Some people give back to their community. Then there's Fresno County School Superintendent Larry Powell, who's really giving back. As in $800,000 - what would have been his compensation for the next three years.
Until his term expires in 2015, Powell will run 325 schools and 35 school districts with 195,000 students, all for less than a starting California teacher earns. "How much do we need to keep accumulating?" asks Powell, 63. "There's no reason for me to keep stockpiling money."
Powell‘s generosity is more than just a gesture in a region with some of the nation's highest rates of unemployment. As he prepares for retirement, he wants to ensure that his pet projects survive California budget cuts. And the man who started his career as a high school civics teacher, who has made anti-bullying his mission, hopes his act of generosity will help restore faith in the government he once taught students to respect...
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/blog/id.8359/blog_detail.asp
Showing posts with label SCHOOLS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SCHOOLS. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Biggest Cheating Scandal in American History Unfolds
A couple of years ago, officials saw a dramatic rise in test scores from some of the poorest schools in Atlanta's public school system and decided to investigate, starting with schools that turned in tests with suspicious amounts of answers that had been erased and changed. The Governor of Georgia, Nathan Deal, released the investigator's report in early July. Only two weeks into the investigation, five teachers confessed that they had changed students' answers on the state standardized achievement tests because of strong pressure to raise the school's test scores. The 400-plus-page report indicates that widespread cheating was tolerated, encouraged, or enforced by many principals who were pressured by area superintendents.
Dr. Beverly L. Hall was the school superintendent throughout the time the cheating occurred. She retired last month, just before the report finding that she knew or should have known about the cheating came out. Although Hall denies any knowledge of the cheating, she did in fact benefit from the higher test scores that resulted, receiving $600,000 in bonuses in addition to her annual salary of $400,000 during her 12-year tenure. Hall was praised by the Secretary of Education for evaluating her schools based on their test scores and received superintendent of the year awards from two organizations.
Teachers and principals under Hall's superintendence tell a different story. According to the investigator's report, school administrators feared Hall because she used humiliation tactics to coerce principals to report higher test scores - no matter what it took to get them. Hall denies all allegations and will not take any blame for the cheating that went on during her watch.
In some schools principals held "changing parties" in which teachers would change the wrong answers on tests to correct ones. Teachers confessed that they cheated out of pressure from higher-ups and said they feared being punished, isolated, or fired.
Interim superintendent Erroll Davis has already fired four area superintendents and two principals. He told other school administrators named in the cheating scandal report to resign or face termination. Most teachers are fighting for their jobs, although more than 40 have resigned or retired so far. Going through court hearings and possible appeals with each of the implicated employees is likely to be a very costly process that will take months and millions of dollars to complete. Some teachers could face prison sentences for tampering with government documents and lying to investigators.
The school district, already smarting from state budget cuts, may have to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars it received from the federal government as a reward for the falsified test scores.
It is not only the budget and intimidated educators that were hurt by the cheating scandal. Thousands of students were promoted to the next grade without the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in that grade. Parents feel that the artificially high test scores gave them a false sense of security in their child's education, and that they were robbed of the opportunity to fix any problems accurate test scores would have revealed. Atlanta parents can no longer trust school officials to tell the truth or to put education above money, reputation, or job security.
Now taxpayers who paid the illegitimate bonuses will also bear the burden of paying for the prosecution, hiring new teachers, and attempting to truly educate the students who were pushed through a failing system without receiving an education.
http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/2011/aug11/cheating.html
Friday, August 12, 2011
Dumbing Down America
Saldivar, Big Spring ISD superintendent since 2008, added that sometimes local accountability is the most important thing.
“The job that we have as educators is to prepare them to sometimes unlearn the things they’ve learned,” he said. “Do you know how hard that is?”
Mendez chats with other school leaders
Thursday, August 11, 2011
“Latest Outrage Committed by Thomas Ratliff”
by Donna Garner
8.10.11
Just when I thought Texas State Board of Education Member Thomas Ratliff could not do anything more outrageous, he has surprised me again.
Thomas Ratliff is a wealthy lobbyist who has worked for Microsoft for over ten years. As reported on the Texas Ethics Commission website, Ratliff has made tens of thousands of dollars from Microsoft and other education-related clients.
The SBOE voted to ask the Texas Attorney General’s office for a ruling on whether Ratliff is eligible to be an SBOE member because of his obvious conflict of interest. The ruling is due from the AG’s office in a few short weeks.
The Texas Education Code -- Subchapter A, Section 7.103 (c) -- clearly states:
(c) A person who is required to register as a lobbyist under Chapter 305, Government Code, by virtue of the person's activities for compensation in or on behalf of a profession, business, or association related to the operation of the board, may not serve as a member of the board or act as the general counsel to the board.
As if to show his utter disdain for the law, Thomas Ratliff voted blatantly at the last SBOE meeting (July 20 - 22, 2011) to approve online materials, all of which are based on Microsoft operating systems.
Some of the science materials prompt the user to "Click here for Microsoft add-ons" which is a specific promotion of Microsoft software and technology that will be required to download in order to run various aspects of the electronic materials.
Ratliff also voted to approve computer technology and computer science courses that use Microsoft operating systems.
Coming up in the September SBOE meeting when the SBOE members are to approve charter schools, several of the charter school applicants plan to use Gates Foundation grants.
Because of the increased emphasis on technology in the public schools, the SBOE is continually involved with decisions involving Gates-Microsoft.
Guess who will make a fortune if the SBOE/TEA increases the amount of its contracts with Microsoft? Thomas Ratliff, of course --
The SBOE is also the caretaker of the Permanent School Fund (PSF). As reported on May 30, 2010, Microsoft was one of the PSF’s top five stocks at $157.16 million.
When questioned about his obvious conflict of interest, Thomas always likes to allude to Will Davis who served on the SBOE some years ago and was a lobbyist. However, there is a huge difference between Thomas Ratliff being a lobbyist for Microsoft and Will Davis being a lobbyist for an insurance company that did not do any business with the SBOE nor the TEA.
Interestingly, it was Bill Ratliff (Thomas Ratliff’s father - a Texas Senator) who was the author of SB 1 that contained the wording found in TEC, Subchapter A, Section 7.103 (c), yet his own son believes it is fine to ignore the wording passed by his father and the Texas Legislature.
Fellow Texans, if you are as outraged as I am over this obvious conflict of interest, please submit your comments about SBOE member and lobbyist Thomas Ratliff to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. I have posted several articles below that will give you more information, but the main point to make is that Texans expect our elected officials to obey the Rule of Law.
It is permissible to submit your comments by e-mail to the following addresses: greg.abbott@oag.state.tx.us or public.information@oag.state.tx.us. When I have submitted my comments, I have also asked for a receipt of my comments to be e-mailed back to me.
Please be sure to put the following file number in the subject line of your e-mail and also at the top of your letter: File #ML 4667511, I. D. #46675 -- Thomas Ratliff.
Donna Garner
Wgarner1@hot.rr.com
=================================
4.3.11 -- “Thomas Ratliff’s Brazen Gall” by Donna Garner --
http://www.educationnews.org/political/153052.html
3.25.11 – “Who’s Behind This Mounting Pressure?”
http://americansforprosperity.org/032011-who-behind-attacks-sboe#ixzz1HKrdHyQL
3.15.11 -- “Thomas Ratliff’s False Sense of Security” by Donna Garner
http://www.educationnews.org/commentaries/opinions_on_education/151147.html
Thomas Ratliff is also connected to the Harmony Science Academies. Bill and Melinda Gates have given millions to these Muslim Charter schools. Burt Solomon is no better. ~ Georgia Stapleton
 |
| Thomas Ratliff |
Biography
Open Records and Conflict of Interest
Ratliff vs. McElroy
There's bunches out there to read on Thomas Ratliff and it goes in every direction imaginable. Just start googling. I find the connection to Bill Gates and the Gulen schools especially interesting what with the rest I know and the establishment of the Harmony charter school in Odessa. ~ Faye
Friday, April 29, 2011
Who We're Dealing With in the Bert Corona Fiasco - Gutierrez 7
Well, here's the little worm advocating that the President of the United States override our Constitution and our Congress. Forget that oath you took, Luis?
WOOOO WHOOO! IT'S GETTING NOTICED!
I'm going to contact the organizations on the Glen Beck Show mentioned in this video, but it sure is nice to know I'm not the only one noticing this junk. I'll put their links over under my LINKS a little later.
Seven-Year-Olds Lead A Strike
Seven-year-olds. Another 501(c)(3) organization. -- Faye
By Margot Pepper
For over a decade I’ve been teaching my six-, seven-, and eight-year-old students to strike against me in the classroom. I drew the inspiration from “the Yummy Pizza company” labor unit1 and my own experience as a teacher and writer. Instead of producing pizzas, students at “Pepper Ink.” produce laminated bookmarks of the best poem they’ve written in a year-long study of the genre. This year, however, the experience took a different turn when one of our potential Pepper Ink. workers was forcibly removed from the school.
Students begin the year in my second grade two-way Spanish immersion class by comparing indigenous and first world points of view on the conquest of the Americas, go on to study Africa, women, and finally civil rights and labor heroes. They engage in internet and library research for their own books, questioning contradicting sources, and examining information critically. They sit in heterogeneous cooperative groups in which they rotate the job of teacher, who is to assist anyone needing help, if the group cannot. They can also file complaints in a box about one another’s abuse of power, including mine. From this process, my students develop a healthy sense of justice and participatory-style democracy. Students often refer to the Doug Minkler poster on our wall, which includes the slogan, “All of Us or None.”
