EDITORIAL INTEGRITY PROBLEM.

THE Citizens Bond Oversight Committee is supposed to make sure the Los Angeles Unified School District fulfills its commitments to taxpayers in spending billions of their dollars on school construction. But the committee has a problem fulfilling its own commitments to taxpayers, and surely some of the blame goes to its high-priced consultant, Tom Rubin.

Rubin, who in his free time mischievously applies his expertise to trying to block construction of the San Fernando Valley busway, sent out a letter last year on the committee's behalf to all households in the district announcing that LAUSD bond projects were coming in at an impressive 5.9 percent under projected cost.

The letter helped the LAUSD sell voters on one more bond measure a few months later, but it was a fiction. According to Inspector General Don Mullinax, bond projects were actually running roughly 25 percent above cost.

So how has the committee responded to this news? By giving Rubin a new, one-year $144,000 contract - plus $60,000 for work he did over the past four months without a contract.

Next time the district comes asking for money, it's going to have a doozy of a time convincing anyone it can be trusted.