Cable TV Series: Video News Blog Specials....... on Foreign Student Visa Loopholes, School Bonds and LAUSD Audits & Investigations

The Full Disclosure Network® presents a Video Blog Special covering Foreign Student Visa Loopholes, School Bonds and the Audits and Investigations of the LAUSD, to be featured the Week End on Cable TV as follows:

L. A . Cable Channel 36 & LIVE on the Internet at URL: http://www.la36.org/ on

Sunday May 11th 8-9 pm.

Monday May 12th 4-5 p.m.

or

WATCH these short video news blogs 24/7 from title links below:

Terrorist Visa Loopholes (8:21 min) Covering the crossroads battle over immigration and how the powerful education lobby influences U. S. Immigration Policy and student visa policies. Featuring:

• Jim White, Legal Counselor UCLA International Student Services
• Richard Knickerbocker, Constitutional Attorney
• Georgie Anne Geyer, Syndicated Columnist & Author

Secret School Bonds Create Billions Public Debt. (7.30 min)
LAUSD School Bonds issued without voter approval approach a billion
dollars in outstanding debt, features:

• Edwin Meese, III , U.S. Attorney General (1985-88),
• Kathleen Connell, California State Controller (1995-2003)
• Anthony Patchett, Special Assistant D. A., LAUSD Belmont investigation
• Jim Mc Connell LAUSD Chief Facilities Executive
• Don Mullinax, former LAUSD Inspector General
  
  

IRS Relents to School District Clout (9.30 min) IRS waives
penalty and sanctions for school district’s illegal use of non-voter
approved bonds. Features:

• Dominick Shambra, Director of Planning & Development for LAUSD Belmont project
• David Cartwright, Sr. Partner, O'Melveny & Myers, outside legal counsel on Belmont
• Anthony Patchett, Head of Belmont TASK FORCE Investigation for D. A. Cooley
• Edwin Meese, III former U. S. Attorney General and Chief of Staff to Calif. Governor Reagan
  

Prosecutor Attacks FDN on School Bond Cover-up Blog. (8.23 Min)

The truth is revealed from all perspectives on the questionable financing on Belmont.

• Anthony Patchett, Former Special Assistant D.A. Prosecutor on Belmont
• David Cartwright, Sr. Partner OMelveny & Myers LAUSD Outside Counsel
• Dominick Shambra, LAUSD Director and Planning & Development (Belmont project)
  

School Auditors & Investigators Speak Out on Lack of Prosecution (9 min)

for big dollar crimes in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Features:

• Don Mullinax, LAUSD Inspector General
• Anthony Patchett, Special Assistant D.A., Belmont Task Force Investigation
• Jerry Thornton, Acting LAUSD Inspector General
• Bob Williams, Acting Deputy Inspector General, LAUSD OIG
• Karen Sexton, Investigator OIG

The Full Disclosure Network Video News Blogs on the Internet are produced by host Leslie Dutton and T. J. Johnston and are presented in half hour format and distributed to 45 cable tv channels.

How Did Belmont Cost the L A Unified School District A Half $Billion? DVD Documentary Series (Preview 7 min)

Los Angeles, CA. Learn how the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) managed to spend over a half a Billion dollars building the still incomplete (2007) Belmont Learning Center, renamed Vista Hermosa. Now available in a Documentary Collectors Series of 23 DVDs. Watch 7 min preview here.

The Full Disclosure Network® has recorded the historical battle within the L.A. school district that started back in 1994. Fourteen years later the school has never been occupied, partially demolished and under re-construction, with costs mounting.

From start to finish, find out how the L.A. Unified School District got into this mess and hear the participants offer their opinions regarding who was responsible.

“Belmont: The World’s Most Expensive High School” DVD collectors series provides in-depth background of the deep conflict between an out of control school district and unaccountable administrators who, empowered by a political powerful law firm, confounded the issues of conflicting interest. The participants describe the frustration of the investigators who were neutered by a District Attorney whose political ambitions rendered him unable to take action.

THE SERIES:

Comprised of ten interviews with experts each describe their role:

• Planning & Development
• Legal & Financing
• Toxic hazards
• Investigation of fraud.
• Purchase of land
• Failure to prosecute crimes

Each DVD contains two-part interviews with the major players involved, and the series includes two summary programs: “The Best of Belmont” and “The Black Hole of School Construction” and include exclusive footage of the December 2004 demolition of 60 percent of the brand new, never occupied buildings. Click here for a downloadable flyer listing all those interviewed is available here.

