School board candidate accused of ‘conflict of interest.’ She says that’s nonsense.
A candidate for Peninsula School Board, David Weinberg, has accused an opponent of having a conflict of interest because she is employed by an architectural firm that has done work for the district.
The architect, Jennifer Butler, says that’s a “libelous conspiracy theory” and she has never profited personally from any work that the firm, fi architects, has performed for the Peninsula School District. (The firm spells its name without capitals.)
Butler is a well-known school supporter in Gig Harbor. As the chair of Stand Up for Peninsula Schools, an organization that promotes local funding for schools, Butler helped to get a $198 million school bond passed in 2019 which led to the opening of two new schools in the district and the extensive remodeling of two others.
She is running for school board Position 2 in a primary election set for Aug. 3. The incumbent, Deborah Krishnadasan, is not running for re-election and has endorsed Butler.
Candidate Weinberg, one of four running for the same position, posted a series of now-deleted comments on his campaign Facebook page on July 3 accusing Butler of profiting from her work promoting school construction.
Deleted posts
In the since-deleted posts, Weinberg said the construction projects cost too much money. He also said — incorrectly — that Butler was working for Greene Gasaway, an architecture company from Federal Way that has worked on projects for the district, and questioned whether she was benefiting financially from new construction projects.
“How can anyone so connected to these firms as both an employee and someone who is compensated based on the performance of the company be on the school board?” Weinberg asked. “There is a lot of conflict of interest evidence out there.”
Weinberg is one of three candidates who had joined in an informal slate to oppose Butler in the primary, united by their criticism of what they call “critical race theory.” The others are a banker, Erik Johnson, and a corporate consultant, Linda Ader. The three took out an ad in the Key Peninsula News last week condemning the once-obscure academic theory, now a wedge issue in the culture wars. Peninsula Superintendent Krestin Bahr has said the theory is not taught in the district.
Weinberg initially made a series of edits to the comments before eventually taking them down entirely this week. On Wednesday, he put up a heavily revised version of his older posts.
“My question for Jennifer Butler is, if elected will she recuse herself on capital projects to prevent the appearance of conflict of interest with her employment at an architectural firm that has provided and will continue to provide services to the school district?” Weinberg asked in the new post.
Accusations ‘false’
In an email, Butler said as she has never been involved in any such projects or stood to financially benefit from them.
“The new and significantly downgraded accusations online are also false,” Butler said. “I have not been in a conflict of interest at any time.”
Butler said she is the senior project architect at fi architecture, a Gig Harbor company founded in 2016, though said she works in a part-time, contract capacity at fewer than 20 hours per week. She said the company did work as a subcontractor for Greene Gasaway on a project for the district at Henderson Bay High School, though she was “not part of that project team nor have I worked on any design project for PSD.”
“Contending that I was being financially compensated for the performance of a primary contractor’s capital bond work is an absolute lie,” Butler said.
A Republican precinct committee officer, Daniel White, sent The Gateway a purchase order he said he obtained through a records request. It showed fi architecture was paid $70,343 in April 2020 for work on the Henderson Bay classroom remodeling project. Butler’s name appears nowhere on the document, but White said that is “irrelevant.”
Safeguards in place
Butler said Weinberg and White misunderstand the process of awarding bids. There are safeguards in place to prevent conflict-of-interest issues, she said, including requirements for competitive bidding.
“All contracts are reviewed in great detail by attorneys and fees must be aligned with state guidelines,” Butler said. “There is no opportunity for a district to simply ‘give’ work to any firm.”
She said that if she is elected, these precautions would remedy any issues should they come up.
Washington State law says there is no conflict if a municipal officer or a board director has “only a remote interest” in a contract, such as when a director is merely a salaried “employee or agent” of a contracting party.
“A ‘remote interest,’ not a conflict of interest, would only occur should my employer be awarded work large enough to require a board vote,” Butler said in an email. “In that hypothetical case I would not vote, because it’s obvious, standard procedure, and the law. Not because of my opponent’s uninformed concerns.”
Background ‘an asset’
Butler said her background as an architect was a plus, not a conflict.
“My background in school architecture will be an asset to the board. I want to ensure these new facilities are utilized to their full potential, to support new programs and more opportunities for all students,” Butler said. “I will also keep a close eye on maintenance cycles to protect our taxpayers’ investment.”
In an email on Tuesday, Butler charged her opponent with “pushing libelous conspiracy theories for political points” and said that she will “have to consider my options on how to address that.”
“Mr. Weinberg should make a public apology and pledge not to engage in this type of libelous attack again,” Butler said in a Facebook post and statement on her website. “I am committed to a positive campaign based on experience and ideas. We need more people to volunteer their time to the community and our schools, and I urge Mr. Weinberg to focus on how he plans to serve our district rather than making reckless and false statements about individuals.”
In response to an email, Weinberg said that he couldn’t “comment about an ongoing investigation but will have further comments once investigations concerning district architectural design spending is complete.” Asked to clarify what investigation he was referring to and who was undertaking it, Weinberg replied, “you can’t expect me to disclose my methods of opposition research.”
This story was originally published July 19, 2021 at 5:30 AM.
