Pat Santeramo, president of the Broward Teachers Union, allegedly used union dues to reimburse people for donating to state and federal campaigns in the last election, according to a letter from the union’s executive board released Monday.
Four members of the executive board, who signed the letter, are calling for Santeramo to be ousted as president. Citing a recent audit, the members accuse him of hiding the contributions from the rest of the union with “misleading” and “falsified” budget reports.
According to the letter, 26 people were involved in the campaign donations.
John Ristow, a spokesman for BTU, confirmed Monday that 26 people were involved in “apparent campaign violations in the form of campaign contributions.” He said the donations – which amounted to $ 19,500 – were primarily for Hillary Clinton’s presidential run and Alex Sink’s gubernatorial campaign. No local races were involved.
Ristow declined to name the individuals involved, citing investigations by both the Broward State Attorney’s Office and the Florida Elections Commission. Calls went out to individuals from those agencies starting last Wednesday, he said.
“We don’t want to release any names at this time” because it could interfere with those inquiries, he said.
But Ristow said the 26 people include union officers, members of the union’s executive board, union staff and relatives of union members.
Ristow said he couldn’t comment on any allegations against Santeramo.
The audit, which was conducted over the last two months, also found that Santeramo and two other top union officers were each overpaid. The over-payments ranged from $ 10,000 to $ 30,000 each. The other officers are Bernie Schultz and Ronney Virgillito.
Ristow said auditors have been provided with “additional information” regarding the over-payments and those amounts could change.
“It is also important to note that none of the officers appear to be aware that they were being overpaid,” he said.
Santeramo has been president of the Broward Teachers Union for about 10 years and has frequently railed against corruption and waste in the Broward School District.
He also is one of the vice presidents of the American Federation of Teachers, one of the national teachers unions and an affiliate of the AFL-CIO.
Read the letter below:
Since our meeting Wednesday, a lot of changes have occurred. Due to the nature of these changes we have found that now, time is of the essence for us as an Executive Board to call for a vote of expulsion of Mr. P. Santeramo. Below is the expulsion request. Since Mr. Santeramo has utilized the email system to take extenuating votes in this manner, he has established a past precedent that utilizing the email system for voting on pressing matters are acceptable.
We received the full briefing from AFT, at our Executive board retreat, on 11/8/11 and are fully aware, that eventually what is happening at the BTU is about to go public. The State Attorney’s Office has launched an inquiry we need to take action. We have to take action; we have postponed this vote since our retreat. The Executive Board must get ahead of Pat’s reprehensible actions before it’s too late, while getting ahead of this situation so that we can tell our members that we took appropriate action on behalf of the BTU. Our members must have the confidence that as their elected Executive Board we will do what is best for the whole and not sacrifice the entire union for one person. We need to demonstrate that we are being proactive, that we are exercising our fiduciary duty as a responsible executive board. Though we are sworn to confidentiality, we must show our members we will not as a E Board member ignore or omit important facts that were documented in the AFT report and have been left out of our Sun sentinel and steward message. These facts will be revealed with further investigation of the authorities. It will come out in time. When this occurs, we can say to our union sisters and brothers, that even though we were under confidentiality, we stood up for what was right.
Granted, it would be better if as a leader, he would have retired or resigned when we were presented with all the evidence by the AFT and he was asked to leave; however he refused to do what would clearly be in the best interest for our union as a whole. It is clear that his concerns (along with his lawyers) are his first priority and not for the welfare of the BTU and our members. For anyone else facing the same criminal and civil liabilities, they would have stepped down as with the case of Tony Gentile. We cannot have a president who can only attend meetings with his personal and private lawyer or a leader who must consult with his lawyer every time a decision needs to be made regarding this situation.
He has failed to resign or retire for the same reason that he engaged in the candidate check writing in the first place, to enhance him (not the union) with influence and power. We all heard what he said during the retreat “I would do it again!” It was only upon the urging of his lawyer did he try to take his words back. I, like others, felt it was too late he already let the cat out of the bag and showed his true colors. Unions typically are not the ones with the majority of donated cash, we traditionally are know as those who can get the boots on the ground, hence the phone banking, door knocking, rallies, etc.
After 30 years as an officer, he should have known or made sure he consulted with our legal advisors as a reasonable and prudent president, so not to put twenty six people in harms way, jeopardize the BTU and the reputations and careers of many innocent people we love in the process. Certainly some board members can forgive him, but our members cannot and will never forgive the Executive Board if we fail to fulfill our duty and represent their best interests and that of the BTU.
