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"content": "\u003cp>By Will Evans, \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/troubled-oakland-school-padded-enrollment-district-finds-17594\">California Watch\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A controversial West Oakland private school, now reportedly drawing FBI scrutiny, has padded its roster sheets with public school students, according to an Oakland Unified School District investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_73459\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/08/oaklandschool_0.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/08/oaklandschool_0-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"oaklandschool_0\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-73459\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">St. Andrew pastor Robert Lacy and son Robert Lacy Jr. declined to speak with reporters outside a June school board meeting. (Michael Short/California Watch)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The district's inquiry aims to determine whether leaders at St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church and private school received federal funds based on inflated enrollment numbers, as reported by California Watch and CBS 5. The school, run by pastor Robert Lacy and his family, has faced criticism for requiring students to solicit donations on the street and for the alleged physical abuse of students, which the school denies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Oakland Unified demanded proof of the 195 students St. Andrew claimed to have, the school provided a roster listing 169 students for the 2011-12 school year. But the district's general counsel told board members in a memo this week that 59 of those students were enrolled at least part of the year in public schools. Thirty-six of them, according to the district's findings, attended public schools the entire year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district sent its findings to the FBI, whose agents have visited district staff to ask about St. Andrew, according to district spokesman Troy Flint. The FBI would not confirm or deny an investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland Unified also sent letters to the parents of children on the list to confirm whether they were indeed St. Andrew students. Of the five that responded, each said they did not have children attending St. Andrew last year, according to Flint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The findings are concerning,\" Flint said. \"We are eager to hear how these discrepancies can be explained.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marc Guillory, an attorney representing St. Andrew, said some of the district's initial findings were not entirely accurate. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also presented numerous explanations for cross-over between St. Andrew and public school students: Students could have started the year at St. Andrew and moved to a district school later. Or they could have signed up at St. Andrew, never actually attended the school, yet still remain listed on the roster sheet. Another possibility, Guillory said, is that some of the listed students attended St. Andrew in the 2010-11 school year instead of last year. \u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guillory acknowledged that his clients \"need to organize their paperwork better,\" but blamed the district for lacking an established process for determining correct enrollment numbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We're in a verification process and it’s still ongoing,\" Guillory said. \"I’m working with my clients to see what’s going on here. They are cooperating with the district.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district's general counsel, Jacqueline Minor, said in a board meeting earlier this month that until the district is satisfied with St. Andrew's responses, \"we will not engage in a process that will result in further funds to the school.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board member David Kakishiba said in an email that it \"appears that there's a likelihood St. Andrew is practicing fraudulent student enrollment accounting.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guillory objected to the district singling out St. Andrew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There needs to be some questions in the other schools too, not just the African American religious ones,\" he said. \"There needs to be a policy review here, so that these things don’t end up happening, whether it be by mistake or otherwise.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guillory said the FBI has not attempted to contact his clients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a letter last month to the district, Guillory answered allegations from parents and former students of child abuse and exploitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"My clients do not condone child physical, mental or emotional abuse of any kind, in any environment, and unequivocally deny all allegations of child abuse or neglect,\" he wrote. \"Moreover, my clients' contend that any fundraising activity, on behalf of parents in need of tuition assistance, was conducted in compliance with child labor laws and standards.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While an Oakland Fire Department inspection determined that St. Andrew's classrooms can only fit 58 people, Guillory said the school also instructs students in the church sanctuary, which can fit 200.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A fire inspection in May found several code violations, including the lack of a fire alarm system. A follow-up inspection last month determined that St. Andrew had not fixed any of the problems, according to inspector Edward Gervasoni.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the K-12 school, the Lacy family also runs St. Andrew Theological & Academic University, which advertises a host of advanced degrees, out of their church. After California Watch raised the issue, the state last month issued a $50,000 fine against the institution for operating without approval from the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education. St. Andrew is appealing the citation, according to Guillory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Will Evans is an investigative journalist for \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/\">California Watch\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland Unified also sent letters to the parents of children on the list to confirm whether they were indeed St. Andrew students. Of the five that responded, each said they did not have children attending St. Andrew last year, according to Flint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The findings are concerning,\" Flint said. \"We are eager to hear how these discrepancies can be explained.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marc Guillory, an attorney representing St. Andrew, said some of the district's initial findings were not entirely accurate. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also presented numerous explanations for cross-over between St. Andrew and public school students: Students could have started the year at St. Andrew and moved to a district school later. Or they could have signed up at St. Andrew, never actually attended the school, yet still remain listed on the roster sheet. Another possibility, Guillory said, is that some of the listed students attended St. Andrew in the 2010-11 school year instead of last year. \u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guillory acknowledged that his clients \"need to organize their paperwork better,\" but blamed the district for lacking an established process for determining correct enrollment numbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We're in a verification process and it’s still ongoing,\" Guillory said. \"I’m working with my clients to see what’s going on here. They are cooperating with the district.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district's general counsel, Jacqueline Minor, said in a board meeting earlier this month that until the district is satisfied with St. Andrew's responses, \"we will not engage in a process that will result in further funds to the school.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board member David Kakishiba said in an email that it \"appears that there's a likelihood St. Andrew is practicing fraudulent student enrollment accounting.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guillory objected to the district singling out St. Andrew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There needs to be some questions in the other schools too, not just the African American religious ones,\" he said. \"There needs to be a policy review here, so that these things don’t end up happening, whether it be by mistake or otherwise.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guillory said the FBI has not attempted to contact his clients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a letter last month to the district, Guillory answered allegations from parents and former students of child abuse and exploitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"My clients do not condone child physical, mental or emotional abuse of any kind, in any environment, and unequivocally deny all allegations of child abuse or neglect,\" he wrote. \"Moreover, my clients' contend that any fundraising activity, on behalf of parents in need of tuition assistance, was conducted in compliance with child labor laws and standards.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While an Oakland Fire Department inspection determined that St. Andrew's classrooms can only fit 58 people, Guillory said the school also instructs students in the church sanctuary, which can fit 200.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A fire inspection in May found several code violations, including the lack of a fire alarm system. A follow-up inspection last month determined that St. Andrew had not fixed any of the problems, according to inspector Edward Gervasoni.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the K-12 school, the Lacy family also runs St. Andrew Theological & Academic University, which advertises a host of advanced degrees, out of their church. After California Watch raised the issue, the state last month issued a $50,000 fine against the institution for operating without approval from the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education. St. Andrew is appealing the citation, according to Guillory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Will Evans is an investigative journalist for \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/\">California Watch\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>by Will Evans, \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/scrutiny-oakland-church-school-grows-16725\">California Watch\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_67187\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 200px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/06/St.Andrew_08_web.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/06/St.Andrew_08_web-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church in West Oakland\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-67187\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Michael Short/California Watch\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scrutiny of a West Oakland church school accused of abuse by parents and students is growing, with BART officials now questioning the school's right to solicit for donations in stations and state officials investigating whether federal funds should have gone to school leaders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest actions follow an ongoing investigation by California Watch and CBS 5 into St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church and private school, where students as young as 9 say they were required to ask for money for hours after school and federal funding appears to be based on inflated enrollment numbers. The Oakland school board also has \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/oakland-unified-board-orders-investigation-church-school-16635\" target=\"_blank\">launched an investigation\u003c/a>\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>after a rancorous school board meeting earlier this month, where parents alleged mistreatment of students at the school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We should not be in the position of allowing children to be exploited in any kind of way,\" said BART Director Lynette Sweet. \"An abundance of caution tells us we should stop (the soliciting).\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Church leader Robert Lacy Jr. objected to the continued scrutiny of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.saintambcpstu.com/752.html\" target=\"_blank\">school\u003c/a> his father, the pastor Robert Lacy, founded in 1978.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Now it sounds like it’s getting into harassing individuals that aren’t bothering anyone,\" he said in an interview. \"It sounds like you’re trying to defame the character of the school and the church and everything that has to do with St. Andrew.\" \u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART has routinely granted permits allowing St. Andrew to solicit donations, and staff previously defended that action to its board citing free speech rights. But Sweet and Director Robert Raburn now are asking BART's lawyers to determine what leeway the agency has to restrict the soliciting activities of St. Andrew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"By all accounts, this is not a group that we want to promote on public property,\" Raburn wrote in an email to California Watch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raburn said he became concerned last year when he saw unsupervised St. Andrew students asking for money at the Fruitvale BART after dark. Sweet also grew alarmed, she said, after seeing the soliciting continue day after day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But BART staff responded to the board in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/372850-bart-memo.html\" target=\"_blank\">December memo\u003c/a> that \"the speech activities are protected on the grounds that the Church is a religious organization engaged in charitable solicitation.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>St. Andrew students have been raising money for years, but it's \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/controversial-church-sends-kids-solicit-money-bart-stations-13825\" target=\"_blank\">unclear\u003c/a> where the money is going. The pastor drives a Cadillac Escalade while the school building needs repairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Watch recently uncovered \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/k-12/oakland-school-accused-abuse-overbilling-taxpayers-records-show-16428\" target=\"_blank\">allegations of abuse\u003c/a> at the hands of Robert Lacy Jr., who teaches at the school and sometimes takes students to solicit at BART stations. Former students said he hit and threw things at children in his classes. Lacy Jr. has said he doesn't have \"any history\" of hitting children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sweet said the staff decision to keep monthly permits flowing to St. Andrew was \"the wrong thing to do.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It didn’t appear that they were raising money for a legitimate cause,\" she said. \"It also appeared that they were out there too long – they were being abused.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART spokeswoman Luna Salaver said that as a public agency, BART has to issue the permits \"on a level playing field.\" She said BART police monitored the situation and did not observe any violations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"BART takes children’s safety very seriously,\" Salaver said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/372852-bart-permit-june-2012.html\" target=\"_blank\">this month's permit\u003c/a> to Andrew Lacy, another son of the pastor. The permit allows fundraising every day from 5 to 7 p.m. at seven BART stations in Berkeley, Oakland and San Leandro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andrew Lacy has a history of illegal activity. He pleaded guilty to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/366460-charges.html\" target=\"_blank\">felony welfare fraud\u003c/a> in 2004, according to court records. And, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/372858-andrew-lacy-2002-arrest.html\" target=\"_blank\">police records\u003c/a> newly obtained by California Watch, he was also arrested in 2002 on charges of injuring his girlfriend with a club. He was convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence charge in that case, which was later dismissed after he satisfied the conditions of his probation, according to court records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART does not conduct a criminal background check before issuing permits, Salaver said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003cp>In a separate custody court case this year, the father of Andrew Lacy's stepdaughter – then a student at St. Andrew – accused Lacy of threatening to slap the girl if she didn't solicit at BART stations. The girl’s mother denied the allegations in court filings, but the judge gave primary custody to the father, specifying that the girl not engage in soliciting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andrew Lacy did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, state officials plan to investigate whether the Oakland Unified School District mismanaged federal funds as it distributed money to St. Andrew teachers. California Watch found that the school's reported enrollment numbers, used to determine its level of federal funding, far exceeded the number of students who actually attend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland Unified distributes Title I money based on the number of low-income students and Title II money based on total enrollment. The district uses enrollment figures reported to the state to allocate Title II funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>St. Andrew reported to the state it had 195 students this year, including 61 low-income students, while former students said fewer than 30 attended. An Oakland fire inspector observed 15 to 20 students and determined that the classrooms could fit no more than 58.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of a federal program to improve teaching and help struggling students at both public and private schools, Oakland Unified allocated at least $50,000 to benefit St. Andrew this school year and paid out $173,500 over the previous four years. Most of the money went to Lacy Jr. and Carrie Banks, a St. Andrew teacher who married the pastor in 1999.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland Unified spokesman Troy Flint said the state is responsible for making sure the numbers are accurate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It just makes common sense,\" Flint said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But state Education Department spokesman Paul Hefner said the state does not check the enrollment figures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local school districts, he said, “need to take steps to verify those numbers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hefner said the state is moving up a planned routine review of the district's distribution of Title I and II funds from January\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>to September because of the controversy. The review, he said, will also look into whether the money should have gone to Lacy Jr. and Banks, since the law requires it be used for consultants who are \"independent\" of the school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district could be on the hook for refunding any misspent money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In total, the district allocated $1.2 million to benefit Oakland private school students and teachers during the 2011-12 school year, according to district records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Will Evans is an investigative journalist for \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/\">California Watch\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>by Will Evans, \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/scrutiny-oakland-church-school-grows-16725\">California Watch\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_67187\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 200px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/06/St.Andrew_08_web.jpg\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/06/St.Andrew_08_web-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church in West Oakland\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-67187\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Michael Short/California Watch\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scrutiny of a West Oakland church school accused of abuse by parents and students is growing, with BART officials now questioning the school's right to solicit for donations in stations and state officials investigating whether federal funds should have gone to school leaders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest actions follow an ongoing investigation by California Watch and CBS 5 into St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church and private school, where students as young as 9 say they were required to ask for money for hours after school and federal funding appears to be based on inflated enrollment numbers. The Oakland school board also has \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/oakland-unified-board-orders-investigation-church-school-16635\" target=\"_blank\">launched an investigation\u003c/a>\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>after a rancorous school board meeting earlier this month, where parents alleged mistreatment of students at the school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We should not be in the position of allowing children to be exploited in any kind of way,\" said BART Director Lynette Sweet. \"An abundance of caution tells us we should stop (the soliciting).\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Church leader Robert Lacy Jr. objected to the continued scrutiny of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.saintambcpstu.com/752.html\" target=\"_blank\">school\u003c/a> his father, the pastor Robert Lacy, founded in 1978.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Now it sounds like it’s getting into harassing individuals that aren’t bothering anyone,\" he said in an interview. \"It sounds like you’re trying to defame the character of the school and the church and everything that has to do with St. Andrew.\" \u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART has routinely granted permits allowing St. Andrew to solicit donations, and staff previously defended that action to its board citing free speech rights. But Sweet and Director Robert Raburn now are asking BART's lawyers to determine what leeway the agency has to restrict the soliciting activities of St. Andrew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"By all accounts, this is not a group that we want to promote on public property,\" Raburn wrote in an email to California Watch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raburn said he became concerned last year when he saw unsupervised St. Andrew students asking for money at the Fruitvale BART after dark. Sweet also grew alarmed, she said, after seeing the soliciting continue day after day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But BART staff responded to the board in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/372850-bart-memo.html\" target=\"_blank\">December memo\u003c/a> that \"the speech activities are protected on the grounds that the Church is a religious organization engaged in charitable solicitation.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>St. Andrew students have been raising money for years, but it's \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/controversial-church-sends-kids-solicit-money-bart-stations-13825\" target=\"_blank\">unclear\u003c/a> where the money is going. The pastor drives a Cadillac Escalade while the school building needs repairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Watch recently uncovered \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/k-12/oakland-school-accused-abuse-overbilling-taxpayers-records-show-16428\" target=\"_blank\">allegations of abuse\u003c/a> at the hands of Robert Lacy Jr., who teaches at the school and sometimes takes students to solicit at BART stations. Former students said he hit and threw things at children in his classes. Lacy Jr. has said he doesn't have \"any history\" of hitting children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sweet said the staff decision to keep monthly permits flowing to St. Andrew was \"the wrong thing to do.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It didn’t appear that they were raising money for a legitimate cause,\" she said. \"It also appeared that they were out there too long – they were being abused.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART spokeswoman Luna Salaver said that as a public agency, BART has to issue the permits \"on a level playing field.\" She said BART police monitored the situation and did not observe any violations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"BART takes children’s safety very seriously,\" Salaver said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/372852-bart-permit-june-2012.html\" target=\"_blank\">this month's permit\u003c/a> to Andrew Lacy, another son of the pastor. The permit allows fundraising every day from 5 to 7 p.m. at seven BART stations in Berkeley, Oakland and San Leandro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andrew Lacy has a history of illegal activity. He pleaded guilty to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/366460-charges.html\" target=\"_blank\">felony welfare fraud\u003c/a> in 2004, according to court records. And, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/372858-andrew-lacy-2002-arrest.html\" target=\"_blank\">police records\u003c/a> newly obtained by California Watch, he was also arrested in 2002 on charges of injuring his girlfriend with a club. He was convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence charge in that case, which was later dismissed after he satisfied the conditions of his probation, according to court records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART does not conduct a criminal background check before issuing permits, Salaver said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003cp>In a separate custody court case this year, the father of Andrew Lacy's stepdaughter – then a student at St. Andrew – accused Lacy of threatening to slap the girl if she didn't solicit at BART stations. The girl’s mother denied the allegations in court filings, but the judge gave primary custody to the father, specifying that the girl not engage in soliciting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andrew Lacy did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, state officials plan to investigate whether the Oakland Unified School District mismanaged federal funds as it distributed money to St. Andrew teachers. California Watch found that the school's reported enrollment numbers, used to determine its level of federal funding, far exceeded the number of students who actually attend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland Unified distributes Title I money based on the number of low-income students and Title II money based on total enrollment. The district uses enrollment figures reported to the state to allocate Title II funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>St. Andrew reported to the state it had 195 students this year, including 61 low-income students, while former students said fewer than 30 attended. An Oakland fire inspector observed 15 to 20 students and determined that the classrooms could fit no more than 58.