Mindy Chambers, spokesperson for the state Auditor’s Office, has responded to my request for the names of the vendors who received money from the Seattle School District for basically doing nothing to help it. This alleged financial fraud is currently being investigated by the King County Prosecutor’s Office as well as the Seattle School Board.

A report from the State Auditor’s Office revealed that the district spent up to $1.8 million on contractual services involving a small business program that were never carried out or did not benefit the school district in any way.

The audit says that in some cases, the vendors did not know that the small business program manager, Silas Potter, was not authorized to contract with them. Seattle Public Schools employees told the state auditor’s office that the “district did not receive much benefit from work provided by several vendors” and that Potter “wanted support from prominent members of the community.”

Included in this vendor list are non-profits, business leaders, community activists, and a former legislator. Perhaps the biggest chunk of change went to a non-profit, Gracy of Mercy, which was paid $163,000 for instructional services on days when no classes were held, the audit said. Warning: this laundry list of mostly-bogus contracts will make you really mad:

1. The district paid Port of Seattle’s former director of social responsibility Elaine Ko, community activist and business leader Eddie Rye (know for spurring King County into changing its logo from a crown to the image of Martin Luther King Jr.), former state legislator Velma Veloria, and former state chair of the Washington State Democratic Party Charles Rolland for meetings with state legislators and testifying on legislation. The audit says that these vendors were unaware that Potter was not authorized to contract with such services.

2. The district paid consultants Rye, Rolland, former executive director of the Washington State Commission on African American Affairs Tony Orange, and Ginny Noble to attend weekly meetings at the district’s administrative offices. Although these meetings lasted 1.5 hours, the four consultants billed the district two to three hours for these meetings, the audit found.

3. Some vendors charged an hourly rate, yet billed the district for the same amount each month, according to the audit. These vendors—Ralph Ibarra, Contractors Resource Center, and Platinum Group—”divided the total contract amount into equal segments, regardless of whether services were provided on dates for which they billed.”

4. The district paid mentoring and event management company Banner Cross $74,780 to develop training materials, but the audit found that most of these materials were copied from other sources. Banner Cross is owned by Leon “Skip” Rowland, currently listed as the executive director of the Urban Enterprise Center at the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

5. Additionally, the district paid Banner Cross $7,213 for providing food during classroom trainings to participants who were not district employees, with charges ranging anywhere between $737 to $1,652 per month. The audit says that district records do not “show the public purpose” of providing free meals to the public.

6. The district paid Charles Rolland at least $6,000 to create and maintain a database for the small business program’s apprenticeship program. Although Rolland charged for at least 120 hours to develop the database, district staff said in the audit that it was not functional when they received it. When the auditor’s office examined the Washington State Auditor’s Office database, they noticed it only contained a list of student names and other identifying information.

7. The audit says the district paid Tony Orange for attending three-hour meetings up to its entirety, but found that Orange rarely attended the meetings, and when he did, barely stayed for 30 minutes. The audit also said that Orange billed excessively for an apprenticeship program—nearly $60,000—that recruited only 150 people.

8. The district paid community-based non-profit Urban League $25,000 for a software subscription fee for a database designed to match small business owners with general contractors. Urban League told the state auditor’s office that this database was not functional and district employees said they never used the database. Additionally, the audit found that Urban League charged the district for indirect costs which sometimes exceeded direct costs by three times.

Read Seattle School Board President Steve Sundquist’s response to the audit here.

29 replies on “State Auditor’s Office Releases Names of Vendors Who Received School District Money Currently Under Investigation”

  1. Yeah, is that the same Elaine Ko who is a legislative aide for Richard Conlin? The one doing the scheduling for the president of the city council and deciding who gets access?

    I also wonder if other government bodies have paid for “services” from these groups?

  4. “Why did you only list the black recipients?”

    Another guilty white liberal mugged ona street corner trying to figure out what happened.

  6. My my, they sure did take you guilty white liberals for a ride! No wonder mr. Potter won an award for promoting ‘diversity’. Apparently, they got it in 10s and 20s.

