Let the Record Show:

OK, Sportsfans...
The records request has been filled, and oh....the picture it shows.

Again...let us be perfectly clear up front. The following is not intended to slight Partor Rayford. We think he will be a good addition to the Finance Committee. We see him as merely an unfortunate pawn in the school district's bizarre chess game. The issue on the table is ONLY the manner in which John Whalen fractured "the rules" and "sacred" policy in order to get the candidiate they wished on a Committee. Similarly, the rest of the sheep that supported Whalen's misdeeds should be held just as accoutnable.

Dateline Friday July 10, 3:46 pm.
Pastor Rayford's e-mailed letter of application is received, 15 minutes before the deadline. This letter requests ONLY consideration for the Human Resources Committee.

FROM:Tim Culver
TO: pastorrayford@fhlfamily.com
CC: Diedrich, Caren; King, Gwen; Mikula, Annette; Whalen, John
DATE: 7/12/20096:56 AM
SUBJECT: Re: Citizen Representative Committees

This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter. I have forwarded it to the appropriate Board members. Thanks for your interest. Hope to see you soon.
----------------------
>>>> pastorrayford@fhlfamily.com 7/10/2009 3:46 PM >>>>>
Dr. Culver,
As a resident of Sun Prairie, I am greatly concerned about the future of our district and its ability to continue to serve a growing and diverse community. I have devoted a significant amount of time over the past 2 years, to studying the complexities and challenges facing our community and I would like to serve the community by volunteering for one of the citizen representative positions.
The committee I am most interested in is the Human Resources committee. Having served on 2 special committees pertaining to bUilding a diverse workforce, I feel this will be the best fit for me. I will gladly provide a personal resume of my work experience upon request. The work experience includes over 10 years in management at large corporations such as General Electric, CitiCapital, and The Associates.

Pastor Harold E. Rayford
Faith, Hope and Love Worship Center

Dateline Sunday July 12, 6:56 pm.
Tim Culver acknowledges receipt of Pastor Rayfors's application.

Dateline Monday July 20, 8:20 pm.
Pastor Rayford's scheduled interview ONLY for the Human Resources Committee.

Dateline Tuesday July 21, 4:31 pm.
Verrrry interesting. John Whalen's e-mail to Pator Rayford requesting that he call him on his cell phone. We wonder....did any OTHER candidate get to have the opportunity for additional questions or interview time? Nice decision to use the personal cell phone...untraceable record-wise. Geee...since this was part of the interview, shouldn't this have been done under the watchful public eye?

From: John Whalen
To: pastorrayford@fhlfamily.com
Date: 7/21/2009 4:31 PM
Subject: Follow up questions

I was certainly a pleasure talking to you last night. I have a couple follow up questions that I would like to ask you. When you have a moment, would you please call me at 513-xxxx.
John Whalen President
Sun Prairie School Board jewhale@spasd.k12.wi.us

Dateline Thursday July 23, 5:02 pm.
Here's the silver tuna. John Whalen officially makes his nominations for the committees. Note that we have NO RECORD indicating that Pastor Rayford even REQUESTED a slot on the Finance Commitee. Yet here he is...nominated for that appointment.

From: John Whalen
To: Tim Culver
Date: 7/23/20095:02 PM
Subject: Re: Committee Members
I have inserted the names below. It would be nice if Gwen called the nominees on Monday. If we send a letter to all applicants, I don't know if it is necessary to notify those that were not nominated. If you feel otherwise, give me a call and we can discuss it.
John Whalen President
Sun Prairie School Board jewhale@spasd.k12.wLus
>>> Tim Culver 07/23/09 1 :27 PM >>>
John:
If you give us the names of the members you are going to nominate on Monday, I can have Gwen insert them in a situation report.
Education & Policy Committee 2009-2011: Christina Klawitter
Facilities, Technology & Transportation Committee 2009-2010: John Wilke
2009-2011: Patrick Anderson
Finance Committee 2009-2011: Pastor Harold Rayford
Human Resources Committee 2009-2011: Betty Collier

Dateline Friday July 24, 9:55 AM.
Here is Culver's--not Whalen's-- rather urgent request to Pastor Rayford that he submit a follow-up letter of interest for the Finance Committee.


From: Tim Culver
To: pastorrayford@fhlfamily.com
Date: 7/24/20099:55 AM
Subject: Re: Citizen Representative Committees

My assistant Gwen is gone today, so perhaps you have already done what I am going to inquire about. The Board president, John Whalen indicated that he intends to nominate you this Monday 7-28-09 to become a member of the Finance Committee. To do so, by Monday he needs a written letter of interest to serve on the Finance Committee on file as well as your address in the school district. As I said, perhaps you've sent these to Gwen or John, but if not, feel free to send them to me via e-mail and I will see they get to the people who need them on Monday.