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of a federal program to improve teaching and help struggling students at both public and private schools, Oakland Unified allocated at least $50,000 to benefit St. Andrew this school year and paid out $173,500 over the previous four years. Most of the money went to Lacy Jr. and Carrie Banks, a St. Andrew teacher who married the pastor in 1999.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland Unified spokesman Troy Flint said the state is responsible for making sure the numbers are accurate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It just makes common sense,\" Flint said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But state Education Department spokesman Paul Hefner said the state does not check the enrollment figures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local school districts, he said, “need to take steps to verify those numbers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hefner said the state is moving up a planned routine review of the district's distribution of Title I and II funds from January\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>to September because of the controversy. The review, he said, will also look into whether the money should have gone to Lacy Jr. and Banks, since the law requires it be used for consultants who are \"independent\" of the school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district could be on the hook for refunding any misspent money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In total, the district allocated $1.2 million to benefit Oakland private school students and teachers during the 2011-12 school year, according to district records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Will Evans is an investigative journalist for \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/\">California Watch\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>by Will Evans, \u003ca href=\"http://www.baycitizen.org/education/story/district-board-members-urge-oakland/\">The Bay Citizen\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland school board members are calling for the district to investigate whether a private school accused of abuse is inflating enrollment numbers to get more than its share of taxpayer funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/05/BayCitizenLogo.png\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/05/BayCitizenLogo.png\" alt=\"\" title=\"BayCitizenLogo\" width=\"218\" height=\"74\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-66889\">\u003c/a>The board members were responding to a California Watch \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/k-12/oakland-school-accused-abuse-overbilling-taxpayers-records-show-16428\" target=\"_blank\">investigation\u003c/a> into a West Oakland K-12 school run by St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church, which sends its students to ask for money at BART stations. Oakland Unified School District allocated $50,000 in federal funds this year based on the school's claim that it had 195 students, including 61 low-income children. Former students and government inspections, however, indicate the actual number is fewer than 30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the money is distributed in contracts, approved by the school board, to church leaders such as Robert Lacy Jr., who several former students said physically abused the children there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lacy Jr. has said he has no history of hitting children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board member Noel Gallo said the district must take action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Not only is it a money issue, but it’s really about children,\" Gallo said. \"The minute someone tells me something is questionable or not right, then I'm just as responsible as the person doing it.\" \u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gallo said the money to St. Andrew should be shut off if the district confirms problems at the school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We do provide approval for the use of those public funds. Even though our staff are saying we’re just a pass-through, we’re still liable and responsible,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board member David Kakishiba also said the district should withhold funding if it finds the enrollment numbers were falsified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Clearly if there’s fraudulent activity going on, we need to put a stop to it,\" he said. \"There's some basic due diligence that I believe any school district is responsible for doing when we’re transferring funds.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board members are expecting Superintendent Tony Smith to report back to them on the issue at their next meeting on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District spokesman Troy Flint said there isn't currently a formal investigation and that the board would have to vote on whether the district should take action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We’re attentive to the issue, and right now things are just in the discussion phase,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flint said the district did not know about the accusations of abuse of children at the school – and that those allegations make the issue more urgent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We take those with the utmost seriousness,” he said. “And that’s our primary concern at the moment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelly Corbitt, who pulled her 12-year-old daughter out of St. Andrew in February, called for even stronger measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They should shut that school down and make them pay back all the money,\" she said. \"Because there’s no education being taught there at all. It’s all a fraud.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lacy Jr., who earlier defended himself and the school against what he called hearsay, said his attorney advised him not to comment further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board Vice President Jumoke Hinton Hodge wrote by e-mail that the California Watch report \"gives us pause, of course, on any further support of the school.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hinton Hodge, whose district includes West Oakland, wrote that she was saddened that parents and students \"might not have gotten what they needed from West Oakland (public) schools that are steadily improving. I hope that families will reconsider coming back to West Oakland schools.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gallo and Kakishiba said they want to review the district's disbursement of federal funds in general.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This school year, Oakland Unified allocated $784,000 in federal Title II money to 29 private schools in Oakland, based on the schools' total enrollment, according to district records. The money is supposed to provide teacher training, and in St. Andrew's case \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357636-banks-ousd-contracts.html\" target=\"_blank\">goes to\u003c/a> Carrie Banks, who married the church's pastor and teaches kindergarten through third grade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district also allocated $441,000 in Title I funds to 16 private schools, based on the number of eligible low-income students at the schools. That money funds additional instruction for struggling students. The school board approved a $7,400 \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357635-lacy-jr-ousd-contracts.html\" target=\"_blank\">contract\u003c/a> in January for Lacy Jr. to provide the tutoring at $40 per hour. In April, district staff approved an additional $8,000 contract for Lacy Jr. that will go to the school board for final approval soon, said William Nownes, who administers the funding for Oakland Unified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school board typically signs off on a long list of these contracts as part of its consent agenda, which allows approval of routine items, bunched together, without discussion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gallo said district staff should at least spot check a sampling of the schools receiving money to verify enrollment figures and the quality of instruction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We take it for granted that what we’re voting for is a good thing, and I think we need to pay greater attention to exactly what we're supporting,\" Gallo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced by The Bay Citizen, a project of the Center for Investigative Reporting. Learn more at www.baycitizen.org.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"description": "by Will Evans, The Bay Citizen Oakland school board members are calling for the district to investigate whether a private school accused of abuse is inflating enrollment numbers to get more than its share of taxpayer funding. The board members were responding to a California Watch investigation into a West Oakland K-12 school run by St. Andrew",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>by Will Evans, \u003ca href=\"http://www.baycitizen.org/education/story/district-board-members-urge-oakland/\">The Bay Citizen\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland school board members are calling for the district to investigate whether a private school accused of abuse is inflating enrollment numbers to get more than its share of taxpayer funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/05/BayCitizenLogo.png\">\u003cimg src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/05/BayCitizenLogo.png\" alt=\"\" title=\"BayCitizenLogo\" width=\"218\" height=\"74\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-66889\">\u003c/a>The board members were responding to a California Watch \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/k-12/oakland-school-accused-abuse-overbilling-taxpayers-records-show-16428\" target=\"_blank\">investigation\u003c/a> into a West Oakland K-12 school run by St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church, which sends its students to ask for money at BART stations. Oakland Unified School District allocated $50,000 in federal funds this year based on the school's claim that it had 195 students, including 61 low-income children. Former students and government inspections, however, indicate the actual number is fewer than 30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the money is distributed in contracts, approved by the school board, to church leaders such as Robert Lacy Jr., who several former students said physically abused the children there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lacy Jr. has said he has no history of hitting children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board member Noel Gallo said the district must take action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Not only is it a money issue, but it’s really about children,\" Gallo said. \"The minute someone tells me something is questionable or not right, then I'm just as responsible as the person doing it.\" \u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gallo said the money to St. Andrew should be shut off if the district confirms problems at the school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We do provide approval for the use of those public funds. Even though our staff are saying we’re just a pass-through, we’re still liable and responsible,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board member David Kakishiba also said the district should withhold funding if it finds the enrollment numbers were falsified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Clearly if there’s fraudulent activity going on, we need to put a stop to it,\" he said. \"There's some basic due diligence that I believe any school district is responsible for doing when we’re transferring funds.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board members are expecting Superintendent Tony Smith to report back to them on the issue at their next meeting on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District spokesman Troy Flint said there isn't currently a formal investigation and that the board would have to vote on whether the district should take action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We’re attentive to the issue, and right now things are just in the discussion phase,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flint said the district did not know about the accusations of abuse of children at the school – and that those allegations make the issue more urgent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We take those with the utmost seriousness,” he said. “And that’s our primary concern at the moment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelly Corbitt, who pulled her 12-year-old daughter out of St. Andrew in February, called for even stronger measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They should shut that school down and make them pay back all the money,\" she said. \"Because there’s no education being taught there at all. It’s all a fraud.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lacy Jr., who earlier defended himself and the school against what he called hearsay, said his attorney advised him not to comment further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board Vice President Jumoke Hinton Hodge wrote by e-mail that the California Watch report \"gives us pause, of course, on any further support of the school.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hinton Hodge, whose district includes West Oakland, wrote that she was saddened that parents and students \"might not have gotten what they needed from West Oakland (public) schools that are steadily improving. I hope that families will reconsider coming back to West Oakland schools.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gallo and Kakishiba said they want to review the district's disbursement of federal funds in general.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This school year, Oakland Unified allocated $784,000 in federal Title II money to 29 private schools in Oakland, based on the schools' total enrollment, according to district records. The money is supposed to provide teacher training, and in St. Andrew's case \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357636-banks-ousd-contracts.html\" target=\"_blank\">goes to\u003c/a> Carrie Banks, who married the church's pastor and teaches kindergarten through third grade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district also allocated $441,000 in Title I funds to 16 private schools, based on the number of eligible low-income students at the schools. That money funds additional instruction for struggling students. The school board approved a $7,400 \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357635-lacy-jr-ousd-contracts.html\" target=\"_blank\">contract\u003c/a> in January for Lacy Jr. to provide the tutoring at $40 per hour. In April, district staff approved an additional $8,000 contract for Lacy Jr. that will go to the school board for final approval soon, said William Nownes, who administers the funding for Oakland Unified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school board typically signs off on a long list of these contracts as part of its consent agenda, which allows approval of routine items, bunched together, without discussion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gallo said district staff should at least spot check a sampling of the schools receiving money to verify enrollment figures and the quality of instruction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We take it for granted that what we’re voting for is a good thing, and I think we need to pay greater attention to exactly what we're supporting,\" Gallo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced by The Bay Citizen, a project of the Center for Investigative Reporting. Learn more at www.baycitizen.org.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Oakland School Accused of Abuse is Also Overbilling Taxpayers",
"title": "Oakland School Accused of Abuse is Also Overbilling Taxpayers",
"headTitle": "News Fix | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>by Will Evans, \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/k-12/oakland-school-accused-abuse-overbilling-taxpayers-records-show-16428\">California Watch\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A West Oakland church school that makes its students ask for money at BART stations appears to have vastly inflated its enrollment numbers to collect extra taxpayer funding, some of which goes to a teacher who former students say physically abused them and other children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_67187\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 200px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/06/St.Andrew_08_web.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-67187 \" title=\"St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church in West Oakland. Tuesday May 29th, 2012\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/06/St.Andrew_08_web-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church in West Oakland (Michael Short/California Watch)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And for years, St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church and \u003ca href=\"http://www.saintambcpstu.com/899/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">private school\u003c/a> has operated with virtually no government oversight despite repeated red flags. The K-12 school is run by \u003ca href=\"http://www.saintambcpstu.com/51212.html\" target=\"_blank\">Robert Lacy\u003c/a>, 79, a pastor who pleaded guilty in 2007 to theft of government money for taking his deceased father’s Social Security payments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Documents and interviews show St. Andrew has inflated its enrollment numbers, allowing school officials to reap tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funding they might not have deserved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Unified School District – which oversees federal funding to aid the education of low-income students and others in private schools – allocated $50,000 this school year to St. Andrew. The funding was based on the school’s claim that it had \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357631-2011-12-affidavit.html\" target=\"_blank\">195\u003c/a> students, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/365536-title-i-students.html\" target=\"_blank\">61\u003c/a> low-income students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the previous four school years, Oakland Unified paid a total of $173,500 in federal funds to benefit St. Andrew based on its enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet former students and their parents said the school had no more than 30 students, and sometimes much fewer. An Oakland fire inspector said the school isn’t allowed to have more than 58 people in its classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some parents said they paid up to $400 per month for tuition, while others said the school was free – as long as their children raised funds at BART stations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In separate interviews, several former students said the pastor's son Robert Lacy Jr., and a teacher and church leader, would hit, kick and throw things at students. Nine-year-old Corey Butler said Lacy Jr. hit him with a belt on his behind and across his hand. Butler said he saw Lacy Jr. abuse other students, too. \u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He kicks people. He kicked the big kids,” Butler said. Butler’s mother took him and his siblings out of St. Andrew this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t like it at all,” said Genius Wesley, a 9-year-old whose father pulled him out of the school this year. “The teacher was mean, and he always yelled at people. He hit this little kid all the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview, \u003ca href=\"http://bit.ly/KalNvN\" target=\"_blank\">Lacy Jr.\u003c/a> declined to answer questions about inflated enrollment numbers and said the students’ statements about abuse are not credible, calling them hearsay. He said the students represent a small sample of those who attended St. Andrew and indicated that their families may be disgruntled for other reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe we just didn’t give everything that they wanted us to give, money and stuff like that. Maybe that’s the problem,” he said. “Maybe we wouldn’t excuse their unexcused absences.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked directly whether he hits children, Lacy Jr. said, “I don’t have any history of ever doing anything like that.” Asked whether he does it currently, Lacy Jr. again responded, “I don’t have a history of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and local officials are careful to note that the federal funding doesn’t go directly to the school, but rather to “independent” consultants to provide services.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\n\u003cp>Because we are not given regulatory powers to the degree needed to police these schools, it does allow for loopholes and for certain unscrupulous people to take advantage. I can’t say for sure that’s what happened in this case, but there are a lot of suspicious indicators, and I do think it warrants a second look.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>--Troy Flint, Oakland Unified School District spokesman\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Most of the federal money for St. Andrew went to contracts for \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357636-banks-ousd-contracts.html\" target=\"_blank\">Carrie Banks\u003c/a> – who married the elder pastor in 1999 and teaches kindergarten through third grade – and to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357635-lacy-jr-ousd-contracts.html\" target=\"_blank\">Lacy Jr.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thalia Brown, a former kindergarten teacher at St. Andrew, said the church is more like a cult, where everyone fears and obeys the pastor. Brown has two children with Lacy Jr., but said about the school: “The nicest thing I can say is my son will never go there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have God in your ear telling you that Rev. Lacy is your spiritual leader and you should listen to him,” said Brown, who is divorced from Lacy Jr. “No one ever is going to step up to that man.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the federal funding, Brown said, “Rev. Lacy, he knows how to work it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the money is doled out based on the number of low-income students at the school, and the rest is based on total enrollment. Since 2003, with one exception, the school \u003ca href=\"http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/si/ps/index.asp\" target=\"_blank\">reported\u003c/a> to the state Department of Education that it had 195 students – 15 in each grade. The exception was the 2008-09 school year, when the school reported 265 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the school reported to the state a low number of graduates: only 12 over the past four school years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite claiming nearly 200 attendees, an inspection by the state Department of Social Services in March – to determine whether the school was also running a day care center – \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357625-dept-of-social-services-inspection.html\" target=\"_blank\">found\u003c/a> 14 children at the school one day and 12 the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One morning last month, from 7:45 to 9:45, California Watch observed about six children trickle into the church and nine more who were dropped off in the school van.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next morning, one boy showed up at 8:20 and got into the van, which then left. The church doors remained locked – an adult who showed up couldn’t get in – until the van returned at 9:45 a.m. with half a dozen children. School starts at 8 a.m., according to a packet of school rules provided to one parent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Edward Gervasoni, an Oakland Fire Department inspector, visited the school last month in response to a citizen complaint. He said Lacy Jr. told him the school had 23 students but fluctuates up to 40. Gervasoni observed 15 to 20 students, he said, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/366330-fire-inspection-report.html\" target=\"_blank\">determined\u003c/a> that the fire code would allow no more than 58 people for all of the classrooms combined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Courtney Corbitt, a 12-year-old whose mother took her out of the school in February, counted a total of 25 classmates by name, including several who were later pulled out by concerned parents and a few who are young children of the elder pastor. Corbitt said the students were lumped together into three classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The discrepancy between reported numbers and reality appears to go back for years. Gervasoni remembers seeing very few students at the school when he inspected it in 2007. As part of a bankruptcy proceeding in 2004, a church representative said the school had \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357633-bankruptcy-interview.html\" target=\"_blank\">no more than 20 students\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lacy Jr. declined to say how many students attend St. Andrew. “That’s private information,” he said. “It’s disclosed to individuals that send a valid request.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All I can tell you is I teach here every day,” he said. “And I give my time for the students and I care for these students that are here, and I give the education that I’ve gained so that these students can have an education and opportunities that these students didn’t have in the schools that they went to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, no authorities have taken the school to account.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Troy Flint, a spokesman with Oakland Unified, said the district is a “pass-through” organization for federal funds and isn’t provided the resources to check on every school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If these allegations are true, then obviously, that’s something we would put an end to because that would be an abuse of public funds,” Flint said in an interview with CBS 5 and California Watch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flint said someone should do an investigation, but the district doesn’t have the authority or capacity to do it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because we are not given regulatory powers to the degree needed to police these schools, it does allow for loopholes and for certain unscrupulous people to take advantage,” Flint said. “I can’t say for sure that’s what happened in this case, but there are a lot of suspicious indicators, and I do think it warrants a second look.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flint suggested that the state Department of Education would have jurisdiction. But the state doesn’t verify the numbers either, said Jane Ross, education programs consultant for the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are filing with the superintendent of public instruction under penalty of perjury, but we don’t have the authority to challenge the information,” Ross said. She said she didn’t know who would have that authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, the district’s Board of Education has approved contracts paying Banks $100 per hour to conduct teacher training and Lacy Jr. $40 per hour to provide additional instruction for struggling students. Neither Banks nor Lacy Jr. has a teaching credential, and none is required.