Recall Targets Sued Over Illegal Campaign Statements
CUSD Recall Committee Members Ask Superior Court To Sanction Trustee Draper and Benecke

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA.  Yesterday, leaders of the CUSD Recall Committee filed a legal action in Orange County Superior Court against Marlene Draper and Sheila Benecke, two trustees of the Capistrano Unified School District ("CUSD").     

The legal action seeks expedited court intervention to strike numerous false, misleading and illegal statements made by Draper and Benecke in the optional "Candidate Statement of Qualifications" each filed with the Orange County Registrar of Voters on April12th.  Any final approved Candidate Statement of Qualifications will be published in the sample ballot sent to all voters prior to the special election.

On January 28th, The CUSD Recall Committee submitted to the Orange County Registrar 66,000 petition signatures - 60% more than required, to recall embattled CUSD Trustees Sheila Benecke and Marlene Draper.   

On March 10th, leaders of the CUSD Recall Committee were informed by the Registrar's Office the Registrar had certified the recall petition against Draper and Benecke.  The special recall election has been scheduled for June 24, 2008.

California law requires that a Candidate Statement of Qualifications contain only a brief description of the candidate's "education and qualifications" and expressly prohibits a candidate from including in her Candidate Statement of Qualifications any reference to the "qualifications, character or activities" of her political opponents.  In addition, California law prohibits including in any such statements "any material that is false or misleading.

The Statement of Qualifications filed by Draper and Benecke violated California law in several respects.  Please refer to the attached copy of the verified Petition for Writ of Mandate for a specific description of the numerous illegal statements made by Draper and Benecke.   

The grounds for the recall against Draper and Benecke are available at www.cusdrecall.com and read as follows:  

"You have permitted a culture of corruption to infect our school district.  

You permitted district personnel to use scarce district resources to create unlawful lists of your political "enemies" -- including children.  You engaged in illegal closed session meetings where district business was conducted in secret.  You and your staff repeatedly provided false information to the public regarding district finances.  You failed to effectively control your staff - even giving your former superintendent (now indicted for multiple felonies) a standing ovation and lucrative retirement package just hours after police investigators armed with search warrants raided his office.

You grossly mismanaged district finances.

You are recklessly spending $52,000,000 on an administration building and over $140,000,000 for a single high school next to a dump -- while our schools are in dire need of repairs and students are crammed into substandard portable classrooms with non-functioning restrooms.  Your reckless deficit spending has created a self-inflicted, multi-million dollar budget crisis that has put our children at risk and resulted in massive program cutbacks - overcrowding classrooms and severely diminishing the quality of education.
 
You have arrogantly disregarded the public by repeatedly ignoring problems until they become crises.

You have broken the public's trust."

CUSD is one of the largest school districts in the State of California.  Founded in 1965, the district serves seven cities and several unincorporated areas in South Orange County, including, San Clemente, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Mission Viejo, Coto de Caza, Wagon Wheel, Las Flores and Ladera Ranch.  Approximately 50,000 children are enrolled in CUSD public schools.

In 2005, the CUSD Recall Committee led South Orange County residents in the unprecedented campaign to recall all seven elected Trustees of the Capistrano Unified School District.  More than 177,000 signatures were obtained from South Orange County residents calling for the removal of all seven CUSD Trustees.

In November 2006, the CUSD Recall Committee's three "ABC Reform Slate" candidates (Ellen Addonizio, Anna Bryson and Larry Christensen) were elected to the CUSD Board of Trustees by landslide margins of victory.

In May 2007, as part of the on-going criminal investigation of the CUSD leaders, former CUSD Superintendent James Fleming was indicted on three felony counts (misappropriation of public funds, use of school funds to improperly defeat the CUSD Recall Committee's 2005 recall campaign, and conspiracy).  If convicted, Fleming could serve up to four years in prison.

The CUSD Recall Committee is leading the current campaign to recall CUSD Trustees Benecke and Draper for creating a culture of corruption at CUSD and for gross fiscal mismanagement.

To learn more about these important issues, please visit our website at www.cusdrecall.com