Update 12/11/2022 – Reader tip provided info to include Rebecca Smondrowski’s federal lien in article.
During the 2022 Board of Education campaign, parents and concerned community members took to twitter to share the financial issues they uncovered of school board candidate (now member) Grace Rivera-Oven. These revelations were of course ignored by the main local media publication (Bethesda Beat) and ignored by Grace’s campaign. And it seems that they are now being ignored by the BOE as they make committee assignments.
The two issues, and maybe there are many more, that were swept under the rug are:
- Grace Rivera-Oven and her husband were under a $106,000 federal tax lien from 2016-2021.
- Grace Rivera-Oven used campaign funds to pay a salary to her daughter-in-law, a payment paid right around the time of her marriage.
Grace has never provided the public greater understanding or context of both of these issues. And now she seems in a position to bring her weak financial accountability and weaker public transparency to a MCPS budget that exceeds $3 billion dollars.
Committee assignments for BOE members
Grace is not the only board member on the Fiscal Management committee that has questionable personal financial issues. In April of 2022, Rebecca Smondrowski and her husband received a judgement of ~$50,000 in Montgomery Circuit Court. The case was brought by the US IRS. It is unclear what events led up to this tax lien or what the current status is of having it fulfilled.
Clarity is needed!!! We will gladly update this article with responses from Grace or Rebecca. Responses can be emailed to inquiry@cleanslatemoco.com
Additionally, CleanSlateMoCo will follow up and publish the financial disclosure statements for all Board Members once made available.