The Journal Star has Jehan Gordon’s reaction to Joan Krupa’s press conference yesterday, during which she accused Gordon of lying about her attendance record. Krupa said Gordon missed 40% of the Pleasant Hill School District 69 board meetings.
But an attendance report issued by District 69 Superintendent John Bute on Friday shows that Gordon actually attended 68 percent of School Board meetings. The “40 percent” figure comes from a Freedom of Information Act request that the Krupa campaign filed.
Dates used to analyze Gordon’s attendance record, however, are not the same as those provided to the Journal Star by Bute’s office. For instance, Bute’s office recognizes several non-regular or “special” meetings of the board that occurred between June 20, 2007 – Gordon’s first meeting – and the most recent, Sept. 3.
The information Krupa’s campaign is using does not include the June 20, 2007, date, nor does it include an Oct. 31, 2007, special meeting, as well as a meeting in late August and early September.
Here’s what I wanted to know as I read this story: Why weren’t some of those dates included in Krupa’s analysis of Gordon’s attendance? So I e-mailed Krupa’s campaign manager Steve Shearer and asked. He said, “Those meetings were not in the FOIA response from the school.”
So the next question that I feel needs to be investigated is: Why was pertinent information not disclosed to the Krupa campaign in response to their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request? If Krupa filed a FOIA asking about Gordon’s attendance record, why were different answers given to Krupa and the Journal Star? Why were some special meetings included in the report to Krupa, but not all of them? Was this just gross negligence, or does District 69 routinely omit information from FOIA requests?
Shearer added, “Had we known the number was lower I would always opt for that since a 32% absentee rate is damning when running for another office. There is no purpose in trying to be cute and bumping the figure up from 32% to 40% when the 32% is damning without being questioned. But the 40% figure was based on the FOIA response.”
