Interim president, director agree with Grand Jury Report

Auburn Journal
Interim president, director agree foundation innocent
By: Loryll Nicolaisen, Journal Staff Writer
Monday, May 8, 2006 11:38 PM PDT

Sierra College's interim president and the executive director of the Sierra College Foundation agree with the Placer County grand jury: The foundation had no intent to suppress donor names.

Dr. Morgan Lynn and Sonbol Aliabadi on Friday responded to the Placer County grand jury.

Copies of a formal response have been submitted to Placer County superior court judge Frances Kearney, the Placer County grand jury and board of supervisors."

In general we agree with the grand jury report," Lynn, Sierra College interim president, said Monday.

A grand jury report released in March states charges made by trustee Aaron Klein against Kevin Ramirez, the then-Sierra College president, were merit-less and that Klein owed the college, community and Ramirez an apology.

In the complaint filed against Ramirez on Dec. 20, 2004, Klein stated that Ramirez violated campaign finance law, using a "money laundering scheme" by accumulating funds from the Sierra College Foundation and directing them on to the Measure E bond campaign.

Klein alleged that donors who gave monies transferred from the Sierra College Foundation to the bond campaign weren't properly disclosed to the public, and that the contributions were illegal and violated campaign finance law, warranting the attention of the state's Fair Political Practices Commissions.

The grand jury said those allegations were "utterly without merit," stating that methods Ramirez used to raise money for the bond measure may have "substantial advantages." The grand jury report also states that public disclosure laws were not obeyed in relation to how the funds were raised, but said that was a common and easily correctable infraction."

This report was thorough and fully accurate as to the circumstances, motivations and the lack of intent involved with the inadvertent campaign disclosure problems associated with the bond measure campaigns," Lynn and Aliabadi, Sierra College Foundation executive director, said in introducing their response.

"The grand jury report was very thorough and it spoke for itself," Aliabadi said Monday.

Lynn and Aliabadi gave some clarifications regarding two of the grand jury's findings.

The pair agreed with the jury's second finding stating that the foundation had no intent to suppress donor names, clarifying that the foundation "at all times acted in good faith with respect to the campaign reporting issue."

Lynn and Aliabadi also disagreed with sections of the third finding, which states "the donor names should have been itemized in an FPPC filing by the foundation as an intermediary" and that, due to inexperience and a lack of formal training, the committee treasurers failed to notify the foundation of its FPPC filing requirements."

The foundation, as an intermediary, had no reporting responsibility to the FPPC," Aliabadi said, clarifying it's the campaign committees have that responsibility.

Lynn said she's happy to have their response taken care of.

"We're done," Lynn said. "We're ready to put this behind us and move ahead."Aliabadi agreed.

"We do a much better job raising funds than answering to a grand jury," she said.

Klein has claimed the grand jury was politically motivated and has refused to apologize. Klein said Wednesday in written response that he was disturbed to see a member of the grand jury, Annabell McCord, "standing and clapping after highly partisan and political comments were made during public comment" at a May 2 special board meeting."It calls into question the grand jury's fairness and impartiality," Klein said.

The Journal's Loryll Nicolaisen can be reached at lorylln@goldcountrymedia.com.