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the 2010-11 school year, Banks received a $19,500 contract and Lacy Jr. \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357640-lacy-jr-2010-11-ousd-contract.html\" target=\"_blank\">earned\u003c/a> $12,440. Last year, Lacy Jr. also \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/366453-computers-invoice.html\" target=\"_blank\">invoiced\u003c/a> the district for $100 per hour for 30 hours to fix computers for student use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>William Nownes, who oversees private school funding for Oakland Unified, said he accepts the enrollment numbers provided by the school without further investigation. Nownes said he reviews the school’s funding plan in meetings with Lacy Jr. and visited the school more than a year ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They run a compliant program to the best of my knowledge,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nownes defers to each school to pick its preferred instructors. Nownes said he looks to make sure the instructors have a college degree, though none is required.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Former students claim abuse\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Six former students agreed to talk to California Watch about their experiences at St. Andrew. Accompanied by their parents in separate interviews, they described a pattern of verbal and physical abuse at the school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Butler’s 14-year-old brother, Le’Gerrius Holt, said Lacy Jr. – who goes by Rev. Robert at school – hit him over the head with a book in class because he had called the teacher a “fool.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rev. Robert said when we die – he already know we’re going to die before him – at our funeral, he’s going to go up to our parents and tell them not to cry because we’re going to go to hell,” Holt said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Butler’s 13-year-old sister, La’asia Holt, said the elder Lacy told her, “If I go home and tell another lie to my mother, he gonna beat me himself,” she said. “I felt threatened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The siblings traded stories of abuse at St. Andrew as they sat with their mother, Yolanda Bailey, in their West Oakland home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bailey pulled her children out of the school this year because she said the Lacys insulted her children and didn’t send home report cards, among other problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd59PR0r99U&feature=related\" target=\"_blank\">The elder Lacy\u003c/a> did not respond to an e-mail and letter sent to the school requesting comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Courtney Corbitt said she witnessed Lacy Jr. throw objects – like a roll of duct tape – at other students, telling her once, “You might want to duck.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Genius Wesley said he saw Lacy Jr. strike other students on their heads with his hand. Wesley also said he saw Lacy Jr. throw things at students, including a book.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He threw it at someone else, and it almost hit me,” Wesley said, on the phone with his father. “He said, ‘I got good aim; it wasn’t going to hit you.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once, when Lacy Jr. wouldn’t let Wesley go to the bathroom, Wesley ended up urinating on himself in class, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2009, Charlos Stewart Jr., now 12, said Lacy Jr. locked him in a room upstairs in the church as punishment for talking. Stewart had to go to the bathroom and banged on the door, but nobody came. Stewart said he broke the lock but was caught and put inside with a bigger padlock, despite begging to go to the bathroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stewart went to the window, sat on the ledge and contemplated jumping from the second story, he said. Fearing that he would die, the boy turned around but slipped and fell to the ground, breaking a foot in several places, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His mother, Catherine Joiner, took him out of the school after the incident. “I felt so bad,” Joiner said. “I couldn’t even look at the church.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Police Department has no record of any complaints about the school, said spokeswoman Lea Rubio. The Alameda County Social Services Agency, which investigates allegations of child abuse, did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For his part, Lacy Jr. took issue with critical questions about the school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is there any reason you don’t post the positives about this school,” he asked, “in terms of its longevity in the community and all the families that have received aid from this school, food and clothes? Why don’t you ask about that?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>History of benefits fraud\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former students said Lacy Jr. often left his class for hours or showed up very late.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of the time, he wasn’t there,” Corbitt said. “Like, he wouldn’t get there till, like, 11 o’clock, so we would just be waiting for him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students said they hardly ever got to go outside and play or use the computers that were fixed with federal money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357639-lacy-jr-resume.html\" target=\"_blank\">résumé\u003c/a> Lacy Jr. provided the district states that he has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and was a candidate for a master’s degree, though it also lists a 2010 doctorate. It doesn’t specify any schools where he earned the degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His ex-wife, Thalia Brown, said Lacy Jr. attended CSU Hayward and received subsequent degrees from St. Andrew Theological & Academic University – which is run by the Lacys out of the church building. CSU Hayward, now called CSU East Bay, confirmed that a Robert Lacy attended from 1996 to 2000 but showed no records of a degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lacy Jr. declined to answer questions about his education. California Watch asked Lacy Jr. on two occasions to provide names of St. Andrew supporters who could speak to the school’s positive attributes. He did not provide any names.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You are discrediting the institution that’s in a community where they don’t receive any help that they need to have,” he said. “In the West Oakland area, if the (public) school system was in any way helping the students, we wouldn’t have the problems we have in West Oakland.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The church’s university advertises a \u003ca href=\"http://www.saintambcpstu.com/13401/15343.html\" target=\"_blank\">cornucopia\u003c/a> of degrees but does not have authorization to operate from the Bureau of Private Postsecondary Education, said Russ Heimerich, spokesman for the state Department of Consumer Affairs. After learning about the university from California Watch, the bureau is investigating whether it is violating the law, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Lacy family has a history of benefits fraud, records show. The elder Lacy \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357644-lacy-amended-judgment.html\" target=\"_blank\">pleaded guilty\u003c/a> in 2007 to a misdemeanor for taking $17,000 in Social Security payments sent to his father, who had died. The pastor also received $22,000 in other government assistance for which he was ineligible, according to the proposed \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357645-lacy-plea-agreement.html\" target=\"_blank\">plea agreement\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andrew Lacy, the pastor’s 37-year-old son who helps with the school and soliciting, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/366460-charges.html\" target=\"_blank\">pleaded guilty\u003c/a> to felony welfare fraud in 2004, according to court records. County authorities found that he made false statements and withheld information about his income to receive $13,500 in benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, in 2007, the state Employment Development Department obtained a $3,000 \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357646-edd-judgment.html\" target=\"_blank\">judgment\u003c/a> against him for receiving excess benefits due to fraud or misrepresentation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://bit.ly/KYtu9f\" target=\"_blank\">Rev. Andrew\u003c/a>, as he is known by students, declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lacys called smooth talkers\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most weekday evenings, St. Andrew’s smartly dressed students politely ask for donations at BART stations, while \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/controversial-church-sends-kids-solicit-money-bart-stations-13825\" target=\"_blank\">some say\u003c/a> they are made to beg under threat of punishment or bad grades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the pastor owns a Cadillac Escalade Platinum Edition, which retailed for about $70,000 in 2006, the year he bought it. Wearing a suit and fedora, the elder Lacy sometimes waits in the background as the children ask for money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some parents objected to the street soliciting, others went along with it after school officials told them it was required.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents described the Lacys as smooth talkers who persuaded them to enroll their children. They were drawn to St. Andrew because they thought a small, Christian private school would be better than Oakland public schools. Some said their children were struggling and needed an alternative school environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Andrew (Lacy) was telling me it was one of the most accredited schools in Oakland and the grades were the highest,” said Yolanda Bailey. “It’s like they go out there and recruit people, mostly single women with children having trouble, who live in the bad neighborhood.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>St. Andrew had claimed on its website to be accredited by the Association of Christian Schools International. An association official said the school was a member – not accredited. After questions from California Watch, the association contacted the school, and St. Andrew then changed its website. Another part of the website still \u003ca href=\"http://www.saintambcpstu.com/899/13848.html\" target=\"_blank\">claims\u003c/a> the school is accredited but doesn’t specify by whom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 1978, the Lacys have run St. Andrew out of a historically black church built in 1920 and declared an Oakland \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357649-landmark-designation.html\" target=\"_blank\">landmark\u003c/a>. The striking orange-and-white façade contrasts with the dilapidated side and back of the building, marked by peeling, discolored paint and boarded windows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gervasoni, the fire inspector, said the building is “very old and run-down,” and that the Lacys appear to lack the money to do much about it. He said the school needs a fire alarm system and \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357650-fire-inspection-reports.html\" target=\"_blank\">other fixes\u003c/a>, but doesn’t pose serious safety concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The poor condition of the school shocked Rachel Elginsmith, executive director of The BASIC Fund, a San Francisco organization that funds scholarships for low-income students to attend private schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group provided a few small scholarships to students at St. Andrew until Elginsmith visited in June 2010. “It was a difficult visit, frankly. It’s hard to envision children in an environment like that,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Lacys wouldn’t let her inside, she said. The organization immediately cut off funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Soliciting at BART stations\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But BART commuters continue to hand over money to the children who ask in almost robotic repetition, “Would you like to make a donation?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The street soliciting has been going on for many years, with children of all ages. Marilyn Lawson said she took her 5-year-old granddaughter out of the school a few years ago after the pastor told her she’d have to start asking for money when she turned 6.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Courtney Corbitt remembers being packed in a van with other students – crammed in on each other’s laps, without seat belts – as Lacy Jr. drove them to BART stations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charlos Stewart Jr. said he was robbed while collecting donations in downtown Oakland. A man took the money and ran, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was scared. It was very fast,” he said. “You had to be out there for a long time. I wouldn’t want to be out there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The father of another student, Mekhi Nosakhare, was alarmed to read in a previous \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/controversial-church-sends-kids-solicit-money-bart-stations-13825\" target=\"_blank\">California Watch story\u003c/a> that the 9-year-old was asking for donations at the Downtown Berkeley BART station late last year. At the time, the girl – whose mother is married to Andrew Lacy – said she would get in trouble if she didn’t solicit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her father, Gabriel Osakhare, filed for custody of the girl because he was concerned she was being forced to “panhandle” and was receiving poor instruction at St. Andrew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Her step-father threatened her that she will be slapped, curses at her and calls her names if she says that she does not want to go on the nightly donations which last for at least 3 hours Mon-Fri from 5-8PM,” he wrote in a court filing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In court records, the girl’s mother denied the allegations and said her daughter willingly went out fundraising.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April, a judge gave the father primary custody of the girl, ordering that she not engage in soliciting during weekends with her mother and that no corporal punishment be allowed by either parent. The judge also specified that she stay in a public elementary school where her father has enrolled her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Will Evans is an investigative journalist for \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/\">California Watch\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"description": "by Will Evans, California Watch A West Oakland church school that makes its students ask for money at BART stations appears to have vastly inflated its enrollment numbers to collect extra taxpayer funding, some of which goes to a teacher who former students say physically abused them and other children. And for years, St. Andrew",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>by Will Evans, \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/k-12/oakland-school-accused-abuse-overbilling-taxpayers-records-show-16428\">California Watch\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A West Oakland church school that makes its students ask for money at BART stations appears to have vastly inflated its enrollment numbers to collect extra taxpayer funding, some of which goes to a teacher who former students say physically abused them and other children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_67187\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 200px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/06/St.Andrew_08_web.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-67187 \" title=\"St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church in West Oakland. Tuesday May 29th, 2012\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/06/St.Andrew_08_web-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church in West Oakland (Michael Short/California Watch)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And for years, St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church and \u003ca href=\"http://www.saintambcpstu.com/899/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">private school\u003c/a> has operated with virtually no government oversight despite repeated red flags. The K-12 school is run by \u003ca href=\"http://www.saintambcpstu.com/51212.html\" target=\"_blank\">Robert Lacy\u003c/a>, 79, a pastor who pleaded guilty in 2007 to theft of government money for taking his deceased father’s Social Security payments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Documents and interviews show St. Andrew has inflated its enrollment numbers, allowing school officials to reap tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funding they might not have deserved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Unified School District – which oversees federal funding to aid the education of low-income students and others in private schools – allocated $50,000 this school year to St. Andrew. The funding was based on the school’s claim that it had \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357631-2011-12-affidavit.html\" target=\"_blank\">195\u003c/a> students, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/365536-title-i-students.html\" target=\"_blank\">61\u003c/a> low-income students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the previous four school years, Oakland Unified paid a total of $173,500 in federal funds to benefit St. Andrew based on its enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet former students and their parents said the school had no more than 30 students, and sometimes much fewer. An Oakland fire inspector said the school isn’t allowed to have more than 58 people in its classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some parents said they paid up to $400 per month for tuition, while others said the school was free – as long as their children raised funds at BART stations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In separate interviews, several former students said the pastor's son Robert Lacy Jr., and a teacher and church leader, would hit, kick and throw things at students. Nine-year-old Corey Butler said Lacy Jr. hit him with a belt on his behind and across his hand. Butler said he saw Lacy Jr. abuse other students, too. \u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He kicks people. He kicked the big kids,” Butler said. Butler’s mother took him and his siblings out of St. Andrew this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t like it at all,” said Genius Wesley, a 9-year-old whose father pulled him out of the school this year. “The teacher was mean, and he always yelled at people. He hit this little kid all the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview, \u003ca href=\"http://bit.ly/KalNvN\" target=\"_blank\">Lacy Jr.\u003c/a> declined to answer questions about inflated enrollment numbers and said the students’ statements about abuse are not credible, calling them hearsay. He said the students represent a small sample of those who attended St. Andrew and indicated that their families may be disgruntled for other reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe we just didn’t give everything that they wanted us to give, money and stuff like that. Maybe that’s the problem,” he said. “Maybe we wouldn’t excuse their unexcused absences.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked directly whether he hits children, Lacy Jr. said, “I don’t have any history of ever doing anything like that.” Asked whether he does it currently, Lacy Jr. again responded, “I don’t have a history of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and local officials are careful to note that the federal funding doesn’t go directly to the school, but rather to “independent” consultants to provide services.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\n\u003cp>Because we are not given regulatory powers to the degree needed to police these schools, it does allow for loopholes and for certain unscrupulous people to take advantage. I can’t say for sure that’s what happened in this case, but there are a lot of suspicious indicators, and I do think it warrants a second look.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>--Troy Flint, Oakland Unified School District spokesman\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Most of the federal money for St. Andrew went to contracts for \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357636-banks-ousd-contracts.html\" target=\"_blank\">Carrie Banks\u003c/a> – who married the elder pastor in 1999 and teaches kindergarten through third grade – and to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357635-lacy-jr-ousd-contracts.html\" target=\"_blank\">Lacy Jr.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thalia Brown, a former kindergarten teacher at St. Andrew, said the church is more like a cult, where everyone fears and obeys the pastor. Brown has two children with Lacy Jr., but said about the school: “The nicest thing I can say is my son will never go there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have God in your ear telling you that Rev. Lacy is your spiritual leader and you should listen to him,” said Brown, who is divorced from Lacy Jr. “No one ever is going to step up to that man.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the federal funding, Brown said, “Rev. Lacy, he knows how to work it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the money is doled out based on the number of low-income students at the school, and the rest is based on total enrollment. Since 2003, with one exception, the school \u003ca href=\"http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/si/ps/index.asp\" target=\"_blank\">reported\u003c/a> to the state Department of Education that it had 195 students – 15 in each grade. The exception was the 2008-09 school year, when the school reported 265 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the school reported to the state a low number of graduates: only 12 over the past four school years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite claiming nearly 200 attendees, an inspection by the state Department of Social Services in March – to determine whether the school was also running a day care center – \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357625-dept-of-social-services-inspection.html\" target=\"_blank\">found\u003c/a> 14 children at the school one day and 12 the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One morning last month, from 7:45 to 9:45, California Watch observed about six children trickle into the church and nine more who were dropped off in the school van.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next morning, one boy showed up at 8:20 and got into the van, which then left. The church doors remained locked – an adult who showed up couldn’t get in – until the van returned at 9:45 a.m. with half a dozen children. School starts at 8 a.m., according to a packet of school rules provided to one parent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Edward Gervasoni, an Oakland Fire Department inspector, visited the school last month in response to a citizen complaint. He said Lacy Jr. told him the school had 23 students but fluctuates up to 40. Gervasoni observed 15 to 20 students, he said, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/366330-fire-inspection-report.html\" target=\"_blank\">determined\u003c/a> that the fire code would allow no more than 58 people for all of the classrooms combined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Courtney Corbitt, a 12-year-old whose mother took her out of the school in February, counted a total of 25 classmates by name, including several who were later pulled out by concerned parents and a few who are young children of the elder pastor. Corbitt said the students were lumped together into three classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The discrepancy between reported numbers and reality appears to go back for years. Gervasoni remembers seeing very few students at the school when he inspected it in 2007. As part of a bankruptcy proceeding in 2004, a church representative said the school had \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357633-bankruptcy-interview.html\" target=\"_blank\">no more than 20 students\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lacy Jr. declined to say how many students attend St. Andrew. “That’s private information,” he said. “It’s disclosed to individuals that send a valid request.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All I can tell you is I teach here every day,” he said. “And I give my time for the students and I care for these students that are here, and I give the education that I’ve gained so that these students can have an education and opportunities that these students didn’t have in the schools that they went to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, no authorities have taken the school to account.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Troy Flint, a spokesman with Oakland Unified, said the district is a “pass-through” organization for federal funds and isn’t provided the resources to check on every school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If these allegations are true, then obviously, that’s something we would put an end to because that would be an abuse of public funds,” Flint said in an interview with CBS 5 and California Watch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flint said someone should do an investigation, but the district doesn’t have the authority or capacity to do it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because we are not given regulatory powers to the degree needed to police these schools, it does allow for loopholes and for certain unscrupulous people to take advantage,” Flint said. “I can’t say for sure that’s what happened in this case, but there are a lot of suspicious indicators, and I do think it warrants a second look.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flint suggested that the state Department of Education would have jurisdiction. But the state doesn’t verify the numbers either, said Jane Ross, education programs consultant for the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are filing with the superintendent of public instruction under penalty of perjury, but we don’t have the authority to challenge the information,” Ross said. She said she didn’t know who would have that authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, the district’s Board of Education has approved contracts paying Banks $100 per hour to conduct teacher training and Lacy Jr. $40 per hour to provide additional instruction for struggling students. Neither Banks nor Lacy Jr. has a teaching credential, and none is required.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the 2010-11 school year, Banks received a $19,500 contract and Lacy Jr. \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357640-lacy-jr-2010-11-ousd-contract.html\" target=\"_blank\">earned\u003c/a> $12,440. Last year, Lacy Jr. also \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/366453-computers-invoice.html\" target=\"_blank\">invoiced\u003c/a> the district for $100 per hour for 30 hours to fix computers for student use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>William Nownes, who oversees private school funding for Oakland Unified, said he accepts the enrollment numbers provided by the school without further investigation. Nownes said he reviews the school’s funding plan in meetings with Lacy Jr. and visited the school more than a year ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They run a compliant program to the best of my knowledge,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nownes defers to each school to pick its preferred instructors. Nownes said he looks to make sure the instructors have a college degree, though none is required.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Former students claim abuse\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Six former students agreed to talk to California Watch about their experiences at St. Andrew. Accompanied by their parents in separate interviews, they described a pattern of verbal and physical abuse at the school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Butler’s 14-year-old brother, Le’Gerrius Holt, said Lacy Jr. – who goes by Rev. Robert at school – hit him over the head with a book in class because he had called the teacher a “fool.