“The School Board has failed to recognize the seriousness of their staff getting big gifts from vendors,” the latest edition of La Gaceta reported. “This not only deserves their scrutiny, it should be examined by someone in law enforcement” [bold-facing added].
With those words, Patrick Manteiga concluded his “As We Heard It” column in the October 4th edition of his Tampa-based La Gaceta newspaper.
Manteiga was commenting on our series of articles about top executives at Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS), including Superintendent Van Ayres, accepting gifts (a.k.a. “bribes”) worth thousands of dollars from a Horus Construction, a major vendor to HCPS.
Manteiga is the the editor and publisher of La Gaceta, a 102-year old primarily print publication that bills itself as “the nation’s only tri-lingual newspaper.” Manteiga is politically well-connected and has his own sources to verify our reporting.
“TampaBayGuardian.Com did a tremendous job of uncovering the story, which has been ignored by major media outlets, but its information, so far, checks out,” Manteiga wrote. The fact that the Tampa Bay Times had information about this scandal already in August, but chose to not look into it, is similar to Newsweek’s decision in 1998 to kill a story it had about an alleged affair between President Bill Clinton and his intern Monica Lewinsky.
The present scandal involves private jet flights accepted by Ayres and his deputy Christopher Farkas to a swanky junket involving the Masters Golf Tournament. The trip was arranged by Horus Construction, a major vendor to HCPS. We have dubbed it the “Masters Minibreak” scandal.
In calling for an examination by law enforcement, Manteiga, a self-described “staunch Democrat,” has now joined Republican County Commissioner Joshua Wostal in calling for an investigation into the “Masters Minibreak” scandal.
On September 18th, Wostal sent this letter to Governor Ron DeSantis citing a “credible complaint of potential fraud” involving HCPS and its Superintendent Van Ayres. Wostal requested a “formal investigation” into the sordid affair
One of the questions Wostal asked in his letter was whether the Masters Minibreak “lead to the conveyance of property to this same vendor, in a no-bid process” during the May 7th, 2024, HCPS meeting less than a month after the Masters Minibreak.
At last Tuesday’s school board meeting, Ayres admitted to the Master Minibreak, denied wrongdoing, and claimed that there was “absolutely not” any connection between his Masters Minibreak and the sweetheart deal benefitting Horus less than a month later.
Manteiga’s scorching comments are likely to cause some consternation among School Board members who Manteiga has endorsed for office. Coming from the relatively liberal and influential La Gaceta, Manteiga’s column could also prove to be the knockout punch that forces change at HCPS — whether the board or its corrupt staff wants such change or not.
Manteiga torpedoed Ayres’ claim that the May 7th property swap deal with Horus was somehow a good deal for HCPS. Manteiga also picked apart the claim of “reimbursement” to Horus made by Superintendent Van Ayres, a claim Manteiga had heard from his sources.
Meanwhile, our sources insist that the “Masters Minibreak” is just the tip of the iceberg, and we have a lot more to report. Our star sources are lining up — to coin a phrase.
For example, Jonathan Graham, the President of scandal-plagued Horus Construction, last week took some steps last week apparently aimed at shifting blame away from himself in what will come.
However, as Hillsborough residents recover from Hurricane Helene and await Hurricane Milton with understandable apprehension, we and our readers have more important things to think about right now than corruption and outright criminality among school district employees and vendors.
Once the all clear signal sounds after Hurricane Milton, we will resume our reporting on HCPS. However, it doesn’t look like the all clear signal is about to be given anytime soon for HCPS, a public agency that spends public funds.
As always….the Guardian reports and the readers decide. Please like our Facebook page to find out when we publish new stories.
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