Produced by Emmy Award winning Host Leslie Dutton and Producer T. J. Johnston, the series was videotaped originally for cable television and aired on 45 cable systems in California.
The DVDs are available individually or as a set with special prices for institutional organizations. For individual or institutional savings contact Full Disclosure Network® Executive offices at (310) 822-4449 or http://www.fulldisclosure.net/

L.A. Mayor's Battle For Power: Sunday on Cable LA Channel 36: Internet Preview (7 min)

Los Angeles, CA On Sunday, August 12, 2007 from 8-9 p.m. L.A. Cable Channel 36 will feature the two-part Full Disclosure® series on the historic attempt to take over of the Los Angeles Unified School District and it will be repeated on Monday, August 13, from 4-5 p.m.

The series features Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his Chief Legal Counsel Tom Saenz as they are confronted with raucous opposition, led by then LAUSD Superintendent Roy Romer in a State Assembly hearing and presentations before the L. A. C ity Council.Opponents have described the Mayor's actions as "power grab” involving billions of taxpayers dollars intended for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Although the Mayor's take-over plan fell victim in an historic court battle with the LAUSD, the breath taking legislative struggle for power was recorded in this special Full Disclosure Network® cable television series featuring all the major players. The series is also being re-run on 45 cable sytems. A FREE seven minute video preview of the two-part series is available here 24/7, on demand, as a public service.Issues that are hotly debated in this two-part special program are the major components addressed in AB 1381 sponsored by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez:

1. Consolidation of power in an appointed Superintendent
2. Setting up a new bureaucracy known as the “Council of Mayors”
3. Control through the Mayor’s Community Partnership

Those featured in the video are:

• Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
• Roy Romer, LAUSD Superintendent
• Gloria Romero, State Senator
• Tom Saenz, Chief Counsel to the Mayor
• Jackie Goldberg, Member, California State Assembly
• Kevin Reed, LAUSD General Counsel
• Fabian Nunez, California Assembly Speaker
• Marlene Cantor, President L.A. Board of Education
• Scott Folsom, President 10th District PTA
• Alex Padilla, Los Angeles City Councilman
• Gerry Miller, Chief Legislative Analyst, L.A. City
• Gene Krischer, Friends of the Children
• Bernard Parks, Los Angeles City Council
• Marebelle Delatorre, City of San Fernando Council Member

Other highlights include:

• The California State Assembly Bill 1381 was proposed to give power over the funds and the schools to the Los Angeles Mayor and to take power from the elected School Board members.
• In this video many of the critical points are debated while legal experts predict the legislation is unconstitutional and will be invalidated if approved and signed into law.
• The complete one hour, two-part special Full Disclosure™ series features behind the scenes skirmishes not reported by the mainstream media, that including portions of a letter from Fresno Mayor Autry and major players involved in the power struggle.
• Assembly Education Committee Chairperson Jackie Goldberg loses control of the meeting to members of the audience who object to statements made by State Senator Gloria Romero and the Mayor’s Chief Legal Counsel.

Billed as“the news behind the news” the Full Disclosure Network® is an independent, educational, public affairs cable program featured on 43 cable systems and the worldwide Internet website http://www.fulldisclosure.net/ Hosted by Leslie Dutton, who in 2002 was presented with a public affairs Emmy Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for their series entitled “L.A.’s War Against Terrorism”. Channels and airtimes can be found on the website.

Toxic L.A. School Belmont Is Back On L A Cable Channel 36 TONIGHT Sunday & Monday

Los Angeles, CA. Due to popular demand and continuing revelations of methane gas and hydrogen sulfide on new development sites in Los Angeles, the Full Disclosure Network® is re-running the two-part series entitled, “Belmont: The Black Hole of School Construction” to be featured tonight on

• L. A. Cable Channel 36
• Sunday, July 29th Part-One at 8 p.m. Part-Two at 8:30 p.m.
• Monday; July 30th, Part One at 4 p.m. Part 2 at 4:30 p.m.

