Tag: yes westonka

Vote on Tuesday November 7!

If you’re in the Westonka school district there’s a whopper of a reason to get to the polls on Tuesday, November 7: Nearly $200 MILLION DOLLARS of debt, which includes MORE THAN $77 MILLION DOLLARS in interest alone on the new facilities $93.4M bond question #2.

Property taxes will be rising, regardless of the Westonka referendum, given both Minnetrista and Mound have indicated double digit percentage increases for their 2024 tax levies.

Also on the ballot are four school board seats. There is only one “parent endorsed” candidate on the Westonka ballot, endorsed by the Minnesota Parents Alliance in their voter guide. Voters do not need to cast four votes if they don’t support four candidates. Voters may cast just one vote for school board if they wish and their ballot will still be valid and counted.

GET OUT AND VOTE!
Tuesday, November 7
Polls are open 7am to 8pm:

Westonka Educational Service Center, 5901 Sunnyfield Road E, Minnetrista, for voters in Independence P-01, Minnetrista P-1, Mound P-1, Mound P-2 and Orono P-03.

St. John’s Lutheran Church, 2451 Fairview Lane, Mound, for voters in Minnetrista P-4, Mound P-3, Mound P-4, Shorewood P-1 and Spring Park P-01.

Use the pollfinder if you’re unsure of your precinct.

Putting 2 and 2 together

I noticed last weekend the supposedly brand new “independent” political committee promoting the incumbent Westonka school board candidates had not filed a campaign finance report, despite seeing lots of signs around town. So, I sent an email to the address listed on their signs asking why. I got a response on Sunday that they had filed their report with the school district. Miraculously Sunday afternoon their report was uploaded to the school district’s campaign finance page. Guess that was an oversight. I can overlook oversights.

What I first noticed, upon opening the We Are Westonka campaign finance report filed Sunday, October 17, was that the political committee’s expenditures far exceeded their reported contributions on this first (ever) report. In fact they only reported $100 in contributions while spending over $1,100 on signs and buttons. Hmm. A brand new committee isn’t going to have funds to carry over…unless they’re not brand new….I’m confused.

A campaign finance report is supposed to account for all contributions and all expenditures but this one clearly did not.

I noticed reports filed by Yes Westonka, the former political organization that pushed the school’s past bond referendums, and this is what I found:

  1. The Yes Westonka Annual Report 19-20 showed a $1,200 contribution from the Teacher’s Union and showed cash on hand of $1,498.20. To-date no subsequent reports show expenditures of those funds.
  2. The Yes Westonka Annual Report 20-21 shows $0 contributions, $0 expenditures but, interestingly, the “cash on hand” field was deleted entirely from the report. Was there a reason they didn’t want to show the $1,498.20 sitting in the account prior to the school board 2021 election? Did they think they could just delete a mandated field from a required report and no one would notice? What happened to the $1,498.20??
  3. The signature at the bottom of both Yes Westonka reports is Lori Wollner, school board incumbent Gary Wollner’s spouse. Well, that explains why they couldn’t use Yes Westonka as an independent political committee now, doesn’t it.

This is the kind of thing one could file and win a campaign finance violation over, but why? The complainant would likely incur thousands in attorneys fees and the political committee would get a slap on the wrist without any meaningful consequences.

Better to just let the community know and ask the school district why they are overlooking these violations.

VOTE FOR NEW SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS ON NOVEMBER 2!