TRUSTEE'S UNPAID BILL SPARKS A FUROR; RE-ELECTION CANDIDATE CLAIMS SLANDER BY SCHOOL OFFICIALS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

An unpaid $85 photocopying bill turned into a political football Monday as high school trustee Sue Stokka leveled charges of character assassination and slander against Superintendent Robert Girolamo and school board President Bill Olenick.

What Olenick said started as a response to a reporter's question about Stokka's unpaid bill has blown up into a public squabble in the midst of re-election campaigns by Stokka, Olenick and fellow trustee Steve Landaker.

Stokka, who acknowledges the bill was not paid, claims the accusation was made public to silence her on board debates scheduled Wednesday about multicultural education for teachers, a high school civics textbook and a proposed environmental studies course.

``It's called manipulation for political advantage,'' said Stokka, who demanded public apologies from Olenick and Girolamo.

At a school board meeting in July 1996, the board in a 3-2 vote refused Stokka's request for $49.50 to attend the conference of the Conservative School Board Caucus, a group Stokka co-founded. The group opposes bilingual education and endorses back-to-basics schooling.

Stokka also was directed to repay the district for making more than 4,000 photocopies, which at 2 cents a page cost the district $85.07. Stokka said she got permission from Girolamo to do the copying, but the board criticized her for an inappropriate use of public funds.

``If I had known this would be a problem I would have taken it to Kinko's and paid out of pocket,'' Stokka said.

Stokka said an Escondido-based parents rights group, called the United States Justice Foundation, agreed to pay the bill for Stokka but never did. The group's leader said it never got an invoice.

``We agreed to reimburse the district,'' said foundation executive director Gary Kreep. ``We asked that they send us an invoice, and we never got one. We just let it go, it was forgotten about. We kind of dropped the ball.''

Stokka said Monday that she was not sure whether she forwarded the invoice to the foundation. Kreep said the foundation will pay the $85 once it receives a copy of the invoice.

The unpaid bill was raised in a newspaper article over the weekend, in which Girolamo and Olenick were quoted, prompting Stokka to issue an angry statement Monday in response.

``Olenik (sic) and Girolamo conspired this attempt at character assassination secretly behind closed doors,'' Stokka said in the written statement. ``Both deliberately slandered my good name without my knowledge and without due process.''

Olenick characterized the matter as a case of miscommunication and added, ``These things have a way of getting blown up, especially at election time.''

As for Stokka's charges, Olenick said, ``I don't believe this conspiracy spin. The facts remain the same. The bill was inappropriate as directed by board a year ago. It remains unpaid.''

As for any board action against Stokka, Olenick said, ``That's up to the board. We'll have to wait to take a look at the facts and decide what to do with it. This political conspiracy business, I see it as an attempt to divert attention away from the facts, and the facts are very clear.''

Girolamo said the bill has not been paid and he doesn't understand what he would be apologizing for.

``I'm sorry that she believes that. It's not true at all,'' Girolamo said. ``I'm a staff person; I work for the board. The board president asked me if the bill had been paid, I did research, and that was the extent of that.''

Board member Wilda Andrejcik said if a board member owed the district money, it should be paid in a timely manner. She noted it was a ``delicate matter'' with the election approaching.

When told of Stokka's charges against Girolamo and Olenick, Andrejcik said, ``She's really trying to make the news. It shows the character of the person making the comments.''

Trustee Kevin Carney, a frequent ally of Stokka's in board votes, said, ``I think this is a misunderstanding. In Sue Stokka's mind the bill was paid. I hope that this matter is cleared up now.''

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Photo

Photo: ``It's called manipulation for political advantage.

- Sue Stokka

high school trustee