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Stephen Hill of Detroit Public Schools: Political Predator and larcenist?
Tell that to the courts Bobb, for Robert Bobb himself is up to his knees in the same compost that Stephen Hill is. Bobb has notoriously and without shame dined with corporate billionaires, played kissy-face with Arne Duncan while working day and night to close successful schools, bash teachers, subject students to testing regimes designed to show schools are failing and he has done so with the help of his former cronies and supplicants from former employment ( http://dailycensored.com/2010/02/14/detroit-teachers-fight-back). For Bobb to even appear in public on this issue is an audacious move on his part as he seems to be cut from the same cloth and is now himself the subject of multiple lawsuits and his reputation and "service to Detroit Public Schools" could be coming to quick end. All bad news for the corporate privatizers like Eli Broad, The Fisher Family, The Skillman Foundation, The Gates Foundation, and the Walton Family to name a few of the mendacious actors looking to turn Detroit public education into the graveyard of privatization. Detroit Public Schools files a suit DPS filed the lawsuit against Hill, Polk-Osumah and others in June 2008, claiming the vendors, who were paid through wire transfers, knew the payments violated district policies when they accepted them. The suit seeks to get the district’s money back. Now the FBI is involved and should be. What they will do is another story. The Detroit Free Press noted in their coverage of the alleged swindles that:
Sound like excuses put forth on behalf of Robert Bobb? You betcha! But as Hill left his post in September 2005, saving money wasn't on the menu, but rich plates of food and lavish dining was:
The allegations about the party are contained in thousands of pages of documents in a DPS lawsuit that portrays Hill and Polk-Osumah, as running a shadowy side operation outside the scrutiny of district leaders. As the lawsuit proceeds to trial in July, the $40,000 reportedly spent on Hill's party is hardly the worst of it. DPS says it can prove Hill and his aide, using secret offices and computer systems, diverted more than $57 million in illicit wire transfers to vendors who did little or no work. The vendors --friends or business associates of the pair -- knew the payments were improper, but accepted them anyway, the district contends, while Hill received luxury automobiles and kickbacks from at least two of them. Two other vendors later hired Hill (ibid). It seems for a citizenry weaned on corruption all that is missing is the purchase of a $150,000 shower curtain for Hil'’s home which would be keeping with the Wall Street mafia and their profligate bonuses and egocentric materialistic goals and aspirations. The lawsuit by DPS was filed in Wayne County Circuit Court in June 2008 and the suit names Hill; Polk-Osumah; two international insurance companies; Detroit insurance executive Lawrence Long and his firm, Long Insurance Services. Also named was Detroit businesswoman Sherry Washington and three partners, among others. Long’s firm received the most money -- roughly $25 million in wire transfers. Although most of that, $15 million to $17 million, was for insurance premiums, the district claims the rest was for work that was "woefully inadequate” given the amount billed. DPS contends that Long also paid Hill a $115,000 kickback. If this is true, Hill could be frog-marched off to prison, a civic lesson for Detroit students and their parents. A clever man with no ethics and no intelligence The history of Stephen Hill is not much different than other similar rogues and profiteers looking to capitalize on social misery and students around the country, now that privatization has hit public education and secrecy, non-disclosure and tyranny have plagued Detroit schools and others. The whole thing has the stench of organized crime, as court records reveal. Hill, who had performed risk management work for DPS in the mid-1990s, returned in 2001, when DPS created a separate department of risk management and named him director. His office, at district headquarters in the Fisher Building, had fewer than five staffers, who primarily handled worker’s compensation claims and district insurance policies. But this was all about to change as Hill began to see how he could leverage public service into private profit. Once on the job, Hill skillfully created two other offices: One was next door to, yes that’s right, Long's insurance office; another office was inside the offices of a second vendor, according to the school district's lawsuit. The cozy relationship was about to begin, hidden away from public scrutiny until recently. Hill then began the arduous task of building his staff, person by person eventually hiring 25 contract workers from Long's insurance office, according to the suit filed by DPS. Cronyism and a penchant for following Hill’s orders seemed to be the only qualifications for the jobs -- that and a stomach for larceny. The alleged criminal cabal was put together like a typical mafia operation. Stephen Hill always preferred to launch his own department in order to contain information and maintain control so, for example, the suit alleges that rather than using the district’s information technology department, Hill created his own computer system that he used to hide improper financial transactions. He allegedly cooked two books, one for those who must scrutinize them and one for the 'bag men' who made off with kickbacks and alleged bribes. According to the Detroit Free Press:
But it gets even worse as the plot thickens into a glutinous gel. Delores Brown, who was in charge of the cash management office, told district lawyers that she assumed that the payments were proper because they had been authorized by a department head. When she had questions, her boss, then-DPS chief financial officer Dori Freelain, approved the deals with a signature. The problem is that Freelain, who was also Hill's boss, had a sexual relationship with Hill at one point. All this came out in Hill’s deposition adding more epidermal corruption to the already dirty alliance. Millions in Taxpayer money funneled to corporations by Hill Court records show that among the vendors who received millions of dollars in wire transfer were two large insurance and risk management companies: Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. of Itasca, Ill., and Marsh & McLennan Cos. of New York. Hill awarded Gallagher more than $6 million to provide an emergency management information system to the district. Gallagher then converted the system to an electronic format that the district has never used. The district’s chief of police testified that the system was obsolete. Of course the implication is that the system was never designed to work, other than to transfer large sums of taxpayer money to Hill and his corporate cronies (ibid). The lawsuit also alleges Gallagher had no written contract to provide these services, and knew Hill lacked the authority to approve such a contract but they went ahead with it anyway. Furthermore, the district alleges Hill approved some payments to Gallagher as Hill was seeking employment with the company and continued to do so after he actually got the job. This, if true, is theft in broad daylight. Furthermore, Marsh received more than $17 million from 2002-08 for insurance and ‘consulting services'. The suit contends that Marsh intentionally billed inflated rates or commissions and was paid for services the district didn’t need. DPS contends Marsh's own records show that the company was paid for work that was never done (ibid). Lovely! All this while students face decreased funding, cuts in programs and massive meat cleaver unemployment and loss of public services. Hill leverages his largess to corporations to cash in on personal lucrative job contracts The whole sordid mess just gets worse and worse and is enough to force the average person to plan a party in their pants. Take for example the following facts: "By 2005, Hill had a large staff, a $124,000 salary, and one very large honor. He was named risk manager of the year by the Public Risk Management Association, based in suburban Washington, D.C. Around this time, Hill decided to leave DPS to take a series of lucrative jobs with vendors who had benefited from his district contracts. Court records show that in October 2005, Hill became an executive vice president at Gallagher & Co. in St. Clair Shores. Before leaving, Hill attended the $40,000 going-away party. Hill's new job paid well, a $200,000 salary with a $350-a-month car allowance. But Hill found a way to boost his earnings even more. While working for Gallagher, he was paid $115,000 by Long Insurance to write a 15-page report on school security for then-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. DPS calls the $115,000 payment a kickback for the lucrative contracts to Long's firm, which Long's lawyer disputes While he was under salary to Marsh, the company loaned Hill back to DPS as an unpaid consultant; for a time, he resumed running the risk management department. The arrangement created a classic conflict of interest, DPS attorneys now contend, particularly when Hill turned in a procurement form ordering the district to pay Marsh -- his employer — a $450,000 "casualty consultant fee" (ibid). Gifts, affairs and economic gain Meanwhile, Polk-Osumah -- Hill's alleged cohort in the wire fraud -- remained with the district until October 2006, when she was discharged, according to lawsuit records. She might have been discharged from the district but she was not without work. The suit contends she was then given office space by New Bridge Multimedia Inc., which Hill had brought to the department for its IT work. From New Bridge's office, Polk-Osumah was able to access the school district’s risk management database, and continues to perform risk management duties, the district claims. Her fingers appear to still be in the 'till'. The suit goes on to contend that at one point, New Bridge subcontracted with companies connected to Polk-Osumah's relatives, with Polk-Osumah dictating the language of the bills. How convenient. Also, according to court records, at various points in their working relationship, Polk-Osumah showered Hill with gifts. Hill even