Top City College officials charged with feloniesBy Steven T. Jones
Former City College Chancellor Phillip Day
Former City College of San Francisco Chancellor Phillip Day and two other top administrators were today charged with several felony counts of misappropriating public funds and steering them into political campaigns and a secret slush fund controlled by Day, who faces nine years in prison.
The indictment by the District Attorney’s Office was reported by San Francisco Chronicle reporter Lance Williams, who originally broke the story about City College officials laundering payments to the college into a bond campaign. Guardian reporter G.W. Schulz later furthered the story by uncovering the role the City College Foundation played in the money-laundering scheme and how the San Francisco Ethics Commission ignored gross violations of campaign finance law.
But the indictment – fueled by subpoenaed testimony and a raid in May – goes even further, uncovering a Day-controlled slush fund that he used “to pay for alcohol for parties he hosted, parking tickets run up by wealthy alumni and for his membership at the City Club of San Francisco in the Financial District,” according to Chronicle reports on the indictment.
While the report says elected trustees didn’t know about the slush fund and none were charged with crimes, the Guardian has long criticized veteran board members such as Natalie Berg with colluding with Day to misuse bond money, avoid public accountability, and cover up for a corrupt administration.
Now that District Attorney Kamala Harris has confirmed that the shenanigans that have long marred City College were criminal in nature, that’s just the beginning of the house cleaning that needs to take place within this important institution.
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Comments (5)
Wish that the Bay Guardian could, on occasion, offer some unadulterated news when it comes to City College. Every City College story always seems to contain some negative editorial spin. If, for example, Trustee Natalie Berg was colluding with the former chancellor, there must be some proof of it to be found. Prove it and then kick the crap out of her and run her out of office. But do it with proof, not just innuendo.
Posted by ccguy | July 9, 2009 04:45 PM
Wasn't Berg on a CCB committee that dealt with the bond measure?
Wasn't Wong?
Isn't Blomquist Berg's brother in law?
Doesn't Blomquist have associations with Forest City Enterprises that was granted special redevelopment tax exemptions for Bloomingdales located at the most touristed site in California while Berg was DCCC chair and Willie L. Brown was mayor?
Wasn't Ngo the attorney for the bond campaign where public funds were diverted?
-marc
Posted by marcos | July 10, 2009 10:25 AM
Good points, Marc. And CCguy, we are working on a story that lays out these connections more clearly, but it's been clear for a long time that Berg, Wong, and others in the board majority worked closely with Day on these campaigns and shielded his administration from public scrutiny (Wong is even quoted in today's Chron defending Day and calling him the best chancellor the district has ever had). They prevented fellow board members John Rizzo and Milton Marks from creating a more rigorous audit of district finances (which would have unearthed Day's criminality), as we've reported. I suggest you read some of the links I included before concluding that all we've offered is innuendo. At the very least, this board allowed criminal activity to occur on its watch and in realms for which it was ultimately responsible, and I think it's likely that we'll soon be able to make even stronger statements about their involvement. Stay tuned because there's more to come on this scandal.
Posted by Steven T. Jones | July 10, 2009 12:44 PM
Dear Editor,
Kamala Harris, San Francisco’s District Attorney, received poor advice from someone and filed charges against City College’s former Chancellor, Dr. Philip R. Day, Jr., and two current administrators, Stephen Herman and James Blomquist. These charges must be dropped. Go to: www.ccsfsupport.wordpress.com to read the opinion of hundreds of people who are outraged by this situation.
Julia Bergman
Retired CCSF Librarian
Posted by Julia Bergman | September 2, 2009 05:00 PM
Looks like we've got our own astroturf operation going down in San Francisco, where, for some unexplained reason, individuals are finding the time and energy to stand up for allegedly corrupt public officials, who have used their public positions to advance private profit.
The next step is to investigate where all of those bond proceeds went that required the CCSF to hit up voters for a second bond in 5 years, and how that relates to the sleight of hand between city college revenues (rents, etc) and contributions to the bond committee. Was there involvement of Wong and Berg and the developer/construction wing of the Democrat Party?
-marc
Posted by marcos | September 3, 2009 08:00 AM