An anonymous letter that was written by an individual who claims to work for Polk County Recorder Tim Brien, and obtained by Cityview, accuses Brien (and Polk County as a whole) of extreme partiality when it comes to promotion and hiring practices. The letter, which states that people in Brien's office are promoted and hired based solely on who they are "related to or engaged to" and favors individuals who have been with the county for "less than two months," was written to Polk County Supervisors after the unidentified individual was passed over for advancement. The letter identifies Polk County Supervisor's Chief of Staff Michael Freilinger's fiancŽ as the individual who allegedly received preferential treatment. Freilinger's fiancŽ is on Brien's staff and her name is Theresa Hughes. Polk County records indicate Hughes was hired on Feb. 28, 2005, as an office specialist with an annual salary of $26,227. On April 2, a mere six weeks later, Hughes was given a promotion to secretary and a raise of $6,031 - a hike of 23 percent. The memorandum of her appointment passed 5-0 at a March 29 board of supervisors meeting.

"This is sickening," said a Polk County official. "And it's been going on forever - and not just in the recorders office. The new hires who are wired in, get the good jobs, while the grunts get the grunt work. And no one complains to the union or the supervisors because it's the quickest way to lose your job. The union officials and the supervisors are the ones making the decisions as to who gets what."

As for Brien, he admitted he received the letter but "shredded it" because the author didn't have the courage to sign his or her name. Brien told us that he does not know anything about Hughes' out-of-office relationships. So we asked him what exactly an employee had to do in order to receive a 23 percent raise after only six weeks on the job. Brien replied: "I'll have to get back to you on that." When he did, he would only say that the decision was his, not anyone on the board's. A Polk County Supervisor we spoke to agreed, saying it is up to Brien, as an elected official, to run his office properly. "He has to answer to the people every four years. But if you're asking me if a 23 percent raise after six weeks of work seems out of whack, I'll tell you anybody in their right mind would say 'yes.'"

"Good thing the white folks got taken care of." A least that's what a top-ranking Des Moines Public Schools official told Cityview last week in response to the system deciding which schools to do away with and which schools to simply ignore. This individual told us that four years ago, the school board started discussing what was going to happen "when the money ran out" because the board knew the local-option sales tax dollars were going to be "nowhere near" what was needed to make the improvements promised in 1999. "The original plan called for more money than we knew we would ever see, but that was the dollar amount that was needed to make the vote happen." When the penny increase was approved, the first thing that got taken care of were the West Side schools, our source said. Why? Because the board and other school officials knew that the poorer areas lacked the political clout, resources or energy to kick up any type of real fuss - and the board's make-up wouldn't be affected. "So then when the money ran out, we created a crisis. It's easier than fixing up North or Hoover or keeping Edmunds open. We just say it's an impossibility."

And the way the board handled the situation was "brilliant," our source said. "The closings were announced before a long holiday weekend; a meeting to respond was held the Tuesday night after the vacation; and the approval to make it all happen is on June 21, when there are no classes in session and opponents have no real time to organize." It is, our source said, "blatant racism." Making it worse is that superintendent Eric Witherspoon is "frothing at the mouth" to get the smart, white, AP kids into the Pappajohn Center, and the district will spend $8 million to make that happen, while the idea of a technical high school in the Edmunds spot is only a possibility. "They are trying to appease the black community by telling them Edmunds could be used. Meanwhile, cities across the country are shutting down technical high schools because community colleges are picking up the slack. It's the old bait-and-switch."

As for Witherspoon, in the fall of 2001, before he made his case for the district to buy the Federal Home Loan building, a few board members told him to bide his time and wait for the Pappajohn Center to be built and then the district could partner up. Back then Witherspoon rejected the idea, stating the center's "mission was different," our source said. Now the district doesn't know what to do with the Federal Home Loan building, and school officials can't wait to rub elbows with big business types. "And who suffers? The kids who are already suffering."

Greenwood School will open a $600,000 performing arts center (that has been privately funded) in the future while the district shuts down or refuses to fix the schools in its poorest neighborhoods, our source pointed out. "Public education is supposed to be the one thing that is even across the board, but not in Des Moines. The best is reserved for the people who can afford it." CV

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