For Internet viewers an exclusive, free ten minute video on the toxic conditions at Belmont can be seen on “On Demand” 24/7, as a public service. Tonight's cable TV presentation features exclusive video footage of all the major players involved in the planning, development, financing and investigations of the half a billion dollar, notorious Belmont Learning Center, in the L. A. Unified School District, (LAUSD) that was built on top of the old Los Angeles oil field.

Belmont Players Featured In The Cable Series:
Steve Cooley , L.A. County District Attorney
David Cartwright, Sr. Partner O'Melveny & Myers, (former outside legal counsel to LAUSD)
Jim McConnell, LAUSD Cheif Facilities Executive
Anthony Patchett, Belmont Prosecutor, Special Asst. D.A. (ret)
Jerry Thornton, LAUSD Interim Inspector General
Don Mullinax, Inspector General L.A. Unified School District
Roger Carrick. Special Legal Counsel to Inspector General
Scott Wildman. Former Chairman CA Legislative Audit Committee
Dominic Shambra, Director Planning & Development LAUSD
Dr. Kaye Kilburn, USC Keck School of Medicine, Edgington Chair (transcript)
Ed Scott, Oil and Gas Expert, Licensed Environmental Assessor

Also offering their comments on the Belmont series are:
Michael Schneider, former President California Board of Accountancy
Tony Beall, Mayor Rancho Santa Margarita, Leader CUSD Recall Trustees Committee

Still incomplete the Belmont public school is now estimated to have cost almost a half a billion dollars after questionable remediation of toxic gases, seven years of investigations, lawsuits and controversy. In the early 2000's the Los Angeles news media ceased covering the Belmont Learning Center debacle, the LAUSD renamed the school "Vista Hermosa" and began plans to to redesign the project. The Full Disclosure Network® (FDN) began documenting the history of the project by interviewing each of the major players at a time when Belmont was only 60% complete and had an estimated cost of $175 million to $228 million at that point in 2003.

"Dead Issue": Most public officials and the news media had pronounced the project a “dead issue" and so did the mainstream media that had ceased following the day to day and on going planning for a new phase. In December of 2004 the Full Disclosure Network® was the only media to cover the demolition in a five minute video of the brand new and never occupied Belmont school buildings being destroyed.

Denied Access to the Site: When LAUSD officials denied FDN access to the site to videotape the demolition, an airplane was rented to capture the costly demolition on tape, noting the dozens of new and unused large airconditioning units were removed and taken by the contractors after having been placed on the roofs by costly helicopters.

A $132 million remediation for methane and hydrogen sulfide gases was planned but it is still uncertain if that has taken place and approval by Department of Toxic Substance Control, State of California was delayed for unknown reasons.

Facilities Chief McConnell Resigns: Following the release Full Disclosure Network's® 2005 series entitled “Belmont: The Black Hole of School Construction” LAUSD's Jim Mc Connell resigned. As Chief Executive of the Facilities Division Mc Connell was featured in the FDN series saying, “the days of Belmont are over”. However, mistaken he was, as the days of Belmont are still to this day, far from finished.

Revelations on the Belmont Project:

• What lawsuit blocked BB Bond funds from being used to build Belmont?
• Why was the site (an old oil field) purchased “as is”?
• How did LAUSD Raise the first $92 million to pay for Belmont?
• Why was construction on Belmont stopped when only 60% complete?
• Who stopped the construction?
• LAUSD had to change State laws to win approval for Belmont, why?

Full Disclosure network® programs are billed as “the news behind the news” for the past fifteen years. In 2002 the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences presented a local public affairs Emmy to host Leslie Dutton for the special series entitled “L. A.’s War Against Terrorism." Featured on over 45 cable systems and the Internet, worldwide on http://www.fulldisclosure.net/, Channels and air times are listed on the website

LAUSD BELMONT REVELATIONS & AMERICANS NO MORE: TONIGHT ON CABLE TV

Los Angeles, CA A television special “Best of Full Disclosure®” featuring two historical programs on L.A. Cable Channel 36 tonight, Sunday, July 15, 2007 at 8-9 p.m. and will be repeated again on Monday, July 16th from 4-5 p.m. These programs are also featured on 43 other cable tv systems and available 24/7, on demand, as a public service of the Full Disclosure Network®

