Monday, May 22, 9 a.m. The first time he came in for an interview, in 2002, we
told Ken Clark he had half an hour, and he should fill the first part
with opening remarks, after which we’d ask questions. In a direct and
linear fashion, he explained who he was and why he was running, and
took exactly 30 minutes, without wasting a second. He had answered
every question we would have had, and answered it in the way we liked.
The interview was over. It was remarkable.
A retired Navy captain and
computer engineer, Ken Clark is one of the most perceptive,
hard-working, honest people in the Legislature. He is a rare
combination of idealism and practicality, utterly devoid of partisan
nonsense.
And he’s facing a candidate who knows virtually nothing about
even his own top issues, but is backed by out-of-state money that wants
to destroy public education in South Carolina.
Rep. Clark, an advocate
for such sensible “school choice” options as charter schools, is under
attack for opposing the Put Parents in Charge bill. As he said, the
only parents that bill would have empowered are those who have “already
proven their ability to put their children in private school or
home-schooling.
If the people of House District 96 care at all about
their state, Ken Clark should win re-election in a walk. If he doesn’t,
we should all worry: “(I)f they succeed in knocking over three or four
or five of us, think of the power they will have over the Legislature.”
By the way, “us” refers to Republicans who care at all about education.
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