The school ethics commission found probable cause against
Carafa, Nardino, and Miller:
Before the three cast votes to retain Board
membership for Jonathan Carafa, Board member
Al Mastrofilipo warned that he didn’t want use taxpayer money to defend their ethics
violations.
All three cast their votes against objections and
warnings from other Board members. Then they went to Mr.
Quatrone, Mr. Capizzi, and Ms. DiChiara and lined up an attorney without Board approval to defend their alleged
ethics violations. The Lodi taxpayers
are left on the hook to pay up to $5,000 to one firm chosen by an insurance
provider. Tony Sciarrillo also submitted
bills for the same matter.
Mike Nardino sat on the Board since 2009. He also sat on the Board in the ‘90s. Yet, he will not take any responsibility for
his actions. Here are his quotes in yesterday’s Record article:
"I
asked the attorney if I could vote, and she said yes," Nardino said.
"If she said no, I would have recused myself."
And
Referring
to Curioni, Nardino said: "I think he filed the complaints to harass us.
This doesn't mean we are guilty of anything, and it could still be dismissed.
We relied on our attorney."
Mike
Nardino is blaming the attorney for bad advice. The Board attorney did advise them all to
vote, even Jonathan Carafa.
This is not an isolated situation. This has become the norm for the Board.
Certain board members engage in unethical behavior. Then they bill the Lodi taxpayers.
On November 7th, vote for candidates
without conflicts of interest. Vote for candidates
that can think for themselves. Vote for candidates
that won’t make you pay for their ethics violations.
