Letters to the Editors

To: Republican Executive Committee members

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 1, 2000

From: Tom Mullins, Republican Candidate for Citrus County Superintendent of Schools

Date: May 30, 2000

Dear Committee Member:

It is with regret that I write this letter. As a part of assembling my campaign platform background information, I audited the district bookkeeping covering the years of the Kelly administration. I discovered several irregularities within the school district budgeting and spending patterns.

My background for the past dozen years is working with hundreds of school districts nationwide to help them comply with federal and state compliance laws. This has always involved a detailed and in-depth evaluation of school budgets and spending patterns. I (and my team) have served the largest and smallest districts, worked with school boards, superintendents, advocacy groups, legal departments and parent activist organizations across America, including Citrus County schools. Therefore, as an educated and experienced businessman dealing with sick budgets and broken systems, I have come to know what to look for and what to advise districts to do.

To my dismay, I have discovered Citrus County schools losing money consecutively for the entire period of Kelly's administration. The losses have created huge deficit amounts that have been covered from district reserve funds. This is not illegal, but unwise and dangerous, if left to continue year after year. In fact, the reserves are now nearly depleted and an imminent bankruptcy date can be predicted should these spending patterns continue.

Citrus County School District will be bankrupt within 12 to 24 months, depending on how the current financial hemorrhage is dealt with. It will take heroic efforts beginning now to stop the inevitable!

Mr. Kelly knows of this forthcoming disaster and I believe he has withheld the full information from the School Board and the public. Kelly is making a remedial move by taking the state teacher raise package offered recently by the Legislature and using the money, instead, to plug the deficit hemorrhage. While this step might be necessary, it does not deal with the cause or healing of the wound, and it will not solve the problem. It will further cause teachers to be demoralized and we can anticipate a loud outcry from those who serve our children in the schools.

The most disheartening reality is that Pete Kelly does not have the accounting tools, knowledge of how to use them even if he had them, or a long-term plan of how to bring solvency back to Citrus County schools.

On May 16th, I submitted proof of the above-described findings to both the Chronicle and the Times. Both papers have not printed the story, either ignoring the magnitude of the problem or choosing not to denounce Kelly. I am left to suspect that a coverup is in progress. Officials and the press, I believe, view my story as a political issue between candidates rather than a story that seeks to reveal a serious problem in the district. I feel it necessary to focus my energy exposing the Kelly coverup and the impending disaster that could cost the taxpayer a huge surcharge of taxes if the state of Florida seizes control of our school district.

If my research can be proven wrong or if I have made a mistake in my allegations, then I will quickly withdraw my candidacy. This should eliminate any assumption about my motives being for political and personal gain.

I believe the Republican Party is about to become quite embarrassed by the incompetence and coverup of Kelly. I call for Pete Kelly to resign from office and do it now so that a solid attempt can be made to pull the district back from the brink of financial crisis. We can't wait for an election process to remove this cancer; we don't have the time.

Urge the press to print what they already know and let's get this into the Light of Day.

To: Thomas Mullins

From: Weston L. Stow, chairman, Citrus County Republican Executive Committee

Tom:

I view with alarm what you have said, but in talking with several School Board members I find that they do not share your view of the situation. That and the fact that the newspapers have not seen fit to print a story of what you recount in your message give me serious concern regarding what you allege. The newspapers are traditionally biased against any Republican official and if they found substance in what you state I am sure they would have jumped on it.

I am not saying you are totally wrong in your assumptions, but I am personally doubtful in regards to your assumptions. I am very confident that neither newspaper in this county would participate in any "coverup."

I believe every person is innocent until proven guilty; therefore, if you can prove your allegations then do so. If you cannot prove your allegations sending a letter such as you have to the Executive Committee members violates the Republican 11th Commandment of speaking no evil against a Republican opponent. It is not up to the Executive Committee members to urge newspapers to print derogatory letters about one of our Republican elected officials.

If you have issues that you want to pursue in your race for the Republican nomination in the September 5 primary for school superintendent then do so, but do not expect Executive Committee members to help you, we have sworn an oath not to support one candidate or his issues over another Republican candidate in a contested primary race.

Finally, after you have told me on several occasions what you have recounted in your letter I talked personally with Commissioner of Education Tom Gallagher and related the gist of what you have said and asked him if we have any cause for alarm. He told me that Pete Kelly is a fine man, is doing a great job and Citrus County was lucky to have him as our school superintendent.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.