토론토 교육청의 교육위원인 크리스틴 Nunziata가 교육청의 예산을 교육위원이라는 직권을 남용하여, 중남미여행,식당, 그뿐만이 아니라, 출근길에 팀호튼 커피shop에 들려 마시는 커피한잔까지도, 교육청에서 교육위원들이 직무에 필요시 사용토록 발행한 크레딧카드를, 마구 남용한 사실이 토론토 선지의 Kevin기자의 끈질긴 추적에 의해 만천하에 알려지게 됐다. 토론토 캐톨릭 교육청의 교육위원인 그녀는, 규율을 어기고, 해서는 안될 국고남용을 마치 자기 주머니돈을 쓰듯한 그의 행적이, 정보해제법(Freedom of Information)의해 해제된 정보에서 밝혀 졌읍니다. 그녀는 또한 자기집 전화빌과 그녀가 취미로 읽는 오프라 주간지와 그외 잡지 까지도 업무용 크레딧 카드로 결재 했다한다. 대부분의 교육위원들은 업무를 수행하는데 업무용 카드를 사용하여 왔지만, 간혹 이러한 일들이 직권들 남용한 몇명의 교육위원들은 반대로 행해왔음이 있어왔다. 크리스틴 난지아타 위원은, 교육위원을 오래 해 왔으며, 또한 그녀는 전 연방 국회의원 죤 넌지아타와, 현 토론토 시의원 프란시스 넌지아타의 조카이기도 하다. 넌지아타 위원은 아직까지도, 교육청 직원들의, 사용처를 밝혀 달라는 질문에 답을 못하고 있다고 지난달 발표된 감사에서 밝혀 지고 있었다. 아래 원문을 보시면 더 자세한 내용이 있읍니다. Trustee's called to Account. Nunziata travelled the Caribbean ,wined and dined on tax payers' dime By KEVIN CONNOR, SUN MEDIA School trustee Christine Nunziata has used her school board credit card for everything from Caribbean travel to fast-food, coffee and on-line clothing shopping, according to school board documents obtained by the Sun. (Stan Behal/Sun Media) A Toronto Catholic school board trustee billed taxpayers for Caribbean vacations, booze, steak dinners, a shopping spree to a plus-sized women's store and even her morning coffee from Tim Hortons, the Sun has learned. Christine Nunziata has for years submitted expense claims that had nothing to do with her school board work and directly breached board spending policies, documents obtained under Freedom of Information by the Sun show. The Ward 6 York trustee has been forced to repay many of the questionable and, according to board officials, downright improper claims for travel and overseas cell calls. But taxpayer and community groups say that isn't enough. "This merits a criminal investigation," said Kevin Gaudet, Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. "It's enough to make the top of your head blow off. "This is a blatant abuse of public funds," Gaudet said. "(She) should be forced to resign and reimburse the money with interest." Nunziata did not respond to numerous interview requests left on her home phone, her phone at the school board or to requests for an interview left with the Catholic trustees' executive assistant. Catholic school board trustees are paid $18,500 a year and are given an expense account of $18,000 to be spent on school board business. But there are supposed to be strict rules governing how they spend taxpayers' money and use board-issued credit cards. While most trustees use their expense accounts for educational conferences or to assist school programs in their ward, others look at the account as a personal perk. Nunziata -- a longtime trustee -- is the niece of ex-MP John Nunziata and city Councillor Frances Nunziata. Board policy requires trustees to provide original itemized receipts and fully complete expense reports indicating the business reason for each item. "This basic requirement is not being followed by trustees using board credit cards," a private board document obtained by the Sun says. "In addition, when specifically requested by staff to document and explain charges that appear unrelated to board business, the staff requests have largely been ignored," it said. "These issues must be resolved and properly documented to ensure board resources are properly secured and not used inappropriately." Last month, the school board forced Nunziata to repay inappropriate expenses she charged to her trustee credit card. Those included a $816 vacation to Cuba, a $575 purchase at Tiffany and Co. and a $186 bill for an online purchase from a plus-sized store in the U.S., Lane Bryant, which specializes in lingerie. The board is also questioning her about a $502 trip to Canada's Wonderland and a camera purchase of $834. $884 PHONE BILL Nunziata was cautioned on several occasions in 2007 about what appear to be personal long-distance calls on her board0issued cellphone. She was informed in writing that her cellphone bill for September 2007 was $884, including $648 in long distance charges of which $628 were to and from the Turks and Caicos Island. "Nunziata has not, to date, responded to the staff's request for either verification of how these charges are board related or for reimbursement to the board for personal calls for using board equipment," an audit committee report from last month said. There are dozens of questionable expenses in the FOI documents obtained by the Sun that were submitted by Nunziata between December 2006 and April 2007 (the most recent