Smokin' Charlene Hardin

Last August, Daniel Bice brought to light the adventures of Milwaukee School Board member Charlene Hardin.

In July, she traveled to Philadelphia with a friend to attend a conference on school violence that she didn't bother to attend. She did drop in looking for a goodie bag. When she learned the conference bags were already gone, Hardin angrily raided a table of snacks, filling plastic bags with food.

More on Hardin's Philadelphia pleasure and no business trip here and here.

Today, Bice has more information on Hardin's travels and her use of taxpayer dollars.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

School Board member Charlene Hardin caught flak and the attention of investigators with her phantom Philadelphia trip earlier this year.

But that wasn't the first time she squandered tax dollars while jetting around the country.

Newly released records show that Hardin has traveled out of state seven times in the past 1 1/2 years, running up a tab of about $8,500 to visit schools and attend conventions in such places as Memphis, Tenn., Washington and Philadelphia.

While on one trip this year, she billed the cash-strapped Milwaukee Public Schools more than $400 to rent a Chrysler 300 Touring for two days. On another trip, she slept at a luxury hotel with a $400-plus daily rate.

But here is the most astonishing example of her free-spending ways:

In March, the veteran board member was hit with a nearly $300 penalty for lighting up cigarettes incessantly while staying at the smoke-free Marriott in Washington, D.C. Warned of the potential penalty, Hardin reportedly told a hotel manager to go ahead and stick the charge on her bill.

She then stiffed the Marriott, leaving without paying the surcharge.

Clearly, Hardin doesn't play by the rules.

If Charlene wants to smoke IN a smoke-free hotel, she's going to smoke. Then, she ignores the penalty.

When asked to account for her actions, Hardin complains that the press is bullying her.

...Reached last week before a board meeting, Hardin had little to say. She repeatedly refused to answer questions about the rental car, her smoking fee or her travel companions.

“Are you going to keep bullying me?” she asked before walking away.

Yes, poor Hardin is a victim.

Bice goes on:

More than a month ago, the Journal Sentinel asked for Hardin’s travel records dating to Jan. 1, 2007. MPS officials eventually decided to release records on six of her seven trips, concluding that all information on her July jaunt to Philadelphia would remain secret because county prosecutors are investigating the matter.

...It proved worth the wait for the records on the much-traveled board member. Here is what the documents show:

• Hardin rarely travels alone. Janie Hatton, a former MPS principal and administrator now on contract with the district, accompanied Hardin on trips to Memphis, Lombard, Ill., Philadelphia and Shreveport, La. Hatton’s expenses were not included in the records.

• The documentation for Hardin’s expenditures is sometimes embarrassingly thin. Once, she confirmed that she spent $125 on parking, school visits and a community lunch on an out-of-state trip, but she said she had lost the receipts and forgotten the name of the restaurant where the luncheon was held.

• Funding for her trips comes from several different MPS accounts. The administration paid for four of her seven trips; the School Board office, two; and the arts high school, one.

...Hardin’s most expensive trip was her April jaunt to Washington to attend a legislative conference sponsored by the Council of Great City Schools. Her bill came in at nearly $2,500.

According to the records, her final two days at the D.C. Marriott set taxpayers back $411 per night. By contrast, [Superintendent William Andrekopoulos] attended the conference for only one day, and his nightly hotel rate at the same hotel was nearly half that.

Hardin also was charged $250, plus $36.25 in extra taxes, for refusing to abide by the hotel’s no-smoking policy.

...“Neighboring rooms had repeatedly complained to the hotel staff about the smell of cigarette smoke,” wrote Teresita ValeCruz, a staffer for the Council of Great City Schools, in an e-mail to MPS. “The hotel had to move guests to different rooms and offer free meals just to appease them.”

At one point, the hotel’s housekeeping manager warned Hardin about the smoking surcharge. According to ValeCruz, Hardin told him to butt out, saying he “might as well leave the charge (on her bill) because she wasn’t going to stop.”

Nor was she going to pay.

MPS had prepaid her hotel bill, but the smoking surcharge left Hardin with an outstanding debt of $201.27.

Conference organizers say they were stunned by the board member’s juvenile behavior.

Hardin does not belong on the School Board.

She's abusing her position. She's supposed to be serving the community, not ripping it off.

Although the records for Hardin's July 2008 Philadelphia trip weren't to be released, one receipt from it was among the documents obtained by the Journal Sentinel.

...Hardin and the secretary, Lolita Pearson, took out a 2007 Chrysler 300 on July 15-17 at a total cost of $406. During the two-day rental of the car — a large, four-door sedan that can run from $30,000 to $45,000, depending on options — the pair drove the car 84 miles.

That works out to nearly $5 per mile.

Why is this woman still on the School Board?

Why has she been allowed to abuse her position with impunity?

Hardin needs to be held accountable and so do her enablers.

Enough is enough.
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Related posts:

Charlene Hardin

Prosecutors Look at Hardin's Trip

Charlene Hardin and Barry Applewhite