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rev. Robert said when we die – he already know we’re going to die before him – at our funeral, he’s going to go up to our parents and tell them not to cry because we’re going to go to hell,” Holt said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Butler’s 13-year-old sister, La’asia Holt, said the elder Lacy told her, “If I go home and tell another lie to my mother, he gonna beat me himself,” she said. “I felt threatened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The siblings traded stories of abuse at St. Andrew as they sat with their mother, Yolanda Bailey, in their West Oakland home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bailey pulled her children out of the school this year because she said the Lacys insulted her children and didn’t send home report cards, among other problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd59PR0r99U&feature=related\" target=\"_blank\">The elder Lacy\u003c/a> did not respond to an e-mail and letter sent to the school requesting comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Courtney Corbitt said she witnessed Lacy Jr. throw objects – like a roll of duct tape – at other students, telling her once, “You might want to duck.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Genius Wesley said he saw Lacy Jr. strike other students on their heads with his hand. Wesley also said he saw Lacy Jr. throw things at students, including a book.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He threw it at someone else, and it almost hit me,” Wesley said, on the phone with his father. “He said, ‘I got good aim; it wasn’t going to hit you.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once, when Lacy Jr. wouldn’t let Wesley go to the bathroom, Wesley ended up urinating on himself in class, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2009, Charlos Stewart Jr., now 12, said Lacy Jr. locked him in a room upstairs in the church as punishment for talking. Stewart had to go to the bathroom and banged on the door, but nobody came. Stewart said he broke the lock but was caught and put inside with a bigger padlock, despite begging to go to the bathroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stewart went to the window, sat on the ledge and contemplated jumping from the second story, he said. Fearing that he would die, the boy turned around but slipped and fell to the ground, breaking a foot in several places, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His mother, Catherine Joiner, took him out of the school after the incident. “I felt so bad,” Joiner said. “I couldn’t even look at the church.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Police Department has no record of any complaints about the school, said spokeswoman Lea Rubio. The Alameda County Social Services Agency, which investigates allegations of child abuse, did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For his part, Lacy Jr. took issue with critical questions about the school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is there any reason you don’t post the positives about this school,” he asked, “in terms of its longevity in the community and all the families that have received aid from this school, food and clothes? Why don’t you ask about that?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>History of benefits fraud\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former students said Lacy Jr. often left his class for hours or showed up very late.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of the time, he wasn’t there,” Corbitt said. “Like, he wouldn’t get there till, like, 11 o’clock, so we would just be waiting for him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students said they hardly ever got to go outside and play or use the computers that were fixed with federal money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357639-lacy-jr-resume.html\" target=\"_blank\">résumé\u003c/a> Lacy Jr. provided the district states that he has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and was a candidate for a master’s degree, though it also lists a 2010 doctorate. It doesn’t specify any schools where he earned the degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His ex-wife, Thalia Brown, said Lacy Jr. attended CSU Hayward and received subsequent degrees from St. Andrew Theological & Academic University – which is run by the Lacys out of the church building. CSU Hayward, now called CSU East Bay, confirmed that a Robert Lacy attended from 1996 to 2000 but showed no records of a degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lacy Jr. declined to answer questions about his education. California Watch asked Lacy Jr. on two occasions to provide names of St. Andrew supporters who could speak to the school’s positive attributes. He did not provide any names.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You are discrediting the institution that’s in a community where they don’t receive any help that they need to have,” he said. “In the West Oakland area, if the (public) school system was in any way helping the students, we wouldn’t have the problems we have in West Oakland.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The church’s university advertises a \u003ca href=\"http://www.saintambcpstu.com/13401/15343.html\" target=\"_blank\">cornucopia\u003c/a> of degrees but does not have authorization to operate from the Bureau of Private Postsecondary Education, said Russ Heimerich, spokesman for the state Department of Consumer Affairs. After learning about the university from California Watch, the bureau is investigating whether it is violating the law, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Lacy family has a history of benefits fraud, records show. The elder Lacy \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357644-lacy-amended-judgment.html\" target=\"_blank\">pleaded guilty\u003c/a> in 2007 to a misdemeanor for taking $17,000 in Social Security payments sent to his father, who had died. The pastor also received $22,000 in other government assistance for which he was ineligible, according to the proposed \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357645-lacy-plea-agreement.html\" target=\"_blank\">plea agreement\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andrew Lacy, the pastor’s 37-year-old son who helps with the school and soliciting, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/366460-charges.html\" target=\"_blank\">pleaded guilty\u003c/a> to felony welfare fraud in 2004, according to court records. County authorities found that he made false statements and withheld information about his income to receive $13,500 in benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, in 2007, the state Employment Development Department obtained a $3,000 \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357646-edd-judgment.html\" target=\"_blank\">judgment\u003c/a> against him for receiving excess benefits due to fraud or misrepresentation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://bit.ly/KYtu9f\" target=\"_blank\">Rev. Andrew\u003c/a>, as he is known by students, declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lacys called smooth talkers\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most weekday evenings, St. Andrew’s smartly dressed students politely ask for donations at BART stations, while \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/controversial-church-sends-kids-solicit-money-bart-stations-13825\" target=\"_blank\">some say\u003c/a> they are made to beg under threat of punishment or bad grades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the pastor owns a Cadillac Escalade Platinum Edition, which retailed for about $70,000 in 2006, the year he bought it. Wearing a suit and fedora, the elder Lacy sometimes waits in the background as the children ask for money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some parents objected to the street soliciting, others went along with it after school officials told them it was required.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents described the Lacys as smooth talkers who persuaded them to enroll their children. They were drawn to St. Andrew because they thought a small, Christian private school would be better than Oakland public schools. Some said their children were struggling and needed an alternative school environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Andrew (Lacy) was telling me it was one of the most accredited schools in Oakland and the grades were the highest,” said Yolanda Bailey. “It’s like they go out there and recruit people, mostly single women with children having trouble, who live in the bad neighborhood.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>St. Andrew had claimed on its website to be accredited by the Association of Christian Schools International. An association official said the school was a member – not accredited. After questions from California Watch, the association contacted the school, and St. Andrew then changed its website. Another part of the website still \u003ca href=\"http://www.saintambcpstu.com/899/13848.html\" target=\"_blank\">claims\u003c/a> the school is accredited but doesn’t specify by whom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 1978, the Lacys have run St. Andrew out of a historically black church built in 1920 and declared an Oakland \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357649-landmark-designation.html\" target=\"_blank\">landmark\u003c/a>. The striking orange-and-white façade contrasts with the dilapidated side and back of the building, marked by peeling, discolored paint and boarded windows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gervasoni, the fire inspector, said the building is “very old and run-down,” and that the Lacys appear to lack the money to do much about it. He said the school needs a fire alarm system and \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/357650-fire-inspection-reports.html\" target=\"_blank\">other fixes\u003c/a>, but doesn’t pose serious safety concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The poor condition of the school shocked Rachel Elginsmith, executive director of The BASIC Fund, a San Francisco organization that funds scholarships for low-income students to attend private schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group provided a few small scholarships to students at St. Andrew until Elginsmith visited in June 2010. “It was a difficult visit, frankly. It’s hard to envision children in an environment like that,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Lacys wouldn’t let her inside, she said. The organization immediately cut off funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Soliciting at BART stations\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But BART commuters continue to hand over money to the children who ask in almost robotic repetition, “Would you like to make a donation?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The street soliciting has been going on for many years, with children of all ages. Marilyn Lawson said she took her 5-year-old granddaughter out of the school a few years ago after the pastor told her she’d have to start asking for money when she turned 6.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Courtney Corbitt remembers being packed in a van with other students – crammed in on each other’s laps, without seat belts – as Lacy Jr. drove them to BART stations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charlos Stewart Jr. said he was robbed while collecting donations in downtown Oakland. A man took the money and ran, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was scared. It was very fast,” he said. “You had to be out there for a long time. I wouldn’t want to be out there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The father of another student, Mekhi Nosakhare, was alarmed to read in a previous \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/controversial-church-sends-kids-solicit-money-bart-stations-13825\" target=\"_blank\">California Watch story\u003c/a> that the 9-year-old was asking for donations at the Downtown Berkeley BART station late last year. At the time, the girl – whose mother is married to Andrew Lacy – said she would get in trouble if she didn’t solicit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her father, Gabriel Osakhare, filed for custody of the girl because he was concerned she was being forced to “panhandle” and was receiving poor instruction at St. Andrew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Her step-father threatened her that she will be slapped, curses at her and calls her names if she says that she does not want to go on the nightly donations which last for at least 3 hours Mon-Fri from 5-8PM,” he wrote in a court filing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In court records, the girl’s mother denied the allegations and said her daughter willingly went out fundraising.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April, a judge gave the father primary custody of the girl, ordering that she not engage in soliciting during weekends with her mother and that no corporal punishment be allowed by either parent. The judge also specified that she stay in a public elementary school where her father has enrolled her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Will Evans is an investigative journalist for \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/\">California Watch\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "With Campaign Donations, California Bond Underwriters Secure Contracts",
"title": "With Campaign Donations, California Bond Underwriters Secure Contracts",
"headTitle": "News Fix | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>From \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/money-and-politics/campaign-donations-bond-underwriters-also-secure-contracts-16032\">\u003cstrong>California Watch\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leading financial firms over the past five years donated $1.8 million to successful school bond measures in California, and in almost every instance, school district officials hired those same underwriters to sell the bonds for a profit, a California Watch review has found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/05/bondgraphic.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-64534\" title=\"underwriters\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/05/underwriters-300x250.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\">\u003c/a>The practice is especially pronounced in California, where underwriters gave \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArIIIOjhjIvddHN5N0JsUHZlbjNhVEItMy1BMFdmWWc\" target=\"_blank\">155 political contributions\u003c/a> since 2007 to successful bond campaigns for school construction and repairs. One major underwriter, Piper Jaffray, has \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/352478-piper-letter.html\" target=\"_blank\">said\u003c/a> it gets more requests for campaign contributions in California than in any other state where they do business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The success rate of these underwriters is extremely high. In only five cases since 2007 has a campaign donor failed to receive a bond-selling contract from the school district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School districts say they choose bond underwriters for their expertise and competitive rates and because they’ve served them well in the past. And underwriting firms say they contribute only after they’ve been hired to sell the bonds, avoiding any undue influence. \u003c!--more-->But critics say that no matter when the agreement is made, the campaign donations influence school districts’ business decisions. They argue that pre-arranged underwriting contracts bypass a truly competitive sale, leaving in doubt whether districts got the best possible deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If this isn’t clear proof of pay to play, then pay to play doesn’t exist,” said Glenn Byers, Los Angeles County’s assistant treasurer, who oversees some school bond sales but doesn’t control the hiring of underwriters. “The timing of the payment is irrelevant. You paid and you got the job. That’s pay to play.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some states have banned the practice. Missouri, for one, outlaws donations to bond campaigns from companies with a financial interest in the bond sale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past five years in California, five major underwriters donated $1.8 million to help pass 111 ballot measures, authorizing $15.5 billion in debt. A couple dozen other measures received underwriter contributions but failed at the ballot box.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overwhelmingly, bond underwriters who donated to these campaigns were granted contracts by school districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In nearly all cases, the only underwriters that donated to a successful school bond campaign ended up working on the bond sale. Bond Buyer, a trade publication, \u003ca href=\"http://www.bondbuyer.com/issues/121_10/california-broker-dealer-contributions-school-bond-issue-1035266-1.html\" target=\"_blank\">found the same pattern\u003c/a> in an earlier review of 2010 campaign contributions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At times, multiple underwriting firms will donate to a single bond campaign. But even there, the success rate is high. In almost all cases in which multiple bond underwriters donated to the same campaign, they all were given contracts by the school district to market those bonds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For donors, failure is rare. In only five cases out of 111 did an underwriter make a donation and fail to receive a contract to sell the bonds. In four of those, however, more than one underwriter made donations and the contract went to the firm that had contributed a larger amount to the campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla, a Democrat from Pittsburg, tried and failed to pass a law in 2005 requiring competitive bidding of bond sales. In a competitive sale, which takes place after the election, the underwriter with the lowest bid wins the bonds.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">If this isn’t clear proof of pay to play, then pay to play doesn’t exist.\u003cbr>\n--Glenn Byers, Los Angeles County assistant treasurer\u003cbr>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Canciamilla said school districts instead negotiate underwriting deals before bond elections specifically to draw in campaign money. Districts are “in effect negotiating much more attractive deals for the underwriters in order to generate the money necessary to run the campaign,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under state law, school districts can’t use their own funds for bond campaigns. That leaves other interested parties – underwriters, builders and organized labor – to pony up the necessary cash. For their part, underwriters have \u003ca href=\"http://msrb.org/Rules-and-Interpretations/Regulatory-Notices/2009/2009-35.aspx?c=1\" target=\"_blank\">justified\u003c/a> the practice to federal regulators by noting that bond campaigns simply need these contributions in order to convince voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last November’s $63 million bond measure for the Newark Unified School District in Alameda County, for example, raised money from architecture and construction firms, the financial adviser and the law firm working on the bond issue, and local construction unions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only underwriter to donate, Los Angeles-based De La Rosa & Co., gave $20,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All the money was donated by outside companies,” said Gary Stadler, a parent volunteer who was the campaign’s treasurer. “We said, ‘Hey, we’re going to pass this bond to improve the schools, we need some contributions, are you going to contribute?’ And of course they’re going to, because they’re going to work here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s financial adviser, Oakland-based KNN Public Finance, had earlier considered proposals by four underwriters and ultimately recommended De La Rosa, said Newark Unified’s chief business official, Elaine Neilsen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district granted De La Rosa up to 1 percent of the bonds – potentially $630,000 in compensation – subject to negotiation before the bond sales. The company donated after signing the contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“De La Rosa & Co. respects and abides by the selection process of California’s school districts,” Chief Financial Officer Arthur Raitano wrote in an e-mail. “Accordingly, we neither discuss or consider contributions to bond ballot campaigns until such districts have selected their professional financing teams.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Top 5 underwriting firms analyzed\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Underwriters typically sign agreements with school districts before the election, and then give money for the political campaign that promotes the bond measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Underwriters act as middlemen, buying bonds from districts and selling them to investors. The underwriters buy the bonds at a discount from the district and then sell them at a higher price to their investors. Investors are essentially loaning money to the school district in exchange for regular interest payments and eventual principal repayment.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">In only five cases out of 111 did an underwriter make a donation and fail to receive a contract to sell the bonds. In four of those, however, more than one underwriter made donations and the contract went to the firm that had contributed a larger amount to the campaign.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>In February 2011, for example, the Glendale Unified School District picked two underwriters to handle a $270 million bond that would go before voters in April as Measure S. The money will be used to upgrade classrooms, science labs and libraries, and purchase computers, among other promises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead of offering the underwriting contract to other companies, the district selected De La Rosa and RBC Capital Markets because it had worked with them previously, said Eva Lueck, the district’s chief business and financial officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>RBC gave $25,000 to the “Yes on S” campaign two days after Lueck signed the \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/352481-glendale-rbc-contract.html\" target=\"_blank\">agreement\u003c/a>, according to filings. De La Rosa donated $25,000 a month later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lueck noted the donations came after the contract was signed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were very conscious of not crossing any lines,” said Lueck, who also volunteered on the campaign. “We always look to, well, who would this benefit, and maybe they would be willing to contribute.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the election, the district issued its first batch of Measure S bonds – $54 million worth. The underwriters bought them at a .5 percent discount in order to collect $270,000 in compensation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Watch reviewed contribution data for the five underwriting firms most active in California bond campaigns: De La Rosa, George K. Baum & Co., Piper Jaffray, RBC Capital Markets and Stone & Youngberg. (A Stone & Youngberg managing director for public finance, Tom Lockard, serves on the board of directors for the Center for Investigative Reporting.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of the firms profited from bond sales they had supported with political donations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The list of school districts benefiting from underwriter donations ranges from the tiny Blue Lake School in Humboldt County to one of the state’s largest districts, Long Beach Unified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a twist on the usual practice, Piper Jaffray last year contributed to three bond campaigns after the elections were over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one case, the Centinela Valley Union High School District in Los Angeles County \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/352486-centinela-piper-contract.html\" target=\"_blank\">hired\u003c/a> Piper Jaffray in November 2010, the month voters approved a $98 million bond measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well after the election, Piper Jaffray made a donation that may have indirectly benefited two school board candidates instead of the bond campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April 2011, Piper Jaffray gave $25,000 to \u003ca href=\"http://citizensforbetterschoolscv.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Citizens for Better Schools\u003c/a>, the committee that had \u003ca href=\"http://liveweb.archive.org/http://citizensforbetterschoolscv.com/why.html\" target=\"_blank\">championed\u003c/a> the $98 million bond measure. The committee had cash reserves and no debt, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/352492-citizens-for-better-schools-jan-june.html\" target=\"_blank\">campaign filings\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later that year, the committee \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/352493-citizens-for-better-schools-july-dec.html\" target=\"_blank\">spent $53,000\u003c/a> campaigning for two school board candidates, one of whom unseated an incumbent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bond underwriters rarely give campaign donations to individual candidates or local elected officials. Federal regulations bar underwriters from doing business with a public agency within two years of giving campaign donations to an official of that agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A donation to a committee “that the contributor knows or reasonably should know” is backing an official is the same as giving directly to the official, according to an e-mail from Ernesto Lanza, deputy executive director and chief legal officer of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. The self-regulatory agency’s rules carry the force of federal law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s those kinds of things, whether they’re innocent or not, that create a certain appearance of impropriety that creates part of the problem here,” said Canciamilla, the former assemblyman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neither the Citizens for Better Schools nor Piper Jaffray responded to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piper Jaffray’s official policy reads, “We will not make, or indicate a willingness to make, any financial contribution as a condition to being retained as an underwriter.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Centinela Valley Superintendent Jose Fernandez said the district chose Piper Jaffray because of the firm’s extensive experience, and the board unanimously approved the decision. He said he was unaware of the contribution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know anything about that,” he said. “We stay out of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s contract with Piper Jaffray specifies, “The Underwriter is not obligated as a result of this agreement to make a campaign contribution in connection with the bond election, nor has it otherwise committed to make a campaign contribution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reporting campaign donations\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010, in response to pay-to-play concerns, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board began requiring underwriters to report bond measure donations to the self-regulatory agency. The board is analyzing the data reported so far, before determining whether additional regulations are necessary, Lanza said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The correlation between contributions and school district contracts “adds to the evidence that there’s certainly something to be looked at,” he said. “It sounds like there’s a little bit of smoke there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some firms decline to make donations, such as O’Connor & Co. Securities, which is underwriting a bond passed last year in Monterey County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a firm policy, we avoid participation in campaign contributions solely to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, even though at times this could put us at a competitive disadvantage,” said company President Will O’Connor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The one case in which an underwriter made a contribution but the contract went to firms that didn’t give money occurred in the San Mateo-Foster City School District in 2008. Piper Jaffray gave $25,000 to support a $175 million bond measure there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after the election, the district instead selected Stone & Youngberg and RBC Capital Markets to sell the bonds. Those companies, neither of which made donations, simply offered a better deal, said Micaela Ochoa, the district’s chief business official at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ochoa said she solicited donations as a campaign volunteer on her own time, but made it clear that contributions wouldn’t guarantee a contract. Some firms didn’t want to give without any promises, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People would ask me, ‘Why are you even calling them?’ ” Ochoa said. “It is harder, but it’s also cleaner.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Will Evans is an investigative journalist for \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/\">California Watch</a\u003c/a>\u003c/em>>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"description": "From California Watch Leading financial firms over the past five years donated $1.8 million to successful school bond measures in California, and in almost every instance, school district officials hired those same underwriters to sell the bonds for a profit, a California Watch review has found. The practice is especially pronounced in California, where underwriters",
