In a full-page ad entitled “Enough is Enough” in Sunday’s Signal, the “friends” of Gloria Mercado-Fortine fired off a volley of accusations directed at school board members Joe Messina and Steve Sturgeon. The ad starts off by alleging that “There is a power-hungry faction within the local Republican Party that will stop at nothing to get its members elected to governing boards throughout the Santa Clarita Valley.” It then goes on to accuse Messina and Sturgeon of using their religion to further their ”back-room dealing” and “no-holds barred political maneuvering” in pursuit of “political advantage” and “personal gain.”
“Messina and his gang of back-room dealers have their own candidate in mind for Gloria’s seat, and Steve is playing along with them in an effort to hold on to his seat. Fellow board members Paul Strickland and Bob Jensen are playing along as well, lest they be targeted next election.”
(Unfortunately, because it is an ad, there is no link to it on the Signal’s website. But if you can lay your hands on a copy of Sunday’s paper, the ad appears on page A8.)
If the above accusations are true, you have to be pretty impressed. Joe Messina was only elected to the Hart board a little over a year ago after four unsuccessful bids. And already he heads a gang of “back-room dealers” which apparently strikes fear into the hearts of all his fellow board members. Assuming that such a cabal is possible, one wonders what the motivation would be. After all, Ms. Mercado-Fortine has been on the Hart school board since 1997. That’s almost 14 years if my math is correct. And she served two terms on the Castaic school board prior to that. Her list of accomplishments is impressive. What has she done that has so enraged this amazingly powerful Republican force?
In a recent Signal article, Mercado-Fortine intimates that she is being targeted because she is Hispanic and a woman. According to the authors of the ad, Mercado-Fortine is being targeted for elimination because she is the only board member to have called for a forensic audit of district spending — something that no one else on the board feels is necessary and something that would be a significant expense at a time when budgets have been slashed and districts are scrambling to pay for the bare necessities.
Sorry, but neither of those explanations ring true to me. In her 14 year history as a school board member, I am sure that there have been other issues on which she and her fellow board members did not agree. And certainly during the course of those 14 years, Mercado-Fortine has always been a Hispanic woman.
The fact is, Mercado-Fortine is employed by Desert Sands Charter High School. That school apparently shares many of the same officers and administrators, as well as the same letterhead, with Mission View Charter School. Mission View Charter School contracts with the William S. Hart School District. While the two schools are legally separate entities, it is obvious that on a practical level, any decision which benefits the officers and administrators of Mission View, benefits the officers and administrators of Desert Sands are as well. And since Mercado-Fortine stands to benefit from pleasing the officers and administrators of Desert Sands, she has a clear conflict of interest on any issue that comes before the board involving Mission View Charter School.
This obvious situation appears to be beyond the understanding of the Signal and the attorney it asked to review documents. I am reminded of testimony before Congress after the Bernie Madoff scandal made headlines. Mr. Madoff always made sure that the proper documents were filled out in compliance with all federal regulations. And the paper pushers in charge of overseeing such things at the SEC never caught on to his obvious fraudulent activity because they were more concerned with how the paperwork was filled out than with what was really going on.
I don’t know that this conflict is sufficient to force an end Ms. Mercado-Fortine’s tenure on the Hart school board, but her reaction to having this conflict questioned is extremely telling. Rather than acknowledging the conflict and taking steps to address it proactively, she came out swinging – claiming she is being victimized due to her race and gender, and then following it up with nasty accusations about other people’s characters.
Please.
Ms. Mercado-Fortine, set a good example. Recuse yourself from decisions which pertain to Mission View Charter School and apologize for not having done so in the past. Enough of the drama already.
Loading ...
Board Member Mercado-Fortine stated in The Signal that the Hart District’s legal opinion regarding her conflict-of-interest exonerated her. It seems to me it is in her interest to publicly release it so this issue can be put to bed.
Naw. She lost her re-election bid in 2001, but ran again two years later, in 2003. She won and was re-elected in 2007. She and Steve Sturgeon are up for re-elction this year.
“Assuming that such a cabal is possible, one wonders what the motivation would be. ”
Are you NEW to the SCV? What do you mean, “assuming that such a cabal is possible”? And if you have to wonder “what the motivation would be” you haven’t been paying attention for the last 4-5 years.
“Joe Messina was only elected to the Hart board a little over a year ago after four unsuccessful bids.”
