Why is Brad Allen Resigning from School Board Only a Week After Taking Office?

June 15, 2007
Copyright 2007 by Micki Nellis
Reprint only with permission

Newly elected school board member Brad Allen is apparently resigning, and the school board is apparently planning to appoint someone in his place. Allen took office less than a week ago.

In a June 15 email, CISD announced a special called meeting of the board for June 18 at 5:30 p.m. at the Administration building. The agenda includes considering the resignation of Brad Allen and considering the appointment of a replacement. http://www.cleburnepolitics.com/School/Board%20Member%20Brad%20Allen%20Reisgns.html

School board bylaws allow the board to appoint a member or to call a special election. If more than a year remains in the term, the board must replace him within 180 days.
http://www.tasb.org/policy/pol/private/126903/pol.cfm?DisplayPage=BBC(LEGAL).pdf&QueryText=BOARD%20MEMBER%20APPOINT

Logic and a sense of fairness would dictate that they appoint Allen’s only opponent in the school board election as his replacement. Pat Linkenhoger was the only person who filed against Allen. Linkenhoger got 45% of the votes. http://www.cleburnepolitics.com/School/ElectionResults2007.html

Major questions arise.

Did incumbent Brad Allen, who had already served six years on the school board, run with the plan of resigning immediately after taking office? Was this a plan made up by the school administration and board to allow them to hand pick a board member who wasn’t electable? We know that Allen filed a campaign financial report disclaimer saying he planned to spend less than $500 on the campaign. However, a source close to him revealed that he ordered 175 yard signs and several large signs. Yard signs cost from $3 to $6 each, and large signs cost about $75 each. At minimal cost, Allen would have had to spend almost $1,000. The law says that expenditures of over $500 require a full financial report be filed, including names of contributors of $50 or more.

Did Brad Allen know a week ago when he took office that he was planning to resign? If so, why did he take office?

What has influenced Brad Allen to resign?

Is it the fact that the TEA is about to issue a preliminary report? Since Allen has served for six years, during the time of the alleged misspending of taxpayer, state and federal funds, is he bailing out now to try to minimize repercussions? See stories about the TEA investigation at http://www.CleburnePolitics.com.

Is it the fact that both he and Compass Bank were forced to file a Conflict of Interest statement after an Open Records Request by Micki Nellis? Allen is city president of Compass Bank, which is the repository of the school funds, about $44 million a year. Last month the school board voted to continue with Compass Bank as the school’s repository. Although Allen abstained from voting this time, both he and Compass Bank had neglected to file a Conflict of Interest form for a year after the conflict occurred. The law says it has to be filed within seven days after the conflict becomes known. Failure to file is a criminal offense. All board members should have been familiar with the law, as CISD’s attorney’s explanation is posted on their CISD’s website. At http://www.cleburne.k12.tx.us/downloads/special/disclosure_statements/Bracewell-Guiliani-LLP-DisclosureStatement.pdf

See the full Conflict of Interest Story at http://www.cleburnepolitics.com/School/Three%20School%20Board%20Members%20File%20Conflict%20of%20Interest%20Statements.html

Is his employer, Compass bank, insisting on his resignation to avoid jeopardizing a $44 million dollar business relationship with their customer, the CISD? Compass Bank, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, has recently been bought by Spain’s second largest bank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA for short). The deal was announced in February, 2007. Now BVAA is in the process of taking over Compass. (Interestingly enough, the Cleburne Times Review is also owned by a Birmingham, Alabama company.)

A secondary question is why Cleburne ISD is keeping taxpayer money in a foreign-owned bank?

If you have an opinion on whether the board should call a special election or appoint someone (and who) to fill this vacancy, here are the board’s email addresses. Don't bother calling them this weekend even if you have their phone numbers - they are in San Antonio for school board training, a 3 day jaunt that is costing the taxpayers around $10,000. (http://www.cleburnepolitics.com/School/School%20Board%20Plans%20Another%20$10,000%20Jaunt.html) Let's hope they don't discuss any school business while they're spending the weekend together, such as who to appoint to fill the vacancy, because this would be an illegal meeting in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Law.

Donna Boles, dearboles@yahoo.com, phone 817-641-4513

Brad Mead, brad@united-cs.com

Stu Madison, president, Stu@johnsoncountytx.org and procqter@swbell.net
His number at the County Attorney’s office is 817-556-6330

Teddy Martyniuk, viporcon22@aol.com, 817-648-0157

Jennifer Dugger, jenniferdugger@yahoo.com

Brent Easdon, brene@cleburne.net and easdon.k@digitex.net

Brad Allen (resigning), brad.allen@Compassbank.com, 817-558-6753

Sorry, we don’t have the rest of the board members’ telephone numbers. They are unlisted. We only got their email addresses by chance. So much for them wanting public input as representatives of the taxpayers.