available) and paid for by taxpayers, ranging from a $100 gift card from Wal-Mart to what appears to be nachos ordered at a movie theatre. Nunziata routinely expenses her morning coffee from a Tim Hortons drive-through near her home and has billed for a $1 pastry purchased in the afternoon in Yorkville. She expensed fast food takeout from McDonald's, Swiss Chalet and Harvey's, and had Pizza Pizza delivered to her basement apartment in the Dufferin St. and St. Clair Ave. area. There are meal receipts among the documents from pizza parlours and chicken or Thai restaurants. There are also expensive restaurant bills and most are on weekend nights where the bill is delivered around midnight. One such restaurant bill totalling $463 at Carman's on Alexander St. included Dover sole, rib steak dinners and wine. Other late-night weekend bills were for wine and margaritas. Board policy states parking tickets and alcoholic drinks cannot be charged to the taxpayer. The York trustee expensed 50 cents parking receipts as well as her parking tickets. There are also pages of unidentified receipts that don't detail the purchase or identify the store. Nunziata has a long history of overspending and charging the taxpayer for her personal expenses. She claimed that a $3,000 trip to Santo Domingo in 2004 was taken to set up educational partnerships with Catholic schools in the Dominican Republic, but didn't supply the board with proof there was any educational content to the trip. "With respect to trustee Nunziata's trip to Santo Domingo, there are no formal partnership agreements with Catholic schools in that country," said John Reid, senior manager of corporate and business services for the board. "The director of education has verified for me that he is not aware of any formal partnerships," Reid said. "The current chairman of the board has also verified that she is not aware of any discussions at the trustee level regarding such partnerships," he said. The Dominican trip raised further question because Nunziata married a man she met while there, a relative told the Sun. Signature Vacations confirmed to the Sun that Nunziata travelled to the Dominican Republic three times in the fall of 2004. On one trip there from Oct. 4-11 in 2004, a bill to the board didn't include hotel reservations but did include $750 for a rental car as well as for restaurant bills. Officially, board officials wouldn't confirm whether taxpayers paid for any part of Nunziata's honeymoon. "With respect to trustee Nunziata's personal status, either now or in the past, it is not something the board would be concerned about and if the board had information in that regard, it would be considered private under Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection Privacy Act and we would not be able to share it without her consent," Reid said. That same year, in 2004, Nunziata expensed more than $12,000 for food and liquor. She was also reimbursed by the board for Oprah magazines and self-help books from Chapters including Discover Your Psychic Powers: A Practical Guide to Psychic Development & Spiritual Growth for $7.99. Ontario Auditor General Jim McCarter in his 2006 annual report blew the whistle on wide-spread misuse of school board expense accounts and credit cards. McCarter didn't look specifically at the TCDSB but was alarmed by the lack of spending controls that saw teachers and trustees at the boards he did examine charge expensive meals without proper receipts or documentation, bill taxpayers for inappropriate travel expenses and charge for everything from chocolates and flower to DVDs, eyeglasses, household cleaner and Christmas lights. "While (school board) corporate charge cards were generally being used appropriately, we noted areas where policies related to travel were not sufficiently clear," the auditor general report said. In the wake of the report, school boards across the province including the TCDSB were instructed by the province to tighten up their policies on acceptable expenses and specifically instructed to ensure expenses were checked to ensure they were justified and appropriate. Given the funding problems school boards face, the diversion of any money from the classroom is a loss for students, said Annie Kidder of People for Education. "It's sad that the love of the perk outweighs the need of the student," Kidder said. "It goes without saying that there should be consequences when any public servant cheats with their expenses," she said.