PART One 8 to 8:30 p.m. : Revelations are made about costly Belmont Learning Center school construction project in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Renamed Vista Hermosa or Central High #11, it is located on a 35 acre site known as the "Old Los Angeles Oil Field" in downtown Los Angeles and was purchased "as is" and appraised as if it were not contaminated, according to former Special Assistant DA Anthony Patchett who was head the Belmont Task Force investigation. Streaming video of related interviews can be found on the Belmont page. Featured in this program along with Patchett are:

• Steve Cooley, L.A. District Attorney, explains why there was no Belmont prosecution
• Dominick Shambra, LAUSD Director of Planning & Development (retired) “there was no competitive bidding on Belmont…it was a request for proposal”
• David Cartwright, Sr. Partner O’Melveny & Myers (outside counsel to LAUSD) “we were to knock down the barriers to school construction”
• Roger Carrick, Special Counsel to LAUSD Inspector General Don Mullinax “what we found was waste, fraud and abuse”

Demolition Video: 5 minute video featuring exclusive Full Disclosure® footage of the almost secret and never publicized demolition of the brand new and never occupied Belmont Learning Center buildings. According to experts, LAUSD has spent approximately 1/2 $billion on this still incomplete project that began in 1992.

AMERICANS NO MORE: GEORGIE ANNE GEYER

Part Two 8:30 to 9 P.m.

Nationally syndicated columnist and author Georgie Anne Geyer made predictions of the demise of American Citizenship in a 1996 television interview. She described these predictions also in her book entitled “Americans No More”. The entire thirty minute interview is available FREE "on Demand", 24/7 at the URL: : http://www.fulldisclosure.net/flash/182_Geyer.htm as a public service of the Full Disclosure Network® . Some of the issues raised by Ms. Geyer in the interview are:

• Civic responsibility is undermined by political far left and far right
• Demands for taxpayer benefits to illegals
• Presidential duty to secure U.S. Borders
• Southern California is ungovernable (1996)
• Non Citizens are voting all over the country

Known as “the news behind the news” and hosted by Leslie Dutton the Full Disclosure Network® cable television programs are featured on 43 cable systems and the Internet since 1992. In 2002 the Full Disclosure® special series “L. A.’s War Against Terrorism” was recognized by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a local Emmy Award for a public affairs, informational series. Channels and air times can be found on the website at http://www.fulldisclosure.net/

SCHOOL AUDITORS & INVESTIGATORS SPEAK OUT ON LACK OF BIG DOLLAR PROSECUTIONS: Video (8 min)

Los Angeles, CA . School auditors and investigators speak out about their disappointment over the failure of prosecutors to file charges for big dollar crimes documented by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Office of Inspector General. In a Full Disclosure Network® nine minute video news blog some of the most egregious investigations undertaken by the Inspector General's office are revealed, including the notorious Belmont Learning Center. The video is available free, on demand, 24/7, as a public service. Viewers are asked to respond in to survey questions and leave their comments for an online discussion.

Here are a few issues discussed in the video:

• Former LAUSD Inspector General Don Mullinax responds to Full Disclosure® when asked what why no prosecutions resulted from his extensive reports of waste, fraud and abuse on the still incomplete $330 million Belmont Learning Center. Mullinax said he was disappointed "after having spent almost three years of my life working on that report, other reports and on the District Attorney's Belmont Task Force on Belmont."
• Anthony Patchett who headed the D.A.'s investigation on Belmont said "Don Mullinax did an outstanding job. He found a lot of fraud and corruption. It's just the fact that when he took those cases to the District Attorney's office, they chose not to go forward with them. They'll go ahead and they'll prosecute the small crimes under $15,000, but for the other crimes that Mr. Mullinax has found, they still have that blind eye towards that".
• According tothen Interim Inspector General Jerry Thornton some of the problems have been resolved but investigations are ongoing. "If you are looking at lower level employees, if you're looking at people that manage cafeterias and people that do the grounds work, we could do this for the next 15 years and nobody would ever say anything to us. But when you elevate your investigations up to the hierarchy of an organization like this, you're always going to meet resistance. Everybody's for accountability until you hold them accountable", he said.
• Investigator Karen Sexton told Full Disclosure® how an adult school contractor and other unnamed individuals were never prosecuted when the Inspector General's investigation found classes that didn't exist, ghost students and people working double assignments. She said the only outcome of the investigation was "they no longer work for the District" because the contractor's contract was not renewed."
• Bob Williams , promoted to Acting Deputy Inspector General following the departure of Don Mullinax, told Full Disclosure® the BB Bond investigation resulted in auditors finding $600 million that was spent on different things (click here to see PAGE 4 of the BB Bond follow-up report) that went to the actual contractors as opposed to the projects. When asked what the outcome of BB Bond investigation was, the supervising investigator told Full Disclosure® "the outcome basically, was nothing."
• (note LAUSD removed the BB Bond follow-up report from their website following this orignal release)