  7. Echoing @5:

    Zander @1, NO, that’s not Conlin’s crackerjack longtime aide Elaine Ko, who (among many other things) did so much to help Vera Project stay funded in its early years. Take a breath and adjust your tinfoil hat a bit.

    The one the district’s talking about is Elaine Ikoma Ko, most recently with the Low Income Housing Institute.

    Who also rocks, by the way – she’s been doing really good stuff in this city for decades now. If you’ll read the frigging report, you’ll note it mentions her only as one of several vendors whom Potter pretended he had authority to contract with. Ko’s not accused of doing anything at all but what she was asked.

    Classic, Zander. Really super, man.

  9. My oh my, this reads as the a-list of Seattle’s social justice and diversity crowd. Can’t wait til Slog apologists start trying to swing at this one. Good luck guys, ya gonna need it.

  10. Gus-

    Calm down. You sound much angier about me mixing up identical names than the reasons for the investigation and the allegations.

    I am not the who has brought their name into the limelight either.

    What I am suggesting is that the city does not alwasy vet its people as well as it might.

    I’d look sharp in a tinfoil hat if I had one.

    Why do you post under a pseudonym? Are you some sort of superhero/villian?

  13. Apparently anyone with a fur coat, big hat, cane and a 1972 Eldorado was up for some of this ‘diversity money’.

  16. @15 I see the spin is on. Blame a good old fashioned bullshit ‘diversity’ program loved by Seattle’s entrenched far left on school reformers seeking accountability. Spin away!

    BTW, the mayor’s school levy, aka another ‘diversity’ slush fund, is toast. Maybe at last webcan get the Gates Foundation to take over the SPS.

  18. Zander, I’m mad because you’re bandying around the name of someone at the city you seem to not like, or suspect of something. Even now, you’re saying the auditor’s report proves your point that the city should hire better people. The school district is not run by the city. It. is. not.

    And you know better. You ran for City Council yourself once.

    So I’m mad because you’re lobbing potshots and saying, “who, me? I would never.”

    And I post under a pseudonym because I’m not trying to make a name for myself. Except as a supervillain.

    @11, I didn’t see that about Elaine Ikoma Ko in the Slog post, thanks for the digging. I’ll still cross my fingers that she’s not involved too much…

  20. @19, yeah, Elaine Ikoma Ko has always been one of those people who’s been around doing one interesting, decent thing after another. She was head of the Seattle Office for Women’s Rights way back when and has always had a hand in affordable housing issues too.

    I hope the auditor’s comment that she was unaware Potter’s authority was invalid is a sign she wasn’t actively in on any of the shenanigans. Thanks for your research.

  21. Who cares what Ko it is? Don’t any of you get the fact that the Board–who are supposedly in charge of the school district and who hire the Superintendent–is now hiring (with public money) someone to find out what they should have known because the Superintendent should have TOLD them, and shouldn’t have let this happen to begin with? Good god, get a clue.

    Is this school district ever going to do ANYTHING right?

  22. ” this is one Seattle leftist who’s planning to vote no on their next levy.”

    Good for you! Typically leftists need to get mugged a few times before they wake up, liberals only once.

  23. They should have fired him? You realize hiring an Afro-American to run a diversity program makes him untouchable in Seattle, right?

  24. So why did professional diver$ity pimp James Kelly quit the now tainted Urban League recently and will we find him in Zihuatanejo anytime soon?

  25. Please, please understand that the next levy is a CITY levy, overseen and run by the City, not the district. It’s the Families & Education levy and does vital work that the district can’t/won’t do. I urge you to think carefully before you lash at the district which has nothing to do with this levy.

  26. “does vital work that the district can’t/won’t do”

    Yes, more money down the diver$ity hole. More north end taxes going to southend fuckups.

  28. “after-school enrichment for 11-14 year olds, student health services, and pre-k”

    Yes, more ‘diver$ity’ and ‘social jsutice’ spending. Just what we need to throw out there after this piece of corruption.

  29. @29 maybe the sps would have the money for your pet projects if they weren’t wasting it on ‘diver$ity’ hiring? I mean, I always thought the sps’s job was to educated kids, not to hand out welfare to black owned businesses and political groups?

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