FL Teachers' Union paid for chief's opulent lifestyle - $2,000-a-night suite raised red flags

On the morning of Nov. 19, 2002, United Teachers of Dade President Pat Tornillo excoriated school leaders over low teacher salaries and demanded ``a hunt for spare dollars that could go toward raises.''

But Tornillo himself wasn't so frugal. That night, he spent teachers union dues to stay in a $2,000-a-night suite at the Mandarin Oriental hotel at Brickell Key. Tornillo slept eight nights at the opulent hotel and charged it to a UTD credit card.

``I went ballistic when I saw that Mandarin bill,'' said David J. Albaum, the union's in-house financial consultant, who reviewed the UTD's credit-card statements. ``A $2,000 room for a nonprofit union? Come on.''

Tornillo's spending is at the center of a federal grand jury investigation to determine whether the longtime union boss spent teachers' dues on personal luxuries.

Tornillo referred calls Friday to his attorney, Robert Josefsberg, who did not return three calls seeking comment.

The Herald obtained 21 months' worth of the UTD chief's credit-card statements, union checks and financial records that show the union paid credit-card charges totaling at least $350,000 between September 2000 and this March, with little or no scrutiny. Among the charges:

The Sinclair Intimacy Institute -- whose motto is ''Better Relationships, Better Sex'' -- Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, ABC Liquor, Sharper Image, even the historic Ahwahnee hotel in Yosemite National Park in California.

From the Neiman Marcus catalog, the 77-year-old Tornillo bought a pair of python-print pajamas ($175.73) and a matching robe ($149.10).

Pat and Donna Tornillo globe-hopped, often first class, through Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the Far East. Pat Tornillo charged $1,441 worth of tailored suits in Hong Kong and $978.26 in souvenirs in Thailand. Donna Tornillo, 56, charged $1,800 worth of designer clothing in one day in New York. The couple charged almost $4,000 at a jewelry store in Carmel, Calif.

Teachers' dues paid for it all, which Albaum said left the union so cash-strapped that it had to take out loans just to get by.

''We paid all his bills,'' said Albaum, who reviewed outgoing payments, but admitted that he never confronted Tornillo. ``We paid Southern Bell, the cable company, FPL. He didn't try to hide anything.''

Many of the expenditures, UTD records show, came at a time when teachers were fighting for raises, facing pay cuts or trying to avoid layoffs.

Last November, Tornillo sat across from Miami-Dade County Schools Superintendent Merrett Stierheim and demanded pay raises for teachers and protection from layoffs for teachers' aides. He insisted that new salaries be retroactive, warning that he would negotiate ``until hell freezes over.''

''No longer are we willing to accept that you don't have money,'' Tornillo told the school district's negotiating team.

Later, Tornillo retreated to the Biscayne Bay Suite at the Mandarin, costing $2,000 a night. High over the bay, the 960-square-foot unit features bamboo floors, a marble open shower, a deep-soaking tub and floor-to-ceiling windows, offering guests an unparalleled view of Miami. That night, Tornillo charged $84 worth of beverages from the in-room bar.

During his eight-day stay, Tornillo regularly ordered room service, used the bar, had clothes laundered, and lounged in the spa.

Albaum said Tornillo caught so much grief over the Mandarin bill that he wrote the union a personal check to cover the charges. Albaum said that several weeks later, UTD bookkeeper Judy Bowling issued Tornillo a check to pay him back.

''I saw the check,'' Albaum said. ``It was for the same amount of the Mandarin charge. He turned around and had Judy B. reimburse it.''

The Mandarin charge, records show, was not the only indulgence. On Sept. 24, 2000, Pat and Donna Tornillo jetted to San Francisco, then to Australia, New Zealand and back to California.

They visited the world-renowned aquarium in Sydney and bought $332 in women's clothing the next day. In the New Zealand mountain resort of Queenstown, they charged $852 at the Bonz Gallery and $487 at the Queenstown Gallery of fine art.

In California, they landed in San Francisco and drove to Carmel, where they strolled among the town's famous cypresses and spent $1,310.94 on Christmas collectibles at Kris Kringle and $3,900 for a necklace and gold ring at Concepts Jewelry.

Their next stop down the Pacific Coast Highway was the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur. The cost on his corporate credit card: $4,279.87 for a few nights' stay.

The Tornillos drove back to San Francisco to end their vacation at the Bay Area's Mandarin Oriental, where they racked up a $7,306.24 bill.

The three-week vacation cost at least $49,715 -- equivalent to the annual salary of a schoolteacher with 15 years of experience and a master's degree. In terms of the union, it cost the annual dues of 59 teachers.

The following year, the Tornillos jetted off to Switzerland, India, Thailand and Cambodia for a two-week vacation that cost at least $27,000, union records show.

In its review of union checks for that trip, The Herald could not confirm that every expense was covered by the union, although much of it was placed on corporate credit cards.

Overall for this report, The Herald reviewed about $444,000 in credit-card expenses, with $350,000 in corresponding checks.

Albaum said the union paid all of the expenses. He said Tornillo simply turned in his monthly statements to Bowling to be paid.

Albaum acknowledged that he approved many of the checks. He never confronted Tornillo and never told the executive board during its monthly meetings. His explanation: 'Tornillo demeaned people. He'd tell them, `Get outta here.' ''

Albaum said the board never questioned Tornillo either. In one financial report prepared for the board, Tornillo's spending is listed under a line item, ``Community Affairs and Organizational Relations.''