In the initial days of Pepper Ink., students typically fill out skills preference surveys and job applications. Next, they interview for one of four positions in our bookmark factory: artist, color-er, glue-er, and inspector. Student observers coach one another on how to improve.
“I’m a good artist, only sometimes my mommy helps me and sometimes I don’t like to,” one child responded.
Hands went up immediately. “Just say you’re a good artist.”
Pepper Ink. workers are typically offered specific jobs and a contract to sign with the terms: bookmarks will be distributed to sell for $2; workers keep one dollar as pay, the other dollar is for class funds toward a party, prizes, or game. After a couple of days, I announce that Pepper Ink. has made, say, $20 towards the purchase of a classroom set of Legos, but now I want more for myself; workers will have to produce twice as much. This means no talking, no getting out of their seats. My supervisors are to issue warnings to violators of company rules and keep workers from striking. Grudgingly, students sign the new contract. Usually, a couple won’t hand it in. It then becomes wonderfully quiet on the floor as Pepper Ink. workers work diligently, silently, sullen-faced. The supervisors prance about, issuing yellow and red warnings, getting the workers increasingly annoyed with their peers’ abuse of power.
As lunch time approaches, I offer my supervisors an irresistible snack. Popcorn works well; my office microwave flooding the factory with the tantalizing aroma. Responses have ranged from outright defiance and strike threats to secret lunch meetings during which, something akin to a union is formed. With particularly well-behaved students like this year’s, I have to give workers hints, like reading Si Se Puede by Diana Cohn, about the Los Angeles Janitor’s strike, or encouraging them to engage in a tug of war with me over a jump rope in which they all have to join together to bring me down. One year, the students snuck into the classroom and made picket signs out of construction paper, masking tape, and poles made of linked markers or meter sticks. I’ve found it’s best to demote supervisors to a non-managerial position just as we go to lunch, so they will feel a sense of solidarity with workers, instead of terrorizing them into complacency, as nearly happened this year.
Once workers realize I’m powerless before their united action, they immediately overthrow all class rules. They scream until I surrender. After the class quiets down, I quickly explain that some rules exist to benefit the boss, the others, for the good of all. They ratify each rule anew, and have consistently thrown out the new contract as benefiting only their employer. This year, my second graders decided to rewrite the contract to exclude supervisors altogether, as well as specific job assignments. During the three miserable hours toiling under the contract which drove them to strike, they produced five quality bookmarks. Now, organizing their own labor, they produced twenty in the first half hour.
Deportation Hits the Classroom
This year the classroom project took a different turn since the family of one of our top “workers,” Gerardo Espinoza, was ordered deported by ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Under the law, as a United States citizen, Gerardo could have stayed behind, but for all intents and purposes, he too was deported. My last day as his teacher was on Valentine’s Day.
In the week that followed his forced removal, I saw visible signs of trauma in my students similar to the kinds of fears I had heard expressed after the September 11 tragedy. They began having nightmares and even my Anglo students expressed fear that ICE would come for them next for having been friends with Gerardo and other Latinos.
Drawing on all the lessons I’d taught them based on my decade of work with California Poets in the Schools, the students wrote moving poems in Spanish about and for Gerardo. Then, with the help of John Oliver Simon’s Poetry Inside Out program, they translated them to English for Pepper Ink.’s bookmarks. The art work they produced for these colored, laminated bookmarks surpassed anything ever produced at Pepper Ink. I, in turn, wrote a letter trying to convince a judge to allow Gerardo to stay. My letter was translated into Spanish and was published in newspapers and circulated on the internet.
Before long, the story of Gerardo’s unjust disappearance, along with his older brothers Felipe and José, hit other media, including the San Francisco Chronicle. This fostered an outcry of community support. Aided largely by Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action and with the help of Le Conte Parent Teachers Association President Cary Sanders and the Berekely Federation of Teachers, we organized a large immigrant rights teach-in. Parents, teachers, labor activists, and city officials packed the Rosa Parks multi-purpose room. My students performed the poems they had read for Gerardo and recited quotes by Cesar Chávez and Rosa Parks.
We sold so many of their beautiful Pepper Ink. bookmarks that we raised 300 dollars for the Espinoza family. We raised yet more when two of my students joined me for a talk about Gerardo in honor of Cesar Chavez before a panel which included the Berkeley Mayor and labor leaders. I called the Espinozas with the good news. They seemed to take some solace in the fact that their tears have been the seeds germinating a reinvigorated immigrant rights movement in Berkeley.
Our teach-in and pressure from the community culminated in Berkeley’s strengthening its City of Refuge resolution, the teacher’s union approving a resolution to educate and protect immigrant school parents, and our raising over $1000 for Gerardo. Then Flavio Lacayo and Univisión came to our classroom to film a special on immigrants, which aired in July. Our collective statements on the television drove home to many the injustice of United States immigration policy.
On the last day of school, reminiscing about the year, Flynn Michael-Legg spoke up, almost in verse, to share his thoughts with the parents we had invited to join us in a farewell. “I feel powerful. Small doesn’t matter. Big doesn’t matter. Your voice matters. Birds can fly and so can I with my voice!”
http://urbanhabitat.org/node/1196
By Margot Pepper
For over a decade I’ve been teaching my six-, seven-, and eight-year-old students to strike against me in the classroom. I drew the inspiration from “the Yummy Pizza company” labor unit1 and my own experience as a teacher and writer. Instead of producing pizzas, students at “Pepper Ink.” produce laminated bookmarks of the best poem they’ve written in a year-long study of the genre. This year, however, the experience took a different turn when one of our potential Pepper Ink. workers was forcibly removed from the school.
Students begin the year in my second grade two-way Spanish immersion class by comparing indigenous and first world points of view on the conquest of the Americas, go on to study Africa, women, and finally civil rights and labor heroes. They engage in internet and library research for their own books, questioning contradicting sources, and examining information critically. They sit in heterogeneous cooperative groups in which they rotate the job of teacher, who is to assist anyone needing help, if the group cannot. They can also file complaints in a box about one another’s abuse of power, including mine. From this process, my students develop a healthy sense of justice and participatory-style democracy. Students often refer to the Doug Minkler poster on our wall, which includes the slogan, “All of Us or None.”
In the initial days of Pepper Ink., students typically fill out skills preference surveys and job applications. Next, they interview for one of four positions in our bookmark factory: artist, color-er, glue-er, and inspector. Student observers coach one another on how to improve.
“I’m a good artist, only sometimes my mommy helps me and sometimes I don’t like to,” one child responded.
Hands went up immediately. “Just say you’re a good artist.”
Pepper Ink. workers are typically offered specific jobs and a contract to sign with the terms: bookmarks will be distributed to sell for $2; workers keep one dollar as pay, the other dollar is for class funds toward a party, prizes, or game. After a couple of days, I announce that Pepper Ink. has made, say, $20 towards the purchase of a classroom set of Legos, but now I want more for myself; workers will have to produce twice as much. This means no talking, no getting out of their seats. My supervisors are to issue warnings to violators of company rules and keep workers from striking. Grudgingly, students sign the new contract. Usually, a couple won’t hand it in. It then becomes wonderfully quiet on the floor as Pepper Ink. workers work diligently, silently, sullen-faced. The supervisors prance about, issuing yellow and red warnings, getting the workers increasingly annoyed with their peers’ abuse of power.
As lunch time approaches, I offer my supervisors an irresistible snack. Popcorn works well; my office microwave flooding the factory with the tantalizing aroma. Responses have ranged from outright defiance and strike threats to secret lunch meetings during which, something akin to a union is formed. With particularly well-behaved students like this year’s, I have to give workers hints, like reading Si Se Puede by Diana Cohn, about the Los Angeles Janitor’s strike, or encouraging them to engage in a tug of war with me over a jump rope in which they all have to join together to bring me down. One year, the students snuck into the classroom and made picket signs out of construction paper, masking tape, and poles made of linked markers or meter sticks. I’ve found it’s best to demote supervisors to a non-managerial position just as we go to lunch, so they will feel a sense of solidarity with workers, instead of terrorizing them into complacency, as nearly happened this year.
Once workers realize I’m powerless before their united action, they immediately overthrow all class rules. They scream until I surrender. After the class quiets down, I quickly explain that some rules exist to benefit the boss, the others, for the good of all. They ratify each rule anew, and have consistently thrown out the new contract as benefiting only their employer. This year, my second graders decided to rewrite the contract to exclude supervisors altogether, as well as specific job assignments. During the three miserable hours toiling under the contract which drove them to strike, they produced five quality bookmarks. Now, organizing their own labor, they produced twenty in the first half hour.
Deportation Hits the Classroom
This year the classroom project took a different turn since the family of one of our top “workers,” Gerardo Espinoza, was ordered deported by ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Under the law, as a United States citizen, Gerardo could have stayed behind, but for all intents and purposes, he too was deported. My last day as his teacher was on Valentine’s Day.
In the week that followed his forced removal, I saw visible signs of trauma in my students similar to the kinds of fears I had heard expressed after the September 11 tragedy. They began having nightmares and even my Anglo students expressed fear that ICE would come for them next for having been friends with Gerardo and other Latinos.
Drawing on all the lessons I’d taught them based on my decade of work with California Poets in the Schools, the students wrote moving poems in Spanish about and for Gerardo. Then, with the help of John Oliver Simon’s Poetry Inside Out program, they translated them to English for Pepper Ink.’s bookmarks. The art work they produced for these colored, laminated bookmarks surpassed anything ever produced at Pepper Ink. I, in turn, wrote a letter trying to convince a judge to allow Gerardo to stay. My letter was translated into Spanish and was published in newspapers and circulated on the internet.