Dateline Friday July 24, 3:26 PM.
At long last, the district has the magic letter of interest in hand, expressing interest in appointment to the Finance Committee. 2 weeks after the application deadline; 4 days after the interview.

From: Tim Culver
To: King, Gwen; Whalen, John
Date: 7/24/20093:26 PM
Subject: Fwd: Citizen Representative Committee

>>>> pastorrayford@fhlfamily.com 7/24/2009 2:43 PM >>>>>

I would like to amend my original letter of interest to include my new home address and to express my desire to serve on the Finance Committee. As you know, I have extensive experience working in the finance arena. Also, my new home address xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Sun Prairie, 53590. Please feel free to forward this information as you see fit.

Pastor Harold E. Rayford

Faith, Hope and Love Worship Center

---

SP-EYE - What bother us most is that the board and Dr. Culver clearly got Pastor Rayford involved in their duplicitous dealings. That is shameful to say the very least.

Here is the incredible list of shattered rules and policies that Whalen and the sheep left in their wake. Public trust? Kiss that goodbye.

• The board violated it's own clearly published deadlines (applications due July 10).
• The board violated its policy (requires application materials --with a due date--to include the committee(s)_ of interest; a separate letter is required for each.
• The board interviewed the pastor ONLY for HR.
• The followup interview questions John Whalen asked of the pastor are part of the interview process and therefore are part of the public record. Where is the public meeting notice for that phone call? Where are the minutes of the conversation? Yet another violation of open meeting laws?

Where will it end? When will it end? All we can tell you is that until members of this community that are disgusted with this way of doing business step forward and speak out, why should the board follow the rules?

Meet the new "Weaz"...

Same as the old "Weaz"?

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss ...

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song
-the Who, "Won't Get Fooled Again"

The comic and actor Pauly Shore has long been known as "the Weaz", short for "Weasel". Move over Pauly, John Whalen is stepping up to take that moniker. It seems that after being re-elected in a landslide and then elected board president by his flock, Whalen is feeling saucy. So saucy in fact, that he's stepped right up to the plate and taken the school board down a whole new path of shenanigans and weaseling.

Did you known that the etymology of the term "weasel words" stems from the manner in which weasels eat the eggs of birds? Weasels actually suck the contents out of an egg, leaving the shell--for appearances sake--intact. In fact, the term "egg sucker" was coined for the same rationale. Similarly, words or claims that turn out to be empty upon further review have come to be known as "weasel words".

So too did Whalen stammer and stumble and reach for words to defend his actions that violated board policy to keep a Bristol resident from being appointed to the school board's Finance Committee.

Policy requires applicants to submit a letter of application for each committee they are interested in. The Weaz stated, and as reported by the STAR, that he subsequently asked a candidate who had NOT demonstrated interest in the Finance committee to submit a second letter of interest AFTER THE INTERVIEWS WERE COMPLETED.

Then Whalen weaseled further by indicating that board policy does not specify a deadline for applications.

HELLO! Were other candidates offered the same opportunity--to basically ignore the application deadline which was published in the newspaper, on the website, and sent to "Key Communicators"?

Geee...if we got another application for a school position after the deadline for applications had passed would we accept it?

Geee...if a citizen submits candidacy papers for the school board after the deadline, do they get their name on the ballot?

We don't think so. Shame on Whalen for clearly violating policy...the law of the board.

Shame on Whalen for leaving Pastor Harold Rayford holding the bag. It's Pastor Rayford who Whalen coaxed into submitting the second letter to "justify" his selection. We're betting that Rayford had no idea what policy stated. Nevertheless, he's now stuck sitting in a seat that the public knows should have been someone else's. We wouldn't blame the Pastor if he opted step down, leaving Whalen with rotten egg alll over his face as he deals with cleaning THAT mess.

Our only question is...would Whalen prefer to be "the Weaz"? Or the Egg-Sucker?

We're at ShenCon 1!

That's right folks, we're at ShenCon 1, or Shenanigans Condition 1. Like the DefCon scale used to military severity and readiness, Shenanigans Condition 1 is reserved for situations when board shenanigans are imminent or already in effect.


Last night, board president John Whalen almost boasted, "Yes. You're right, [my actions are] this is a violation of board policy", when faced with allegations that his school board committee nominations represented a flagrant violation of board policy.


