Posted on 05/18/2003 3:01:57 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The latest scandal is in Miami, Fla. Pat Tornillo, who built the United Teachers of Dade (UTD) into a behemoth union overseeing all 27,900 teachers and support staff in Dade County over four decades, placed himself on indefinite leave on April 30. He will continue to take in an annual salary of $243,000. The takeover occurred the day after federal investigators raided the UTD's headquarters, seizing Tornillo's expense reports, reimbursement forms, credit cards records, appointment books and tax returns.
Tornillo is under suspicion for using members' dues -- at $1,008 a year for full-time teachers the highest in Fla. -- to pay for personal property, hotel bills and other personal expenses. But Tornillo's critics point to more open deals between the union and the school board as evidence of mismanagement. Since 1996, the contract Tornillo negotiated with the board has allowed only one supplemental insurance broker, the Public Employee Services Company (PESCO), to sell its services to school employees. That company's office is on the ground floor of the UTD HQ, and the union owns 19,000 shares of PESCO stock.
Federal agents are also investigating Tornillo's role in selecting Raul Suarez del Campo to supervise the construction of the union's $20 million HQ. Last November, Tornillo and his wife moved into a $375,000 condominium owned by del Campo. Largely as a result of the construction costs, two banks have called for full and immediate repayment of $2.5 million in loans to the UTD. In one case, union officials wired $450,000 to stave off the call. In another, Miami-Dade school district officials have frozen the dues they collect for UTD from its members.
Said one source to the Miami Herald, "The best I can say is that it's synonymous with what happened to Donald Warshaw." The frmr. president of the Miami Police Relief and Pension Fund was convicted in 2001 for stealing from a children's charity to pay for sports tickets, Disney World trips, fancy clothes and dinners.
Since Florida is a Right to Work state, more than 100 teachers have resigned from the union since the scandal surfaced in news reports. [Miami Herald 4/30, 5/1, 5/2, 5/3]
QUOTABLE QUOTES / TEACHERS (AFT) Fed. Judge Blasts AFT for Failing to Stop Massive Embezzlement in Wash., DC "It's a sad commentary...It seems everyone in a responsible position fell asleep at the switch. The only ones who were vigilant were the thieves, who took everything that wasn't nailed down." -- U.S. Dist. Judge Emmet G. Sullivan (Wash., D.C., Clinton) Judge Sullivan made his comment during an April 30 hearing on a motion by local teacher Nathan Saunders to impose a court monitor on the Amer. Fedtn. of Teachers' temporary trusteeship of the Washington Teachers Union (WTU), from which its recently deposed leaders apparently stole $5 million. He was shocked to hear AFT lawyers say that while the AFT requires audits from its affiliates every two years (which the WTU failed to do), it had no legal responsibility to even verify that the audits had been filed. ****
Internal LINKS at source.
This one I'm sending to my sil, a retired teacher-(Florida) who doesn't appreciate President or Governor Bush.
...but thinks the 'teacher's union' is their friend.
TEACHER'S are too stupid to do anything but complain about Bush for their money problems.
He was a nasty, nasty teacher. I'm trying to remember what he taught, I keep thinking 'shop'.
TORNILLO'S many years of continuous service to Dade;s education profession began with his 1956 teaching assignment at Biscayne Gardens Elementary School. Subsequently, he taught at the junior and senior high levels and in the adult education program.
IN 1991, Tornillo was appointed to serve on Florida' s Budget and Tax reform Commission. In that capacity, he is helping to reshape state policies and practices with respect to education funding. this commission goes through the year 2000.
IN 1994, Tornillo was appointed to chair the American Federation of Teachers Technology Committee. He remains the chair of AFT's Futures Task Force which has established guidelines to help shape the goals and objectives for AFT's next 25 years. Also in 1994 he was reappointed to the Federal Reserve Bank Board for a new three-year term. his activities on that board provide significant input for his work in lobbying to change the state budget framework.
IN 1995, he was honored by Florida International University for his devotion and leadership in education.
FOR THE PAST several years, Tornillo has served as a Trustee of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce.
FIRST AND FOREMOST, he has always been a teacher advocate. Presently, in addition to his roles in Dade County, he is president of Florida Education Association/United (UTD's state affiliate) and vice president of the American Federation of Teachers (UTD's national affiliate). He is also a member of the AFT Executive Committee which includes 10 elected AFT officers including President Sandra Feldman and Secretary-Treasurer Edward McElroy. Tornillo's wife, Donna, is a former Dade County elementary school teacher.***Source
It's a tough job but someone has to do it.
Could it be because they are cowardly, stupid and greedy?
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