Before long, the story of Gerardo’s unjust disappearance, along with his older brothers Felipe and José, hit other media, including the San Francisco Chronicle. This fostered an outcry of community support. Aided largely by Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action and with the help of Le Conte Parent Teachers Association President Cary Sanders and the Berekely Federation of Teachers, we organized a large immigrant rights teach-in. Parents, teachers, labor activists, and city officials packed the Rosa Parks multi-purpose room. My students performed the poems they had read for Gerardo and recited quotes by Cesar Chávez and Rosa Parks.
We sold so many of their beautiful Pepper Ink. bookmarks that we raised 300 dollars for the Espinoza family. We raised yet more when two of my students joined me for a talk about Gerardo in honor of Cesar Chavez before a panel which included the Berkeley Mayor and labor leaders. I called the Espinozas with the good news. They seemed to take some solace in the fact that their tears have been the seeds germinating a reinvigorated immigrant rights movement in Berkeley.
Our teach-in and pressure from the community culminated in Berkeley’s strengthening its City of Refuge resolution, the teacher’s union approving a resolution to educate and protect immigrant school parents, and our raising over $1000 for Gerardo. Then Flavio Lacayo and Univisión came to our classroom to film a special on immigrants, which aired in July. Our collective statements on the television drove home to many the injustice of United States immigration policy.
On the last day of school, reminiscing about the year, Flynn Michael-Legg spoke up, almost in verse, to share his thoughts with the parents we had invited to join us in a farewell. “I feel powerful. Small doesn’t matter. Big doesn’t matter. Your voice matters. Birds can fly and so can I with my voice!”
http://urbanhabitat.org/node/1196
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
HERE'S THE IRS REQUIREMENTS FOR THE 501(c)(3)
From IRS.gov:
Exemption Requirements - Section 501(c)(3) Organizations
To be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3), and none of its earnings may inure to any private shareholder or individual. In addition, it may not be an action organization, i.e., it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates.Organizations described in section 501(c)(3) are commonly referred to as charitable organizations. Organizations described in section 501(c)(3), other than testing for public safety organizations, are eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions in accordance with Code section 170.The organization must not be organized or operated for the benefit of private interests, and no part of a section 501(c)(3) organization's net earnings may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual. If the organization engages in an excess benefit transaction with a person having substantial influence over the organization, an excise tax may be imposed on the person and any organization managers agreeing to the transaction.Section 501(c)(3) organizations are restricted in how much political and legislative (lobbying) activities they may conduct. For a detailed discussion, see Political and Lobbying Activities. For more information about lobbying activities by charities, see the article Lobbying Issues; for more information about political activities of charities, see the FY-2002 CPE topic
The Restriction of Political Campaign Intervention by Section 501(c)(3) Tax-Exempt Organizations
Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes. Certain activities or expenditures may not be prohibited depending on the facts and circumstances. For example, certain voter education activities (including presenting public forums and publishing voter education guides) conducted in a non-partisan manner do not constitute prohibited political campaign activity. In addition, other activities intended to encourage people to participate in the electoral process, such as voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives, would not be prohibited political campaign activity if conducted in a non-partisan manner.On the other hand, voter education or registration activities with evidence of bias that (a) would favor one candidate over another; (b) oppose a candidate in some manner; or (c) have the effect of favoring a candidate or group of candidates, will constitute prohibited participation or intervention.The Internal Revenue Service provides resources to exempt organizations and the public to help them understand the prohibition. As part of its examination program, the IRS also monitors whether organizations are complying with the prohibition.
Lobbying
In general, no organization may qualify for section 501(c)(3) status if a substantial part of its activities is attempting to influence legislation (commonly known as lobbying). A 501(c)(3) organization may engage in some lobbying, but too much lobbying activity risks loss of tax-exempt status.Legislation includes action by Congress, any state legislature, any local council, or similar governing body, with respect to acts, bills, resolutions, or similar items (such as legislative confirmation of appointive office), or by the public in referendum, ballot initiative, constitutional amendment, or similar procedure. It does not include actions by executive, judicial, or administrative bodies.An organization will be regarded as attempting to influence legislation if it contacts, or urges the public to contact, members or employees of a legislative body for the purpose of proposing, supporting, or opposing legislation, or if the organization advocates the adoption or rejection of legislation.Organizations may, however, involve themselves in issues of public policy without the activity being considered as lobbying. For example, organizations may conduct educational meetings, prepare and distribute educational materials, or otherwise consider public policy issues in an educational manner without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status.Additional information:· Measuring lobbying activity: substantial part test· Measuring lobbying activity: expenditure test
Exemption Requirements - Section 501(c)(3) Organizations
To be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3), and none of its earnings may inure to any private shareholder or individual. In addition, it may not be an action organization, i.e., it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates.Organizations described in section 501(c)(3) are commonly referred to as charitable organizations. Organizations described in section 501(c)(3), other than testing for public safety organizations, are eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions in accordance with Code section 170.The organization must not be organized or operated for the benefit of private interests, and no part of a section 501(c)(3) organization's net earnings may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual. If the organization engages in an excess benefit transaction with a person having substantial influence over the organization, an excise tax may be imposed on the person and any organization managers agreeing to the transaction.Section 501(c)(3) organizations are restricted in how much political and legislative (lobbying) activities they may conduct. For a detailed discussion, see Political and Lobbying Activities. For more information about lobbying activities by charities, see the article Lobbying Issues; for more information about political activities of charities, see the FY-2002 CPE topic
The Restriction of Political Campaign Intervention by Section 501(c)(3) Tax-Exempt Organizations
Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes. Certain activities or expenditures may not be prohibited depending on the facts and circumstances. For example, certain voter education activities (including presenting public forums and publishing voter education guides) conducted in a non-partisan manner do not constitute prohibited political campaign activity. In addition, other activities intended to encourage people to participate in the electoral process, such as voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives, would not be prohibited political campaign activity if conducted in a non-partisan manner.On the other hand, voter education or registration activities with evidence of bias that (a) would favor one candidate over another; (b) oppose a candidate in some manner; or (c) have the effect of favoring a candidate or group of candidates, will constitute prohibited participation or intervention.The Internal Revenue Service provides resources to exempt organizations and the public to help them understand the prohibition. As part of its examination program, the IRS also monitors whether organizations are complying with the prohibition.
Lobbying
In general, no organization may qualify for section 501(c)(3) status if a substantial part of its activities is attempting to influence legislation (commonly known as lobbying). A 501(c)(3) organization may engage in some lobbying, but too much lobbying activity risks loss of tax-exempt status.Legislation includes action by Congress, any state legislature, any local council, or similar governing body, with respect to acts, bills, resolutions, or similar items (such as legislative confirmation of appointive office), or by the public in referendum, ballot initiative, constitutional amendment, or similar procedure. It does not include actions by executive, judicial, or administrative bodies.An organization will be regarded as attempting to influence legislation if it contacts, or urges the public to contact, members or employees of a legislative body for the purpose of proposing, supporting, or opposing legislation, or if the organization advocates the adoption or rejection of legislation.Organizations may, however, involve themselves in issues of public policy without the activity being considered as lobbying. For example, organizations may conduct educational meetings, prepare and distribute educational materials, or otherwise consider public policy issues in an educational manner without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status.Additional information:· Measuring lobbying activity: substantial part test· Measuring lobbying activity: expenditure test
MY "BLATANT, RACIST" SPEECH
Good Evening, and thank you for allowing me to speak to you tonight.
I am here to present petitions to the Board requesting that their approval for the migrant student trip to Washington, D.C., be rescinded. I will present the reasons for this request and Jeff Winthers will then present a solution that we think might appease everyone and possibly be beneficial, both to All our children and the community itself.
There are several reasons for this request. Uppermost in my opinion as a retired nurse is the politicalization of our school system. This is a world-wide problem and has been recognized by the international organization, Save the Children, as increasing at an alarming rate. Since you’ve already instructed Mr. Sanchez to provide extra instruction to these students both before the trip and during the trip before events, you’re aware of the leftest nature of this school. If you feel that these precautions are necessary, then why even take the chance? In addition to Bert Corona’s being a self-avowed communist, the BCLI site shows a picture of Luis Gutierrez, D-IL, teaching a class. He is probably the most radical of all our elected representatives and has been advocating nationwide civil disobedience for the last few years. He is currently pushing hard for Obama to pass Amnesty by Executive Order, circumventing both our Constitution and our Congress. Another is Shirley Jackson-Lee, D-TX, who was caught masquerading one of her supporters as a doctor to push the health care bill. Maxine Waters, D-IL, who flubbed up and stated she wanted to nationalize the oil industry during a Congressional hearing is an honorary board member. All 3 of these are card-carrying members of the Socialist Democratic Party with Gutierrez holding cards for both the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The kids are also taught by representatives from various unions and the National Council of La Raza.
If you’re wrong in believing that these kids can go through this course, be followed by the school for at least a year as the BCLI brochure states while the kids complete “projects” in both their schools and communities and still remain neutral, we could be having the same mass walkouts and protests as other communities in our nation. So, yes, I am afraid for not only these kids but all of our kids. And I’m afraid for our area if all concerned with the BCLI hold Maxine Waters’ viewpoint.
Another area of concern is the 501(c)(3) status itself. There are restrictions for political and lobbying activities under the 501(c)(3). I will provide the board a copy of the 501(c)(3) IRS regulations at the end of this talk. According to the BCLI website, the kids have 2 days of instruction and spend 3 days visiting legislators. There are two pages from the 2008 workbook issued to the students, one of which displays an agenda. This agenda indicates a clearly leftist list of things the students are to discuss with the legislators, which violates the non-partisan provision of their 501(c)(3). By presenting these agendas to legislators, the kids are clearly lobbying and the 3 days is a majority of the course time so the school is once again in violation of their 501(c)(3).