"title": "With Campaign Donations, California Bond Underwriters Secure Contracts | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>From \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/money-and-politics/campaign-donations-bond-underwriters-also-secure-contracts-16032\">\u003cstrong>California Watch\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leading financial firms over the past five years donated $1.8 million to successful school bond measures in California, and in almost every instance, school district officials hired those same underwriters to sell the bonds for a profit, a California Watch review has found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/05/bondgraphic.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-64534\" title=\"underwriters\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/05/underwriters-300x250.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\">\u003c/a>The practice is especially pronounced in California, where underwriters gave \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArIIIOjhjIvddHN5N0JsUHZlbjNhVEItMy1BMFdmWWc\" target=\"_blank\">155 political contributions\u003c/a> since 2007 to successful bond campaigns for school construction and repairs. One major underwriter, Piper Jaffray, has \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/352478-piper-letter.html\" target=\"_blank\">said\u003c/a> it gets more requests for campaign contributions in California than in any other state where they do business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The success rate of these underwriters is extremely high. In only five cases since 2007 has a campaign donor failed to receive a bond-selling contract from the school district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School districts say they choose bond underwriters for their expertise and competitive rates and because they’ve served them well in the past. And underwriting firms say they contribute only after they’ve been hired to sell the bonds, avoiding any undue influence. \u003c!--more-->But critics say that no matter when the agreement is made, the campaign donations influence school districts’ business decisions. They argue that pre-arranged underwriting contracts bypass a truly competitive sale, leaving in doubt whether districts got the best possible deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If this isn’t clear proof of pay to play, then pay to play doesn’t exist,” said Glenn Byers, Los Angeles County’s assistant treasurer, who oversees some school bond sales but doesn’t control the hiring of underwriters. “The timing of the payment is irrelevant. You paid and you got the job. That’s pay to play.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some states have banned the practice. Missouri, for one, outlaws donations to bond campaigns from companies with a financial interest in the bond sale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past five years in California, five major underwriters donated $1.8 million to help pass 111 ballot measures, authorizing $15.5 billion in debt. A couple dozen other measures received underwriter contributions but failed at the ballot box.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overwhelmingly, bond underwriters who donated to these campaigns were granted contracts by school districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In nearly all cases, the only underwriters that donated to a successful school bond campaign ended up working on the bond sale. Bond Buyer, a trade publication, \u003ca href=\"http://www.bondbuyer.com/issues/121_10/california-broker-dealer-contributions-school-bond-issue-1035266-1.html\" target=\"_blank\">found the same pattern\u003c/a> in an earlier review of 2010 campaign contributions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At times, multiple underwriting firms will donate to a single bond campaign. But even there, the success rate is high. In almost all cases in which multiple bond underwriters donated to the same campaign, they all were given contracts by the school district to market those bonds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For donors, failure is rare. In only five cases out of 111 did an underwriter make a donation and fail to receive a contract to sell the bonds. In four of those, however, more than one underwriter made donations and the contract went to the firm that had contributed a larger amount to the campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla, a Democrat from Pittsburg, tried and failed to pass a law in 2005 requiring competitive bidding of bond sales. In a competitive sale, which takes place after the election, the underwriter with the lowest bid wins the bonds.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">If this isn’t clear proof of pay to play, then pay to play doesn’t exist.\u003cbr>\n--Glenn Byers, Los Angeles County assistant treasurer\u003cbr>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Canciamilla said school districts instead negotiate underwriting deals before bond elections specifically to draw in campaign money. Districts are “in effect negotiating much more attractive deals for the underwriters in order to generate the money necessary to run the campaign,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under state law, school districts can’t use their own funds for bond campaigns. That leaves other interested parties – underwriters, builders and organized labor – to pony up the necessary cash. For their part, underwriters have \u003ca href=\"http://msrb.org/Rules-and-Interpretations/Regulatory-Notices/2009/2009-35.aspx?c=1\" target=\"_blank\">justified\u003c/a> the practice to federal regulators by noting that bond campaigns simply need these contributions in order to convince voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last November’s $63 million bond measure for the Newark Unified School District in Alameda County, for example, raised money from architecture and construction firms, the financial adviser and the law firm working on the bond issue, and local construction unions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only underwriter to donate, Los Angeles-based De La Rosa & Co., gave $20,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All the money was donated by outside companies,” said Gary Stadler, a parent volunteer who was the campaign’s treasurer. “We said, ‘Hey, we’re going to pass this bond to improve the schools, we need some contributions, are you going to contribute?’ And of course they’re going to, because they’re going to work here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s financial adviser, Oakland-based KNN Public Finance, had earlier considered proposals by four underwriters and ultimately recommended De La Rosa, said Newark Unified’s chief business official, Elaine Neilsen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district granted De La Rosa up to 1 percent of the bonds – potentially $630,000 in compensation – subject to negotiation before the bond sales. The company donated after signing the contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“De La Rosa & Co. respects and abides by the selection process of California’s school districts,” Chief Financial Officer Arthur Raitano wrote in an e-mail. “Accordingly, we neither discuss or consider contributions to bond ballot campaigns until such districts have selected their professional financing teams.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Top 5 underwriting firms analyzed\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Underwriters typically sign agreements with school districts before the election, and then give money for the political campaign that promotes the bond measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Underwriters act as middlemen, buying bonds from districts and selling them to investors. The underwriters buy the bonds at a discount from the district and then sell them at a higher price to their investors. Investors are essentially loaning money to the school district in exchange for regular interest payments and eventual principal repayment.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">In only five cases out of 111 did an underwriter make a donation and fail to receive a contract to sell the bonds. In four of those, however, more than one underwriter made donations and the contract went to the firm that had contributed a larger amount to the campaign.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>In February 2011, for example, the Glendale Unified School District picked two underwriters to handle a $270 million bond that would go before voters in April as Measure S. The money will be used to upgrade classrooms, science labs and libraries, and purchase computers, among other promises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead of offering the underwriting contract to other companies, the district selected De La Rosa and RBC Capital Markets because it had worked with them previously, said Eva Lueck, the district’s chief business and financial officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>RBC gave $25,000 to the “Yes on S” campaign two days after Lueck signed the \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/352481-glendale-rbc-contract.html\" target=\"_blank\">agreement\u003c/a>, according to filings. De La Rosa donated $25,000 a month later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lueck noted the donations came after the contract was signed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were very conscious of not crossing any lines,” said Lueck, who also volunteered on the campaign. “We always look to, well, who would this benefit, and maybe they would be willing to contribute.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the election, the district issued its first batch of Measure S bonds – $54 million worth. The underwriters bought them at a .5 percent discount in order to collect $270,000 in compensation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Watch reviewed contribution data for the five underwriting firms most active in California bond campaigns: De La Rosa, George K. Baum & Co., Piper Jaffray, RBC Capital Markets and Stone & Youngberg. (A Stone & Youngberg managing director for public finance, Tom Lockard, serves on the board of directors for the Center for Investigative Reporting.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of the firms profited from bond sales they had supported with political donations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The list of school districts benefiting from underwriter donations ranges from the tiny Blue Lake School in Humboldt County to one of the state’s largest districts, Long Beach Unified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a twist on the usual practice, Piper Jaffray last year contributed to three bond campaigns after the elections were over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one case, the Centinela Valley Union High School District in Los Angeles County \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/352486-centinela-piper-contract.html\" target=\"_blank\">hired\u003c/a> Piper Jaffray in November 2010, the month voters approved a $98 million bond measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well after the election, Piper Jaffray made a donation that may have indirectly benefited two school board candidates instead of the bond campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April 2011, Piper Jaffray gave $25,000 to \u003ca href=\"http://citizensforbetterschoolscv.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Citizens for Better Schools\u003c/a>, the committee that had \u003ca href=\"http://liveweb.archive.org/http://citizensforbetterschoolscv.com/why.html\" target=\"_blank\">championed\u003c/a> the $98 million bond measure. The committee had cash reserves and no debt, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/352492-citizens-for-better-schools-jan-june.html\" target=\"_blank\">campaign filings\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later that year, the committee \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/352493-citizens-for-better-schools-july-dec.html\" target=\"_blank\">spent $53,000\u003c/a> campaigning for two school board candidates, one of whom unseated an incumbent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bond underwriters rarely give campaign donations to individual candidates or local elected officials. Federal regulations bar underwriters from doing business with a public agency within two years of giving campaign donations to an official of that agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A donation to a committee “that the contributor knows or reasonably should know” is backing an official is the same as giving directly to the official, according to an e-mail from Ernesto Lanza, deputy executive director and chief legal officer of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. The self-regulatory agency’s rules carry the force of federal law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s those kinds of things, whether they’re innocent or not, that create a certain appearance of impropriety that creates part of the problem here,” said Canciamilla, the former assemblyman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neither the Citizens for Better Schools nor Piper Jaffray responded to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piper Jaffray’s official policy reads, “We will not make, or indicate a willingness to make, any financial contribution as a condition to being retained as an underwriter.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Centinela Valley Superintendent Jose Fernandez said the district chose Piper Jaffray because of the firm’s extensive experience, and the board unanimously approved the decision. He said he was unaware of the contribution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know anything about that,” he said. “We stay out of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s contract with Piper Jaffray specifies, “The Underwriter is not obligated as a result of this agreement to make a campaign contribution in connection with the bond election, nor has it otherwise committed to make a campaign contribution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reporting campaign donations\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010, in response to pay-to-play concerns, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board began requiring underwriters to report bond measure donations to the self-regulatory agency. The board is analyzing the data reported so far, before determining whether additional regulations are necessary, Lanza said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The correlation between contributions and school district contracts “adds to the evidence that there’s certainly something to be looked at,” he said. “It sounds like there’s a little bit of smoke there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some firms decline to make donations, such as O’Connor & Co. Securities, which is underwriting a bond passed last year in Monterey County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a firm policy, we avoid participation in campaign contributions solely to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, even though at times this could put us at a competitive disadvantage,” said company President Will O’Connor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The one case in which an underwriter made a contribution but the contract went to firms that didn’t give money occurred in the San Mateo-Foster City School District in 2008. Piper Jaffray gave $25,000 to support a $175 million bond measure there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after the election, the district instead selected Stone & Youngberg and RBC Capital Markets to sell the bonds. Those companies, neither of which made donations, simply offered a better deal, said Micaela Ochoa, the district’s chief business official at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ochoa said she solicited donations as a campaign volunteer on her own time, but made it clear that contributions wouldn’t guarantee a contract. Some firms didn’t want to give without any promises, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People would ask me, ‘Why are you even calling them?’ ” Ochoa said. “It is harder, but it’s also cleaner.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Will Evans is an investigative journalist for \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/\">California Watch</a\u003c/a>\u003c/em>>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "White-Dominated Local Boards in Calif. Face Legal Threats Over Racial Makeup",
"title": "White-Dominated Local Boards in Calif. Face Legal Threats Over Racial Makeup",
"headTitle": "News Fix | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>From \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/money-and-politics/white-dominated-boards-face-legal-threats-over-racial-makeup-15205\">California Watch\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58990\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 127px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/03/JZurita3.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-58990\" title=\"JZurita3\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/03/JZurita3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"127\" height=\"175\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Compton City Councilwoman Janna Zurita (comptoncity.org)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Compton City Councilwoman Janna Zurita owes her Hispanic last name to a grandmother from Spain, whom she never met. Zurita considers her mother black and said her father “wants to be black” even though he “looks Latino.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zurita, the mayor pro tem of Compton, sometimes jokes with her sister about their racial roots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She always tells me I look just like a Mexican: flat booty, straight hair. You know, just all kind of – how Mexicans used to look. You know, now they have big booties,” Zurita said in a legal deposition in November. “You know, little jokes about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Zurita takes a sometimes-playful approach to her racial identity, it became the serious subject of a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/322282-compton-complaint.html\" target=\"_blank\">lawsuit\u003c/a> under the California Voting Rights Act. In January, a judge ruled that a trial would be necessary to figure out whether \u003ca href=\"http://jannazurita.com/about/\" target=\"_blank\">Zurita\u003c/a> could be considered Latina and whether that means Latinos have a voice on the council. The city settled the suit late last month. \u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legal gymnastics in Compton illustrate California’s far-reaching law, which bars local governments from diluting the voting strength of minorities. The law has become the foundation of a burgeoning onslaught of legal threats that could upend the racial makeup of elected bodies throughout the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Armed with 2010 census data, a network of attorneys is increasingly targeting local governments – from cities and school boards to hospital and community college districts – for not reflecting the demographics of their constituents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the dispute in Compton, where Zurita’s race was under question, pitted Latino residents against the city’s traditionally black leadership, other cases seek to increase minority representation on elected boards that are dominated by whites.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/a/kqednews/RN201202291730/a\">\u003cstrong>Santa Clara Nixes Plan Aimed at Increasing City Council Diversit\u003c/strong>y\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“We’re seeing the fastest change in how California organizes local government since the Progressives of the early 20th century,” said Douglas Johnson of the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College, who has been critical of the law. “The law is extremely expansive. Every local government in California should be looking into this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Particularly striking against this backdrop are the 14 cities in California where all-white councils preside over communities where either Latinos or Asians make up the majority of residents. Several are clustered in the Los Angeles area, like Whittier and Arcadia, but they range from Tulelake, on the Oregon border, to Holtville, near the Mexican border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another 20 cities have Latino majorities and only one minority on city council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such cities can make especially attractive targets for civil rights lawyers, who see the stark disparities as evidence of a systemic problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are the cities that should recognize that they are low-hanging fruit for groups who might want to bring lawsuits,” said Paul Mitchell of Redistricting Partners, a Sacramento-based consulting firm that works with local governments to determine their vulnerability under the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58992\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/03/montclaircouncil.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-58992\" title=\"montclaircouncil\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/03/montclaircouncil-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photos of Montclair City Council members line the wall of the board chambers.(Carlos Puma/California Watch)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California Watch was able to identify the 34 cities with data from Redistricting Partners and another consulting group, GrassrootsLab. But the cities represent one end of a spectrum. Numerous other communities, with smaller minority populations or more diversity on the city council, also could be subject to a suit under the California Voting Rights Act, which was passed in 2002 and signed by Gov. Gray Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law prohibits local governments from holding at-large elections – in which the entire community votes for a slate of candidates – if that system weakens the ability of minorities to elect candidates of their choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An elected board can be found in violation if voting statistics show the community polarized along racial lines. That happens, for example, when Latinos vote more than their white neighbors for Latino candidates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities, school districts and other elected boards that violate the act can be forced to divide their communities with district elections, in which different areas elect their own representatives. That way, districts with a high concentration of minorities could more easily elect one of their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A law so rooted in race inevitably leads to thorny questions about racial politics and the murky, subjective cauldron of ethnic identity. Should the race of a city councilmember even matter? And, in a state where the lines are increasingly blurred, who can determine a councilmember’s race other than the council member?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Compton, lawyers representing two Latina residents argued that Zurita is not Latina. Zurita, on the other hand, pointed to her election as evidence that Latinos are represented. But even she seemed conflicted during \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/322247-zurita-transcript1.html\" target=\"_blank\">her deposition\u003c/a>, at one point saying that she is Latina, at another point that she isn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked point-blank by an opposing lawyer, Zurita replied, “I don’t think there is any pure races.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The brouhaha over Zurita’s race “raises an issue that I believe is silent in the legislation, which is, how are you calculating ethnicity?” said Compton City Attorney Craig J. Cornwell. “Is it people who have Latino ancestry? Is it how a person self-identifies themselves?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Census doesn’t provide clear answers, because it considers being Hispanic or Latino separate from race. On government forms, Zurita sometimes marks black, sometimes “other” and couldn’t remember if she ever marked Latino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding to the confusion, Zurita later referred to her Spanish grandmother as Mexican. The attorney sought to clarify: “So she was from Spain, but her heritage was Mexican?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Well,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/322251-zurita-transcript2.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zurita replied\u003c/a>, “you know, I don't know. All this Mexican, third generation, fourth generation, Latina, Latino – I just kind of refer to the group as Mexican.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regardless, Zurita maintained that she represents all residents of Compton, where 65 percent of the population is Hispanic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don't even think race, you know,” she said. “I don't look at race.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a settlement last month, Compton agreed to let voters decide whether to change to district elections. If voters shoot it down on the June ballot, the city will put it to another vote in November. Compton also agreed to pay the opposing attorneys’ fees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>At-large elections challenged\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s law is grounded in the idea that minorities sometimes vote differently from the rest of the population and that at-large elections, where the majority rules, can unfairly dilute their influence. