Investigation: ‘Megataxers’ Schmooze School Boards to Pass Tens of Billions in Bonds

July 9, 2021

By Jonesy Smith and Brian Hews

The spin.

When combined under certain conditions, moisture, heat, and wind initiate tropical storms, increasing the rate of circulation churning into cyclones, hurricanes, or typhoons depending on location.

Counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere,  clockwise down south.

The magnitude and duration of these storms generate waves increasing in size and lasting for hours or days. While surfers speak about groups of waves appearing in sevens, the truth is fast-moving swells interact with local waves…. and create larger waves.

But one thing is certain, a similar source often generates waves, with the third or fourth waves among the largest.

Now consider the waves that hit Los Angeles County; the first wave started in December of 2019, and took a year to roll in; the next wave hit a community college; the third wave hit a tiny school district; the fourth, a much larger wave, hit near LAX; followed by a tsunami spreading out to cover all of Los Angeles.

The sixth wave pounded the area near the Rose Bowl;  the seventh wave was next to nothing, slipping in and washing out like a small swell.

How did these waves start?  What caused the waves to hit the Los Angeles County basin and other parts of the State?

Suffice to say Los Angeles got downright soaked.  Just ask Leon Panetta, former light mind of the CIA, or George Pla of Cordoba Corporation for that matter.  Clandestine?  Hardly a power shift.

Organizations and their owners and employees start these waves. That is exactly what this exposé is all about: exposing the movers and shakers, those who scam and scheme:  the Megataxers – those who build and tax put a penny in and take millions out.

The Megataxers are individuals, companies, partnerships, architects, engineers, lawyers, developers, financiers, underwriters, and unions who court local school board members and encourage them to pass massive public school bond resolutions.

They professionally frame ballot measures created and designed to secure the votes of residents of their districts to invest, in the name of education, into public spending programs for the capitalization of districts, or so they say.

Remember the chant of Hilary Clinton, echoed by Xavier Becerra, “build schools, invest in human capital.”  The call to invest in schools is noble, but bullocks, to divert the money is despicable.

The first wave hit the Bassett Unified School District, Measure BB. The wave first rolled in at $50 million; the tax rate statement showed that it churned into $96 million in costs of issuance and interest for BUSD taxpayers.

The second wave soaked the foothills and the communities surrounding Citrus Community College, Measure Y.  This wave was nearly three times the size of BUSD’s, clocking in at $298 million, but the swell grew to more than $500 million in costs and interest.

The third wave, modest in comparison, hit Duarte Unified School District, Measure S, at $79 million,  which swelled to $147 million.

But that’s nothing compared to Inglewood Unified School District’s Measure I. That wave started at $240 million, but crested at well over $469 Million.

The next wave,  the biggest of the set, was LAUSD’s Measure R.R. Timed with Ethnic Studies, feigning the amount of $7 billion, but really coming in at over $11 billion.

Second to last was Pasadena Unified School District, proffered with Non-Citizen Voting on the agenda, at $516 million, swelling to $798 million.

The end of the set was Whittier Union High School District, a $183 million bond that will cost $406 million.

Governor Gavin Newsom sought $15 Billion for the entire State; this is $13 billion in Los Angeles County alone.

Through a series of investigative stories, we will expose the individuals and firms who contributed funds to get the bonds passed,  imposing a staggering $13 billion dollars in property taxes in L.A. County – under the rubric of education, but really to line their own pockets.

This is a series about the source of the waves, a study of who did it, where they started, and the ultimate revelation of a very startling fact.

Over the next few weeks, we will take a look at the rainmakers and wave makers riding high atop the surface of the waters as the public drowns in waves of debt.

We will introduce you to the Megataxers.

First up, Bassett Unified School District.

Better known as “Pancakes.”  The flatlands.