Letter to the Editor - April 21, 2008

Hardy Black and Robert Kirk just don't get it. After the recall attempt failed to gather enough signatures, Mr. Black went on record as saying the process was a personal agenda and that the charges were all lies. Dr. Kirk even gave the voters credit for being smart enough not to sign the recall petitions.

Allow me to clear some misunderstanding up. The fact is, the recall petition failed because it was grossly mismanaged. Proponents waited over a month and a half before they began to collect signatures, and when they did, they were hardly ever found gathering. I was probably the most eager to sign the petition, but wasn't able to until February. I even volunteered to help gather signatures, but they never took me up on my offer. This recall failed because it was never the proponents' intent to go though with it, or they were too incompetent to succeed.

But lets get back to the real issue, the one that isn't a lie. When Hank Richardson was terminated/resigned, he was paid $331,050 for not a single day's work. This amounts to nothing more then stealing from the taxpayers. Those voters who were so smart not to sign the recall petitions have to work 10 years, at the average income of $34,000 per year, to earn that amount of money. Apparently Mr. Black and Dr. Kirk can't see what's wrong with this transaction. Giving Mr. Richardson $331,050 for nothing amounts to embezzlement, a white-collar crime.

And what time does HUSD board serve for this? They get to keep their jobs, don't go to jail while Mr. Richardson laughs all the way to the bank. The former Mayor of Adelanto, Jim Nehmens, resigned for taking $20,000 and may do time for that, if convicted. Hank Richardson took 16 times that amount, and nothing. I'm flabbergasted that our system of government allows this stuff to happen, legally. I'm sad that those in charge of the recall were too inept to pull it off successfully. And, I'm amazed at the thinking of Hardly Black and Robert Kirk, who just don't seem to get it.

As I've mentioned before, our family as 3 children attending the Hesperia Unified School District with a 4th on the way. The fact that the school board could get away with giving such a large amount of money to a single person and not be held accountable is astonishing. Now that the recall as ended, the only thing left is to wait until the next election. But no matter what happens, the money won't be returned to the school district for use on education. Something terrible happened, no one in the community seems to care but me, and all parties involved get away Scott free. What a great nation it is that we live in.