THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Carl Paladino, erstwhile Teabagger candidate for governor of New York, redirected himself to running and winning a seat on the Buffalo Board of Education. Having done so, Crazy Carl proceeded to use that public office for his own profit, as if it were just another building project.

Ever since developer Carl Paladino joined the Buffalo School Board more than a year ago, questions have swirled about his financial interests in charter schools. In fact, Paladino has interests in six different charter schools in Buffalo and, undeniably, makes money on them.

“If I didn’t, I’d be a frigging idiot,” he said.

But whether that means Paladino draws huge profits from charter schools or has a conflict of interest in promoting charter schools in the city is a different question altogether.

The Alliance for Quality Education, a statewide organization that advocates greater support for traditional public schools, released a nine-page report today on Paladino’s charter school interests. The report – titled “Good for Kids or Good for Carl?” – questions Paladino’s ethics and profit-taking related to charter schools. An anti-Paladino and anti-charter school rally is planned at City Hall prior to tonight’s regular board meeting.

“The profit motive is a powerful force,” said Billy Easton, executive director of the alliance, “and Paladino has a clear conflict of interest. He could abuse his power for personal gain.”

In response, Paladino spent several hours with The News answering questions and reviewing his financial files on the charter schools in which he has a partial or full-ownership stake: Tapestry, Applied Technologies, West Buffalo, Health Sciences, Aloma D. Johnson and Charter School of Inquiry, which is slated to open next year.

He said charter schools account for only 2 percent of Ellicott Development’s holdings and that no other developers have charter school holdings because they’re too risky an investment. Charter schools are only guaranteed a life span of up to five years before they must apply to the state for a charter extension.

By Paladino’s own accounting, he has invested well over $20 million in project costs for these schools over the past five years.

He said he has made deals with charter schools because he believes in them and only seeks a return on investment of 10 percent.

“No other developer would risk their money this way,” he said, “because I’m totally insane.”

he is quite correct on that last statement. According to the .pdf of the NY State Office of the Comptroller which oversees local government and accountability, Crazy Carl is probably in violation of the law so the question becomes what are we going to do about it?