This politicalization, the indoctrination, and the lobbying all present a picture of exploitation and abuse of these children. As an RN, I’m required by law to report it.
Another reason is the expenditure of funds during this nation’s economic situation. I’m not totally against government grants. I have worked for DARPA and several universities where I was fortunate to see the wonders accomplished through grants. I won’t belabor the point, but even though this is a small amount when viewed in relation to the national debt, it is magnified many more times when you consider that this 501(c)(3) designation is funding a plethora of similar organizations who have found the veritable pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The funds are not well supervised and many organizations misuse the funds. Mr. Sanchez said this trip was all free in a newspaper article. I think we all know that federal funds are not free, that they come from the U.S. taxpayer. And I’m an angry taxpayer to find that we have not only paid for the tuition, etc., for these courses but built the schools and continue to do so. National Council of La Raza started 50 new charter schools in one year, some teaching Reconquista even though they say they don’t support Reconquista The BCLI has 10 schools nationwide and more internationally. They also have numerous charter schools. I looked at the score for one of these schools and it had a base API of 650 and a state rating of 2 out of 10. But they get let to go by… from what I could understand because the school provides computers for parents. Don’t you wish your job was as easy as that? These organizations also find ways to contribute taxpayer money to our elected officials to influence who gets elected and what legislation is passed. The research I have done and that others are beginning to do will be turned over to journalists and some other organizations with better research resources, so I imagine we’re going to hear a lot more about this in the future.
The last concern I will present has been difficult to wrap my mind around. I know that all migrants are not illegal, and I know that all migrants are not Hispanic, but common knowledge estimates about 90% are. We’re required to provide a free education for all children grades K-12. Then Texas grants illegals in-state tuition at colleges and universities and withholds what they call a 20% set-aside from their regular students’ tuitions to provide higher education to illegals. And that 20% set-aside was not cut when the rest of our education system was required to take cuts. Do the social studies and government curricula already in place in the district not teach the same information as this specialized program does? I fail to see the equity in sending a select group of students for specialized civic education and to form political connections that are not afforded to the rest of the student body.
Jeff Winthers will now present our possible solution.
Thank you for your attention.
Good Evening, I thank the Board for the opportunity to speak.
You just (discussed) (approved?) the Summer Program for Migrant Students at UTPB. We’ve looked at most of the programs, which include diversity, for migrant students at UTPB. We found none that did not direct the students’ attention to common problems in our community by promoting basic understanding of the cultural differences of all races, and they improved the children’s chances for academic success. If it is necessary to send migrant students outside the regular classroom in order to learn how our government works and how to function within it, we see no reason to not have UTPB, a properly accredited institution of higher learning, apply for their own grant to enable these students to have this opportunity. We have several legislators here locally who would be more than happy to arrange visits to their offices and who would willingly listen to any concerns the students might wish to voice. But if this training is necessary for migrant students, why is it not also necessary for all our other students?
It is also our understanding that ECISD has a full-time employee whose only job is to investigate grants to use and that we pay for her to go to conventions where she is courted by organizations such as the Bert Corona Leadership Institute. If we’re going to pay for a full-time employee like this and make her a Director, and we just MUST spend money like this, perhaps we could have her look for a grant for UTPB to conduct such a class so that ALL our children can attend.
We have several questions at this point. Is this the Federal Director that was referred to in an Odessa American newspaper article on the migrant students back in 2008? Does this position still exist under the recent reorganization? We would also like to know if an organizational chart exists for ECISD.
The FOIA information requested by Faye has been received and it stated that the travel expenses including transportation to and from the airport was paid out of Title 1C funds. The BCLI site states that travel expenses are not paid, but they will be glad to make travel arrangements for a fee. This inconsistency needs further explanation.
Thank you for your attention.
I am here to present petitions to the Board requesting that their approval for the migrant student trip to Washington, D.C., be rescinded. I will present the reasons for this request and Jeff Winthers will then present a solution that we think might appease everyone and possibly be beneficial, both to All our children and the community itself.
There are several reasons for this request. Uppermost in my opinion as a retired nurse is the politicalization of our school system. This is a world-wide problem and has been recognized by the international organization, Save the Children, as increasing at an alarming rate. Since you’ve already instructed Mr. Sanchez to provide extra instruction to these students both before the trip and during the trip before events, you’re aware of the leftest nature of this school. If you feel that these precautions are necessary, then why even take the chance? In addition to Bert Corona’s being a self-avowed communist, the BCLI site shows a picture of Luis Gutierrez, D-IL, teaching a class. He is probably the most radical of all our elected representatives and has been advocating nationwide civil disobedience for the last few years. He is currently pushing hard for Obama to pass Amnesty by Executive Order, circumventing both our Constitution and our Congress. Another is Shirley Jackson-Lee, D-TX, who was caught masquerading one of her supporters as a doctor to push the health care bill. Maxine Waters, D-IL, who flubbed up and stated she wanted to nationalize the oil industry during a Congressional hearing is an honorary board member. All 3 of these are card-carrying members of the Socialist Democratic Party with Gutierrez holding cards for both the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The kids are also taught by representatives from various unions and the National Council of La Raza.
If you’re wrong in believing that these kids can go through this course, be followed by the school for at least a year as the BCLI brochure states while the kids complete “projects” in both their schools and communities and still remain neutral, we could be having the same mass walkouts and protests as other communities in our nation. So, yes, I am afraid for not only these kids but all of our kids. And I’m afraid for our area if all concerned with the BCLI hold Maxine Waters’ viewpoint.
Another area of concern is the 501(c)(3) status itself. There are restrictions for political and lobbying activities under the 501(c)(3). I will provide the board a copy of the 501(c)(3) IRS regulations at the end of this talk. According to the BCLI website, the kids have 2 days of instruction and spend 3 days visiting legislators. There are two pages from the 2008 workbook issued to the students, one of which displays an agenda. This agenda indicates a clearly leftist list of things the students are to discuss with the legislators, which violates the non-partisan provision of their 501(c)(3). By presenting these agendas to legislators, the kids are clearly lobbying and the 3 days is a majority of the course time so the school is once again in violation of their 501(c)(3).
This politicalization, the indoctrination, and the lobbying all present a picture of exploitation and abuse of these children. As an RN, I’m required by law to report it.
Another reason is the expenditure of funds during this nation’s economic situation. I’m not totally against government grants. I have worked for DARPA and several universities where I was fortunate to see the wonders accomplished through grants. I won’t belabor the point, but even though this is a small amount when viewed in relation to the national debt, it is magnified many more times when you consider that this 501(c)(3) designation is funding a plethora of similar organizations who have found the veritable pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The funds are not well supervised and many organizations misuse the funds. Mr. Sanchez said this trip was all free in a newspaper article. I think we all know that federal funds are not free, that they come from the U.S. taxpayer. And I’m an angry taxpayer to find that we have not only paid for the tuition, etc., for these courses but built the schools and continue to do so. National Council of La Raza started 50 new charter schools in one year, some teaching Reconquista even though they say they don’t support Reconquista The BCLI has 10 schools nationwide and more internationally. They also have numerous charter schools. I looked at the score for one of these schools and it had a base API of 650 and a state rating of 2 out of 10. But they get let to go by… from what I could understand because the school provides computers for parents. Don’t you wish your job was as easy as that? These organizations also find ways to contribute taxpayer money to our elected officials to influence who gets elected and what legislation is passed. The research I have done and that others are beginning to do will be turned over to journalists and some other organizations with better research resources, so I imagine we’re going to hear a lot more about this in the future.
The last concern I will present has been difficult to wrap my mind around. I know that all migrants are not illegal, and I know that all migrants are not Hispanic, but common knowledge estimates about 90% are. We’re required to provide a free education for all children grades K-12. Then Texas grants illegals in-state tuition at colleges and universities and withholds what they call a 20% set-aside from their regular students’ tuitions to provide higher education to illegals. And that 20% set-aside was not cut when the rest of our education system was required to take cuts. Do the social studies and government curricula already in place in the district not teach the same information as this specialized program does? I fail to see the equity in sending a select group of students for specialized civic education and to form political connections that are not afforded to the rest of the student body.
Jeff Winthers will now present our possible solution.
Thank you for your attention.
Good Evening, I thank the Board for the opportunity to speak.
You just (discussed) (approved?) the Summer Program for Migrant Students at UTPB. We’ve looked at most of the programs, which include diversity, for migrant students at UTPB. We found none that did not direct the students’ attention to common problems in our community by promoting basic understanding of the cultural differences of all races, and they improved the children’s chances for academic success. If it is necessary to send migrant students outside the regular classroom in order to learn how our government works and how to function within it, we see no reason to not have UTPB, a properly accredited institution of higher learning, apply for their own grant to enable these students to have this opportunity. We have several legislators here locally who would be more than happy to arrange visits to their offices and who would willingly listen to any concerns the students might wish to voice. But if this training is necessary for migrant students, why is it not also necessary for all our other students?
It is also our understanding that ECISD has a full-time employee whose only job is to investigate grants to use and that we pay for her to go to conventions where she is courted by organizations such as the Bert Corona Leadership Institute. If we’re going to pay for a full-time employee like this and make her a Director, and we just MUST spend money like this, perhaps we could have her look for a grant for UTPB to conduct such a class so that ALL our children can attend.
We have several questions at this point. Is this the Federal Director that was referred to in an Odessa American newspaper article on the migrant students back in 2008? Does this position still exist under the recent reorganization? We would also like to know if an organizational chart exists for ECISD.
