Way back in June 2020, I filed a public information request for @IDEAschools CFO Wyatt Truscheit's expense reports.
IDEA stalled for more than a year and sued @TXAG to keep the documents under wraps.
Today, though, some of the details surfaced in a civil lawsuit #rgv
Truscheit worked for @IDEAschools from 2009 to 2020.
Truscheit, though, didn't live in Texas.
He lived in California — and IDEA paid all expenses related to his "bi-weekly commuting."
I wanted to know how much that cost.
Truscheit abruptly resigned less than three weeks after I requested his expense reports.
krgv.com/news/cfo-resig…
After he resigned, Truscheit sued @IDEAschools for breach of contract.
krgv.com/news/former-ch…
.@IDEAschools, meanwhile, used the pandemic as an excuse not to process my public information request.
IDEA didn't ask @TXAG for an opinion on my request until June 30, 2021 — a year after I asked for the information.
.@IDEAschools argued Truscheit's expense reports shouldn't be released.
IDEA claimed:
1) The documents were part of an ongoing audit
2) Litigation was pending
3) The Texas Rangers didn't want IDEA to release anything
.@TXAG disagreed.
www2.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/openr…
.@IDEAschools responded by suing @TXAG.
The lawsuit is still pending; the Texas Attorney General's Office rarely bothers to litigate Public Information Act cases.
It's extremely unusual for a city or school district to sue @TXAG over a public information request.
I've filed thousands of requests over the past three years. Only a handful resulted in lawsuits.
IDEA filed three lawsuits in less than a year.
Why did IDEA buy a boutique hotel?
Lawsuit.
progresstimes.net/2021/10/29/ide… via @ProgressTimes
What happened at IDEA Finance Committee meetings that were open to the public?
Lawsuit.
progresstimes.net/2022/06/26/ide… via @ProgressTimes
And, of course, the same thing happened when I asked for expense reports submitted by top executives.
progresstimes.net/2021/10/01/ide… via @ProgressTimes
In November 2022, though, former IDEA CEO JoAnn Gama sued IDEA.
Today, her attorney filed a motion to force @IDEAschools to release the "Special Investigation Report" prepared by Michael McCrum, a former prosecutor who conducted an internal investigation for IDEA.
Attached to the motion is a letter from IDEA to the @USEEOC.
In the letter, IDEA claims Truscheit was "expensing personal items such as his dry cleaning, haircuts, groceries, pharmacy purchases and healthcare products, and even such highly intimate items ..."
In the letter, @IDEAschools also claimed that I coordinated my public information requests with a whistleblower who sent a series of anonymous emails to IDEA 🙄
documentcloud.org/documents/2373…
There is obviously a clear and compelling public interest in knowing how Truscheit spent taxpayer money.
.@IDEAschools should drop the lawsuit and release the expense reports.
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