By Robert Haugh
Disgraced former Councilman Dominic Caserta‘s campaign for County Supervisor is officially over.
Well, it was over on May 15, 2018, when he resigned after lots of allegations of sexual harassment and abuse became public. They came from his campaign workers and the female students he taught at Santa Clara High School.
But we got a tip from someone who worked closely with Caserta that the Supervisorial campaign bank account was recently cleaned out. Caserta spent about $149,000 in the last six months from January to June 2019.
What he spent his money on is interesting. It’s supposed to be for campaign-related purposes.
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Mlnarik Law Firm
He paid the Mlnarik Law Firm approximately $55,000 in the last six months. Last year, he paid them $40,000 as we reported. That payment was after Caserta dropped out of the race.
John Mlnarik is the disbarred attorney who is representing him in his lawsuit against the Santa Clara Unified School District. Mlnarik was disbarred for forging multiple clients’ signatures and stealing their money, a story we broke.
Caserta and Mlnarik are trying to squeeze money from the district and its kids. They believe the accidental release of part of Caserta’s personnel file led to his downfall — and not his actual actions! We’d like to see them argue that in court.
We’d also like to see the district ask the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) to rule on whether these expenditures are legal.
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Other Law Firms
Caserta paid a much smaller amount to the Sutton Law Firm who does campaign law. And he paid Rutger Heymann, an attorney who does employment law. Heymann looks like he’s doing the same work as Mlnarik and his payment could be challenged, too.
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Guaranteed Removals
Caserta paid the most money to a company called Guaranteed Removals. Here’s what they claim on their website:
“Permanently Delete Content — We can delete or remove negative content from a number of websites.”
Caserta made 17 payments. They were varying amounts. He paid them almost $57,000! Wow.
They claim that their customers only pay after content is removed. That means Caserta had a whole lot of negative content removed. Or he got taken.
We checked and all the Caserta stories on Santa Clara News Online are still up. So are all the major news stories. So is Caserta’s entry on Creep Sheet — an international encyclopedia of public officials credibly accused of sexual harassment and assault.
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Other Contributions
Caserta made a bunch of small contributions to local charities and a big one to Bellarmine College Prep for $10,000. Caserta is a Bellarmine grad. But don’t hold that against them.
He did the same thing to my daughter years ago when she was 16 years old in high school.. He called and told me he was in love with her. I told him he was nuts and set a meeting with the principle. He tried to defend Dominic. A couple of years later, Principle was in a story on 60 minutes. (guess what for)
“The negligent handling of confidential information in Caserta’s personnel file is what caused the end of his career.”
The person who wrote this is an idiot.
Here are the facts:
Caserta’s deplorable actions came to light on May 2 with this story —
https://www.sanjoseinside.com/2018/05/02/ex-campaign-staffer-accuses-santa-clara-county-supervisor-candidate-of-impropriety/
At that point, the truth was out and there was no way to stop it. That’s when Caserta’s career ended.
The district accidentally released his file on May 7.
Caserta resigned on May 15.
SCUSD should tell Caserta to pound sand or go to trial and let his victims talk. He won’t go to trial.
They are likely not doing this because their attorneys want to bill hours. They are flush with cash from the bond measure and have the luxury of being stupid.
[…] former Councilman Dominic Caserta paid Guaranteed Removals to “permanently delete” negative stories and contents about him. The company charged him almost $57,000 over the last six months! It doesn’t look like they […]
I’m a retired attorney and can answer. Mlnarik cannot represent Caserta since he has been disbarred. But others in the firm can.
Mlnarik may be involved in the case or discussions but cannot represent himself as an attorney or give legal advice.
All that being said, I’m surprised the issue has not been immediately dismissed. Unless there’s some fact the public does not know about, the District isn’t responsible for Caserta’s alleged transgressions or the damage it did to his career. There were press reports of his troubles before the District released any information. Caserta’s reputation was already damaged likely beyond repair.
You don’t understand the lawsuit at all. Caserta is suing because the district leaked his personnel file. SCUSD employee personnel files are confidential, and can only be shared if there’s a court order. So yes, by sending out his file in a mass email, the district absolutely broke the law, and that caused irreparable damage to Caserta’s career.
The DA’s office says there was insufficient evidence to prosecute, but a district investigation said accusations were credible. I honestly don’t know what happened. What I do know is that Caserta’s actions in themselves did not end his career, because they did not hurt him at all for over a decade. For better or worse, it was when the district illegally leaked his personnel file that Caserta’s career actually ended.
The negligent handling of confidential information in Caserta’s personnel file is what caused the end of his career. It might not be fair, but this is reasonably strong case. No sane judge would throw it out so brashly, even with just the information available now.
Whenever there’s something amiss or afoul at the School District look for a rat … or more precisely the RAT. I think everyone in the know knows who that is.
Okay, Dominic, if you want to delete all the references to you being a sexual predator, how about we just delete all references to you — PERIOD. I for one would love the have your name and face erased from the history of our city. How about we could start a campaign to do this?
Yesssss!! DELETE DOMINIC Campaign. Count me in!!! Sign me up for Donations, Volunteering, Yard Signs, Neighborhood Meet & Deletes lol What ever I can do to help delete that POS serial sexual predator from Santa Clara’s history
Outrageous. Is the perp still getting paid?
I can’t believe Caserta did not go to jail. Everyone helping him should be ashamed.
How can an attorney that has been disbarred still represent Caserta in court?