Complaint Alleges Barke Has Failed to Disclose at least $14 Million
Reportable Income and Business Interests
SANTA ANA – Hon. Lynne Riddle (Ret.), a retired United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Central District of California filed a five count complaint against Orange County Board of Education member Mari Barke, seeking a judgment to hold Barke liable for her failure to disclose more than $14 million of business interests since joining the Board of Education.
The complaint follows the February 22, 2023 announcement by the Fair Political Practices Commission (“FPPC”) that it is investigating Barke’s failure to report her income and business interests. Barke had originally reported only $99 of income, investments, business positions, and gifts since joining the Orange County Board of Education. After Judge Riddle filed her complaint with the FPPC, Barke filed amended statements disclosing more than $9 million in income, investments, business positions, and gifts. Barke, however, has still not filed an amended disclosure of her income, investments, and business positions for 2018, continuing to report $0 of income, investments, or business positions.
Notably, Barke is the head of the California Policy Center Local California Elected Official (CLEO) project. The California Policy Center is a right-wing think tank focused on extreme education policies; muting the voice of local teachers’ associations and advocating “school choice.” As the head of the CLEO project, Barke shockingly holds herself out as someone who “advises and educates local elected officials on government transparency.” Yet Barke’s failure to disclose millions of dollars demonstrates a complete lack of required government transparency.
“Disclosure of financial interests is critical for the public to understand the economic interests, and potential conflicts of interests, that a public official has,” said Lynne Riddle, the complainant. “Mari Barke’s failure to report her income is an abuse of our system of open governance; it must simply be called out and rectified. Given Mrs. Barke’s purported financial expertise, and her 24/7 access to the Orange County Board of Education’s legal staff, Mrs. Barke’s false disclosures cannot be seen as anything other than grossly negligent or willful, neither acceptable by a school board member responsible for supervising the wise use of education funds.”
Lynne Riddle, the plaintiff, was a United States Bankruptcy Court Judge for the Central District of California, in Santa Ana, from 1988-2002. She previously practiced business law in Santa Ana. She has a doctorate in education from Syracuse University and taught at the university level for several years before earning her law degree from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly known as U.C. Hastings College of Law) in 1977.
Under the Political Reform Act of 1974, Judge Riddle requested that the Orange County District Attorney bring a civil action against Mrs. Barke. Pursuant to Section 91004 of the Government Code, a person who fails to disclose their reportable income, investments, or business interests may be liable for all amounts not properly reported. Accordingly, Mrs. Barke could be liable for more than $14 Million over the last five years. Because the District Attorney never brought an action within 120 days, Judge Riddle filed the civil action. As the plaintiff, Judge Riddle is entitled to half the amount ultimately collected, while the state of California is entitled to the other half of the civil penalty.
(A copy of the complaint without the exhibits is attached. The full complaint, with exhibits, including Mrs. Barke’s amended filings, is provided via Adobe Cloud Storage at: https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:0a860ea2-07e0-4840-ad15-34dd372f758f.)
Why didn’t the DA take up the case? The “Teacher’s Association” is a powerful union monster that pays off politicians and decides what your child learns in school. They protect pedophiles under the guise of healthy sex education. Male/female biology is rejected for the greedy mutilating medical ogres. CA has laws that allow children to get their sterilizing hormones behind their parent’s backs. Insurance companies have to pay for it. Newsom recruits out of state minors to come to CA for their abortions and drugs. Foster parents must affirm the LIE that a girl can become a boy. These mandates are so ridiculous that Newsom just repealed a law regarding doctors informing patient ONLY the government’s prescribed medical advise. However, now limiting paper ballots became law. Our Civil rights are escorted away by the day.