Conflicts of Interest: Carolyn Schuk, Miles Barber, and the Santa Clara Weekly
By Robert Haugh
San Jose Inside took a hard look at Santa Clara WEEKLY reporter Carolyn Schuk and her conflicts of interest in regard to her non-profit organization.
Carolyn apparently has no qualms about writing stories about subjects then asking them for money for the Santa Clara Performing Arts Foundation. It’s an organization she controls and is not required to disclose where or how she spends the money. The story wasn’t pretty.
Carolyn allegedly dodged meeting with The Fly to answer questions about the organization. We will offer her and her board of directors an opportunity to write a guest column on this site if they wish to clear their organization’s name with the Santa Clara community.
But Carolyn isn’t the only one at the Weekly who has conflicts of interest. In articles about the massive Mariani’s development project, there has been no disclosure that the Weekly’s Publisher Miles Barber is a paid lobbyist for the project.
Here’s one example, a story by David Alexander.
Miles, himself, has often penned columns supporting high-density housing projects, but slyly avoids mentioning the massive Mariani’s development project. But he’s not really fooling anyone at City Hall. Here’s an example.
As many of you know, I used to work for the Weekly. We never discussed conflicts of interest or journalistic ethics. Well, some, like me, discussed it, and it was shot down. Maybe the Weekly should start. Or maybe it’s too late.
Editor’s Note: We’ve asked Lou Mariani to write an opinion piece giving us his perspective about the massive Mariani’s development project. He hasn’t responded yet.
Notice of disclosure: I feel it’s important to disclose that in the past I requested silent auction and/or raffle items from the 49ers and other local businesses for events hosted by my not-for-profit company, Wrestling For Charity, LLC. All proceeds from events were distributed to the beneficiary organizations and I received no money for my efforts. In fact, I had to contribute money to many events.
[…] As we reported in 2017, Barber has advocated for high-density housing in his columns without disclosing his financial interest in the project. […]
[…] previously reported that Barber was the lobbyist for the massive Mariani’s development project. Barber and his paper, the Santa Clara Weekly, have written about project many times without […]
[…] role as a lobbyist for the massive Mariani development project. After we asked the City Clerk for Miles’ lobbyist forms and reported it, Miles filed a form that says he is no longer a lobbyist. That’s interesting […]
[…] then reported that Carolyn’s “non-profit received a substantial grant from the City of Santa Clara without […]
Your post is false and defamatory. There was never any donation of any amount from the City of Santa Clara to SCPAF. You offered to post a response to your allegations but you are not honoring this promise. READ THE TRUTH HERE: http://bit.ly/2nkIOEZ
IF Carolyn is operating a federally-recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, there are a ton of rules and regulations around fund raising, spending funds raised, record keeping and disclosure of all that information. It is closely monitored and rules are mandated by both California Secretary of State and the Federal Government … Perhaps some well placed questions to the appropriate authorities are now needed. She is REQUIRED to disclose … Adherence to the Federal and State rules are not optional.
We have known Miles was a registered lobbyist for a while. Even before he was he was pimping for Lou. His Issue 48, Nov 2014 editorial is a good example. I have sent a copy via email to you, Robert.
Maybe you could write something about the funding process for arts in Santa Clara. This sounds sleazy but I don’t know anything about how arts groups get funded. Maybe this is the way it’s done in our great city. If one group got money under the table does that mean that it was taken from another group? Who got screwed?
We all knew the old curmudgeon was a lobbyist for Lou Mariani. Miles was not very convincing and he gets very angry when you don’t agree with his point of view.
Lou would rather waste his families money on Miles rather than put it into the schools or parks. It seems like they are trying to put as many units as possible not worrying about the impact to the community or City. Very gluttonous.