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April 11, 2007
College trustees call for inquiry
San Francisco Chronicle
A former project manager for Forest City is in some hot water for diverting rent payments to political activities:
As The Chronicle reported, James Blomquist, an associate vice chancellor, told the proprietor of the motorcycle school to pay the money not to the college but to the political committee, which was promoting a bond measure on the November 2005 city ballot. The payment was made three days before the election. Voters approved the measure.
Blomquist, who supervises construction projects, told The Chronicle that he believed he was acting properly when he told the motorcycle school to write the check to the political committee.
The story reported that in a second case, a $20,000 lease payment from a company that had just won a contract to operate a coffee shop at the college's downtown campus also was diverted to the political committee. Four months later, in August 2005, the donation was refunded, and the college was paid the $20,000, Day said.
Legal experts said the state penal code and education code bar using public funds for electioneering, while the state Political Reform Act requires political committees to truthfully report the source of funds. Federal law also forbids misuse of public funds.
One college Trustee chalked it up to political inexperience:
Trustee Rodel Rodis blamed Blomquist's political inexperience for the donation snafu, saying the official didn't realize he was doing something improper.
Blomquist is a former project manager for Forest City Enterprises, the Cleveland-based firm that built the new Bloomingdale's retail complex on Market Street. Forest City's board co-chairman, Albert Ratner, is the brother-in-law of City College trustee Natalie Berg, former chair of the Democratic Central Committee.
"Jim is not experienced in these matters, but he has been a tremendous asset to us at a time when we have all this construction going on," Rodis said. "He didn't know. It's not an excuse, it's an explanation."
NoLandGrab: But when you're a former employee of Forest City, is there such thing as "political inexperience?" Forest City is like a madrassa for political influence executive training.
Posted by lumi at April 11, 2007 6:31 AM