Unusually large campaign contributions to Tucson Unified School District Governing Board members Kristel Foster and Cam Juarez are raising questions across the political spectrum. The $5,000 donations made to both Foster and Juarez by Phoenix area “housewife, “ Carly Brooks, are among the largest contributions ever made to TUSD candidates.
 |  |
| Cam Juarez raised $1,300 in the last cycle, not including the $5,000 donation from Carly Brooks which was a whopping 79% of his total raised. | Kristel Foster raised $2,983 in the last cycle, not including the $5,000 donation from Carly Brooks which was a whopping 63% of her total raised. |
| Click on image | to view article |
Not only are Ms. Brooks’ contributions large by school board race standards, David Morales points out in his piece, Quid pro quo: Are Kristel and Cam receiving “pay to play” donations in their TUSD race?, her contributions constitute 63 percent of the total funds raised by Foster, and nearly 80 percent for Juarez.
Those large contributions appear to be Ms. Brooks’ first foray into politics. The Arizona SOS has no records showing a campaign contribution made by Ms. Brooks for at least the years 2014 and 2016. Ms. Brooks appears to have made no campaign contributions in the past according to a thorough search of available records. There is no virtually no record available that indicates that a Ms. Carly Brooks has been even remotely involved in politics or political campaigns in the state of Arizona.
Morales discussed the irregular contributions in an interview on the James T. Harris radio show on Thursday. Morales questioned why a Republican Phoenix area housewife would take an interest in supporting Democratic candidates at Tucson school district.
“This Monday there was a Labor Day event at the park, and one of my friends went up to Cam and asked ‘who is Carly Brooks?’ He,” said Morales referring to Juarez, “gives an excuse about how he was in Phoenix at the hospital up there and met a doctor, something happened and all the sudden they’re (the Brooks) donating money. So then there was a follow-up question; ‘ why did Kristel get $5,000?’ The interview was then ended.” Listen to the interview here
Morales then explained that Ms. Brooks is married to Rob Brooks, a partner at Capital Financial Consulting. Mr. Brooks, who had supposedly found Juarez compelling, was neither a physician, nor did he contribute to Juarez or Foster. Campaign finance reporting requires disclosure of employment and employer where applicable.
The FEC rule related to Contributions in the Name of Another is:
Contributions made by one person in the name of another are prohibited. No person may knowingly permit the use of his or her name to effect such a contribution. It is also prohibited to knowingly assist someone in making or to accept a contribution in the name of another. It is also unlawful to knowingly permit the use of one’s name to effect a contribution in the name of another or to help someone make or accept such a contribution. 11 CFR 110.4(b).
Arizona statute 16-907, Prohibited contributions; standing political committees; classification, reads:
A. Any person who makes a contribution in the name of another person or who knowingly permits his name to be used to effect such a contribution and any person who knowingly accepts a contribution made by one person in the name of another person is guilty of a class 6 felony.
Had Rob Brooks made the contribution to Juarez and Foster, his employer and firm would have been listed in reports, and the connection between Capital Financial Consulting, Rob Brooks and TUSD would have been apparent. Instead, only after considerable effort scouring the internet and various social media sites was Carly Brooks’ relationship with Rob discovered, which led to the discovery of his association with the District.
Capital Financial Consulting website gives a biography of Mr. Brooks. It reads:
Rob Brooks
Managing Partner
Rob has extensive experience working with Arizona insurance carriers and vendors in a variety of industries. In 2010, his focus turned to Arizona school districts and has been an integral partner at Capital Financial ever since. Rob reviews and analyzes employee benefits programs, negotiates carrier agreements and renewals and strategizes with our client and executive teams.
Rob earned his Bachelor of Science degree in marketing at Arizona State University, and he serves on the Board of Directors for The Centurion Project. He and his wife, Carly, live in Phoenix with their daughter, Maddison.