The FOIA information requested by Faye has been received and it stated that the travel expenses including transportation to and from the airport was paid out of Title 1C funds. The BCLI site states that travel expenses are not paid, but they will be glad to make travel arrangements for a fee. This inconsistency needs further explanation.
Thank you for your attention.
Monday, April 25, 2011
HERE IT IS - PROOF OF INDOCTRINATION & LOBBYING
This is a page out of the 2008 study guide for the Bert Corona Leadership Institute.
I haven't been able to copy it over to here, but Jason has it on his Watchdog site.
http://citizenwatchdogs.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=476:propagandizing-the-children&catid=1:latest&Itemid=2
I haven't been able to copy it over to here, but Jason has it on his Watchdog site.
http://citizenwatchdogs.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=476:propagandizing-the-children&catid=1:latest&Itemid=2
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Who We're Dealing With in the Bert Corona Fiasco - Gutierrez 6
Exerpts. There's more, but I'm sick of this worm. Link at the bottom for full article. -- Faye
PSP member
1980s Chicago mayor Harold Washington's electoral coalition included many members of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. Luis Gutierrez who became an Alderman under Washington belonged to the Marxist-Leninist Puerto Rican Socialist Party and was able to secure government funds for the PSP sponsored cultural center and for Party sponsored social services and ESL and GELD programs[4].
Received Free Upgrades on House
Convicted political fixer Tony Rezko gave U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez free upgrades on a riverfront town house after the congressman asked for them, Gutierrez told the FBI in a 2008 interview.
Gutierrez told the FBI that he and his wife had had dinner with Rezko and his wife, and that he told him that the price of the town home had gone up $35,000 in two weeks -- from $399,000 when they first visited a model home to $434,900. Considering that the price had risen, Gutierrez told Rezko he thought he should get some upgrades. The upgrades eventually included an additional bathroom and higher-quality carpeting.
The interview was done in spring 2008. At the time, Rezko was on trial for corruption involving state contracts under then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Rezko has been a campaign fund-raiser for Blagojevich as well as Gutierrez.[16]
http://www.keywiki.org/index.php/Luis_Gutierrez
PSP member
1980s Chicago mayor Harold Washington's electoral coalition included many members of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. Luis Gutierrez who became an Alderman under Washington belonged to the Marxist-Leninist Puerto Rican Socialist Party and was able to secure government funds for the PSP sponsored cultural center and for Party sponsored social services and ESL and GELD programs[4].
Received Free Upgrades on House
Convicted political fixer Tony Rezko gave U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez free upgrades on a riverfront town house after the congressman asked for them, Gutierrez told the FBI in a 2008 interview.
Gutierrez told the FBI that he and his wife had had dinner with Rezko and his wife, and that he told him that the price of the town home had gone up $35,000 in two weeks -- from $399,000 when they first visited a model home to $434,900. Considering that the price had risen, Gutierrez told Rezko he thought he should get some upgrades. The upgrades eventually included an additional bathroom and higher-quality carpeting.
The interview was done in spring 2008. At the time, Rezko was on trial for corruption involving state contracts under then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Rezko has been a campaign fund-raiser for Blagojevich as well as Gutierrez.[16]
http://www.keywiki.org/index.php/Luis_Gutierrez
Who We're Dealing With in the Bert Corona Fiasco - Socialist Democratic Party
August 14, 2010
Socialist Party of America reveals 70 Democrats as belonging to their caucus
Rick Moran:
Two things of note in this revelation. The first is the astonishing number of Democratic House members who not only belong to the Socialist Party of America, but even more incredible, don't mind if people find out about it.
Jim Hoft:
The Socialist Party of America announced in their October 2009 newsletter that 70 Congressional democrats currently belong to their caucus.
This admission was recently posted on Scribd.com:
American Socialist Voter-
Q: How many members of the U.S. Congress are also members of the DSA?
A: Seventy
Q: How many of the DSA members sit on the Judiciary Committee?
A: Eleven: John Conyers [Chairman of the Judiciary Committee], Tammy Baldwin, Jerrold Nadler, Luis Gutierrez,
Melvin Watt, Maxine Waters, Hank Johnson, Steve Cohen, Barbara Lee, Robert Wexler, Linda Sanchez [there are 23 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee of which eleven, almost half, are now members of the DSA].
Q: Who are these members of 111th Congress?
A: See the listing below
Co-Chairs
Hon. Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07)
Hon. Lynn Woolsey (CA-06)
Vice Chairs
Hon. Diane Watson (CA-33)
Hon. Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX-18)
Hon. Mazie Hirono (HI-02)
Hon. Dennis Kucinich (OH-10)
That's 70 out of 255 Democrats in the House who are avowed socialists. You also wonder how many are still in the closet.
Again, we see the cowardice of these people. If they really had courage, they would run as both Democrats and socialists and be proud of it.
If the RNC were smart - and they're not - they would make an effort to get the facts about these anti-free market congressmen known far and wide. And what these Democrats have signed on to by being members of the Socialist Party of America is quite plain.
From the Preamble of the SPA:
We are socialists because we reject an international economic order sustained by private profit, alienated labor, race and gender discrimination, environmental destruction, and brutality and violence in defense of the status quo.
We are socialists because we share a vision of a humane international social order based both on democratic planning and market mechanisms to achieve equitable distribution of resources,meaningful work, a healthy environment, sustainable growth, gender and racial equality, and non-oppressive relationships.
Note that some of what they stand for is boilerplate from both Democrats and Republicans. It is their "vision" of a "humane social order" that is based on the "equitable distribution of resources" among other nonsense that sets the socialists apart from rational people.
An examination of that list would tell you that the overwhelming majority of those Democrats are from extremely safe districts so its not like a revelation like this would mean their political careers are over. But it is still shocking to know that 20 years after the fall of Communism, so many lawmakers would still be enamored of such a spectacularly failed economic and social system.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/socialist_party_of_america_rev.html
Socialist Party of America reveals 70 Democrats as belonging to their caucus
Rick Moran:
Two things of note in this revelation. The first is the astonishing number of Democratic House members who not only belong to the Socialist Party of America, but even more incredible, don't mind if people find out about it.
Jim Hoft:
The Socialist Party of America announced in their October 2009 newsletter that 70 Congressional democrats currently belong to their caucus.
This admission was recently posted on Scribd.com:
American Socialist Voter-
Q: How many members of the U.S. Congress are also members of the DSA?
A: Seventy
Q: How many of the DSA members sit on the Judiciary Committee?
A: Eleven: John Conyers [Chairman of the Judiciary Committee], Tammy Baldwin, Jerrold Nadler, Luis Gutierrez,
Melvin Watt, Maxine Waters, Hank Johnson, Steve Cohen, Barbara Lee, Robert Wexler, Linda Sanchez [there are 23 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee of which eleven, almost half, are now members of the DSA].
Q: Who are these members of 111th Congress?
A: See the listing below
Co-Chairs
Hon. Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07)
Hon. Lynn Woolsey (CA-06)
Vice Chairs
Hon. Diane Watson (CA-33)
Hon. Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX-18)
Hon. Mazie Hirono (HI-02)
Hon. Dennis Kucinich (OH-10)
That's 70 out of 255 Democrats in the House who are avowed socialists. You also wonder how many are still in the closet.
Again, we see the cowardice of these people. If they really had courage, they would run as both Democrats and socialists and be proud of it.
If the RNC were smart - and they're not - they would make an effort to get the facts about these anti-free market congressmen known far and wide. And what these Democrats have signed on to by being members of the Socialist Party of America is quite plain.
From the Preamble of the SPA:
We are socialists because we reject an international economic order sustained by private profit, alienated labor, race and gender discrimination, environmental destruction, and brutality and violence in defense of the status quo.
We are socialists because we share a vision of a humane international social order based both on democratic planning and market mechanisms to achieve equitable distribution of resources,meaningful work, a healthy environment, sustainable growth, gender and racial equality, and non-oppressive relationships.
Note that some of what they stand for is boilerplate from both Democrats and Republicans. It is their "vision" of a "humane social order" that is based on the "equitable distribution of resources" among other nonsense that sets the socialists apart from rational people.
An examination of that list would tell you that the overwhelming majority of those Democrats are from extremely safe districts so its not like a revelation like this would mean their political careers are over. But it is still shocking to know that 20 years after the fall of Communism, so many lawmakers would still be enamored of such a spectacularly failed economic and social system.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/socialist_party_of_america_rev.html
Who We're Dealing With in the Bert Corona Fiasco - Gutierrez 5
I'm not going to print out this whole article, just copy a couple of exerpts. I'll put the link at the bottom if you're interested in the whole article. --Faye
Keeping Obama to His Word
While many admire his tenacity and credit him with keeping immigration reform alive, others, including members of the Obama administration, believe his confrontational style can be counterproductive. He sees things more simply. “I have only one loyalty,” he says, “and that’s to the immigrant community.”
The immigrant movement will face a much more adverse climate in Congress next year. As a result, Gutierrez is trying to redirect its energy toward a different end: persuading Obama to use his executive powers to stop the deportation of law-abiding illegal immigrants. To ratchet up the pressure, Gutierrez is encouraging acts of nonviolent civil disobedience. “We cannot be a slave to the legislative process,” he says. “That’s what we’ve done, and it hasn’t served us very well.” Given that some Republican lawmakers have made clear they plan to use their newfound power to crack down even more on illegal immigrants, “the next couple of years are going to be an extraordinary battle,” says Rosenberg. Gutierrez’s “voice will be needed more than ever.” And you can be certain you’ll hear it.
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/11/29/pushing-obama-on-immigration-reform.html
Keeping Obama to His Word
While many admire his tenacity and credit him with keeping immigration reform alive, others, including members of the Obama administration, believe his confrontational style can be counterproductive. He sees things more simply. “I have only one loyalty,” he says, “and that’s to the immigrant community.”
