Political opponent calls for School Board President Erin Cranor’s resignation

The candidate running against Clark County School Board President Erin Cranor is calling for her to “immediately resign her position and declare that she is no longer seeking re-election.”

Joe Spencer, challenging Cranor in District G, made the request Thursday morning in an email to Cranor and a statement released to the media. He also called on organizations, including the Review-Journal, to rescind their endorsements of Cranor.

The resignation call followed a Review-Journal story revealing that the Clark County School District wrote and signed Cranor’s name to a $100,000 settlement check that freed her from a lawsuit – which threatened her personal assets – without the School Board approval.

District spokeswoman Kirsten Searer asserted Wednesday that district officials didn’t inform board members about the payout – written Sept. 12 – or seek their approval because the district’s settlement check didn’t exceed $100,000. District regulation states that board approval is required if the “claimant’s award, total settlement or collective payments” exceeds $100,000.

But the total settlement of $100,100 – offered by the district in August – did exceed that regulation requirement by $100. The district simply issued a check for $100,000 and then had its outside legal counsel, Kolesar and Leatham, pay the remaining $100 to Business Benefits Inc.

The former health care consultant filed its lawsuit against the district and Cranor as an individual in May 2014, claiming its contract was cut short and Cranor stepped outside her duties as a board member by demanding that the district kill the agreement “as soon as possible,” as shown in an October 2013 email from Cranor to Skorkowsky.

Spencer’s resignation call asked Cranor if she thinks the “public is going to believe for one second that the $100 payment from the attorneys wasn’t done to help hide this whole thing?” He contended that the check was issued in secret to protect Cranor in the November election and bypass the board, which may have rejected the settlement.

Spencer said Thursday afternoon that Cranor hasn’t responded to his call for her resignation.

Cranor didn’t return calls from the Review-Journal Thursday. She did offer comment on Wednesday for the Review-Journal story that prompted Spencer’s call for Cranor’s resignation. At that time, Cranor repeated the same sentence in response to all questions: “I have respectfully requested the Review-Journal diligently discover and correct any less than stellar work in its coverage.” She declined to elaborate on what those errors may be.

“It would be nice to see someone take accountability instead of making excuses,” said Spencer, “or in your (Cranor’s) case deferring comment by asking the Review-Journal to discover and correct their stories.”

Spencer called on the Review-Journal and Clark County Firefighters Local 1908 to pull their endorsements of Cranor. The firefighters union couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday.

Review-Journal Editor Michael Hengel said the endorsement stands.

“In our editorial endorsing Ms. Cranor, we noted our concerns about her overreach on this very issue,” Hengel said. “We believe Ms. Cranor is, unfortunately, still the best candidate in this race.”

Searer said Wednesday that district officials didn’t show Cranor the $100,000 settlement check or ask permission to stamp her signature on it. District officials also didn’t discuss the conflict of interest in having Cranor’s settlement check bear her own signature, Searer said. The settlement uses taxpayer money to pull Cranor out from under a lawsuit that put her personal assets at risk.

“One would have to believe that you were well-informed of everything since it involved you and since your name was endorsed onto the settlement check from CCSD (Clark County School District),” Spencer wrote Cranor. “It would seem that you have alienated yourself from the board that you are supposed to work with.”

Board members’ positions on the issue way remain unclear. Board Vice President Linda Young said Wednesday that she’s been waiting for the $100,100 settlement to come before trustees for approval. However, all other board members – Carolyn Edwards, Chris Garvey, Stavan Corbett, Patrice Tew and Deanna Wright – didn’t return the Review-Journal’s calls on Wednesday or Thursday.

Contact Trevon Milliard at tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279. Find him on Twitter: @TrevonMilliard.