“Since the union doesn’t like it, they just file a lawsuit and we cave to them,” Allman said. “I just don’t think it’s right to reinforce that behavior.”RelatedSkyrocketing School Board Recalls Offer Window into Year of Bitter Education Politics
While it was organizing the Allman recall, the union was also gathering signatures for a petition to force a special election for another seat on the board. Trustees had appointed Ty Hume to an open seat, making him the only African American on an all-white board, but the union felt the public had been left out of the process. The union submitted the required number of signatures, and in line with district policy, Hume’s appointment was rescinded and a special election scheduled for November 2021. Hume ran for the seat but was defeated by a union-supported candidate.
The union went for the trifecta by hiring a private investigator to determine whether board President Maureen Muir was living in the district she represented. The private eye found Muir was renting out her home, which was on the market. The union notified the district attorney, but apparently Muir had been spending time at the home of her aging mother-in-law in Lake Tahoe. She sold her house but rented another that was also within the district boundary.
Union President Duncan Brown said the investigator’s services “cost about as much as one of the union’s pizza parties it holds for members,” according to a newspaper report.