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld that underlying notion in cases interpreting the federal Voting Rights Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, in many parts of the state, including throughout Los Angeles County, Californians do tend to vote for candidates of their same race, according to research by Matt Barreto, who served as an independent expert to the state redistricting commission. Barreto also consults for lawyers suing under the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California law makes it much easier to challenge at-large elections than under the federal Voting Rights Act. Plus, the state law puts local governments at a disadvantage: If they lose a lawsuit, they have to pay the other side’s attorney’s fees, but not the other way around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The act was drafted by \u003ca href=\"http://www.law.seattleu.edu/x3078.xml\" target=\"_blank\">Joaquin Avila\u003c/a>, a Seattle-based voting rights attorney, and \u003ca href=\"http://www.lccr.com/about_staff_rubin.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">Robert Rubin\u003c/a>, who until recently was legal director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. The duo has gone on to sue school districts and cities, racking up millions of dollars and sparking accusations that they are in it for the money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubin, now in private practice, said the money from his share of legal settlements went to the nonprofit civil rights organization where he worked. He said governments saddled with huge legal costs have only themselves to blame for not following the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to continue to be aggressive,” Rubin said. “We intend to enforce this until it doesn’t need enforcement anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Legal threats quicken\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A series of court victories and settlements has created a ripple effect in which many school districts are switching to district elections voluntarily rather than face expensive lawsuits. Since 2009, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/324004-school-boards-final.html\" target=\"_blank\">nearly 70 school boards\u003c/a> applied with the state Board of Education to make the switch, the majority of them just this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, lawyers have ratcheted up their legal threats in the last two years, shooting off letters to cities such as Visalia, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/322283-santa-clara-lawyer-letter.html\" target=\"_blank\">Santa Clara\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/322285-west-covina-lawyer-etter.html\" target=\"_blank\">West Covina\u003c/a> and Whittier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010, law co-authors Rubin and Avila sued the Central Valley city of Tulare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suit argued that even though Tulare then had a Latino councilman, he wasn’t the “candidate of choice of Latino voters.” Another councilman, David Macedo, said in an interview that he identifies as Hispanic because of his Portuguese ancestry, but doesn’t consider himself Latino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tulare settled for $225,000, which went to the plaintiff’s lawyers, and will hold a vote this year on switching to district elections. Macedo said he would encourage residents to approve the switch because, given the law, “one way or another, that’s the way it’s headed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubin, Avila and affiliated attorneys have directed the legal offensive so far. But labor unions and other groups also could use the law as a weapon in disputes with cities and school boards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first such case came in December, when the State Building & Construction Trades Council of California \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/322281-escondido-lawsuit.html\" target=\"_blank\">sued\u003c/a> the city of Escondido, in San Diego County, alleging that at-large elections leave Latinos without fair representation. The union targeted Escondido because officials there have been trying to lower wages on public construction projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cities push back\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some cities aren’t giving in easily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An attorney for the city of Whittier \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/322280-whittier-response-letter.html\" target=\"_blank\">fired back\u003c/a> with a letter to Avila saying it was not violating minorities’ rights. She noted that many “prominent” Latinos had endorsed white council members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Victor Lopez, who died in 2002, was the only Latino elected to the Whittier City Council and has a school auditorium named for him. His son, Doug, was later appointed to serve out another term. Others have run and lost, but Doug Lopez isn’t troubled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If a Hispanic ran who was very competent and qualified, they’d run away with it,” said Lopez, now a real estate developer in San Luis Obispo. “Do you need minority representation? I don’t think so. You just need good representation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In nearby Montclair, an Inland Empire city known for its shopping plaza, the Latino population grew from 60 percent to 70 percent over the last decade. Retired engineer Jose Maldonado ran for city council in 2010 because he was upset with how the police treated Latinos. He thought there should be a Latino voice on the council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We Latinos,” he said in an interview, “we think different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maldonado came within a few hundred votes, but lost to two white incumbents. One of them has served on the council since 1978. Maldonado likes the idea of district elections. He attributes his loss to a lack of resources in challenging an entrenched power structure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t go against the establishment,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before that, in 2004, conservative activist Ben Lopez tried to win a seat in the small suburb. Lopez said council incumbents recruited another Latino candidate in order to “split the Latin vote.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the other Latino candidate, Manny Martinez, said he was recruited by council members who simply wanted another alternative to Lopez on the ballot. In the end, Lopez and Martinez both lost. Martinez said it wasn’t about race.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just a matter of the right candidate at the right time,” said Martinez, who was appointed to a city council advisory committee. “There doesn’t seem to be any old boys network preventing Latinos from getting elected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martinez said current Councilman J. John Dutrey has a Spanish background. Dutrey goes by John, but his name is listed on ballots as Javier “John” Dutrey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Political participation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some residents in Latino or Asian communities are immigrants who can’t legally vote. Others lack a strong culture of voting, say some aspiring candidates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities have tried to blame low turnout among minorities for their lack of representation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think you will agree with me that if people do not vote, that speaks volumes about their desire to elect a particular candidate,” an attorney for the city of Visalia \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/322286-visalia-letters.html\" target=\"_blank\">wrote to Rubin\u003c/a>, the civil rights attorney.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubin dismissed the argument, blaming a history of discrimination for discouraging political participation. Visalia recently decided to put a change to district elections on the November ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mayor Jerry Brittsan of Holtville, where 82 percent of the 5,939 residents are Hispanic, said Latinos “just refuse to participate.” The city, in Imperial County, sits 10 miles north of Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Mexicans in this area – this is a border town – they just don’t trust whites,” Brittsan said. “They don’t trust authority. The only people they do trust are the firemen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianca Padilla Legaspi, who won a seat on the Holtville council in 2006, disagreed. Young and campaigning in two languages, she was an unusual candidate for Holtville, but “people really responded to it,” she said. Latinos don’t tend to run for office there, she said, because many have low income and education levels and don’t feel qualified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some cities with all-white councils, minority candidates have won in past elections – but not recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Arcadia, for example, Asians served on the city council since 1994. Arcadia and neighboring cities in the San Gabriel Valley have an especially strong concentration of Asian, and particularly Chinese American, residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the 2010 council election, three Asians and three whites competed for three council seats. The campaign seemed to inflame racial tensions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorney Jason Lee announced he was running in part “because the Asian Americans are underrepresented in the City Council of Arcadia.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the end, all three Asians lost, leaving the council all white.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asians have to work harder to get elected in Arcadia, but it’s not impossible, said John Wuo, who served two terms and is running again. Wuo said he would oppose a change to district elections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that’s a bad way to do it, because you basically try to segregate,” Wuo said. “If you divide into districts, then you have fighting among the districts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boosting minority representation isn’t a guaranteed outcome of district elections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After civil rights lawyers sued Modesto in 2004, the city ended up paying a $3 million settlement and changing to district elections. But the racial makeup of the council is the same as it was before the switch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Geer, who is white, thought he had no chance to win in Modesto’s District 2, which he said was designed to elect a Latino. But Geer beat the Latino candidate and now believes the system worked to give a neglected neighborhood a voice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s nice to have someone who represents an area that has been historically unrepresented,” Geer said. “For decades, no one who served on the city council lived in District 2 because it’s on the wrong side of the tracks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Will Evans is an investigative journalist for \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/\">California Watch\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"description": "From California Watch Compton City Councilwoman Janna Zurita owes her Hispanic last name to a grandmother from Spain, whom she never met. Zurita considers her mother black and said her father “wants to be black” even though he “looks Latino.” Zurita, the mayor pro tem of Compton, sometimes jokes with her sister about their racial",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>From \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/money-and-politics/white-dominated-boards-face-legal-threats-over-racial-makeup-15205\">California Watch\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58990\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 127px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/03/JZurita3.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-58990\" title=\"JZurita3\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/03/JZurita3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"127\" height=\"175\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Compton City Councilwoman Janna Zurita (comptoncity.org)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Compton City Councilwoman Janna Zurita owes her Hispanic last name to a grandmother from Spain, whom she never met. Zurita considers her mother black and said her father “wants to be black” even though he “looks Latino.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zurita, the mayor pro tem of Compton, sometimes jokes with her sister about their racial roots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She always tells me I look just like a Mexican: flat booty, straight hair. You know, just all kind of – how Mexicans used to look. You know, now they have big booties,” Zurita said in a legal deposition in November. “You know, little jokes about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Zurita takes a sometimes-playful approach to her racial identity, it became the serious subject of a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/322282-compton-complaint.html\" target=\"_blank\">lawsuit\u003c/a> under the California Voting Rights Act. In January, a judge ruled that a trial would be necessary to figure out whether \u003ca href=\"http://jannazurita.com/about/\" target=\"_blank\">Zurita\u003c/a> could be considered Latina and whether that means Latinos have a voice on the council. The city settled the suit late last month. \u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legal gymnastics in Compton illustrate California’s far-reaching law, which bars local governments from diluting the voting strength of minorities. The law has become the foundation of a burgeoning onslaught of legal threats that could upend the racial makeup of elected bodies throughout the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Armed with 2010 census data, a network of attorneys is increasingly targeting local governments – from cities and school boards to hospital and community college districts – for not reflecting the demographics of their constituents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the dispute in Compton, where Zurita’s race was under question, pitted Latino residents against the city’s traditionally black leadership, other cases seek to increase minority representation on elected boards that are dominated by whites.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/a/kqednews/RN201202291730/a\">\u003cstrong>Santa Clara Nixes Plan Aimed at Increasing City Council Diversit\u003c/strong>y\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“We’re seeing the fastest change in how California organizes local government since the Progressives of the early 20th century,” said Douglas Johnson of the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College, who has been critical of the law. “The law is extremely expansive. Every local government in California should be looking into this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Particularly striking against this backdrop are the 14 cities in California where all-white councils preside over communities where either Latinos or Asians make up the majority of residents. Several are clustered in the Los Angeles area, like Whittier and Arcadia, but they range from Tulelake, on the Oregon border, to Holtville, near the Mexican border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another 20 cities have Latino majorities and only one minority on city council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such cities can make especially attractive targets for civil rights lawyers, who see the stark disparities as evidence of a systemic problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are the cities that should recognize that they are low-hanging fruit for groups who might want to bring lawsuits,” said Paul Mitchell of Redistricting Partners, a Sacramento-based consulting firm that works with local governments to determine their vulnerability under the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58992\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/03/montclaircouncil.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-58992\" title=\"montclaircouncil\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2012/03/montclaircouncil-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photos of Montclair City Council members line the wall of the board chambers.(Carlos Puma/California Watch)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California Watch was able to identify the 34 cities with data from Redistricting Partners and another consulting group, GrassrootsLab. But the cities represent one end of a spectrum. Numerous other communities, with smaller minority populations or more diversity on the city council, also could be subject to a suit under the California Voting Rights Act, which was passed in 2002 and signed by Gov. Gray Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law prohibits local governments from holding at-large elections – in which the entire community votes for a slate of candidates – if that system weakens the ability of minorities to elect candidates of their choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An elected board can be found in violation if voting statistics show the community polarized along racial lines. That happens, for example, when Latinos vote more than their white neighbors for Latino candidates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities, school districts and other elected boards that violate the act can be forced to divide their communities with district elections, in which different areas elect their own representatives. That way, districts with a high concentration of minorities could more easily elect one of their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A law so rooted in race inevitably leads to thorny questions about racial politics and the murky, subjective cauldron of ethnic identity. Should the race of a city councilmember even matter? And, in a state where the lines are increasingly blurred, who can determine a councilmember’s race other than the council member?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Compton, lawyers representing two Latina residents argued that Zurita is not Latina. Zurita, on the other hand, pointed to her election as evidence that Latinos are represented. But even she seemed conflicted during \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/322247-zurita-transcript1.html\" target=\"_blank\">her deposition\u003c/a>, at one point saying that she is Latina, at another point that she isn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked point-blank by an opposing lawyer, Zurita replied, “I don’t think there is any pure races.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The brouhaha over Zurita’s race “raises an issue that I believe is silent in the legislation, which is, how are you calculating ethnicity?” said Compton City Attorney Craig J. Cornwell. “Is it people who have Latino ancestry? Is it how a person self-identifies themselves?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Census doesn’t provide clear answers, because it considers being Hispanic or Latino separate from race. On government forms, Zurita sometimes marks black, sometimes “other” and couldn’t remember if she ever marked Latino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding to the confusion, Zurita later referred to her Spanish grandmother as Mexican. The attorney sought to clarify: “So she was from Spain, but her heritage was Mexican?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Well,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/322251-zurita-transcript2.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zurita replied\u003c/a>, “you know, I don't know. All this Mexican, third generation, fourth generation, Latina, Latino – I just kind of refer to the group as Mexican.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regardless, Zurita maintained that she represents all residents of Compton, where 65 percent of the population is Hispanic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don't even think race, you know,” she said. “I don't look at race.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a settlement last month, Compton agreed to let voters decide whether to change to district elections. If voters shoot it down on the June ballot, the city will put it to another vote in November. Compton also agreed to pay the opposing attorneys’ fees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>At-large elections challenged\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s law is grounded in the idea that minorities sometimes vote differently from the rest of the population and that at-large elections, where the majority rules, can unfairly dilute their influence. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld that underlying notion in cases interpreting the federal Voting Rights Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, in many parts of the state, including throughout Los Angeles County, Californians do tend to vote for candidates of their same race, according to research by Matt Barreto, who served as an independent expert to the state redistricting commission. Barreto also consults for lawyers suing under the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California law makes it much easier to challenge at-large elections than under the federal Voting Rights Act. Plus, the state law puts local governments at a disadvantage: If they lose a lawsuit, they have to pay the other side’s attorney’s fees, but not the other way around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The act was drafted by \u003ca href=\"http://www.law.seattleu.edu/x3078.xml\" target=\"_blank\">Joaquin Avila\u003c/a>, a Seattle-based voting rights attorney, and \u003ca href=\"http://www.lccr.com/about_staff_rubin.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">Robert Rubin\u003c/a>, who until recently was legal director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. The duo has gone on to sue school districts and cities, racking up millions of dollars and sparking accusations that they are in it for the money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubin, now in private practice, said the money from his share of legal settlements went to the nonprofit civil rights organization where he worked. He said governments saddled with huge legal costs have only themselves to blame for not following the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to continue to be aggressive,” Rubin said. “We intend to enforce this until it doesn’t need enforcement anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Legal threats quicken\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A series of court victories and settlements has created a ripple effect in which many school districts are switching to district elections voluntarily rather than face expensive lawsuits. Since 2009, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/324004-school-boards-final.html\" target=\"_blank\">nearly 70 school boards\u003c/a> applied with the state Board of Education to make the switch, the majority of them just this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, lawyers have ratcheted up their legal threats in the last two years, shooting off letters to cities such as Visalia, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/322283-santa-clara-lawyer-letter.html\" target=\"_blank\">Santa Clara\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/322285-west-covina-lawyer-etter.html\" target=\"_blank\">West Covina\u003c/a> and Whittier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010, law co-authors Rubin and Avila sued the Central Valley city of Tulare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suit argued that even though Tulare then had a Latino councilman, he wasn’t the “candidate of choice of Latino voters.” Another councilman, David Macedo, said in an interview that he identifies as Hispanic because of his Portuguese ancestry, but doesn’t consider himself Latino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tulare settled for $225,000, which went to the plaintiff’s lawyers, and will hold a vote this year on switching to district elections. Macedo said he would encourage residents to approve the switch because, given the law, “one way or another, that’s the way it’s headed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubin, Avila and affiliated attorneys have directed the legal offensive so far. But labor unions and other groups also could use the law as a weapon in disputes with cities and school boards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first such case came in December, when the State Building & Construction Trades Council of California \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/322281-escondido-lawsuit.html\" target=\"_blank\">sued\u003c/a> the city of Escondido, in San Diego County, alleging that at-large elections leave Latinos without fair representation. The union targeted Escondido because officials there have been trying to lower wages on public construction projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cities push back\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some cities aren’t giving in easily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An attorney for the city of Whittier \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/322280-whittier-response-letter.html\" target=\"_blank\">fired back\u003c/a> with a letter to Avila saying it was not violating minorities’ rights. She noted that many “prominent” Latinos had endorsed white council members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Victor Lopez, who died in 2002, was the only Latino elected to the Whittier City Council and has a school auditorium named for him. His son, Doug, was later appointed to serve out another term. Others have run and lost, but Doug Lopez isn’t troubled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If a Hispanic ran who was very competent and qualified, they’d run away with it,” said Lopez, now a real estate developer in San Luis Obispo. “Do you need minority representation? I don’t think so. You just need good representation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In nearby Montclair, an Inland Empire city known for its shopping plaza, the Latino population grew from 60 percent to 70 percent over the last decade. Retired engineer Jose Maldonado ran for city council in 2010 because he was upset with how the police treated Latinos. He thought there should be a Latino voice on the council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We Latinos,” he said in an interview, “we think different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maldonado came within a few hundred votes, but lost to two white incumbents. One of them has served on the council since 1978. Maldonado likes the idea of district elections. He attributes his loss to a lack of resources in challenging an entrenched power structure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t go against the establishment,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before that, in 2004, conservative activist Ben Lopez tried to win a seat in the small suburb. Lopez said council incumbents recruited another Latino candidate in order to “split the Latin vote.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the other Latino candidate, Manny Martinez, said he was recruited by council members who simply wanted another alternative to Lopez on the ballot. In the end, Lopez and Martinez both lost. Martinez said it wasn’t about race.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just a matter of the right candidate at the right time,” said Martinez, who was appointed to a city council advisory committee. “There doesn’t seem to be any old boys network preventing Latinos from getting elected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martinez said current Councilman J. John Dutrey has a Spanish background. Dutrey goes by John, but his name is listed on ballots as Javier “John” Dutrey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Political participation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some residents in Latino or Asian communities are immigrants who can’t legally vote. Others lack a strong culture of voting, say some aspiring candidates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities have tried to blame low turnout among minorities for their lack of representation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think you will agree with me that if people do not vote, that speaks volumes about their desire to elect a particular candidate,” an attorney for the city of Visalia \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/322286-visalia-letters.html\" target=\"_blank\">wrote to Rubin\u003c/a>, the civil rights attorney.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubin dismissed the argument, blaming a history of discrimination for discouraging political participation. Visalia recently decided to put a change to district elections on the November ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mayor Jerry Brittsan of Holtville, where 82 percent of the 5,939 residents are Hispanic, said Latinos “just refuse to participate.” The city, in Imperial County, sits 10 miles north of Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Mexicans in this area – this is a border town – they just don’t trust whites,” Brittsan said. “They don’t trust authority. The only people they do trust are the firemen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianca Padilla Legaspi, who won a seat on the Holtville council in 2006, disagreed. Young and campaigning in two languages, she was an unusual candidate for Holtville, but “people really responded to it,” she said. Latinos don’t tend to run for office there, she said, because many have low income and education levels and don’t feel qualified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some cities with all-white councils, minority candidates have won in past elections – but not recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Arcadia, for example, Asians served on the city council since 1994. Arcadia and neighboring cities in the San Gabriel Valley have an especially strong concentration of Asian, and particularly Chinese American, residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the 2010 council election, three Asians and three whites competed for three council seats. The campaign seemed to inflame racial tensions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorney Jason Lee announced he was running in part “because the Asian Americans are underrepresented in the City Council of Arcadia.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the end, all three Asians lost, leaving the council all white.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asians have to work harder to get elected in Arcadia, but it’s not impossible, said John Wuo, who served two terms and is running again. Wuo said he would oppose a change to district elections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that’s a bad way to do it, because you basically try to segregate,” Wuo said. “If you divide into districts, then you have fighting among the districts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boosting minority representation isn’t a guaranteed outcome of district elections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After civil rights lawyers sued Modesto in 2004, the city ended up paying a $3 million settlement and changing to district elections. But the racial makeup of the council is the same as it was before the switch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Geer, who is white, thought he had no chance to win in Modesto’s District 2, which he said was designed to elect a Latino. But Geer beat the Latino candidate and now believes the system worked to give a neglected neighborhood a voice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s nice to have someone who represents an area that has been historically unrepresented,” Geer said. “For decades, no one who served on the city council lived in District 2 because it’s on the wrong side of the tracks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Will Evans is an investigative journalist for \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/\">California Watch\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Super PAC That Hounds GOP Includes Funds From Wealthy Californians",