The guy is on nearly every GOP club board in town AND is an elected member of the 38th Central Committee (in addition to the Hart School Board).
Seriously, if you are going to write things like this a little even handedness is in order.
How sad is it that someone who is on all those “club boards” was not favored by the SCV Republican “machine” during his last election, any more than he was during the first four. Joe won in spite of the fact that the Republican “machine” of which he is so much a part, threw its support behind Suzan Solomon.
As to Messina’s motivation, pray do share it with those of us who “weren’t paying attention.”
Very good point.
Nice deflection from the issue of your one-sided article.
I, like most people I suspect, aren’t on either side and wish the public peeing contest over this would just stop.
The point was that both of them have acted like children and should be called on it equally.
Now, if you wish to pursue the Messina rah-rah..go ahead but it’s silly.
The “machine” isn’t against Messina. Everyone knows that once you get elected here you become part of the machine…because the most important thing, to them, is keep the incumbents in office.
For the record, again, my comment was about your writing not Messina or Mercado-Fortine.
You had more than one comment. One was to assert that I haven’t been paying attention or I would know what Messina’s motivation is. Apparently your big revelation is that the goal of the machine is to keep the incumbents in place. And yet Messina is not up for election, and Mercado-Fortine is an incumbent. Hmmm.
As to the “one-sided” nature of my commentary, I gave my opinion, which is what we do on this blog. You are free to give yours as well. And yet you have yet to make any sort of case for the other side. In what way have Messina and Sturgeon behaved like children?
Touchy much?
>Apparently your big revelation is that the goal of the machine is to keep the incumbents in place.
Your words not mine. I didn’t say that I revealed anything. I simply called you on your one-sided article.
> You are free to give yours as well. And yet you have yet to make any sort of case for the other side.
I don’t need to make a case for either side. I am not taking a side, which is the whole point.
I will not be distracted into a side discussion about the virtues OR non-virtues of either Messina or Mercaddo-Fortine.
Again, my comment was about your writing not Messina or Mercado-Fortine.
You say my commentary was “one sided” and yet you cannot offer another side yourself. Pretty weak.
Censoring my comment doesn’t change the truth.
Like pounding sand in a rat hole my friend…
A little off topic, but you all probably want to know this:
Big news— new Lawsuit by Save Our Libraries, Inc. may invalidate library takeover!
see: http://savesantaclaritalibraries.wordpress.com/ for details and the complete letter.
A new lawsuit filed today by the attorney for Don Ricketts of Save Our Libraries, Inc. may completely invalidate the contract between the City and LSSI. The entire complaint may be found here, and the pertinent references to the MUNICIPAL LIBRARIES ACT—Calfornia Education Code here. A letter from Mr. Ricketts to the attorney for the City handling the other SOL, Inc. lawsuits reads:
If my memory serves me correctly Mercado-Fortine had to recuse herself from the vote to extend a charter to the Einstein Academy because she had done consulting work for them. Fine…but her decision to consult with them was in itself a conflict of interest and resulted in a 2-2 vote that left the district and the school in limbo.
She is a liberal who believes in the multiculturalism indoctrination of our youth. I always look forward to her Spanish play by play of the Fourth of July parade.
Shame on Gloria for agreeing to settle the Discrimination lawsuit against the Hart District by Gloria Allred. Time for her to decide to be on the Hart board or continue her consulting work. Gloria Mercado-Fortine cannot serve two masters with equal unbiased allegiance.
I don’t care about this topic, but I highly dislike Linda’s writing style and tone.
I don’t care about this topic either, but I like Linda’s writing style and tone.
Some people enjoying being preached at from a high horse and some people find it irritating.
If he’s a hot cowboy on a high horse, I’d be okay with the preaching.
Who said anything about He..? We are talking about DramaMama.
Sorry Nate. I kinda stepped on your toes there. I know you like being the one doing the irritating.
I really long for the scvtalk circa 6 months ago… Let’s call’em the good ol’ days, when posts were thought provoking and related to Santa Clarita and comment quality writing was in the comments not on the front page.
Petz endorses Sharon Runner in tomorrows election and urges others to do the same. Just say No ! to The Signal and their phony editorial board which is out of step with the taxpaying citizens of this community.
Sharon Rrunner another unimpressive republican puppet.
But a reliable conservative vote.
Vote for Sharon Runner because she isn’t a democrat. Great platform, independents are running to the ballot boxes.