The immigrant movement will face a much more adverse climate in Congress next year. As a result, Gutierrez is trying to redirect its energy toward a different end: persuading Obama to use his executive powers to stop the deportation of law-abiding illegal immigrants. To ratchet up the pressure, Gutierrez is encouraging acts of nonviolent civil disobedience. “We cannot be a slave to the legislative process,” he says. “That’s what we’ve done, and it hasn’t served us very well.” Given that some Republican lawmakers have made clear they plan to use their newfound power to crack down even more on illegal immigrants, “the next couple of years are going to be an extraordinary battle,” says Rosenberg. Gutierrez’s “voice will be needed more than ever.” And you can be certain you’ll hear it.
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/11/29/pushing-obama-on-immigration-reform.html
Who We're Dealing With in the Bert Corona Fiasco - Gutierrez 4
I strive to use original articles; however, this is a reprint I am using because the original article, published in El Vocero, a Puerto Rican newspaper, did not translate well. -- Faye
Is Congressman Luis Gutiérrez a fraud?
El Vocero
The Gucci Anti-American
By Luis Davila-Colon, Esq.
March 1, 2002
Copyright © 2002 El Vocero.
All Rights Reserved.
Congressman Luis V. Gutiérrez is a contradiction in motion. He preaches clean liberalism, yet is a captive of big interests. In Congress, he represents a District of Hispanic American citizens, yet is more anti-Yankee than Osama Bin Laden. He preaches self-determination for Puerto Rico, yet works every day in favor of colonial nationalism. He invokes ethical supremacy, yet is the first to break the law in the name of moral superiority.
Luis Gutiérrez is an imposter and the biggest fraud in Congress. If the Puerto Ricans and Hispanics who overwhelmingly vote for him knew about the dark side of Luis Gutiérrez, the guy would be unmasked as a temple merchant Pharisee. Gutiérrez preaches morality in his underwear. He is a member of the House Committee on Financial Services, yet his wife works for the Second Federal Savings Bank. Gutiérrez condemns influence peddling by Enron and the Republicans, yet is himself supported by a sizeable group of bankers and multinational corporations based in Puerto Rico who bankroll his campaigns. In fact, the most recent report filed with the Federal Elections Commission reveals that of 257 contributors, 147 or 41% were Puerto Rican investors; the cream of the colonial regime, including the President of the Bankers Association, Senior Management at Banco Popular, the President of Payne Webber, the President of Oriental Bank, officers of 936 and 956 corporations, and prominent allies of the Popular Party, such as: the Governor’s lawyer, Salvador Antonetti; the husband of the Attorney General, Panchito de Jesus Schuck; the Secretary of Transportation, José Izquierdo; the Governor’s influential campaign director, Irving Faccio; Ramón Cantero Frau; and the entire private corporate backbone of the PDP.
Considering the number, proportion and immeasurable power which Puerto Rican investors have in the campaigns of Gutiérrez, and the visit which Sila Calderón is making today to his District in Chicago in support of his primary campaign, one must question who this sacred cow of Puerto Rican colonial politics really represents. Is it the moguls, the regime and the 956 companies or the humble denizens of his forsaken District? Clearly, the Governor’s mini-campaign at the expense of Puerto Rican taxpayers is a crude act of "offshore" corruption of the kind she loves to condemn in her opponents. But there is more.
An examination of the financial statements filed by Gutiérrez for 1999 thru 2001 reveals a strange case of sudden an unexplained enrichment. In the 1999 Report, Gutiérrez lists as assets two small savings accounts acquired in 1998 with the LaSalle Bank and the Midtown Bank valued at between $15,000.00 and $50,000.00. Under liabilities, he included a construction mortgage for a house located on West Wabansia in the amount of between $250,000.00 and $500,000.00. The following year, the LaSalle and Midtown savings accounts disappeared from his report and, instead, he appears having purchased two certificates of deposit with the Liberty Bank and the Second Federal Bank, where his wife works, each valued at between $100,000.00 and $250,000.00. Also disappearing is the mortgage on the house on Wabansia and, miraculously, he reports the purchase of an additional house in Coco Beach, Puerto Rico, valued at the same amount and with a mortgage less than $100,000.00.
The LaSalle and Midtown bank accounts which disappeared in the Year 2000 report reappear in the Year 2001 report. In the same Year 2001 report, the Liberty Bank account disappears and a new account at the Park National Bank and Trust is reported with a value of between $100,000.00 and $250,000.00. Gutiérrez also lists as assets stockholdings in Mega Corp. and First Bank of Paducah valued at between $50,000.00 and $250,000.00. For a Congressman with an annual salary of $150,000.00 and a jet-set life-style, one has to ask where the money is coming from? How is it possible for ex- revolutionary Gutiérrez to have multiplied in two years, his personal fortune to three times what he used to report.
Where did the money come from to buy a house in Coco Beach in October 1998? In that purchase, Gutiérrez paid $34,000.00 in cash and claimed a homestead property tax exemption on the basis that it was his primary residence. But there is more.
Gutiérrez who neither lives or is domiciled in Puerto Rico, took illegal advantage of that exemption for tax years 1999 and 2000. Later, during calendar year 2001, the Puerto Rico property tax office (CRIM) revoked the exemption. As a consequence, Gutiérrez owes the Puerto Rican tax authorities over $2,000.00 in property taxes, penalties and interests and may well have incurred in fraudulent acts. If one is to investigate fraud in the property tax office, one must begin with the Legislator. This is not the first time that Gutiérrez commits irregularities in his property taxes. In August 1998, the Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune reported a tax fraud when Gutiérrez tried to minimize the value of his property. When the press discovered the fraud, Gutiérrez had to pay over $7,500.00 in back taxes.
Another curiosity is the preferential treatment the Congressman was given when convicted for acts of civil disobedience on Vieques. Gutiérrez was defended by one of his campaign contributors and tried by a federal judge, who also contributed to his campaigns. In the pretrial conference, the Judge ordered that the case of Gutiérrez be severed from that of other co-defendants. Incredibly, and contrary to ordinary practice, the judge did not request a Pre-sentence Investigation Report before passing sentence, precisely so that there would be no record of possible previous encounters with the law. Previous encounters which would have mandated a prison term. Unlike Damaso Serrano, the Zenón’s, Norma Burgos, Rubén Berríos and other independence advocates, Gutiérrez was sentenced to a mere three hours detention in the Marshal’s Office and an unsupervised term of probation. The question is: Why was a Congressman from Chicago given preferential treatment when the same considerations were not given in Puerto Rico to Reverend Al Sharpton and other activists imported from New York in the anti-American cause.
All of these questions go to the heart of her integrity, her honesty, her independence and her credibility. The truth is that today, in Chicago, Sila Calderón is engaged in a political campaign paid for with Puerto Rican tax dollars to favor in the primary a hypocritical impostor who pretends to be a revolutionary, but defends the sleazy interests of the colonial capitalist regime. For less than that, members of the opposition are being thrown in jail in Puerto Rico.
Yep, we are living in the time of Gucci revolutionaries and Louis Vuitton insurgents . . .
http://www.puertorico.com/forums/politics/8541-congressman-luis-gutierrez-fraud.html
Is Congressman Luis Gutiérrez a fraud?
El Vocero
The Gucci Anti-American
By Luis Davila-Colon, Esq.
March 1, 2002
Copyright © 2002 El Vocero.
All Rights Reserved.
Congressman Luis V. Gutiérrez is a contradiction in motion. He preaches clean liberalism, yet is a captive of big interests. In Congress, he represents a District of Hispanic American citizens, yet is more anti-Yankee than Osama Bin Laden. He preaches self-determination for Puerto Rico, yet works every day in favor of colonial nationalism. He invokes ethical supremacy, yet is the first to break the law in the name of moral superiority.
Luis Gutiérrez is an imposter and the biggest fraud in Congress. If the Puerto Ricans and Hispanics who overwhelmingly vote for him knew about the dark side of Luis Gutiérrez, the guy would be unmasked as a temple merchant Pharisee. Gutiérrez preaches morality in his underwear. He is a member of the House Committee on Financial Services, yet his wife works for the Second Federal Savings Bank. Gutiérrez condemns influence peddling by Enron and the Republicans, yet is himself supported by a sizeable group of bankers and multinational corporations based in Puerto Rico who bankroll his campaigns. In fact, the most recent report filed with the Federal Elections Commission reveals that of 257 contributors, 147 or 41% were Puerto Rican investors; the cream of the colonial regime, including the President of the Bankers Association, Senior Management at Banco Popular, the President of Payne Webber, the President of Oriental Bank, officers of 936 and 956 corporations, and prominent allies of the Popular Party, such as: the Governor’s lawyer, Salvador Antonetti; the husband of the Attorney General, Panchito de Jesus Schuck; the Secretary of Transportation, José Izquierdo; the Governor’s influential campaign director, Irving Faccio; Ramón Cantero Frau; and the entire private corporate backbone of the PDP.
Considering the number, proportion and immeasurable power which Puerto Rican investors have in the campaigns of Gutiérrez, and the visit which Sila Calderón is making today to his District in Chicago in support of his primary campaign, one must question who this sacred cow of Puerto Rican colonial politics really represents. Is it the moguls, the regime and the 956 companies or the humble denizens of his forsaken District? Clearly, the Governor’s mini-campaign at the expense of Puerto Rican taxpayers is a crude act of "offshore" corruption of the kind she loves to condemn in her opponents. But there is more.
