Misdirected Accusations by Tom Ely

Ventura County Community College District Trustee Tom Ely’s excuses and explanations regarding his alleged gambling debts, car accident and questionable spending of district funds are hard to swallow and even harder to stomach.

It’s obvious he has placed blame everywhere but where it should be placed.

First, he says, the dumb cops didn’t properly analyze the seriousness of the car accident and therefore didn’t properly deduce that he and his wife, Ingrid, were injured.

Then, some horrible person in the name of medical science prescribed painkillers that clouded his and his wife’s judgment.

Next, those nasty old people from the casino took advantage of said clouded judgment, forced the Elys to accept a free room, poured free alcohol down their throats and caused them to run up a sizable debt on top of the one they already owed.

Next, some evil person uncovered and released information about the gambling debts in an attempt to destroy Ely’s bid for county supervisor.

Then, those rotten reporters misquoted Ely and misreported facts.

Next, the terribly negligent college district put a phone and fax machine in Ely’s home and even approved a rental car because his car was being repaired. It also approved sending Ely, and in some instances his wife, on several trustee trips, conferences and conventions, all in the name of conducting district business.

Some of his fellow trustees, scoundrels that they are, had the audacity to question his ethics, judgment and expenditures. An auditing firm called in to investigate Ely’s expense record wasn’t smart enough to understand district policy, and that, compounded by the inept way the district’s administrative services handles record-keeping, led to an erroneous report.

To top things off, that publicity-seeking district attorney dared to do his job and initiated a criminal investigation of Ely’s expenditure of college district funds, and some cold-hearted judge ruled in favor of some high-rolling, freewheeling bankers and lawyers whose flawed records indicate that Ely hasn’t paid his bills.

It is hard to believe that the person at the center of all this attention is completely in the right and without guilt while all the other people or entities are misinformed, misguided, mistaken or just plain malicious. Consequently, it is not hard to believe actions that were dumb, horrible, nasty, evil, rotten, negligent, inept, erroneous, publicity-seeking, cold-hearted, high-rolling, freewheeling or flawed were more likely made by that person.

I heartily call for Ely’s resignation as a trustee of the college district. Furthermore, I would find the other trustees remiss in their responsibilities if they do not do likewise.

TERRY JUMP

Oxnard