Capital Financial Consulting is a vendor for Arizona school districts among other clients. Capital Financial Consulting and Rob Brooks have, in fact, communicated with TUSD administrative staff.
A records request was filed by the ADI with TUSD for any documents related to Capital Financial Consulting produced emails and related documents. In an email to TUSD staff, dated June 25, 2014, Rob Brooks wrote:
Jacqueline –
Good afternoon! After further consideration and a better understanding of related to the scope of services included for this AIR quote request, we would like to rescind our original decision to decline to offer a quote.
Instead, if acceptable, we’ve attached our proposal to provide Authorized Insurance Representative services to Tucson Unified School District. Please see attached for our quote and feel free to contact me directly at 480.269.8154 if you have any additional questions or concerns.
Thank you again for the opportunity.
Rob
On that same day, in a document entitled “Written Quote Summary,” Jacqueline Posey noted that two other companies’ bids were not accepted by the District due to cost, and the Capital Financial bid would be accepted. “Bid to act as AIR came in at $2500.00. This quote is for services equal to our scope of work defined in the request for proposal. The proposal will be accepted by Risk Management.”
The letter of response from Rob Brooks to the RFP reads in part: “We have reviewed the specifications and information provided and we will agree to provide professional and consultative AIR representation with the Trust. Based on the information provided for the 2014/15 Fiscal Year, we are pleased to offer a fee equal to $2500 per year. The Trust will compensate Capital Financial directly through the applicable contribution paid by the District to the Trust. The above referenced fee is guaranteed for three years.
Pay to play is defined by Financial Dictionary as: A practice in which a politician encourages monetary contributions in exchange for benefits for an individual or company. Paying to play may involve outright bribery, but it usually refers to more subtle payments. For example, an insurance company may make large contributions to a politician re-election war chest and the politician may then be inclined to vote in the insurance company’s interest. Paying to play is often in a legal gray area. See also: Campaign Finance, Campaign Finance Reform. |
Attempts to contact Rob Brooks have been unsuccessful.
Rich Kronberg, a long time educator and education activist stated, “I completely agree with Mr. Morales that these are “bribes,” though the euphemism “pay to play” seems to be in favor. But make no mistake; this is an offer of money from people whose only connection to TUSD is the prospect of making money from or through TUSD. Juarez’s boldface lie should disqualify him from public office, but whether it will or not depends upon the wisdom and knowledge of TUSD voters.”
“One can only imagine just how much money Mr. Brooks will receive from insurance carriers for the privilege of serving TUSD’s needs. We can be pretty sure it is a lot more than the $2500 he is getting from TUSD to be their Authorized Insurance Representative. We would need to be pretty dumb to think the Brooks family would put down $10,000 in pay for play money (bribes) to get a job that only pays $2500. Any pay for play money the Brooks get from insurers will, no doubt, be passed along to TUSD by those insurers which makes this a bad deal all around for TUSD taxpayers and voters,” concluded Kronberg.
Betts Putnam Hidalgo stated, “The bottom-line is that this person’s spouse is on the vendor list, this person has a contract with the District, this person could have future contracts with the District. There is an egregious financial interest in having the two incumbents on the Board instead of other people who are going to exercise more oversight. This stinks. This is the kind of thing that makes people withdraw support from TUSD.”
Board member Mark Stegeman said, “It is concerning that Mr. Juarez apparently could not give an accurate account of how he met Mr. Brooks. The circumstances surrounding this contribution are very strange.”
Board member Michael Hicks is calling for an investigation. “If I or Dr. Stegeman had taken contributions like this, the Democratic Party would have called for us ‘to be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.’ Of course, if it weren’t for double standards, they would have no standards at all. It is clear that if one holds a contrary opinion from the Democratic Party, they should be tortured, but if they go along with the Grijalva agenda they will be given a pass even when they ignore our campaign finance laws. I am not going to give them a pass and I encourage anyone who cares about a clean TUSD Board to join me in filing a complaint.”