An examination of the financial statements filed by Gutiérrez for 1999 thru 2001 reveals a strange case of sudden an unexplained enrichment. In the 1999 Report, Gutiérrez lists as assets two small savings accounts acquired in 1998 with the LaSalle Bank and the Midtown Bank valued at between $15,000.00 and $50,000.00. Under liabilities, he included a construction mortgage for a house located on West Wabansia in the amount of between $250,000.00 and $500,000.00. The following year, the LaSalle and Midtown savings accounts disappeared from his report and, instead, he appears having purchased two certificates of deposit with the Liberty Bank and the Second Federal Bank, where his wife works, each valued at between $100,000.00 and $250,000.00. Also disappearing is the mortgage on the house on Wabansia and, miraculously, he reports the purchase of an additional house in Coco Beach, Puerto Rico, valued at the same amount and with a mortgage less than $100,000.00.
The LaSalle and Midtown bank accounts which disappeared in the Year 2000 report reappear in the Year 2001 report. In the same Year 2001 report, the Liberty Bank account disappears and a new account at the Park National Bank and Trust is reported with a value of between $100,000.00 and $250,000.00. Gutiérrez also lists as assets stockholdings in Mega Corp. and First Bank of Paducah valued at between $50,000.00 and $250,000.00. For a Congressman with an annual salary of $150,000.00 and a jet-set life-style, one has to ask where the money is coming from? How is it possible for ex- revolutionary Gutiérrez to have multiplied in two years, his personal fortune to three times what he used to report.
Where did the money come from to buy a house in Coco Beach in October 1998? In that purchase, Gutiérrez paid $34,000.00 in cash and claimed a homestead property tax exemption on the basis that it was his primary residence. But there is more.
Gutiérrez who neither lives or is domiciled in Puerto Rico, took illegal advantage of that exemption for tax years 1999 and 2000. Later, during calendar year 2001, the Puerto Rico property tax office (CRIM) revoked the exemption. As a consequence, Gutiérrez owes the Puerto Rican tax authorities over $2,000.00 in property taxes, penalties and interests and may well have incurred in fraudulent acts. If one is to investigate fraud in the property tax office, one must begin with the Legislator. This is not the first time that Gutiérrez commits irregularities in his property taxes. In August 1998, the Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune reported a tax fraud when Gutiérrez tried to minimize the value of his property. When the press discovered the fraud, Gutiérrez had to pay over $7,500.00 in back taxes.
Another curiosity is the preferential treatment the Congressman was given when convicted for acts of civil disobedience on Vieques. Gutiérrez was defended by one of his campaign contributors and tried by a federal judge, who also contributed to his campaigns. In the pretrial conference, the Judge ordered that the case of Gutiérrez be severed from that of other co-defendants. Incredibly, and contrary to ordinary practice, the judge did not request a Pre-sentence Investigation Report before passing sentence, precisely so that there would be no record of possible previous encounters with the law. Previous encounters which would have mandated a prison term. Unlike Damaso Serrano, the Zenón’s, Norma Burgos, Rubén Berríos and other independence advocates, Gutiérrez was sentenced to a mere three hours detention in the Marshal’s Office and an unsupervised term of probation. The question is: Why was a Congressman from Chicago given preferential treatment when the same considerations were not given in Puerto Rico to Reverend Al Sharpton and other activists imported from New York in the anti-American cause.
All of these questions go to the heart of her integrity, her honesty, her independence and her credibility. The truth is that today, in Chicago, Sila Calderón is engaged in a political campaign paid for with Puerto Rican tax dollars to favor in the primary a hypocritical impostor who pretends to be a revolutionary, but defends the sleazy interests of the colonial capitalist regime. For less than that, members of the opposition are being thrown in jail in Puerto Rico.
Yep, we are living in the time of Gucci revolutionaries and Louis Vuitton insurgents . . .
http://www.puertorico.com/forums/politics/8541-congressman-luis-gutierrez-fraud.html
Who We're Dealing With in the Bert Corona Fiasco - Gutierrez 3
Rep. Gutierrez's corruption is shielded by public support in Chicago
Chicago’s Latino community is struggling to come to terms with one of its leaders.
This week Chicago’s inspector general announced that the city will be investigating a program under which the daughter of U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez was able to buy a piece of property and sell it months later at a 55-percent profit.
In 2008 Gutiérrez’s daughter, Omaira Figueroa, bought a four-unit building in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood under a program that reduced property prices and designated them to struggling families. She bought the property for $155,000 and sold it for $239,900 in 2009, earning herself an $84,900 profit in the process.
Rep. Gutiérrez – who has served Illinois’s 4th congressional district since 1993 – has become an ambiguous figure in Chicago politics. The congressman is simultaneously the highly-popular spokesman of the city’s Latino community and the shadowy politician regularly suspected of improper practices.
He has been linked to a 2004 scandal in which he lobbied Mayor Richard Daley to okay zoning for residential development. A few experts at the time commented on the peculiarity of a U.S. congressman lobbying on behalf of a development plan outside his own district. An investigation revealed that Gutiérrez had received a $200,000 loan from the developer, Calvin Boender, just months prior to Gutiérrez’s personal letter to the mayor advocating the rezoning
Boender was later federally indicted in connection with the same development Gutiérrez had lobbied for – the Galewood Yards project on the city’s West Side. Although Gutiérrez was never indicted himself, Ald. Ike Carothers pled guilty to taking bribes in exchange for supporting plans to rezone the area for residential use.
And if any improprieties are uncovered as a result of the city's current investigation, it won’t be the first time the representative is tied to the practice of buying properties at discounted rates only to quickly re-sell them when market prices climb – a practice known as “flipping.”
On the other hand, Gutiérrez has always presented himself as the “voice of the people” in Chicago, an image reinforced by his participation in various issues and causes. Most notably, Gutiérrez has been an outspoken critic of the federal government’s current immigration policy, arguing that the law destroys immigrant families by deporting undocumented family members.
Rep. Gutiérrez was even arrested Saturday for participating in an immigration reform protest outside the White House gate. While debating Rep. J.D. Hayworth – who is in a Republican primary race with John McCain (R-AZ) -- on CBS’s Face the Nation the next morning, Gutiérrez said he is working “to end illegal immigration as we know it.”
He also appeared on the show to attack Arizona’s new immigration law, which allows Arizona police officers to stop and question persons they may suspect reside in the state illegally. The new law also requires Latinos to carry identification at all times to avoid false arrests.
That Gutiérrez is of Puerto Rican descent and spearheads a number of campaigns to aid the Latino community – not only in Chicago, but across the country – goes a long way in Illinois’s 4th congressional district. Illinois’s 4th district is predominantly Latino – 74% – and contains a considerable amount of Puerto Ricans in its northern half.
Chicago’s Latino community is caught in an ideological dilemma: do they support Rep. Gutiérrez as the local champion of various Latino and Democratic causes; or do they revile him as the crooked politician in Chicago’s long line of crooked politicians?
It appears they’ve chosen the first option.
Gutiérrez’s backroom business dealings go generally ignored by his constituency. The representative’s strong advocacy for immigration reform – and the popularity it has garnered him – shelters him from public criticism and outcries for corruption investigations.
And the Latino voters of Illinois’s 4th district should not be the target of public criticism themselves for re-electing Gutiérrez every four years. It’s understandable that a community would support a leader who campaigns on its behalf and fights in its favor, even if he makes thousands of dollars on the side while doing so.
The strong electoral support for Gutiérrez shows how a small amount of political corruption is acceptable when the voters themselves get a few kickbacks.
Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/city-buzz-in-chicago/rep-gutierrez-s-corruption-is-shielded-by-public-support-chicago#ixzz1KMzmoxKg
Who We're Dealing With in the Bert Corona Fiasco - Gutierrez 2
FBI agents ask about Gutierrez, developer
Questions raised during Ald. Carothers' bribery probe
May 04, 2010
By Todd Lighty and Robert Becker, Tribune reporters
The FBI has interviewed City Hall employees and Chicago aldermen about U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez's ties to a corrupt developer, according to records and interviews that raise new questions about the congressman amid an ongoing federal investigation.
A former alderman convicted in the investigation told FBI agents that Gutierrez boasted of helping his longtime political supporter Calvin Boender obtain a lucrative zoning change for a development on the city's West Side. Another alderman told agents this year she thought Gutierrez was going to buy a home in the development.
And several city planners told investigators they were stunned by the highly unusual intervention of a congressman in a local zoning matter.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-05-04/news/ct-met-gutierrez-galewood-yards-20100504_1_congressman-gutierrez-fbi-agents-rep-luis-gutierrez
Questions raised during Ald. Carothers' bribery probe
May 04, 2010
By Todd Lighty and Robert Becker, Tribune reporters
The FBI has interviewed City Hall employees and Chicago aldermen about U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez's ties to a corrupt developer, according to records and interviews that raise new questions about the congressman amid an ongoing federal investigation.
A former alderman convicted in the investigation told FBI agents that Gutierrez boasted of helping his longtime political supporter Calvin Boender obtain a lucrative zoning change for a development on the city's West Side. Another alderman told agents this year she thought Gutierrez was going to buy a home in the development.
And several city planners told investigators they were stunned by the highly unusual intervention of a congressman in a local zoning matter.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-05-04/news/ct-met-gutierrez-galewood-yards-20100504_1_congressman-gutierrez-fbi-agents-rep-luis-gutierrez
Who We're Dealing With in the Bert Corona Fiasco - Gutierrez 1
Solomon Ortiz and Maxine Waters were covered earlier. Just search "Schools" at left. They're in there. So, now, let's see what a weasel this Gutierrez actually is. -- Faye
U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez has made more than $420,000 on real estate deals
Many are done with campaign contributors
When U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez was looking to buy in the sizzling Bucktown real estate market, he teamed up with a developer and longtime political donor who sold him a plot of land and built him a new home.
