New York State Commissioner MaryEllen Elia kicked billionaire Carl Paladino off the Buffalo school board.
http://buffalonews.com/2017/08/17/state-education-commissioner-removes-paladino-from-school-board/
Paladino has enriched himself by expanding charter schools, then leasing space to them. He has made racist remarks. He is Trump’s biggest supporter in the state.
But that is not why he got bounced. The reason is mundane.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
What took them so long? His racist comments have been heard for far too long.
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Lawyers. 😂
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Paladino has invested in gentrification and charter schools while serving on the Buffalo School Board. Conflict of interest does not even come close to the type of cozy dealings he has enjoyed. What finally got him off the school board was not his deals; it is his racist comments. This is happening in New York in 2017!
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sadly, it wasn’t even the racist comments that got him off, officially at least. It was the, yes, mundane issue of inappropriately making public information from a supposedly closed school board meeting. Sad that an avowed racist gets to flout his opinions and still be a voting member of the local school board.
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“Very ,very , bad , Sad, very sad ” Expect the ass POTUS not my POTUS. To come out and attack the commissioner.
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Mundane reason. Everything else he did was perfectly legal even if unethical. A variant of the mob bosses who got away with murder but nor tax evasion.
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If he had been removed for his racist speech, he would be able to challenge the decision on First Amendment grounds
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I did post something on that . It seems to be lost in space . It may not be protected speech
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You would think that racist remarks would disqualify him from being a member of the board. How can a racist be trusted to provide an education to children of color comparable to that of white children?
I imagine, though, that it would be much easier legally to get a judgement against him the way they did.
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He can’t be trusted. His position gave him a unique vantage point for new development and charter schools. He made lots of money churning neighborhoods that children of color called home.
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The Buffalo News reported that Paladino called for replacement of all board members and appointment of a “master” to rule.
It’s been reported elsewhere that DeVos’ brother Erik Prince wants the war in Afghan privatized and for the U.S. President to appoint a viceroy.
Oligarchy.
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And you will love this piece of news . Hope its true .
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trumps-longtime-business-partner-told-family-he-and-potus-are-going-prison-report
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Except Pence is next in line.
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Three points:
First, violating Executive Session might be “mundane” to some… but as a retired Superintendent I can attest to the damage done when an individual rogue board member discloses information shared in closed that is confidential.
Second, Mr. Paladino’s removal MAY be temporary. The electorate in Buffalo put him in office and after a year they might re-elect him. His misconduct is egregious, but the President he supported has even more egregious behavior and still holds onto office and still has the support of a large majority of his voters. The ballot box got Mr. Paladino on the Board just as the ballot box elected Republicans in 35 states, elected a Republican House, Republican Senate, and Republican President. If we want to change the way we are governed, we need to use the ballot box to get activist progressives in place in all levels of government.
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We’ve got to get money out of politics.
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Buffalo – the city – generally trends democratic. The problem, as usual, is democrats do not show up to vote – especially for the “little” elections. People need to get off their duffs and vote, or we will constantly be fighting these rear guard actions. Life would be easier if the Paladino’s of the world didn’t get elected in the first place.
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There’s an interesting study that breaks down how much voting increases, as income bracket increases.
It’s more complex that getting off one’s duff. Dems are looking at all of the contributing factors to suppression of votes.
At the national level in the last election, Michael Moore predicted that very loyal Dems would vote but, they wouldn’t encourage other voters by going to pick them up and taking them to the polls. That shows us what happens when the grass roots, like teachers, feel abandoned by a party hierarchy of DINOS.
Dems didn’t lose 1000 legislative, judicial and executive seats in 8 years just because of general apathy.
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Yes, very few people vote in school board elections, but last year Paladino only won by 300 votes. His opponent was an 18 year old student.
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Let’s not overstate the case here. Yes, Paladino won the Park District BOE vote in 2016. He ran against an 18 year-old high school student. 3,000 people voted. The vote was so close that it couldn’t be called until after the absentee ballots were in. Paladino wound up with 1,600 votes to his competitor’s 1,400 votes. In other words, he won by 100 votes. For a guy worth $500 billion, with unlimited funds at his disposal in the race, to win by that margin against a high schooler, isn’t exactly a massive victory. And now we’re mobilized and ready to ensure that the Park District kids have the right kind of representative.
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wgersen has it exactly right. And Mr Paladino claims, possibly correctly, that the information that was made public should have been made public. And, yes, Mr Paladino was voted into that spot by the people of South buffalo, who historically have not welcomed minorities, except the Irish, into their tight-knit community. His proclivities were well-known, and people voted for him, probably not in spite of those proclivities but because of them. It’s a democracy, and if enough people object they had better show up to vote. Of course it will be appealed, and it will be interesting to see what happens. Paladino’s own lawyer says his comments were “vile” but does his dismissal infringe upon his first amendment rights?
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Individuals don’t have the authority to make public that information legally deemed protected from public viewing, despite the possibility that the public should know.
If Palladino reflects the lack of conscience inextricably linked to the abuses of unfettered free markets, the 1,000,000 Irish starved to death, in service to the notion should be remembered when votes are cast.
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Paladino leaked information about the teachers contract being negotiated. He also mentioned personal data from the school record of his opponent running against him for his school board seat – see above comment. He continues to badmouth the new contract which was finally adopted after twelve years (since the last one ended). Heaven forbid the teachers finally get a raise (and remember their salaries were frozen for three of those twelve years) and start to earn decent money closer to the salaries of their suburban counterparts.
However, Paladino isn’t done yet. He is aggressively appealing his ouster and he has the money to do it.
Stay tuned.
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