A blistering editorial in the Timberjay concludes:
So, we appear to have an exaggerated financial crisis. We have what looks like overstated savings from a restructuring plan. And we have a consultant that stood to reap $10-$14 million from the plan’s approval.
Let’s be perfectly clear. It stinks to high heaven.
If state officials allow this situation to stand, it’s a travesty. Forget the fact that the plan is flawed from top to bottom. If state officials are unwilling to act in the face of compelling evidence that they were misled, it will be a declaration of open season on the pocketbooks of taxpayers around the state. Voters look to state officials to provide them guidance on the merits of school district bonding proposals. But that guidance is of little merit if state officials can be misinformed without consequence.
State officials must act, and act soon. With Johnson Controls pushing the board to move ahead at a feverish pace, the board could well award construction contracts by next month. Then, reversing course becomes both difficult and expensive, and viable communities will be severely harmed. State officials have the responsibility to put a hold on this until the facts can be sorted out. Failure to act would be a dereliction of their responsibility.
And the state that should have been protecting us from these corporate mega-parasites was led by our tough-talking, fiscal conservative Governor Tim Pawlenty and his merry band of educational bureaucrats.
