It seems that stealing from the taxpayers isn’t really that huge a deal and shouldn’t “distract” us all, according to Patti Gillenwater, chairwoman of Wake Education Partnership’s Quality Matters committee. The group’s report says — what else — Wake County needs more money for the public education system. Here’s a sampling from this Raleigh News & Observer story.
Gillenwater said the committee is also recommending that the school board inform the public of the results of the audit it’s conducting following fraud cases involving the system’s transportation department and the Garner High School cafeteria. But she downplayed the fraud, which involves at least $2 million, saying it shouldn’t “distract” people.
“It’s not even 1 percent of the budget,” Gillenwater said. “It’s not minimizing it, but we need to put it in perspective.”
Uh, Ms. Gillenwater, minimizing fraud is exactly what you’re doing, and you should be ashamed of this statement.