Albaum said he showed the charges to UTD Secretary-Treasurer Shirley Johnson, who expressed concern.

''I thought it was her job to do,'' he said. ``She said she would talk to Pat and even went to lunch with Mrs. Tornillo on Jan. 28 to talk about the spending.''

On Jan. 17, Johnson sent an angry e-mail to Tornillo, claiming that her signature was being stamped on checks that she had never seen or approved. All union checks required both Johnson's and Tornillo's signatures.

Johnson wrote that she had met with Albaum, Bowling and James Angleton Jr., the UTD's chief financial officer, about ``using our signature stamps and stamping both of our names on checks we never see or sign.''

''I sent an e-mail eight months ago about this and was very disturbed to find out that my e-mail was ignored and this is still going on,'' she wrote.

Neither Johnson nor her attorney, H.T. Smith, would comment for this report. Albaum recalled the meeting and said Bowling was the one who used the stamps.

Albaum joined the UTD 18 months ago at the request of Angleton, his friend for 15 years. Angleton -- who knew that the union was hemorrhaging money -- says he was tipped off to the questionable billing on Feb. 25 by Tornillo's longtime colleague Murray Sisselman, the former union president who died of cancer several weeks later.

Union officials and their attorneys question the pair's motives in going to the FBI, which led to the investigation. They say Angleton, as the chief financial officer, was in a prime position to know about the union's spending -- and do something about it -- long before his meeting with Sisselman. None of the officials or attorneys would be quoted for this report.

On Sunday, The Herald reported that Angleton turned over to authorities records showing that Tornillo and his wife charged at least $155,000 for personal items, including antiques, a St. Bart's vacation, California spa visits, custom clothing, even groceries.

Tornillo earns $243,000 a year in salary and benefits. That includes a $42,700 stipend that is supposed to cover his business expenses, Angleton said.

UTD spokeswoman Annette Katz declined to say whether Tornillo has a contract that covers his personal expenditures. She also refused to provide a list of union-related trips that Tornillo took.

On April 29, FBI agents raided UTD headquarters and hauled off all the credit-card statements, expense reports, Tornillo's appointment calendar and more. Tornillo then took a leave of absence.

Three days after the raid, Albaum said, Tornillo returned to UTD headquarters with a stack of personal expenses.

June 3, 2003, 8:07PM Teachers see themselves blamed for schools' ills AP - [Full Text]WASHINGTON -- Committed but dispirited, most teachers say they are unfairly blamed for school shortcomings, undermined by parents and distrustful of their bosses. More than three in four teachers surveyed said they were "scapegoats for all the problems facing education," according to a study by Public Agenda, a nonpartisan policy research group that has tracked teacher opinions.

Wary of political favoritism and unfair claims by parents, teachers bank heavily on union support and on tenure policies that promise job security, the survey says.

Such reliance comes even as teachers acknowledge flaws in the system: Only 14 percent said it was easy for their district to remove bad teachers, and 78 percent said their schools had at least a few.

Even as they feel like the targets of reformers, teachers also show some willingness to embrace change, such as paying higher salaries to those who put in more effort.

New teachers, in particular, show support for options such as charter schools and

alternative teacher certifications. "Their openness is quite stunning, given the fact that they feel unsupported -- not only by administrators, whom they believe they should be able to depend on, but also by parents, who they b

elieve are missing in action," said Deborah Wadsworth, president of Public Agenda. Teachers' views ought to matter to a lot of people, Wadsworth said. Parents link their children's success to teaching quality, and all states are under federal mand

ate to have highly qualified teachers in every core academic course by 2005-06. The study, "Stand by Me," covers testing, job performance and other crucial professional issues. Public Agenda surveyed 1,345 teachers after hearing from focus groups and experts.

The theme of frustration is no surprise, said Kathleen Lyons, spokeswoman for the National Education Association, which represents 2.7 million educators.

Beyond drastic state budget cuts, teachers are squeezed by a federal law that puts more emphasis on punishing poor-performing schools than providing help, Lyons contended.

"Teachers see time taken away to practice tests, to do the drill-and-kill exercises that suck the life out of learning. It's just not a happy time in public schools," she said.

Education reformers, however, say President Bush and Congress have appropriately demanded more of schools and provided choice for families.

"There is kind of a woe-is-me aspect to teachers when asked what they think of their lot in life, and a lot of that seeps through the data," said Chester Finn Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, one of four organizations that financed the study.

"I wonder if that isn't fed by their unions and a part of the culture of the profession, which is philosophically opposed to a lot of the reforms under way today."

More than eight in 10 teachers agreed that without a union, they would be vulnerable to abuse of power by school administrators. The same number said their working conditions and salaries would be much worse without collective bargaining.

Teachers also defended the protection of tenure but said it could be a ticket to complacency.

Most surveyed said they work in districts that offer tenure, which offers job security after three to four years, barring dismissal for just cause. Still, almost six in 10 teachers said tenure was no guarantee that teachers had proved themselves on the job.

Lyons, the NEA spokeswoman, said the union supports faster discipline reviews so that incompetent teachers will be removed and those unfairly charged will have their names cleared.

On the salary front, teachers typically are paid based on years of experience and level of education. More than 60 percent said they would support paying more to those who work in tough neighborhoods or who consistently get great job evaluations.

New teachers were most supportive of such ideas. That should open the door to fresh ideas, Finn said, such as allowing teachers to volunteer for performance-based pay scales.

The NEA says it backs such ideas as extra pay for extra work but opposes "merit pay." [End]

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