One of the most finance savvy past School Board members wrote me this email.
HARRY,
THE LETTER SAID IT ALL. RALPHY HAS ALWAYS BEEN A LITTLE BIT OF AN ARROGANT PR_______. I WASN’T SURPRISED BY HIS LETTER. LIKE YOU STATED SO APTLY-AT LEAST HE COULD KNOW HIS FACTS AND TELL THE TRUTH. ALL THROUGH THIS REFERENDUM PROCESS THE DISRICT MISREPRESENTED THE TAX BURDEN ITS LIKE THE STATEMENTS THAT POOR PEOPLE DON’T PAY TAXES AND LEAVING OUT-INCOME. (I think this means Social Security)
I HAD THE DISCUSSION WITH A FRIEND AND HE STATED THAT OUR LEVY WAS, OF COURSE, LOWER THAN MOST DISTRICTS AND HE DIDN’T EVEN UNDERSTAND WHEN I ASKED ABOUT THE TOTAL WITH THE RED PLAN MESS. WE DON’T RUN OUR BUDGETS BY SAYING THAT JUST BECAUSE I BOUGHT A MERCEDES DOESN’T MEAN I SHOULDN’T BE JUSTIFIED IN ASKING THE BANK FOR MONEY TO HEAT THE HOUSE BECAUSE THAT’S A DIFFERENT FUND I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW, UNTIL ART’S ARTICLE, THAT PUBLIC ENTITIES FIGURE INFLATION DIFFERENTLY THAN THE REAL WORLD WITH THE RESULT THAT THE FIGURE IS LARGER.
NOW WE GOT ANOTHER OUT OF TOUCH PROFESSOR IN WY SPANO AND I’M SURE HE’LL BE QUOTED EARLY AND OFTEN. YOUR POINTS WERE WELL THOUGHT AND TRUE, I HOPE THE PEOPLE IN THIS CITY REALIZE WHAT DIXON AND AN INCOMPETENT BOARD DID TO THEM. I’M NOT LOOKING FOR A RESPONSE… BY THE BY, I HEARD THAT RALPH HAS OLDTIMERS DISEASE SO HIS RANTS MAY HAVE TO HAVE SOME TYPE OF DISCLAIMER IN THE FUTURE.
We did a little cooresponding afterwards and I thought you’d enjoy the repartee:
Me:
Thanks _______________,
Dixon found vacuous cheerleaders like Ralph Doty, David Ross and the editors at the Trib who were more than happy to assure
everybody that the royal clothes he was weaving really were invisible to idiots.
Harry
ex-Board member:
You know they’ll be back next fall after they create as much hysteria as possible and have made Art Johnson out to be unstable. It will have to be continually pointed out that the tax is burden is total levy not just the operational that is cherry picked to aid the cause. This is ultimate case of figures lie and liars figure.
Me:
I think the state already gave the District authority to levy a lot more money for the Red Plan than the District has chosen to levy on their own authority so far. They didn’t go for it initially because they hoped they’d get it in operational levies. Since they’ve drawn a blank there they can probabaly go ahead and up the ante. I suspect they’ve found many ways to move money between operational and capital expenses to operations detriment. If they simply raised more building levies they could reverse the spending and do it without asking for more – they could just take it.
I’m not sure if Bill Hanson has the guts to tell IV Foster this or if Foster has it all figured out yet. He’s probably more concerned that he has a maniac on his hands in Art Johnston. Actually, he does sort of.
Harry
ex-Board member:
Shouldn’t this info get out and shouldn’t the state dept be concerned about the district moving money and funding operations out of facility money or are they already doing that? I would think there are some legal ethical issues here.
Me:
This is speculation on my part but Dixon seemed very adept at getting people he could fire to do what he wanted them to. There may come a time (if Foster wants to lay the blame for what’s coming on who it should fall on) that he will ask for a review of what the District has done. The Dayton Adm might even benefit politically by showing the Pawlenty Adm to have been asleep at the wheel.
Harry
ex-Board member:
TOUCHE- BUT WHOM TO ASK THE QUESTIONS OF AND BEGIN TO GET A POSSIBLE INVESTIGATION GOING? THE TRIB IS BOUGHT AND PAID FOR AND THE STATE DEPT OF ED WAS A RUBBER STAMP. GO RIGHT TO DAYTON? REMEMBER YVONNE AND HUNTLEY WERE BIG PROPONENTS OF THE RED MESS.
Me:
Count your blessings. The Trib is not happy that the School Board is naming East High without paying attention to public input.
As to the other…Yup and yup. Loren Martell wants to get a petition for a state audit which requires some percentage of registered voters. I didn’t tell Loren but he might be better able to get signatures after a few more months of disastrous headlines when the four-day week is instituted or we cancel sports or cut music.
Harry
