting laws," why did he even participate in this "gift giving" in the first place. Paul forgot to "CYA" in this situation, because if he was such an expert, he had to know that if the Board members failed to report the gifts, the resulting mess would come back on him. In regards to the history of Paul Bunton and his two projects for SUHSD, all is still suspect. Saying the the bid was on the up and up, knowing who the Board members of SUHSD are , and also knowing that Jesus M. Gandara was the Superintendent (eight felony indictments for pay to play), leave some room for doubt. As to all these awards Paul's projects won, good for him. But, these awards have nothing to do with "pay to play." And BTW, your veiled threat at the end of your post only serves to to inform me of your lack of honesty and does not serve you well.— March 29, 2012 12:08 p.m.
More Corruption Charges in South Bay
Southwestern College and Sweetwater Union HSD are like two siamese twins joined at the hip Almost any contractor working for one is/has working/worked for the other. Board members for SWC work at SUHSD, Board members at SUHSD work for SWC. A common denominator is corruption... pay to play! SWC has begun cleaning up their mess... new Board, new Superintendent, etc. Out with the old, in with the new. Looks like what can't be cleaned up internally will be dealt with by the District Attorney. SUHSD under the leadership of the same Board members as before still flounders like a ship upon the rocks. The superintendent was changed, but the new superintendent really isn't much better than the last at cleaning house. The ship is still on the rocks. Perhaps the District Attorney's office can do some house cleaning for us. In the meantime, Bunton joins Amigable and the glee club now has two tenors.— March 27, 2012 12:26 a.m.
Citizens Denied Attendance to Sweetwater Union High Meeting
As one of the people faced with arrest for creating a disturbance, I have issues with your description of events, Lillian. You are both blatantly, and factually wrong. Fran Brinkman and I were not denied admittance because the room was full. We were being denied entrance because we were not administrators as told to us by the man guarding the door. He said if we were teachers or the public, he had been given a directive by Mercedes Lopez to not let us in. When given an opportunity to enter the room without incident, in spite of the guards protests, we entered and took seats. The fact we took seats is proof enough the room was not full. He then called Mercedes Lopez for direction. It was Mercedes Lopez who called 911 and falsely reported that two parents were entering a private meeting. Fran and I spoke to Bertha Lopez during a break in the meeting about this incident at the front door and Ms. Bertha Lopez went to Mercedes Lopez for clarity. Mercedes Lopez told Ms. Bertha Lopez that Dr Gandara told her to call 911. So don't blame this on the poor guy at the door. Dr. Gandara and Mercedes Lopez took full control of the situation and thereby take full responsibility for what happened. During public communication I called the guard a "gutless coward" because he said he didn't care about "I don't know anything about this Brown Act," violating our rights. I also called Dr. gandara "gutless" for not being a man and facing the public for his bad choices. My only regret is not calling Mercedes Lopez a "gutless coward" too for implementing a plan to deny citizens of their protected rights by putting some average Joe at the door to carry out her illegal activity. Next time Mercedes, you guard the door, so we will know who to tell the D.A. violated our rights. John Brickley— May 20, 2011 8:59 p.m.