BY DON SORCHYCH | MAY 9, 2012
Whine of Hart
The “My View” columns in the Arizona Republic (AR) are often repugnant. I thought one by Cave Creek Councilman and ex-Chicago attorney suggesting voters should impose a property tax against themselves was bad, and it was. The more recent column by “educator” Lori Hart was even more disgusting.Hart, you may remember, was the CCUSD teacher that allegedly told her class to find copies of Sonoran News and trash them. We received an irate call from the father of a girl in Hart’s class that made the assertions about her. We were promised an investigation by Principal Steve Beebe of Cactus Shadows and CCUSD Superintendent Debbie Burdick.
The CCUSD pupil somehow got frightened and wouldn’t meet with us. So, the father backed off and the school administration buried the whole thing. We are still hopeful one of the girl’s classmates would give us testimony so we could proceed in the courts. If not, we would hope they would give testimony to what did happen in the class.
In any event, Hart decided to pen a My Turn in the AR whining and essentially blaming voters for a financial shortfall. She is more to blame than anyone, including her husband Attorney Steve Hart, who is the Chairman of the LearnYes Political Action Committee.
When parents of CCUSD children vote they don’t have anyone looking over their shoulders. Perhaps, to their credit, they viewed Hart as the typical teacher and not of their liking. Who would vote along with a teacher who was allegedly soliciting her students to break the law and steal and destroy copies of Sonoran News? If that isn’t true CCUSD has a moral and legal obligation to explain it fully. If it were, what disciplinary action was taken? They are conveniently hiding behind personnel policies.
Voters also know CCUSD supporters, teachers and administrators have tried to facilitate a boycott against Sonoran News and have used students for that purpose also. Their methods tell you much about their disingenuous self-serving mind set.
Her column is titled, “Defeat of override puts students at disadvantage.”
She tells the de minimus world of AR she is the president of the Cave Creek Education Association. That is one major reason why the override was badly beaten. Apparently Hart thinks the voting public is as misguided as she is. In union dominated CCUSD she is merely a puppet.
She writes, “We held forums, mailed flyers, placed ads, placed phone calls and knocked on doors.” What she should have learned is her continuing methods of attempting to fool the public didn’t work.
Then the coup de grace, “In the end misinformation won out, and voters overwhelmingly rejected our requests.” Yes AR articles were misinformation, simply following the school party line of sweetness and light. But no doubt Hart is falsely accusing Sonoran News, which repeatedly told the truth. Despite allegations we lied, no one was ever able to cite a single mistruth in our pages.
For example we gave coverage to CCUSD’s back door approach to using 2000 bond money. First they got ex-state Senator Jim Waring to pass legislation granting them approval to spend bond money for purposes not outlined in the original information pamphlet. Lawyers apparently advised the school board not to use the bond money in that manner.
So they tried again and the legislature passed a bill introduced by Nancy Barto, the Nancy Pelosi of the Arizona senate. CCUSD decided to use the bond funds for other projects but the Goldwater Institute sued them and won. Not satisfied with being graceful losers, they are keeping the issue alive by appealing the decision. Of course that costs money, which Hart claims they don’t have.
Over the years we have found numerous examples of election law violations and we printed them. The public has a right to know and CCUSD is not about to tell the public how frequently they break the law.
The most memorable was a Robo call from the CCUSD football coach who identified himself, his position as the football coach and then blatantly pimped for the override. That time Maricopa County Elections made them attend a training class. It didn’t work. School officials bent the law by placing lawn signs, which are not supposed to be on school property, on their dashboards while parked in the campus parking lot. They had CCUSD kids at town events wearing LearnYes T-shirts and they stopped people and pleaded their case. They wrote letters and had them printed as if written by public officials. Think of a method which strained the law and they did it.
Somehow Chicago-style electioneering crept into the school. Suppose it was the Arizona Education Association (AEA), an associate of NEA, the nationwide school teachers union?
Hart mentions “sad” or “sad day’ five times. Her article is supposed to be a tear jerker, but there is no mention of employees in private firms who lost their jobs. We are in a severe recession yet she thinks the embattled public should open their wallets to her and her associates.
I know that people like Arch McGill have spent countless hours showing CCUSD how they could save money, but the words of an industry legend and successful venture capitalist couldn’t break through their rank stupidity.