"title": "Super PAC That Hounds GOP Includes Funds From Wealthy Californians",
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"content": "\u003cp>From \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/californians-fund-super-pac-hounds-gop-14841\">\u003cstrong>California Watch\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everywhere Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney goes, he is followed by \"trackers\" with video cameras, hoping to catch him making an embarrassing gaffe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort, run by a super political action committee, is funded in part by wealthy Californians. American Bridge 21st Century pulled in more than $1 million from California donors last year, more than from any other state, according to campaign filings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.americanbridgepac.org/\" target=\"_blank\">American Bridge\u003c/a> is a liberal research organization in hot pursuit of what is now known as a \"\u003ca href=\"http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=2322630&page=1#.TzRhQkxSSTQ\" target=\"_blank\">macaca\u003c/a>\" moment. In 2006, then-Sen. George Allen, R-Va., used the term to refer to an Indian American volunteer tracker for Allen's opponent, contributing to the failure of his re-election campaign. \u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>American Bridge's team of about 16 video trackers follows Romney and his Republican rivals to all their events and will become increasingly active in Senate and House races this year, said spokesman Chris Harris. About 25 researchers comb public statements, business records and campaign contributions, and a communications team works to get the message out \"in the political bloodstream,\" Harris said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s biggest donor to American Bridge, with a $200,000 contribution, was Anne Earhart, an Orange County \u003ca href=\"http://seavoices.com/people-a-m/anne-earhart/\" target=\"_blank\">environmentalist\u003c/a>, philanthropist and \u003ca href=\"http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/54/2002/LIR.jhtml?passListId=54&passYear=2002&passListType=Person&uniqueId=N98Y&datatype=Person\" target=\"_blank\">heiress\u003c/a> to the Getty Oil fortune. Earhart is founder of the Marisla Foundation, which funds environmental causes and gave $15,000 to the Center for Investigative Reporting for environmental reporting in 2006.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hollywood producer and Democratic megadonor Steve Bing – known for, among other things, a paternity dispute with actress Elizabeth Hurley – gave $150,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several other big donations came from the San Francisco Bay Area. \u003ca href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susie-tompkins-buell\" target=\"_blank\">Susie Buell\u003c/a>, co-founder of Esprit clothing company and longtime friend of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, gave $100,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So did \u003ca href=\"http://www.newideasfund.org/node/18\" target=\"_blank\">David desJardins\u003c/a>, a former Google software engineer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>American Bridge is \"dedicated to making facts matter\" by holding Republicans accountable for what they say, desJardins wrote in an e-mail. He wants American Bridge to catch Romney, for example, appealing to primary voters with more conservative rhetoric than what he would say in the general election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I don't care if he takes one position or another, but I don't think he should have his cake and eat it too – if he wants to tell one group what he stands for, then everyone else should hear the same thing,\" desJardins wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paul Zygielbaum, an anti-asbestos \u003ca href=\"http://www.mesothel.com/asbestos-cancer/legislation/victim-protest-letters/zygielbaum_essay.htm\" target=\"_blank\">advocate\u003c/a> and chief operating officer of a glucose monitoring device company, also gave $100,000. Stephen Silberstein, co-founder of a library technology company and former board member of the Sierra Club Foundation, chipped in $100,000 as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several of American Bridge's donors are affiliated with the Democracy Alliance, a network of top-level liberal donors that strategically coordinates giving. The group's chairman, Taco Bell heir \u003ca href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-mckay\" target=\"_blank\">Rob McKay\u003c/a>, gave $50,000 to American Bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>American Bridge works with other super PACs, like the pro-Obama Priorities USA Action, to provide research and video clips that can then be used in attack ads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They can spend their resources and their time doing what they do best, and we can focus on what we do best,\" Harris said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In October, American Bridge accused Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., of plagiarism after it \u003ca href=\"http://www.boston.com/Boston/politicalintelligence/2011/10/scott-brown-web-message-mirrors-elizabeth-dole-speech/86ZX3F3iZbJKdsoTL5vguN/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">discovered\u003c/a> a personal message on Brown's website matched a speech by former Sen. Elizabeth Dole. Brown's office \u003ca href=\"http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20119816-503544.html\" target=\"_blank\">blamed\u003c/a> a staff oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Romney called his income from speaking fees \"not very much,\" American Bridge raced out with an online \u003ca href=\"http://www.americanbridgepac.org/2012/01/wire/response/video-not-very-much-romney-on-374000-in-speaking-fees/\" target=\"_blank\">video\u003c/a> criticizing the comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The super PAC also provided research for a Los Angeles Times \u003ca href=\"http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/12/nation/la-na-bain-subsidies-20120113\" target=\"_blank\">story\u003c/a> on tax breaks for a steel company that Romney invested in when he was with Bain Capital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group was formed in 2010 by conservative-turned-liberal operative \u003ca href=\"http://nymag.com/news/media/david-brock-media-matters-2011-5/\" target=\"_blank\">David Brock\u003c/a>, who also founded Media Matters for America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"After we got our butts kicked in the midterms, David Brock realized something needed to be done,\" Harris said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The result is \"the next iteration of technology impacting politics,\" said Barbara O’Connor, professor emeritus and former director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at CSU Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It’s the marrying of the irate grassroots folks who used to dog people and try to get them to say something they'd regret later ... combined with large amounts of money and staff,\" she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But O'Connor said the incessant focus on gaffes has a big downside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"What it produces is candidates that are a lot more careful, don’t say anything and are vanilla, because they don’t want to be caught in that trap,\" O'Connor said. \"And that makes voters even more unhappy.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Will Evans is an investigative journalist for\u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/californians-fund-super-pac-hounds-gop-14841\"> California Watch\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"description": "From California Watch Everywhere Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney goes, he is followed by "trackers" with video cameras, hoping to catch him making an embarrassing gaffe. The effort, run by a super political action committee, is funded in part by wealthy Californians. American Bridge 21st Century pulled in more than $1 million from California donors",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>From \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/californians-fund-super-pac-hounds-gop-14841\">\u003cstrong>California Watch\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everywhere Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney goes, he is followed by \"trackers\" with video cameras, hoping to catch him making an embarrassing gaffe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort, run by a super political action committee, is funded in part by wealthy Californians. American Bridge 21st Century pulled in more than $1 million from California donors last year, more than from any other state, according to campaign filings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.americanbridgepac.org/\" target=\"_blank\">American Bridge\u003c/a> is a liberal research organization in hot pursuit of what is now known as a \"\u003ca href=\"http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=2322630&page=1#.TzRhQkxSSTQ\" target=\"_blank\">macaca\u003c/a>\" moment. In 2006, then-Sen. George Allen, R-Va., used the term to refer to an Indian American volunteer tracker for Allen's opponent, contributing to the failure of his re-election campaign. \u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>American Bridge's team of about 16 video trackers follows Romney and his Republican rivals to all their events and will become increasingly active in Senate and House races this year, said spokesman Chris Harris. About 25 researchers comb public statements, business records and campaign contributions, and a communications team works to get the message out \"in the political bloodstream,\" Harris said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s biggest donor to American Bridge, with a $200,000 contribution, was Anne Earhart, an Orange County \u003ca href=\"http://seavoices.com/people-a-m/anne-earhart/\" target=\"_blank\">environmentalist\u003c/a>, philanthropist and \u003ca href=\"http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/54/2002/LIR.jhtml?passListId=54&passYear=2002&passListType=Person&uniqueId=N98Y&datatype=Person\" target=\"_blank\">heiress\u003c/a> to the Getty Oil fortune. Earhart is founder of the Marisla Foundation, which funds environmental causes and gave $15,000 to the Center for Investigative Reporting for environmental reporting in 2006.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hollywood producer and Democratic megadonor Steve Bing – known for, among other things, a paternity dispute with actress Elizabeth Hurley – gave $150,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several other big donations came from the San Francisco Bay Area. \u003ca href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susie-tompkins-buell\" target=\"_blank\">Susie Buell\u003c/a>, co-founder of Esprit clothing company and longtime friend of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, gave $100,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So did \u003ca href=\"http://www.newideasfund.org/node/18\" target=\"_blank\">David desJardins\u003c/a>, a former Google software engineer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>American Bridge is \"dedicated to making facts matter\" by holding Republicans accountable for what they say, desJardins wrote in an e-mail. He wants American Bridge to catch Romney, for example, appealing to primary voters with more conservative rhetoric than what he would say in the general election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I don't care if he takes one position or another, but I don't think he should have his cake and eat it too – if he wants to tell one group what he stands for, then everyone else should hear the same thing,\" desJardins wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paul Zygielbaum, an anti-asbestos \u003ca href=\"http://www.mesothel.com/asbestos-cancer/legislation/victim-protest-letters/zygielbaum_essay.htm\" target=\"_blank\">advocate\u003c/a> and chief operating officer of a glucose monitoring device company, also gave $100,000. Stephen Silberstein, co-founder of a library technology company and former board member of the Sierra Club Foundation, chipped in $100,000 as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several of American Bridge's donors are affiliated with the Democracy Alliance, a network of top-level liberal donors that strategically coordinates giving. The group's chairman, Taco Bell heir \u003ca href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-mckay\" target=\"_blank\">Rob McKay\u003c/a>, gave $50,000 to American Bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>American Bridge works with other super PACs, like the pro-Obama Priorities USA Action, to provide research and video clips that can then be used in attack ads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They can spend their resources and their time doing what they do best, and we can focus on what we do best,\" Harris said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In October, American Bridge accused Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., of plagiarism after it \u003ca href=\"http://www.boston.com/Boston/politicalintelligence/2011/10/scott-brown-web-message-mirrors-elizabeth-dole-speech/86ZX3F3iZbJKdsoTL5vguN/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">discovered\u003c/a> a personal message on Brown's website matched a speech by former Sen. Elizabeth Dole. Brown's office \u003ca href=\"http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20119816-503544.html\" target=\"_blank\">blamed\u003c/a> a staff oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Romney called his income from speaking fees \"not very much,\" American Bridge raced out with an online \u003ca href=\"http://www.americanbridgepac.org/2012/01/wire/response/video-not-very-much-romney-on-374000-in-speaking-fees/\" target=\"_blank\">video\u003c/a> criticizing the comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The super PAC also provided research for a Los Angeles Times \u003ca href=\"http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/12/nation/la-na-bain-subsidies-20120113\" target=\"_blank\">story\u003c/a> on tax breaks for a steel company that Romney invested in when he was with Bain Capital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group was formed in 2010 by conservative-turned-liberal operative \u003ca href=\"http://nymag.com/news/media/david-brock-media-matters-2011-5/\" target=\"_blank\">David Brock\u003c/a>, who also founded Media Matters for America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"After we got our butts kicked in the midterms, David Brock realized something needed to be done,\" Harris said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The result is \"the next iteration of technology impacting politics,\" said Barbara O’Connor, professor emeritus and former director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at CSU Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It’s the marrying of the irate grassroots folks who used to dog people and try to get them to say something they'd regret later ... combined with large amounts of money and staff,\" she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But O'Connor said the incessant focus on gaffes has a big downside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"What it produces is candidates that are a lot more careful, don’t say anything and are vanilla, because they don’t want to be caught in that trap,\" O'Connor said. \"And that makes voters even more unhappy.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Will Evans is an investigative journalist for\u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/californians-fund-super-pac-hounds-gop-14841\"> California Watch\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "hollywood-money-flows-to-calif-politicians-who-support-anti-piracy-bills",
"title": "Hollywood Money Flows to Calif. Politicians Who Support Anti-Piracy Bills",
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"content": "\u003cp>from \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/hollywood-money-flows-calif-politicians-who-support-anti-piracy-bills-14591\">\u003cstrong>California Watch\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hollywood is threatening politicians with one thing they hold very dear: campaign cash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As anti-piracy legislation stalled in Congress last week, the movie industry’s top lobbyist, former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, warned Democrats not to count on Hollywood money if they turn their backs on the industry’s legislative priority.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\n\u003cp>“Those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>– Chris Dodd, MPAA Chairman and CEO\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Among the biggest recipients of Hollywood money are Californian members of Congress who remain supportive of the controversial anti-piracy bills. Eight Californians in the House of Representatives, as well as Democratic U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, co-sponsored the bills, representing more co-sponsors than from any other state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boxer was the top Senate recipient of campaign contributions from the movie production industry over the last six years, picking up nearly $413,000, according todata compiled by MapLight.org and the Center for Responsive Politics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democratic Rep. Howard Berman, whose Los Angeles district includes the famed Hollywood sign, is the industry’s top beneficiary in the House, picking up $106,500 in the last two years of reported contributions. Berman was an early co-sponsor of the Stop Online Piracy Act that the Motion Picture Association of America has been pushing. \u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The movie industry and other supporters maintain that the bills, known as \u003ca href=\"http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:H.R.3261:\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SOPA\u003c/a> in the House and \u003ca href=\"http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s968rs/pdf/BILLS-112s968rs.pdf%22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PIPA [PDF]\u003c/a> in the Senate, are necessary to fight foreign websites that pirate American films and music. Opponents, including tech companies, claim the bills threaten freedom of expression on the Internet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate pits two powerful California industries against each other, but one gives much more political money than the other. In the Senate, for example, MapLight.org \u003ca href=\"http://maplight.org/content/72917\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">found\u003c/a> that the entertainment industry gave $14 million in contributions over the last six years, compared with $2 million from Internet interest groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rare admission of the power of campaign contributions from Dodd, a former senator and past presidential candidate, puts a spotlight on the influence of money in this policy debate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Candidly, those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake,” Dodd told \u003ca href=\"http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/19/exclusive-hollywood-lobbyist-threatens-to-cut-off-obama-2012-money-over-anti/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fox News\u003c/a> last week. “Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodd, CEO of the movie industry association, added: “I would caution people don’t make the assumption that because the quote ‘Hollywood community’ has been historically supportive of Democrats, which they have, don’t make the false assumptions this year that because we did it in years past, we will do it this year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howard Gantman, spokesman for the association, said in an e-mail that Dodd “was merely making the obvious point that people support politicians whose views coincide with their own. When politicians take positions that people disagree with, those people tend not to support those politicians.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meredith McGehee, policy director of the Washington-based Campaign Legal Center, said Dodd’s statement “reveals how much the current system is legalized bribery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s notable that it’s coming from someone who was so steeped in the system,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Art Brodsky, spokesman for Public Knowledge, an advocacy group that fought the anti-piracy bills, said campaign contributions have indeed factored into the policy battle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’d have to be totally naive not to think so,” he said. “Look at the contributions and look where people were on the issue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californian co-sponsors of anti-piracy legislation in the House include Los Angeles-area Democrats Karen Bass, who received nearly $30,000 from the movie industry; Brad Sherman, who got $23,000; and Adam Schiff, who picked up about $19,000. Another co-sponsor, Rep. Mary Bono Mack, a Palm Springs Republican, received almost $22,000 over two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Technology companies and Internet activists succeeded in stalling the bills despite the fact that Hollywood gives more money. But that doesn’t mean that campaign cash didn’t matter, said McGehee, because the fight isn’t over. “We’re only in round one,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Feinstein, who garnered about $146,000 over six years from movie production interests, is working toward compromise legislation. In a statement, Feinstein said: “The only way we can resolve the differences on this bill is by the key CEOs sitting down together.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"description": "from California Watch Hollywood is threatening politicians with one thing they hold very dear: campaign cash. As anti-piracy legislation stalled in Congress last week, the movie industry’s top lobbyist, former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, warned Democrats not to count on Hollywood money if they turn their backs on the industry’s legislative priority. “Those who count",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>from \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/hollywood-money-flows-calif-politicians-who-support-anti-piracy-bills-14591\">\u003cstrong>California Watch\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hollywood is threatening politicians with one thing they hold very dear: campaign cash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As anti-piracy legislation stalled in Congress last week, the movie industry’s top lobbyist, former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, warned Democrats not to count on Hollywood money if they turn their backs on the industry’s legislative priority.