Unlike anyone in the State of Florida, Pat’s actions have put in jeopardy the entire union movement and everything unions stand for. The word of what he has done as the president of BTU has spread throughout the state. All those who know about what happened are waiting for the Executive Board to do their elected duty – what is best for all unions and the members. Our members must have confidence in their elected leaders if we are ever truly to move forward and have any kind of future The decision is inevitable and the longer the Executive Board fails to take the action on behalf of the members, the more damage will be done to the BTU and potentially all unions.
No one takes pleasure in what is happening to the BTU, yet we can show the leadership and our members that we are utilizing the tools they entrusted us with by expelling Mr. Santeramo now. We must be able to tell our members and other unions across the state and nation, that we stood up and did what we had to do for sake of all unions and vote to expel Mr. Santeramo.
As to the specifics, Mr. Santeramo told staff and officers they would be reimbursed by BTU for their campaign contributions. Pat should have known this is illegal and that he and others could face criminal and civil penalties and jeopardize the organization by reimbursing these individuals from BTU general funds. Mr. Santeramo should have known he was circumventing the law by exceeding the political cap on corporation campaign contributions by illegally reimbursing individuals for their personal contributions, thereby exposing these individuals, the BTU, the Executive Board, and members to potential fines and other penalties. As a result of Mr. Santeramo’s actions, the BTU has had to expend unnecessary resources on multiple attorneys to represent the various interests.
Presently, we are approximately at a 3.8 million dollar deficit. Mr. Santeramo claims to have only known about this deficit a short time before the Executive Board was informed, which was June, 2011. It is our contention that Mr. Santeramo knew several years ago, about a financial urgency. Mr. Santeramo did nothing but exacerbate the situation by spending thousands of dollars on the futures process and training at the Hard Rock every summer for the last several years, along with hiring several new employees from one to three years ago, making our financial picture even worse than it already is. It is time for Mr. Santeramo to leave as the facts are serious and put us in extreme danger of losing everything the Executive Board has worked over the years to build
In conclusion, along with the board, our members will consider it disgraceful that a president, of a teachers’ union, was able to mismanage and misappropriate funds without the board’s knowledge, and still be allowed to stay in office. At the present time our board does not have any choice but to Expel Patrick Santeramo Now!
Below is the Petition for Expulsion please read it carefully and since the notification is going to the members tomorrow, Mr. Santeramo can speak to these charges Tuesday November 15, 2011. After which the Executive Board will vote for or against him being expelled.
Petition for Expulsion
In accordance with our Constitution Article IX
Expulsion and Reinstatement,
Section 1, which states:
Any member may be expelled for acts detrimental to the local upon submission of written charges by a member or members in good standing to the executive board for disposition. The accused member will be furnished written notification of charges, date of hearing and shall be provided an opportunity to address the Executive Board. A two-thirds vote of the Executive Board will be necessary for expulsion. The decision can be appealed to the steward’s counsel at its next meeting. A two-thirds vote of the Stewards present will be necessary to reverse the decision.
At this time it is imperative that the Executive Board act on the charges that are being presented to them that the President Patrick Santeramo be expelled from the BTU due to federal and state felony laws that he broke, that he is being accused of.
1. Alleged illegal contributions to state and federal candidates. Pat knew or should have known that he was circumventing the law by exceeding the political cap on corporation campaign contributions by illegally reimbursing individuals for their personal contributions thereby exposing these individuals, the BTU, the executive board and the members to potential fines and other penalties
2. Alleged misappropriation of Union funds to support those contributions. Pat knew or should have known that it was illegal and that he and others could face criminal and civil penalties and jeopardize the organization by reimbursing these individuals from BTU general funds.
3. Alleged falsifying budget reports to hide illegal contributions from the executive board, and submitting budget reports to the budget committee and the executive board with full knowledge that those reports were misleading causing the BTU to further deplete its reserve funds without their knowledge
4. President Patrick Santeramo used his position as president to manipulate employees into making false and illegal political contributions.
5. President Patrick Santeramo knowingly submitted credit card bills with no receipts to justify those expenses as specifically required by the BTU and AFT.
6. President Patrick Santeramo who was also a vice president at the AFT knowingly disregarded AFT constitutional requirement for yearly audit to be done independently by a CPA. Such an audit would have revealed our reduction in reserve funds and misappropriation of funds that were being used.
Due to the severity of the above listed charges it is the responsibility and the fiduciary duty of the executive board to have the president at this time expelled from the union.
If you would like to add your name to this letter please e-mail me back by 5 o’clock
Respectfully submitted,
Executive Board members
Hal Krantz
Leslie Janin Starr
Annie Feldman
Jeanne Albertus
