Another Misleading Republican Attack In California (on Busby)

[rodeodance]

----- Original Message -----
From: "FactCheck.org" <[e-mail]>
Date: Monday, May 1, 2006 2:20 pm
Subject: New FactCheck Article: Another Misleading Republican Attack In California
To:xxxx

> Another Misleading Republican Attack In California
> An NRCC ad says Democrat Francine Busby "praised a teacher
> reported to
> have child porn," but fails to mention she voted to fire him.
>
> May 1, 2006
>
> Summary
>
> A National Republican Congressional Committee television advertisement
> says California House Democratic Candidate Francine Busby "praised a
> teacher reported to have child porn saying he was always willing to
> lend a hand."
>
> The ad calls that "dangerous," but it fails to tell the whole story.
> In fact, Busby had acted months earlier as a member of California's
> Cardiff School Board to strip the teacher of his teaching license.
>
> The ad also says "with Busby on the school board the district's
> deficit sky-rocketed" and that "Busby voted to lay off teachers."
> Those statements give a misleading picture. While the ad faults Busby
> for "poor judgment" and "poor management," the fact is that the school
> district had a comfortable cash reserve every year Busby served on the
> board. The five lay-offs resulted from funding cuts by the state and
> produced almost no change in pupil-teacher ratios.
>
>
> Analysis
>
> The NRCC released another 30-second television ad attacking Democratic
> House candidate Francine Busby of California. It first aired April 21
> in the San Diego media market. A special election to fill the House
> seat vacated by former Republican Rep. Randy â??Dukeâ?? Cunningham
> takes place June 6.
>
>
> NRCC Ad: "Busby Poor Record"
>
> Announcer: Francine Busby's record? With Busby on the school board
> the district's deficit sky-rocketed by over 250 per cent. That's poor
> management.
> (On Screen: footage of Francine Busby behind a microphone.)
> Announcer: Busby voted to lay off teachers but gave raises to
> administrative bureaucrats. That's poor judgment.
> (On Screen: footage of Francine Busby applauding with screen text
> saying, "Praised teacher reported to have Child Porn.")
> Announcer: Busby even praised a teacher reported to have child porn
> saying he was always willing to lend a hand. That's dangerous.
> Announcer: Liberal Francine Busby, poor management, poor judgment,
> dangerous.
> Announcer: The National Republican Congressional Committee is
> reponsible for the content of this advertising.
>
> The ad, titled â??Busby Poor Record,â?? mischaracterizes Busbyâ??s
> work as a member of Californiaâ??s Cardiff School Board from 2001 to
> 2006. Cardiff, an affluent town 30 miles outside San Diego, consists
> of two elementary schools with a current total of 741 students.
>
> Praised for Having Child Porn?
>
> The NRCC ad says that Busby â??praised a teacher reported to have
> child porn saying he was always willing to lend a hand. That's
> dangerous.â?? It is true that Busby said this about former California
> elementary school teacher Dale Regazzi, but she also expressed shock
> at the allegations and had previously acted to get him out of teaching
> entirely.
>
> An April 2004 report in the San Diego Union-Tribune quotes Busby
> speaking about Regazzi after he had been investigated and charged with
> attempting to possess child pornography and destroying evidence:
>
> Busby: He is a teacher who put in a lot of extra timeâ?¦he was always
> willing to lend a hand. I am shocked about the investigation.
>
> The school board stripped Regazzi of his teaching credentials when
> they were told about the investigation in September 2003. The
> Union-Tribune reported investigators found evidence of child
> pornography in Regazziâ??s trash can. Regazzi pleaded guilty to
> destruction of evidence as part of a plea deal, and was sentenced to
> one year probation. The newspaper said that as of February 2006
> Regazzi was a truck driver.
>
> Administratorsâ?? Salaries at Teachersâ?? Expense?
>
> The NRCC ad says that â??Busby voted to lay off teachers but gave
> raises to administrative bureaucrats. That's poor judgment.â?? Busby
> did participate in a unanimous vote to approve a 3 per cent raise for
> supervisors and non-teaching staff employees in 2003, but the ad fails
> to mention that teachers got the same 3 per cent raise. The raise did
> not affect Busby or other school board members, who get a $120 monthly
> stipend.
>
> It is also true that the board sent lay-off notices to 23 teachers in
> anticipation of large funding cuts by the state. But local newspapers
> reported that the cuts turned out to be smaller than at first thought,
> and school officials say ultimately only five teachers were let go.
> Despite that, pupil-teacher ratios hardly suffered, going from 17.8
> students per teacher in 2002-2003 school year to 18.0 the following
> year, according to the Education Data Partnership website Ed-Data.
> Cardiff managed this by shedding out-of-district pupils for whom the
> state cut funding.
>
> It Depends on How You Define Deficit
>
> The NRCC ad says that â??with Busby on the School Board the
> districtâ??s deficit sky-rocketed by over 250 per cent.â?? The ad is
> correct as far as it goes, but ignores the Cardiff school district's
> large cash reserves.
>
> By law, California school districts are not allowed to borrow
> money to
> finance their operating costs. The Cardiff school district is no
> exception. According to a budget summary supplied to
> FactCheck.org by
> the school district's Director of Finance, Sandie Luehrs, the
> district's expenditures were higher than its revenue from 2001 to
> 2005, and in that sense ran a deficit in the most recent four
> years.
> Nevertheless, the district ended each year with a positive balance,
> not a negative one:
>
> Cardiff School Board Budget Summary by School Year
>
>
>
> School Years
> 2000-2001
> 2001-2002
> 2002-2003
> 2003-2004
> 2004-2005
>
> Beginning Balance
> $950,458
> $1,185,433
> $988,550
> $891,888
> $536,041
>
> Revenue
> $5,847,682
> $5,987,178
> $6,130,560
> $5,846,238.00
> $6,164,985.00
>
> Expenditures
> $5,612,707
> $6,184,061
> $6,227,222
> $6,202,085.00
> $6,220,732.00
>
> Excess/Deficit
> $234,975
> -$196,883
> -$96,662
> -$355,847
> -$55,747
>
> Ending Balance
> $1,185,433
> $988,550
> $891,888
> $536,041
> $480,294
>
> Source: Sandie Luehrs, Director of Finance, Cardiff School District
>
> The "over 250 per cent" rise in the deficit refers to the years
> between 2002 and 2004, when the deficit indeed increased by 268 per
> cent. However, the deficit also declined by 84.3 per cent the
> following year.
>
> -by Emi Kolawole
>
>
> Sources
>
> Friedrich, Alex. "Local Schools Pleased by Smaller Budget cuts,'" The
> Monterey County Herald. 30 July 2003.
>
> Mihailovich, Steven. "More School Layoffs," The Coast News. 17
> April 2003.
>
> Jimenez, Jose Luis. "Ex-teacher strikes deal in porn case," The San
> Diego Union-Tribune. 7 February 2006.
>
> Parmet, Sherry. "Cardiff teacher faces child-porn accusations; State
> commission suspends credential," The San Diego Union-Tribune. 29
> April 2004.
>
> Parmet, Sherry. "Cardiffy may turn away some pupils; Funding change
> affects interdistrict students," The San Diego Union-Tribune. 31 May
> 2003.
>
> "School District to halt transfers," The San Diego Union-Tribune. 11
> June 2003.
>
> "NRCC: More Lies, More Slander." Francine Busby for Congress. News
> Release. 25 April 2006.