Fox Board Candidate Chellew’s Critchlow Connections Persist

Former Fox superintendent Jim Chellew is the latest in a line of Friends of Dianne Critchlow to run for Fox School Board since she resigned in disgrace in 2014 after news of her massive theft from the district emerged. He is running in the April 3 election. Chellew, in fact, is the one who got Critchlow the superintendent job. As the Leader put it:

When Chellew decided to retire in 2005, he championed Dianne Brown (Critchlow) as his successor. She was hired at $135,217, a salary that nearly doubled in nine years.

Chellew said at the time:

“She will be the finest superintendent the Fox district has ever had, and I sincerely mean that,” he said. “She is one of the brightest individuals I’ve ever worked with and the most talented. I believe the best for Fox is yet to come.”

Not only that, but she was the only applicant for the job, which was only advertised in the district. It’s like everyone else knew the fix was in and didn’t even bother to apply.

Some might say, well, he didn’t know she would go on to defraud the district. But I find it unlikely that Critchlow was a woman of morality, ethics, and virtue right up until the moment she decided to hatch a wide-ranging conspiracy to rob the district blind.

Furthermore, Chellew’s support for Critchlow did not end when she assumed the superintendent job. In 2011 he attempted to persuade district critic Rich Simpson, he who caused the Fox scandal to be uncovered, to stop speaking out against the district. When that failed, Chellew apparently blabbed to Critchlow. We know this because Chellew was cited in the cease and desist letter that Critchlow got the district’s law firm to send to Simpson (and three other district critics) threatening them with lawsuits if they continued to use their free speech rights to criticize school district administrators. From the letter sent to Simpson:

“As an additional example, you approached a former Superintendent of the District in a public setting. Among other things, you informed him that it was your intention to see that two of the District’s administrators were fired.”

Simpson recounted that conversation here. In the post, he states that Chellew also said “he was the one that put Dianne in her position as superintendent and that he would fight to make sure that she didn’t get fired.”

Would Critchlow still be superintendent today if Simpson had listened to Chellew?

This activity seems to belie the politician non-answer Chellew gave on Facebook when questioned by Simpson and myself about his Critchlow connections and whether he would attempt to recover any of her illicit gains:

Still Supporters

It is also interesting to see who is pledging their support for Chellew’s campaign:

Brengle, a retired Fox assistant principal, was one of the people caught leaving nasty anonymous comments on the Topix web page targeting Simpson and other Fox critics.

And there’s the big kahuna herself, Dianne (Critchlow) Salsman, expressing her public support for Chellew.

Why It Matters

Some might say about this issue, “who cares, time to move on.” But the thing is, Critchlow’s attorney has threatened to sue the school district, claiming she is the victim. This is from January 2017:

“It is time for the public’s and the media’s outrage to focus on the true wrongdoers – the people who lied to and deceived them, humiliated and embarrassed Fox C-6 School District, and defamed an innocent, life-long public servant,” Barth said in the statement. “We intend to hold all of the responsible parties accountable in a court of law.”

I realize that statement will cause a lot of you to laugh and/or puke. This is, however, a serious threat. These days, lawsuits against local government entities are not heard in the courtroom, they are settled in the boardroom. Look at the many lawsuits the city of Arnold has been party to, or look at how the Pevely mayor scored herself a big settlement from the city. In these examples, cushy relationships between elected and appointed officials allowed for paydays that would have been unlikely had a judge been involved

So what happens if a bunch of Critchlow pals make it to the school board? Will they give her a big settlement? That is why this issue is so important.

Answers Needed

People generally seem to think Chellew did a good job as Fox superintendent. Here is what the Leader said:

He did a great job mending fences, got tax issues passed to pay for major facility upgrades and generally restored sanity and confidence.

Winning a tax hike being, I guess, the modern measure of superintendent success (will he support another Fox tax hike?). That and not stealing. But even with that being the case, the Critchlow issue is a cloud over him.

Chellew so far refuses to comment on his Critchlow ties. At the very least, he needs to tell us if he thinks she did anything wrong, or if instead he agrees with Dianne’s lawyer that she is a totally innocent victim. He also needs to denounce any support for his campaign from her or her cronies. Finally, he really should admit he made a large mistake in making her superintendent. Then he can put the Critchlow issue behind him.