Tim Moore doesn't think Rodney Brooks tells the truth.

Rodney Brooks is not a guy I am planning to do any business with in the foreseeable future. If he represents his insurance products the way, say, he represents the facts surrounding the proposed new high school site and other school-related issues, then any prospective client of his might be wise to apply the old Buyer beware! adage. In an op-ed piece of his appearing in Wednesdays April 26 Register/Pajaronian, Trustee Brooks once again embroiders the truth. He has developed quite a reputation for that.

"If an alternate site is chosen," he writes, "your taxes will go up, and the new high school wont open for eight to twelve years." In evaluating that remark and lending any credence to it, one must bear in mind a number of Rodney's previous forensic outbursts.

The reader may recall the time back in November of 99, when Brooks first came on board as a school Trustee. He ran as a candidate in total opposition to a separate Aptos school district. Rodney did not hesitate to interpret the meaning of a slight voter plurality in his favor. "I think the vote represents a repudiation of (Aptos) secession," he said. That he garnered a mere 12% of registered voters in a single Trustee Area where two thirds of the area's 4959 voters did not even bother to go to the polls, may tell us something about the man's possible addiction to hyperbole.

Then, of course, there was the piece he wrote back in December, almost half a year ago. In it he assured the reader that the District "should receive a check for over $40,000,000 (in hardship funds) before the end of the year (1999)." Well, the figure is more like $50,000,000, and, to my knowledge, the money has not yet arrived from Sacramento! Rodney tends to blurt things out irresponsibly. It is a character flaw that many of us wish he could correct.

Let us not forget, either, Trustee Brooks characterization of the Harkins Slough acreage. He called it a "crummy old piece of land." The mans flippancy takes ones breath away! In point of fact, according to Coastal Commission staff analysis, the proposed site is prime ag land, every square foot of it.

Need I illustrate further? Much of Brooks rhetoric is positively Clintonian. So, when he writes, for example, in this current article that undoing the MOU is "impossible" without agreement of the city, the county and the Coastal Commission, you just know he's blowing smoke. In the face of specific building prohibitions in the California Coastal Act, those three agencies had no problem agreeing to drastic LCP alterations, opening the way for construction of a new high school across the freeway. Why would we not expect them to collude in providing super majorities for future urban expansion west of One? They have already exhibited monumental bad faith.

Rodney warns the reader not to listen to "self-appointed site experts" about the merits of the Edwards property. Rather, he recommends that we seek reliable information from district and city-appointed "experts" like Trustee Willie Yahiro and Maureen Owens.

Ms. Owens is an interesting case. She was employed by the City of Watsonville at one time. Then she switched over and became a "consultant" for the PVUSD. I am aware of at least two district-generated purchase orders authorizing her services on behalf of the proposed new high school. They total somewhere in the neighborhood of $130 grand. And , I suspect, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Maureen is likely to be pretty upbeat about the intended project, you understand.

Rodney grows indignant over some persons allegation that Granite Rocks CEO Bruce Woolpert supports the new high school "for profit motives." It is a "base canard," Rodney sniffs, "and the maker of it should be ashamed." Brooks hails the CEO as one of "our principal business partners." An interesting choice of words, wouldn't you say?

I can not imagine to what unnamed critic Brooks is referring. It couldn't be me, could it? I've only thought as much, but have not declared those thoughts formally in any published writing. Let me take the opportunity to do so now:

It is my opinion that the profit motive operates almost exclusively vis-à-vis Mr. Woolperts public school advocacy and his cozy relationship with the PVUSD. And I am not ashamed in the slightest to express that opinion! Would someone out there, with the possible exception of the wife and kids, dare to suggest that Woolperts ongoing love affair with the PVUSD is pure and unalloyed? His shiny, bespectacled face smiles out at us frequently from the pages of our local press. It is generally a photo-op occasioned by some gathering in recognition of his contributions to, and support of, public education, in particular the Pajaro schools. Surely, amidst all this apparent altruism, the profit motive has to be lurking somewhere, wouldn't you think? The thought is unavoidable.

After all, Granite Rock is probably the largest construction firm in the area. They supply concrete, asphalt and other building materials. They do earth moving, grading, mass excavation and paving. (And, boy, will there be lots of paving to do, since the LCP has been conveniently amended to allow an increase in surface coverage on the proposed site- substantially more than the 10% permitted under the original LCP!)

The reader might do well to at least consider the profit motive the next time he sees in the paper a photo of Bruce, clasping to his breast yet another engraved plaque, awarded for some great service he and/or Granite Rock has performed to benefit kids in the Pajaro schools.