Impermissible Campaigning on School Grounds: Bryan "Bubba" Fish, Fred Puza, and Patricia Garcia

In a concerning series of incidents, Fred Puza (elected to City Council in 2022) and Bryan "Bubba" Fish (now running for City Council) violated district policies by campaigning on school grounds at Culver City High School on October 12, 2022. Despite district regulations prohibiting such actions, they distributed campaign literature to students during school hours.

Fred Puza’s outreach to the school initiated the sequence of events, as he sought on-campus campaigning permissions. Michelle Weiner and Disa Lindgren emailed requests on Puza’s behalf, which school staff forwarded. This resulted in Puza and Fish’s presence on campus, under the guise of attending a public service fair.

When the violation was uncovered, the school reacted by issuing an email acknowledging the need for staff training on political activity policies.

According to district guidelines, "The schools shall not distribute campaign materials pertaining to a candidate, party, or ballot measure." Moreover, the policy stipulates that campaign materials are only permitted on district property during forums where all candidates from all sides have an equal opportunity to present their views.

School leadership also played a role in this situation. The emails from Michelle Weiner and Disa Lindgren show that the requests to bring Fred Puza and Bryan 'Bubba' Fish on campus were passed along without full awareness of the board's policies. It wasn’t until the issue came to light that school staff realized the need for clearer understanding and enforcement of those rules. This suggests that more attention to district guidelines from the start could have helped prevent the controversy.

However, given their political experience, both Fred Puza and Bryan 'Bubba' Fish would have been fully aware that electioneering on school grounds violated these rules.

Patricia Garcia, who served as the PTA President during Fred Puza's election, was also Puza's campaign treasurer. Patricia Garcia is involved in multiple roles in the City, including being an admin on Culver City's largest Facebook group, 'Culver City Unofficial,' with over 14,000 members discussing city-related topics.

Recently, the admin team of the Facebook group rolled out new guidelines around political event posts, seemingly in response to scrutiny. However, these "light" rules appear designed to protect posts like the Our Culver event, which excluded some candidates and still claimed legitimacy. The new rules allow posts with two-thirds of candidates, but for the school board race, this conveniently means only two candidates (out of three) are required—creating the potential for exclusion while still appearing fair. The selective enforcement of these rules raises concerns about bias and transparency. The fact that Patricia Garcia is both a forum admin and a campaign official is something that should be widely known.

Patricia Garcia also held the treasurer position for Kelly Kent’s school board campaign. Kent, currently embroiled in controversy, partnered with New Earth, a nonprofit brought in to provide counseling services. The partnership soured, and after the district terminated New Earth’s contract, the nonprofit filed a $900,000 lawsuit, which is still ongoing.

Kelly Kent, along with school board member Paula Amezola, worked with district leadership, Jennifer Smith and Angela Baxter, as well as Yana Simone from New Earth to issue cease-and-desist letters to residents voicing concerns about the partnership.

These interrelated events involving Puza, Fish, Garcia, Kent, and Amezola raise serious concerns about the use of educational settings and community platforms for political gain. It is vital that transparency and fairness guide our leaders’ actions, ensuring that public institutions serve the community equitably.