The Iowa Association of School Boards

A friend called to say he was a bit concerned about the story we aired about day 3 of the government oversight hearings into the money scandal at the Iowa Association of School Boards. The central character in this scandal, Maxine Kilcrease, the now former executive director of the association, hasn't shown up to testify at the hearings. Friday, the board fired her from her position after allegations she fired workers, gave big raises to others and gave herself the biggest raise of all.

Since she didn't show up Monday, the IASB's former chief financial officer did. And Jonathan Muller had to take the brunt of lawmaker's frustration. The most vocal frustration came from Burlington Democratic Senator Tom Courtney. He bombarded Muller with a series of questions/remarks/comments. We aired the exchanges in our story. Despite the exchange, lawmakers didn't seem to blame Muller for the problems at the IASB. In fact, they thanked him repeatedly for coming in. Numerous times. The friend worries, if you saw the piece, you might think lawmakers are targeting Muller or blaming him for any wrongdoing. That's not the case, as far as I know. I hope this clears up any confusion the story may have given anyone. Here's the piece we aired last Monday.




Thanks, as always, for feedback. Good or bad, I really do want to hear it. Although, if you do want me to respond to your messages, leave the Biden bombs out (for the record, the friend, kept his comments clean, as per usual) But I get plenty of other messages that do go too far. In other words, don't do this:) (plug your ears, if you're sensitive to this kind of thing)

Culver No Faith in IA Association of School Boards

This afternoon, the government oversight committee looks into Iowa's latest financial scandal. No offense to my home state of Illinois, but, seriously, is this Chicago? This latest scandal involves accusations of nepotism, fraud and over payments to an executive. Remind anyone of CIETC? Clark Kauffman, the investigative ace at the Des Moines Register, has blown this story wide open over the past week or so. It goes without saying his reporting has prompted the legislative investigation into the money management of the organization, which is funded primarily by tax dollars.

Monday morning, Governor Chet Culver held a news conference. He said, "we are very concerned about the situation" and he said he is relying on the attorney general for information. I asked him if he still has faith in the IASB. His response: "No. (long pause) And I doubt Iowans do given the seriousness of the allegations."

We are headed to the government oversight meeting at 4pm. More on this latest scandal tonight on the news at 6.