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\n\u003cp>“Those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>– Chris Dodd, MPAA Chairman and CEO\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Among the biggest recipients of Hollywood money are Californian members of Congress who remain supportive of the controversial anti-piracy bills. Eight Californians in the House of Representatives, as well as Democratic U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, co-sponsored the bills, representing more co-sponsors than from any other state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boxer was the top Senate recipient of campaign contributions from the movie production industry over the last six years, picking up nearly $413,000, according todata compiled by MapLight.org and the Center for Responsive Politics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democratic Rep. Howard Berman, whose Los Angeles district includes the famed Hollywood sign, is the industry’s top beneficiary in the House, picking up $106,500 in the last two years of reported contributions. Berman was an early co-sponsor of the Stop Online Piracy Act that the Motion Picture Association of America has been pushing. \u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The movie industry and other supporters maintain that the bills, known as \u003ca href=\"http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:H.R.3261:\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SOPA\u003c/a> in the House and \u003ca href=\"http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s968rs/pdf/BILLS-112s968rs.pdf%22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PIPA [PDF]\u003c/a> in the Senate, are necessary to fight foreign websites that pirate American films and music. Opponents, including tech companies, claim the bills threaten freedom of expression on the Internet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate pits two powerful California industries against each other, but one gives much more political money than the other. In the Senate, for example, MapLight.org \u003ca href=\"http://maplight.org/content/72917\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">found\u003c/a> that the entertainment industry gave $14 million in contributions over the last six years, compared with $2 million from Internet interest groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rare admission of the power of campaign contributions from Dodd, a former senator and past presidential candidate, puts a spotlight on the influence of money in this policy debate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Candidly, those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake,” Dodd told \u003ca href=\"http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/19/exclusive-hollywood-lobbyist-threatens-to-cut-off-obama-2012-money-over-anti/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fox News\u003c/a> last week. “Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodd, CEO of the movie industry association, added: “I would caution people don’t make the assumption that because the quote ‘Hollywood community’ has been historically supportive of Democrats, which they have, don’t make the false assumptions this year that because we did it in years past, we will do it this year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howard Gantman, spokesman for the association, said in an e-mail that Dodd “was merely making the obvious point that people support politicians whose views coincide with their own. When politicians take positions that people disagree with, those people tend not to support those politicians.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meredith McGehee, policy director of the Washington-based Campaign Legal Center, said Dodd’s statement “reveals how much the current system is legalized bribery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s notable that it’s coming from someone who was so steeped in the system,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Art Brodsky, spokesman for Public Knowledge, an advocacy group that fought the anti-piracy bills, said campaign contributions have indeed factored into the policy battle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’d have to be totally naive not to think so,” he said. “Look at the contributions and look where people were on the issue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californian co-sponsors of anti-piracy legislation in the House include Los Angeles-area Democrats Karen Bass, who received nearly $30,000 from the movie industry; Brad Sherman, who got $23,000; and Adam Schiff, who picked up about $19,000. Another co-sponsor, Rep. Mary Bono Mack, a Palm Springs Republican, received almost $22,000 over two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Technology companies and Internet activists succeeded in stalling the bills despite the fact that Hollywood gives more money. But that doesn’t mean that campaign cash didn’t matter, said McGehee, because the fight isn’t over. “We’re only in round one,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Feinstein, who garnered about $146,000 over six years from movie production interests, is working toward compromise legislation. In a statement, Feinstein said: “The only way we can resolve the differences on this bill is by the key CEOs sitting down together.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "controversial-west-oakland-church-sends-kids-to-solicit-money-at-bart-stations",
"title": "Controversial West Oakland Church Sends Kids to Solicit Money at BART Stations",
"publishDate": 1324497613,
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"headTitle": "Controversial West Oakland Church Sends Kids to Solicit Money at BART Stations | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>from \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/controversial-church-sends-kids-solicit-money-bart-stations-13825\">\u003cstrong>California Watch\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A West Oakland church and private school that sends children to solicit donations at BART stations has a history of financial and legal troubles, including two cases in which \u003ca href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/75822223/Alameda-County-v-Andrew-Lacy\">church leaders admitted they illegally received government assistance\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_50856\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2011/12/standrewchurch_1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-50856\" title=\"standrewchurch_1\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2011/12/standrewchurch_1-300x248.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"248\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church and Private School in West Oakland (Photo: Will Evans, California Watch)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The children, including one who said he was 7 years old, have been raising funds for \u003ca href=\"http://www.saintambcpstu.com/701.html\">St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church\u003c/a> at East Bay BART stations for hours at a time on weekday evenings. They say they are collecting money for a new 24-hour day care center for the church, which runs a small K-12 private school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to be under my pastor’s house, and we’re going to put the pastor’s house on top,” said 9-year-old Mekhi Sade Nosakhare, standing in the Downtown Berkeley BART station without an adult present. She said she doesn’t like soliciting donations every night, but if she doesn’t, she gets in trouble with her mother and stepfather, Andrew Lacy, who is one of the pastor’s sons. Lacy, who arrived shortly after, declined to be interviewed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The church and its pastor, \u003ca href=\"http://www.saintambcpstu.com/51212.html\">Robert Lacy\u003c/a>, drew scrutiny last year after a \u003ca href=\"http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=88d_1275429607\">CBS 5 investigation\u003c/a> found that they required young students to spend long hours raising money from passers-by in downtown San Francisco. At the time, the students also said they were fundraising for a new building, but the TV report raised questions about where the money was actually going. \u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, church officials have a \u003ca href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/75259353/BART-permit\">permit from BART\u003c/a> to raise funds every night from 5 to 8 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elizabeth Curry White, the pastor’s ex-wife and mother of Andrew Lacy, said the pastor has been making children raise money for many years, with nothing to show for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He tells my sons that he don’t have no money, so they go out there and try to get money,” White said. “He takes all the money and keeps it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Lacy, the church’s 79-year-old founder, sometimes watches silently in the background as his own young children solicit money. One of them, Cloella Lacy, 16, said that if they don’t each collect about $50 or $75 in a night, they could get detention. Another, 12-year-old Moses Lacy, said he likes collecting money because “it gives me a mind to want to look into people’s eyes and get donations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both children were interviewed while they solicited donations at the Rockridge BART station without adult supervision. The pastor, who arrived later, declined to answer questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not going to tell you about it because you are a reporter, and we don’t want to get into no lawsuit with you,” Robert Lacy said. “BART gave us privilege to come out here. That’s all you need to know. … Leave me alone now before I call the police on you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials at St. Andrew did not respond to phone calls or e-mails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White said she recently took her grandson away from the church so he wouldn’t have to solicit money at night. The grandson, she said, was told that if he didn’t raise at least $100 in a night, he would get bad grades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the Oakland Unified School District approved payments totaling $72,700 to St. Andrew school officials for teacher training and student support since October 2009. \u003ca href=\"http://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=667334&GUID=F29FBD18-CD78-4A6C-BFDE-22D03780A982\">One of the pastor’s sons, Robert Lacy Jr., received $19,100\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The money comes from federal funding that public school districts must, by law, share with private schools. The district has little say over who receives the funds, said district spokesman Troy Flint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Organizations like St. Andrew face minimal oversight. Unlike other charities, churches don’t have to file with the state attorney general or the Internal Revenue Service. The California Department of Education doesn’t regulate private schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The minimum age for such soliciting in California is 6.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Alameda County Social Services Agency, which investigates allegations of child abuse, has not investigated the church or school, said spokeswoman Sylvia Soublet. “The only time we can go out and investigate is when we have a specific allegation for a specific child,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White said the church hasn’t been remodeled or expanded in decades. Currently, no construction permits have been requested from the city of Oakland for the pastor’s or church’s addresses, according to the city’s community and economic development agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Lacy brought the church to its current West Oakland location in 1978. He has a history of financial problems, filing for bankruptcy in 1996 under the name Robeth Lacy and again in 2003 as Robert Lacy, both times using the same Social Security number. He and his adult sons have been sued over various financial issues, including unpaid rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2007, Robert Lacy pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of theft of government money. He failed to notify the Social Security Administration of his father’s death and personally took about $17,000 in Social Security payments sent to his father’s account after he had died, according to the \u003ca href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/75260583/Lacy-Plea-Agreement\">proposed plea agreement\u003c/a>. Robert Lacy also failed to report family property that made him ineligible to receive about $22,000 in government assistance, according to the agreement. He \u003ca href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/75263961/Amended-Judgment\">had to pay back the money\u003c/a> through deductions to his monthly government checks and was given three years’ probation and a $1,000 fine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought he was a very nice guy when I met him,” said Peter Clerides, his defense attorney in that case. “He didn’t strike me as someone who would intentionally be involved in anything that was beyond the letter of the law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The church filed for bankruptcy in 2004. At the time, it was facing a lawsuit brought by the mother of a former student who, when she was four 4 years old, was allegedly mauled and disfigured by a Rottweiler at the school in 1993.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit claimed the dog belonged to Andrew Lacy, the pastor’s son, but the Lacys denied ownership. The church wrote in court filings that the injured girl and her mother “had full knowledge of all the risks, dangers and hazards, if any there were” and “failed to use that degree of care and caution for their own safety which a reasonably prudent person would have used.” The church settled the dispute for $70,000 in 2006, according to court records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Separately, in 2004, Alameda County obtained a $13,000 court judgment against Andrew Lacy. According to court filings, Andrew Lacy admitted that he “fraudulently received public assistance benefits” from the county “by submitting false written statements under penalty of perjury.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of 2004, the church served a congregation of 50 people, had an unpaid staff, and survived on donations and fundraising, according to an interview with a church representative as part of the bankruptcy proceeding. The school had 20 or fewer students and emphasized Bible training, according to the interview. That same year, however, the church reported to the state that it had 195 students, the same number it reported this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A bankruptcy trustee attorney found that the church brought in a total of $47,129 after more than a year in bankruptcy and that it had a negative cash balance and bad check fees. A bankruptcy judge dismissed the church’s case when it failed to submit filings on time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among other creditors, the church owed money to the Alameda County Community Food Bank. Agencies like soup kitchens and churches that distribute for the food bank pay a small fee that helps cover costs. St. Andrew owed about $1,000, a relatively large debt, said food bank spokesman Michael Altfest. The food bank had to write it off as bad debt and no longer partners with St. Andrew, Altfest said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland resident Deborah Carney said she enrolled her daughter at St. Andrew a couple of years ago because the pastor initially seemed to understand her child’s learning needs. But Carney pulled her daughter from the program, she said, because the church was making her solicit money until late at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the teachers said, ‘You’re not leaving until you make my money,’ ” Carney said. “It would be like 10, 11 o’clock at night when they got home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Carney tried to exempt her daughter from the fundraising, she said the pastor refused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was like, ‘No. You can’t give her permission. She can’t leave,’ ” Carney said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carney said church officials also pressured her to attend services as a condition of her daughter’s enrollment. She said the congregation appeared to be made up mostly of the pastor’s family members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White, the pastor’s ex-wife, said she is concerned about the children who attend St. Andrew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I worry about them, ’cause I know how he did me and my kids,” she said. “But there’s nothing I can do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Will Evans is an investigative reporter for California Watch, a project of the non-profit Center for Investigative Reporting. Find more California Watch reporting \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/\">here\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Controversial West Oakland Church Sends Kids to Solicit Money at BART Stations | KQED",
"description": "from California Watch A West Oakland church and private school that sends children to solicit donations at BART stations has a history of financial and legal troubles, including two cases in which church leaders admitted they illegally received government assistance. The children, including one who said he was 7 years old, have been raising funds",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>from \u003ca href=\"http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/controversial-church-sends-kids-solicit-money-bart-stations-13825\">\u003cstrong>California Watch\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A West Oakland church and private school that sends children to solicit donations at BART stations has a history of financial and legal troubles, including two cases in which \u003ca href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/75822223/Alameda-County-v-Andrew-Lacy\">church leaders admitted they illegally received government assistance\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_50856\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2011/12/standrewchurch_1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-50856\" title=\"standrewchurch_1\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2011/12/standrewchurch_1-300x248.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"248\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church and Private School in West Oakland (Photo: Will Evans, California Watch)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The children, including one who said he was 7 years old, have been raising funds for \u003ca href=\"http://www.saintambcpstu.com/701.html\">St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church\u003c/a> at East Bay BART stations for hours at a time on weekday evenings. They say they are collecting money for a new 24-hour day care center for the church, which runs a small K-12 private school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to be under my pastor’s house, and we’re going to put the pastor’s house on top,” said 9-year-old Mekhi Sade Nosakhare, standing in the Downtown Berkeley BART station without an adult present. She said she doesn’t like soliciting donations every night, but if she doesn’t, she gets in trouble with her mother and stepfather, Andrew Lacy, who is one of the pastor’s sons. Lacy, who arrived shortly after, declined to be interviewed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The church and its pastor, \u003ca href=\"http://www.saintambcpstu.com/51212.html\">Robert Lacy\u003c/a>, drew scrutiny last year after a \u003ca href=\"http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=88d_1275429607\">CBS 5 investigation\u003c/a> found that they required young students to spend long hours raising money from passers-by in downtown San Francisco. At the time, the students also said they were fundraising for a new building, but the TV report raised questions about where the money was actually going. \u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, church officials have a \u003ca href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/75259353/BART-permit\">permit from BART\u003c/a> to raise funds every night from 5 to 8 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elizabeth Curry White, the pastor’s ex-wife and mother of Andrew Lacy, said the pastor has been making children raise money for many years, with nothing to show for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He tells my sons that he don’t have no money, so they go out there and try to get money,” White said. “He takes all the money and keeps it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Lacy, the church’s 79-year-old founder, sometimes watches silently in the background as his own young children solicit money. One of them, Cloella Lacy, 16, said that if they don’t each collect about $50 or $75 in a night, they could get detention. Another, 12-year-old Moses Lacy, said he likes collecting money because “it gives me a mind to want to look into people’s eyes and get donations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both children were interviewed while they solicited donations at the Rockridge BART station without adult supervision. The pastor, who arrived later, declined to answer questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not going to tell you about it because you are a reporter, and we don’t want to get into no lawsuit with you,” Robert Lacy said. “BART gave us privilege to come out here. That’s all you need to know. … Leave me alone now before I call the police on you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials at St. Andrew did not respond to phone calls or e-mails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White said she recently took her grandson away from the church so he wouldn’t have to solicit money at night. The grandson, she said, was told that if he didn’t raise at least $100 in a night, he would get bad grades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the Oakland Unified School District approved payments totaling $72,700 to St. Andrew school officials for teacher training and student support since October 2009. \u003ca href=\"http://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=667334&GUID=F29FBD18-CD78-4A6C-BFDE-22D03780A982\">One of the pastor’s sons, Robert Lacy Jr., received $19,100\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The money comes from federal funding that public school districts must, by law, share with private schools. The district has little say over who receives the funds, said district spokesman Troy Flint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Organizations like St. Andrew face minimal oversight. Unlike other charities, churches don’t have to file with the state attorney general or the Internal Revenue Service. The California Department of Education doesn’t regulate private schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The minimum age for such soliciting in California is 6.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Alameda County Social Services Agency, which investigates allegations of child abuse, has not investigated the church or school, said spokeswoman Sylvia Soublet. “The only time we can go out and investigate is when we have a specific allegation for a specific child,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White said the church hasn’t been remodeled or expanded in decades. Currently, no construction permits have been requested from the city of Oakland for the pastor’s or church’s addresses, according to the city’s community and economic development agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Lacy brought the church to its current West Oakland location in 1978. He has a history of financial problems, filing for bankruptcy in 1996 under the name Robeth Lacy and again in 2003 as Robert Lacy, both times using the same Social Security number. He and his adult sons have been sued over various financial issues, including unpaid rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2007, Robert Lacy pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of theft of government money. He failed to notify the Social Security Administration of his father’s death and personally took about $17,000 in Social Security payments sent to his father’s account after he had died, according to the \u003ca href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/75260583/Lacy-Plea-Agreement\">proposed plea agreement\u003c/a>. Robert Lacy also failed to report family property that made him ineligible to receive about $22,000 in government assistance, according to the agreement. He \u003ca href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/75263961/Amended-Judgment\">had to pay back the money\u003c/a> through deductions to his monthly government checks and was given three years’ probation and a $1,000 fine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought he was a very nice guy when I met him,” said Peter Clerides, his defense attorney in that case. “He didn’t strike me as someone who would intentionally be involved in anything that was beyond the letter of the law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The church filed for bankruptcy in 2004. At the time, it was facing a lawsuit brought by the mother of a former student who, when she was four 4 years old, was allegedly mauled and disfigured by a Rottweiler at the school in 1993.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit claimed the dog belonged to Andrew Lacy, the pastor’s son, but the Lacys denied ownership. The church wrote in court filings that the injured girl and her mother “had full knowledge of all the risks, dangers and hazards, if any there were” and “failed to use that degree of care and caution for their own safety which a reasonably prudent person would have used.” The church settled the dispute for $70,000 in 2006, according to court records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Separately, in 2004, Alameda County obtained a $13,000 court judgment against Andrew Lacy. According to court filings, Andrew Lacy admitted that he “fraudulently received public assistance benefits” from the county “by submitting false written statements under penalty of perjury.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of 2004, the church served a congregation of 50 people, had an unpaid staff, and survived on donations and fundraising, according to an interview with a church representative as part of the bankruptcy proceeding. The school had 20 or fewer students and emphasized Bible training, according to the interview. That same year, however, the church reported to the state that it had 195 students, the same number it reported this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A bankruptcy trustee attorney found that the church brought in a total of $47,129 after more than a year in bankruptcy and that it had a negative cash balance and bad check fees. A bankruptcy judge dismissed the church’s case when it failed to submit filings on time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among other creditors, the church owed money to the Alameda County Community Food Bank. Agencies like soup kitchens and churches that distribute for the food bank pay a small fee that helps cover costs. St. Andrew owed about $1,000, a relatively large debt, said food bank spokesman Michael Altfest. The food bank had to write it off as bad debt and no longer partners with St. Andrew, Altfest said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland resident Deborah Carney said she enrolled her daughter at St. Andrew a couple of years ago because the pastor initially seemed to understand her child’s learning needs. But Carney pulled her daughter from the program, she said, because the church was making her solicit money until late at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the teachers said, ‘You’re not leaving until you make my money,’ ” Carney said. “It would be like 10, 11 o’clock at night when they got home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Carney tried to exempt her daughter from the fundraising, she said the pastor refused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was like, ‘No. You can’t give her permission. She can’t leave,’ ” Carney said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carney said church officials also pressured her to attend services as a condition of her daughter’s enrollment. She said the congregation appeared to be made up mostly of the pastor’s family members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White, the pastor’s ex-wife, said she is concerned about the children who attend St. Andrew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I worry about them, ’cause I know how he did me and my kids,” she said. “But there’s nothing I can do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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},
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"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
"id": "closealltabs",
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"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
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