The school board operates in accordance with policies established (and voted on) by past boards. Board policy is, in effect, the law which governs a school board's actions. Last night, Whalen's actions effectively tossed all rules out the window. His prideful admission that he violated policy clearly announced that he and this board does whatever it wants when it wants. They stand above the law.


What Whalen did
By nominating a citizen who did not even apply for the Finance committee ( and casting aside another VERY qualified person who DID apply), Whalen violated Board policy procedure BCE-R, which states that applicants MUST apply separately (and meet application deadlines) for EACH committee of interest. Pastor Harold Rayford applied ONLY for the Human Resources Committee, to which Betty Collier was appointed.

All applicants shall mail, e-mail to the District Administrator's secretary
and get confirmation of receipt, or deliver to the District Administrator's office a letter containing the applicant's name, address, telephone number and a concise statement not exceeding 500 words of the applicant's qualifications and interest in appointment to a specified committee.
A person may apply by separate letters for appointment to more than one committee but shall not simultaneously serve as a citizen member on more than one committee.

Whalen weakly (almost embarrassingly) justified his violation by indicating that during his interview for HR, he noticed that Pastor Harold Rayford had a strong financial background. Therefore Whalen asked Rayford to submit a second letter--long after the application deadline--expressing interest in being considered for the Finance Committee appointment as well. Geee...did other applicants get asked if they were interested in another committee? Did THEY get to break the rules as well? Good for the goose, good for the gander?

...and 5 other board members supported him!
Adding insult to injury, five (5) other board members followed like baby ducklings and voted to support Whalen's violation. Only David Stackhouse had the intestinal fortitude to lay down the rubber stamp and vote "NO". In fact, Stackhouse also pointed out the specific violation of policy as the reason for his vote.


Putting the Pastor in a difficult position
We understand why Mr. Whalen would want Pastor Rayford to be involved with the school board. He represents a unifying force within the community, and has worked with the board to improve understanding of cultural diversity issues within the district. In fact, that is precisely why SP-EYE (and many community residents) felt that Pastor Rayford was a perfect fit for the ONLY board committee for which he applied: Human Resources. The district has expressed desire to improve minority recruitment, and Pastor Rayford's connections could have provided some awesome assistance in enhancing district recruitment of minority candidates. Whalen could simply have appointed Rayford to HR and avoided all this.


We feel very badly that Pastor Rayford has now been placed in such an awkward position by Whalen's move. OK, maybe it's a little comical to watch Whalen squirm when he stumbles while leading board meetings. But there's nothing funny about this faux pas. People are angry that Whalen and the board---once again---committed egregious violations of their own rules. And the one that got tossed under the bus was Pastor Rayford. Folks are angry that Eric Huemoeller was robbed of an appointment he deserved. A position for which he complied with all the deadlines. A position for which he is extremely qualified. And the one who gets the short end of that stick is now Pastor Rayford, who now has to try to act comfortable in a seat which should feel very uncomfortable...even wrong.


Motive: Why Would Whalen Do Something So Incredibly Dumb?
Did Whalen just want to flex his muscle? To prove the old, "absolute power corrupts absolutely" adage? hat purpose did it serve to so blatantly break rules when earlier it was apparent that Whalen wanted to re-appoint another citizen to the Finance committee. Whalen wisely opted not to do so when SP-EYE (and others) alerted him to the fact that doing so would violate policy.


So...why decide NOT to violate policy for one thing, yet decide to shatter it for another reason? Guess only Mr. Whalen can answer that...and perhaps Dr. Culver. Sources within the district indicated that Culver and Whalen had "had discussions" regarding the committee appointments. Hmmm...anybody else wonder what business in the hell Culver has in having ANY involvement in committee appointments?


Well...we'll offer one plausible explanation. Few will forget how the board absolutely trtampled the citizens from the Topwn of Bristol during the Boundary fiasco 18 months ago. Could it be, perhaps, that Whalen didn't like the idea of having 3 "of those Bristol people" serving on board committees simultaneously? Having appointed John Welke and Patrick Anderson to the FTT committee, even though Eric Huemoeller was the only person left who applied for the Finance committee, perhaps Whalen felt that was too much.


(Rancid) Icing on the Cake?
And exactly which candidates were present for the most important Finance committee meeting of the year and then the full board meeting last night? Only John Welke and the guy that got screwed. Does the board give ANY consideration to who is engaged enough to actually attend meetings when making appointments? We think not.


The requirements and deadlines were crystal clear:
(click to enlarge)