acknowledged in a deposition that in July 2005, when both were still at DPS, that Polk-Osumah bought him a fully loaded 2005 Ford Mustang GT convertible, costing $47,000. Six months later, in January 2006, after Hill left for Gallagher, Polk-Osumah bought her former boss a $40,000 Dodge Durango. All allegedly on the public tab. At his deposition last September, Hill was asked why Polk-Osumah would do that: "I've asked that question myself many times. She was very supportive and wished to provide me with that token. He testified that he also had an affair at one point with Polk-Osumah (ibid). Court records show that in September 2006, Hill cobbled together the 'gifts' and traded in the cars for a lease on a $112,000 Cadillac XLR with $5,990 in custom accessories. The whole thing is truly incredible. The plot thickens as evidence of wrongdoing just 'disappears' In February 2007, a Grand Rapids law firm was hired by the district to investigate Hill's risk management. That month, an assistant to the executive director of risk management, Brenda Foster, suspected something was not right with the office when she arrived at work one morning in February. According to Foster, she discovered a wire dangling from the ceiling in her office and connected to her computer hard drive. Her files had been deleted, and hard copies of correspondence and invoices that she considered questionable had been removed. In a sworn statement to the court she said the wire was gone the next morning, but she couldn’t log on her computer. Interesting. The story is reminiscent of Watergate and the break in at the Watergate Hotel. The same old ugly crime scene Although the players, state by state, district by district, change like old bit actors in a TV drama, the crimes seem to follow the same pattern. Upon notice of the 'irregularities,' the district alleged that Hill engaged in a pattern of abuse and waste of the school district’s funds. In addition to alleged kickbacks from Long Insurance, DPS contends Hill received kickbacks of up to $30,000 from Associates for Learning, a wellness company connected to downtown businesswoman Sherry Washington and her business partners. According to the suit, Associates for Learning received $3.3 million to 'educate' and 'motivate' school district employees on the benefits of healthy living. The whole thing is a despicable web of callous self interests, arrogance, the worship of materialism and the abandonment of public service and the children, teachers and parents who were the victims of Hill’s alleged larceny. The healthy living was enjoyed by the principle actors in the alleged defrauding of Detroit Public Schools, all on the public tab. The suit also contends that Hill chose Washington's company without competitive bidding or any contract and he did so to conceal the fraudulent scheme and alleged kickbacks. The centerpiece of the 'wellness program' was to have district employees participate in a health assessment survey; fewer than 150 people did so. The whole thing was a 'sham wow'! Hill doesn't have a lawyer now and is currently under federal investigation. His former attorney, Benjamin Whitfield Jr., said Hill may end up representing himself at the trial, set for July of 2010. Wonder why? Perhaps Hill is broke now or the money is ensconced away until an early release. Detroit Public Schools has had enough! Detroit Public Schools seems to be filled with corrupt public officials looking out for their own self interests by obsequiously partnering with corporate America in an effort to launch a virtual crime spree. The fact of the matter is that Robert Bobb must also go and a full-scale flossing of the district must be done to assure larceny is not the norm but becomes removed plaque. This will take the commitment of the local Detroit Federation of Teachers 231 and their committed teachers who, along with students and parents, are the victims of this rash crime spree and drive by pocketing of public funds. The whole notion of corporatization and privatization is on full Monty display in Detroit as is the resistance to it. And that is the good news, the theft and self-serving financial wheeling and dealing is being ferreted out and confronted directly by brave citizens including students and their parents. As citizens, we stand to learn a great deal about how the Detroit crimes are planned and carried out for they leave a distinct pattern we can then look for in other cities and districts plagued by corruption and a dis-interest in the public in favor of privatized interests with deep pockets. For these are some of the same alleged criminals that demonize teachers, bash unions curry favor with the corporate press and pose for photo ops with corporate pirates. They are parasites looking for a host and the whole lot of them, if found guilty of the allegations, should so some real time in the "public housing" we call penitentiaries in America. Let's hope that students, the community, teachers and civil rights organizations and mobilizations of coalitions will ferret out the plaque that accompanies the periodontal disease we know as the privatization of education. — Danny Weil |
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