Hey Tim ~ This is a great subject. Leave it to an elected official (or the wife of one) to bring something like this to light. To me, when an elected official or an agent of a governing body uses that body's letterhead, email domain, or telephone, they risk the communication being construed as an endorsement of the governing body.

Better judgement should have been exercised here. Mrs. Dunn should have used her or her husband's (or son's or daughter's) personal email address for the purpose of sending this message.

Do you think agencies like Conejo Valley Schools have policies about these things? Perhaps they should.

Forget the legalities and policies and focus on the individual. Judging from the Star's hystory on Mrs. Dunn this should have been anticipated and Mr. Dunn should have known it was going to happen. That kinda heaps the responsibility on Mr. Dunn
Mr. Dunn is an elected official and it is doubtful that the Board can oust him. Certainly they can publicly lambast, chastise, and educate him on the ethics of Public Service.
The Board, and others like it, should work towards guaranteeing that this will not re-occur by instituting and establishing police to address this issue.

Cathy Carlson from TO here: Alan, I want to correct your misunderstanding about "district email". I got cc'd on the letter April 18th and it did NOT come from the Board's address. It was from Laura's own account from their home. I have gotten other email from her in the past. She has the right to contact teachers, as do you and I. The list of email addresses is part of public domain. This is not an opinion, this is fact that was researched by me and verified today by employees under the State Dept of Education.

Also, Leo, just what "ethics" violations are you speaking of? You might want to consider that fact that not everything that is discussed during that hour of closed session is confidential. They can, and do, talk about their vacations, where they had lunch, and other non-confidential matters during closed sessions. Mike was a former Morgan Stanley stock broker and he DOES understand confidentiality. The budget is not confidential. The windfall of over a quarter million dollars was not confidential. The suggestion to use that money for re-hires and new staff was not confidential. Mike did not violate any laws by contacting the rest of the board about his support for a pay raise for the teachers.

If you want to talk about ethics, please remember that Mike was the ONLY trustee to vote down his own raise a couple of months ago. I was shocked to see the 2 millionaires on the board, Tim Stephens and Pat Phelps, vote themselves a raise of about $35, which at 5% was greater than the raise the 4 veteran board members gave the teachers. That was the reason Mike gave--it was unethical to give themselves more than they gave their workers--for his NO vote.

As for whether Laura should or shouldn't have written the letter, I'm glad she did. The union has not been telling the teachers the truth. Also, there is a long tradition in America of political wives writing to support their husbands. I don't have a problem with that. In the Star posts there is a complaint from Emma Jones that wives should not publicly defend their husband's work conduct. This is not the same ball-game. He is an elected official who is a public figure and who is being attacked in the press and on TV during board meetings. This is affecting her life, and her teenagers' lives. This is completely different from a civilian job conflict of which the public is unaware. This is about the dirty politics of the union and the DEMS (many of their board members) who are showing up at CVUSD board meetings and harrassing Mike and the conservative public speakers. We have been interrupted, pointed at, called by our first names, mocked and laughed at while we are trying to speak. Note that I am not allowed to mention any teacher by name during public comments. And when I mentioned Arleigh Kidd and explained that he is the Executive Director of the combined TO and Simi teachers' union, the president said "No names!" and tried to turn off my microphone! But I challenged her, since he doesn't work for the district, and doesn't live or vote in the Conejo, AND he is a public figure who loves to smack around conservatives in his comments in this blog site and others.

Last summer, Ingrid van Eckert, a board member of the DCCV, called a supporter of traditional marriage a Nazi! She showed up this fall and interrupted Elaine McKearn, former CVUSD Trustee, during public comments, with long critiques of the governor! The President was finally able to put a stop to that.

Please watch the re-runs and you will see the chaos that the opposition is creating, and the mudslinging against Mike Dunn. After the rowdies leave, the rest of the meeting is held in the usual civil manner. They like to come in, stir things up, insult people, and leave before it gets too late for their night-time Ovaltine. A lot of them don't even vote here! I recognized a lot of them as seniors who attend the ACLU meetings once a month at the Newbury Park Library (I like to drop in and check them out).

Remember, Mike is trying to do his best as an amateur politician to fulfill his civic duty to the community. How in the world is America going to have decent representation for local public offices when the opposition from the unions and the media are hell-bent to defame and destroy good people and their families? Who in their right mind is going to run for these positions if these attacks continue?

Joe from the grave here:

Cathy you go and check out ACLU members meetings? What other groups do you keep tabs on? Do you have a list?

Cathy here: Actually, Joe, I am a Board Member of the Thousand Oaks Citizens Action Network, and we do keep abreast of political activities here and in the County. We are non-partisan and one of our newest members is the facilitator of Global Exchange which sponsors the ACLU meetings, and I've been invited to attend their meetings. I generally only go when there is an education issue, such as banning mililtary recruiters on campus. They've had 2 sessions on that. Also, we hear about Park and Rec issues that need community imnput, and we alert our members. And we keep tabs on the doings at TO City Hall, of course.

One of the local issues that involves public education has been the ramrodding of the projects of The Boys and Girls Club of the Conejo. They have built 2 controversial facilities on public school property. Many of our members oppose a private organization on public property. I am happy to report that it appears that the other 3 clubs will not be built. The cost to taxpayers has been great, since TO City Council already gave away $500,000 to them, and was going to give away $750,000 more. Mayor Claudia Bill-de-la-Pena announced last year that the City is cutting back, and "projects such as the B&G clubs" will not be funded. This is not the best use of public money for the benefit of only a few. Also, you and I had our tax money mis-used again when the State of California Architect's office had to spend weeks reviewing the plans, since it was on public land. AND that doesn't even cover the amount of money that the CVUSD wasted having the Superintendent, the Financial Officer, and many others spend a year and a half studying the plans and having meeting after meeting, instead of tending to the problems of our district. We hired them to be school administrators, not rec club directors! What did those hours cost at $300-$500 an hour of administrators' time? It was very costly for our district to kow-tow to the whims of Cal Johnston. He announced at a men's club meeting in Simi Valley that he had a vision from God to build these clubs! How presumptuous! Joe, do YOU have any messages for us about how to educate/entertain our youth from the Almighty, or from Beelzabub, whichever the case may be?

These clubs do not belong on public property. Cal Johnston is rich--let him and his friends buy some property and build their buildings like other Boys and Girls Clubs do. Or are they more interested in the tax write offs for their donors? It seems that way to me.

Joe, have I answered your oui-ja board questions? How are things down Purgatory Way? It's been pretty hot up here in the Conejo!

Cathy, thanks for the fast reply. You got me this round. Touche! But, don't you agree that the communist threat in the 1950's was bigger than many thought?