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Academica’s links to state lawmakers have drawn scrutiny before.
From 2002 to 2006, Academica also paid $230,000 to then-Rep. Ralph Arza of Hialeah under an undisclosed consulting contract, records show. At the time, Arza also sat on an education committee in the House.
Miami-Dade prosecutors investigated Arza’s ties to Academica in 2007 and 2008, records show. While being paid by Academica, Arza authored or backed at least five bills that could have benefited the charter school industry, according to records compiled by prosecutors. However, they could find no evidence that the Academica contract improperly influenced Arza’s votes.
In an interview last week, Arza said his consulting business was conducted “with the blessing of the House counsel and legal advice,” and he said he did nothing in the Legislature to benefit Academica. “As long as I voted on something that was not specific to one person, that’s allowed.”
Under the Academica contract, which paid Arza $5,000 a month, the Republican lawmaker was to monitor “quality control” for Academica and help the company identify teachers and staff.
Arza never publicly disclosed the Academica consulting deal, which was made through a company held in the name of his wife, Eris. Arza said he was not obliged to disclose the names of his clients.
Explaining the contract arrangement to prosecutors, Arza’s wife described her husband as an “independent contractor” who worked for her.
“I make sure that I counsel Ralph on everything he does,” she said in a sworn statement in 2008. “I manage him, pretty much.”
Zulueta said he hired Arza not because he was a lawmaker, but because of his contacts in the local education community. Arza was a former teacher and football coach at Miami Senior High.
“There was nothing he could do in the Legislature to help me,” Zulueta said.
Arza’s contract with Academica ended soon after his career in Tallahassee did — after he agreed not to run again in 2006 amid allegations that he had threatened a potential witness in an ethics investigation.
Just three weeks after stepping aside, Arza got a new job: as a $10,000-a-month consultant with the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools, a pro-charter school organization that counts Zulueta as a board member. Arza still works for the consortium today.
Zulueta said he had no role in Arza’s job with the consortium.
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