The Full Disclosure Network®, billed as "the news behind the news", has been producing a series of video news blogs for the Internet using video clips from television interviews and events featuring prominent leaders who involved in the school construction, planning, development and investigations of the L. A. Unified School District and Belmont Learning Center. The videos are featured on 43 cable television systems and video streamed over the Internet from http://www.fulldisclosure.net/ . In 2002 the Full Disclosure® program , hosted by Leslie Dutton, was presented with a local public affairs Emmy from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Belmont: the Black Hole of School Construction

Los Angeles, CA. A FREE three (3) minute video presentation of the Full Disclosure Network™ series entitled, “Belmont: The Black Hole of School Construction” will be available starting Monday; January 23, 2006 on the Internet at the URL: http://www.fulldisclosure.net/flash/444-5_belmontblackhole_preview.php and can be accessed “On Demand” 24/7, as a public service. This preview of a new two-part series, features exclusive video footage of all the major players involved in the planning, development, financing and investigations of the notorious Belmont Learning Center, in the L. A. Unified School District, they are:

• Steve Cooley , L.A. County District Attorney
• Jim McConnell, LAUSD Cheif Facilities Executive
• Anthony Patchett, Belmont Prosecutor, Special Asst. D.A. (ret)
• Don Mullinax, Inspector General L.A. Unified School District
• Roger Carrick. Special Legal Counsel to Inspector General
• Scott Wildman. Chair. CA Legislative Audit Committee
• Dominic Shambra, Dir. Planning & Development LAUSD
• David Cartwright, Sr. Partner O'Melveny & Myers
• Dr. Kaye Kilburn, USC Keck School of Medicine, Edgington Chair

The still incomplete public school is now estimated to have cost almost a half a billion dollars after seven years of investigations, lawsuits and controversy. When the Los Angeles news media ceased covering the Belmont Learning Center debacle the Full Disclosure Network™ (FDN) jumped at the opportunity to cover the story, on videotape, as a PUBLIC SERVICE. Belmont was only 60% complete and had an estimated cost of $175 million to $228 million. Most public officials and the news media had pronounced the project a “dead issue". That could not have been farther from the truth.

Following the LAUSD Board vote to complete the Belmot project costs continue to escalate. Demolition of the new and never occupied buildings located on an earthquake fault and costly re-reconstruction began in December of 2004. A one hundred-thirty-two million dollar million remediation for the methane and hydrogen sulfide gases has been planned but as of December 2005, not yet approved by the State of California.

Just fifteen days after the 2005 Full Disclosure Network™ series entitled “Belmont: The Black Hole of School Construction” was shown on Southern California Cable channels, Jim Mc Connell announced his intention to leave the LAUSD. As Chief Executive of the Facilities Division Mc Connell was featured in the FDN series saying, “the days of Belmont are over”. However, mistaken he was, as the days of Belmont were far from finished.

Here are a few of the revelations in Belmont: The Black Hole of school construction:

• What lawsuit blocked BB Bond funds from being used to build Belmont?
• Why was the site (an old oil field) purchased “as is”?
• How did LAUSD Raise the first $92 million to pay for Belmont?
• Why was construction on Belmont stopped when only 60% complete?
• Who stopped the construction?
• LAUSD had to change State laws to win approval for Belmont, why?

Full Disclosure network™ produces public affairs programming, billed as “the news behind the news” since 1992. In 2002 the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences presented a public affairs Emmy to host Leslie Dutton for the special series entitled “L. A.’s War Against Terrorism. Featured on over 40 cable systems and the Internet, worldwide on http://www.fulldisclosure.net/ , Channels and air times are listed on the website