And when the congressman decided not to move into the home, the developer, Krzysztof Karbowski, was there to buy it back.
Gutierrez walked away with nearly $200,000.
In Chicago, where a decadelong building boom has reshaped neighborhoods, politicians have come to rely on real estate interests to donate to their campaigns. But the Democratic congressman's financial relationship with some contributors goes beyond campaign cash, according to records and interviews.
In half a dozen deals with campaign supporters since 2002, Gutierrez has made about $421,000 by investing his money in real estate deals and exiting a short time later. The congressman says he made a profit in five of those deals but lost a small amount of money on the sixth.
Gutierrez said his real estate investments were appropriate and that he shared the same risk as any other investor.
"I don't believe in the stock market," Gutierrez said. "It always causes conflicts of interest."
Among the reasons his real estate dealings do not cause conflicts, Gutierrez has said, is that he never interferes in local zoning matters. But the Tribune reported in October that Gutierrez sent a letter to Mayor Richard Daley seeking support for a controversial project built by one of the congressman's political donors who also had lent him money. The newspaper reported that federal authorities investigating zoning matters have shown interest in the Gutierrez letter.
Further, Karbowski and several of the developers who did real estate deals with Gutierrez obtained key zoning changes for other projects from Ald. Manuel Flores (1st), his former aide and political ally.
Gutierrez is among a handful of candidates under consideration to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama, and if he is chosen, Flores is among those considering a step up to the congressman's seat.
Both Flores and Gutierrez rent space for their government offices from Karbowski. Taxpayers pay $4,000 a month for Gutierrez to rent space for his district office in Karbowski's building.
Like Gutierrez, Flores bought a residence from Karbowski. Flores said he bought a condominium from Karbowski because it was for sale and in Wicker Park, where he and his wife wanted to live.
Gutierrez said he has never discussed zoning changes with Flores.
"Though I initially supported his opponent when Manny first ran for public office, I believe he works hard and does a very good job for the people he represents," he said.
Flores said he has never discussed zoning change proposals in his ward with the congressman and treats Karbowski like any other businessman in his ward. Flores said that while he has supported four Karbowski projects, he has rejected five others.
As part of its ongoing "Neighborhoods for Sale" series, the Tribune has documented an insiders' game at City Hall where elected officials haul in millions in campaign cash from developers and others whose interests often trump the wishes of homeowners and city planning staff. It is a system that fundamentally has changed the look of neighborhoods.
Federal authorities now are investigating how zoning works at City Hall and have subpoenaed city files.
The FBI has obtained the letter Gutierrez wrote in July 2004 to Daley. Gutierrez, a former alderman and 1st Ward Democratic committeeman, wrote the letter on behalf of developer Calvin Boender. Months earlier, Boender had lent the congressman $200,000 in a land deal.
Gutierrez has bought and sold properties with five campaign donors, including convicted political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko.
One of Gutierrez's earliest such real estate deals was with Karbowski, who came to the United States from Poland in the mid-1980s when he was 20 and began investing in real estate in 1995. Karbowski has made political donations to Gutierrez since at least 1997.
Gutierrez entered into the first of two real estate deals with Karbowski several years later.
Gutierrez said he had sold his home and was looking to reinvest the proceeds when Karbowski sold him a vacant lot in the 1600 block of North Hermitage Avenue and then built a two-story brick home for the congressman.
Gutierrez said he paid a total of $813,422. When the house was finished, Gutierrez said he decided not to move in. But the congressman said Karbowski and his wife "liked it so much" they bought it back from him in January 2003 for $1 million.
"Kris said, 'I'll buy it from you.' I said, 'Great,' " Gutierrez recalled. "I just want to make an investment. It's not like I wanted to stay with it."
Gutierrez said he made $186,578 on his investment.
Later in 2003, Gutierrez entered into his second profitable deal with Karbowski, this time as a short-term investor in a project in the 400 block of West Superior Street. After four months in the deal, the congressman sold his share to one of Karbowski's business associates.
Gutierrez said he netted $52,000.
Karbowski has been in the news recently with his controversial plans to convert the 1929 Art Deco-style Northwest Tower on Milwaukee Avenue into a hotel. He declined to comment for this story.
Gutierrez said that Krzysztof and Ivona Karbowski have made modest contributions to his campaigns.
"They come sporadically to fundraisers that I've had. I know them because he's a respected businessman in the community," Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez said his successful investments with Karbowski and others were just routine business dealings. He said he never used his position to do favors for people he did business with.
In a statement sent Thursday to the Tribune, Gutierrez said, "I found out about properties the same way everyone else does—because they were available for sale on the open market."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-gutierrez_newdec08,0,106044.story?page=1&track=rss
 |
| Rep. Luis Gutierrez says his investments were routine business dealings. Yeah, right. |
U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez has made more than $420,000 on real estate deals
Many are done with campaign contributors
When U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez was looking to buy in the sizzling Bucktown real estate market, he teamed up with a developer and longtime political donor who sold him a plot of land and built him a new home.
And when the congressman decided not to move into the home, the developer, Krzysztof Karbowski, was there to buy it back.
Gutierrez walked away with nearly $200,000.
In Chicago, where a decadelong building boom has reshaped neighborhoods, politicians have come to rely on real estate interests to donate to their campaigns. But the Democratic congressman's financial relationship with some contributors goes beyond campaign cash, according to records and interviews.
In half a dozen deals with campaign supporters since 2002, Gutierrez has made about $421,000 by investing his money in real estate deals and exiting a short time later. The congressman says he made a profit in five of those deals but lost a small amount of money on the sixth.
Gutierrez said his real estate investments were appropriate and that he shared the same risk as any other investor.
"I don't believe in the stock market," Gutierrez said. "It always causes conflicts of interest."
Among the reasons his real estate dealings do not cause conflicts, Gutierrez has said, is that he never interferes in local zoning matters. But the Tribune reported in October that Gutierrez sent a letter to Mayor Richard Daley seeking support for a controversial project built by one of the congressman's political donors who also had lent him money. The newspaper reported that federal authorities investigating zoning matters have shown interest in the Gutierrez letter.
Further, Karbowski and several of the developers who did real estate deals with Gutierrez obtained key zoning changes for other projects from Ald. Manuel Flores (1st), his former aide and political ally.
Gutierrez is among a handful of candidates under consideration to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama, and if he is chosen, Flores is among those considering a step up to the congressman's seat.
Both Flores and Gutierrez rent space for their government offices from Karbowski. Taxpayers pay $4,000 a month for Gutierrez to rent space for his district office in Karbowski's building.
Like Gutierrez, Flores bought a residence from Karbowski. Flores said he bought a condominium from Karbowski because it was for sale and in Wicker Park, where he and his wife wanted to live.
Gutierrez said he has never discussed zoning changes with Flores.
"Though I initially supported his opponent when Manny first ran for public office, I believe he works hard and does a very good job for the people he represents," he said.
Flores said he has never discussed zoning change proposals in his ward with the congressman and treats Karbowski like any other businessman in his ward. Flores said that while he has supported four Karbowski projects, he has rejected five others.
As part of its ongoing "Neighborhoods for Sale" series, the Tribune has documented an insiders' game at City Hall where elected officials haul in millions in campaign cash from developers and others whose interests often trump the wishes of homeowners and city planning staff. It is a system that fundamentally has changed the look of neighborhoods.
Federal authorities now are investigating how zoning works at City Hall and have subpoenaed city files.
The FBI has obtained the letter Gutierrez wrote in July 2004 to Daley. Gutierrez, a former alderman and 1st Ward Democratic committeeman, wrote the letter on behalf of developer Calvin Boender. Months earlier, Boender had lent the congressman $200,000 in a land deal.
Gutierrez has bought and sold properties with five campaign donors, including convicted political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko.
One of Gutierrez's earliest such real estate deals was with Karbowski, who came to the United States from Poland in the mid-1980s when he was 20 and began investing in real estate in 1995. Karbowski has made political donations to Gutierrez since at least 1997.
Gutierrez entered into the first of two real estate deals with Karbowski several years later.
Gutierrez said he had sold his home and was looking to reinvest the proceeds when Karbowski sold him a vacant lot in the 1600 block of North Hermitage Avenue and then built a two-story brick home for the congressman.
Gutierrez said he paid a total of $813,422. When the house was finished, Gutierrez said he decided not to move in. But the congressman said Karbowski and his wife "liked it so much" they bought it back from him in January 2003 for $1 million.
"Kris said, 'I'll buy it from you.' I said, 'Great,' " Gutierrez recalled. "I just want to make an investment. It's not like I wanted to stay with it."
Gutierrez said he made $186,578 on his investment.
Later in 2003, Gutierrez entered into his second profitable deal with Karbowski, this time as a short-term investor in a project in the 400 block of West Superior Street. After four months in the deal, the congressman sold his share to one of Karbowski's business associates.
Gutierrez said he netted $52,000.
Karbowski has been in the news recently with his controversial plans to convert the 1929 Art Deco-style Northwest Tower on Milwaukee Avenue into a hotel. He declined to comment for this story.
Gutierrez said that Krzysztof and Ivona Karbowski have made modest contributions to his campaigns.
"They come sporadically to fundraisers that I've had. I know them because he's a respected businessman in the community," Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez said his successful investments with Karbowski and others were just routine business dealings. He said he never used his position to do favors for people he did business with.
In a statement sent Thursday to the Tribune, Gutierrez said, "I found out about properties the same way everyone else does—because they were available for sale on the open market."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-gutierrez_newdec08,0,106044.story?page=1&track=rss
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