Yeah, yeah, I know — Zeke’s detractors will say hearing from him on ethics is like me holding forth on football. But I continue to maintain that Zeke’s a good guy. Anyway, when Cindi wrote recently about his famous run-in with our usually permissive ethics enforcers, he wrote this note to her. (I mentioned that if I could find this, I would put it up for your perusal, remember?) Here it is:
Cindy:
Thanks for your nice piece this morning in the State regarding the Ethics Commission and my recent run-in with this process. Just so you’re clear, I’d like to share with you the sequence of events that led to my seeking and using the addresses of teachers for Jim Rex’s campaign last year.
During the Republican primary, I began getting calls from Jim’s teacher supporters saying that they were receiving regular correspondence at their school email addresses from both Bob Staton and Karen Floyd. They were worried, and rightly so, that we were behind the curve and that these other candidates were getting a leg up on us with their correspondence. At that point, I used a standard FOI request through the State Department of Education to receive a list of certified personnel in the State, including email addresses. I sought counsel from a couple of attorneys who are friends of mine, who looked at the law, considered what I was planning to do, and advised me that the law did not specifically address this issue. With others already doing it, plus the advice I received from people I trust, I proceeded as planned. I have maintained copies of these emails sent by other campaigns throughout this process, but I chose not file complaints against other campaigns, as was done to me by Rick Beltram.
It wasn’t until after the election was over and Beltram’s complaint was filed that I became aware of the advisory opinion of the Ethics Commission. At that point, I met with investigators there and told the truth just as I am telling it to you now. Honestly, I could have fought this and I am told it is likely that I would have won. But I didn’t want to be the test case on this, and I certainly didn’t want to do anything to bring any unnecessary negative attention to Jim Rex, who I respect and admire tremendously. I admitted that I acted without knowledge of this advisory opinion and the Commission chose to interpret that as an admission that I broke the law. In fact, the Ethics Law was written in the early 90s, well before the common use of email.
At any rate, I appreciate the fair treatment you gave it this morning. I just wanted to give you a little more background in case you write about it additionally or have to answer input from your readers.Kind regards,
zeke stokes
anderson/stokes, llc
post office box 12656
columbia, sc 29211
… although it seems that those of you inclined to psychoanalyze — and you know who you are — might make something of his ee cummings-style signature. Low self-esteem, possibly arising from feelings of guilt? Eh?
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So, because he heard that other campaigns were doing something that might be considered unethical, he decided to duplicate the same behavior but ask some lawyer friends if they thought it was okay. And then after getting what would be best be termed a lukewarm approval, he goes ahead and does it. Would not the proper ETHICAL step be to simply ask the Ethics Commission first?
This is a perfect example of how education in South Carolina is about politics, not about education.
I’d be more interested in hearing from Mr. Stokes on what Jim Rex has accomplished since January on improving the quality of education in South Carolina. I know he’s done a lot of town halls (good for getting re-elected) and put forth a sham of a school choice bill. Will kids in failing schools see any difference in their educational opportunities THIS YEAR?
Meanwhile, Richland 2 is hiring teachers who do not speak English as a primary language because there aren’t enough qualified teachers to keep up with the student population created by sprawl.
Doug…since you asked, I’m happy to provide some insight on the things Jim Rex has done in his short time in office.
In fact, within weeks of taking his oath in January, Jim Rex unveiled a sweeping public school choice plan that has received broad bipartisan support in the General Assembly. He also accepted 97 far-reaching recommendations on education reform from his 78-member Transition Team.
Rex followed that with a series of town hall meetings across the state in which he listened to South Carolinians and got their feedback on his ideas and plans. In April, he won approval from the State Board of Education for a new collaborative Palmetto Priority Schools project to improve student achievement at 16 low-achieving schools.
In May, Rex was back at work, unveiling a broad set of recommendations designed to unify South Carolina’s state and federal school accountability systems, streamline state services to struggling schools and revise the state’s standardized testing system to reduce testing time and provide more detailed information to teachers.
On the same day, Gov. Mark Sanford signed new legislation to expand South Carolina’s fledgling virtual schools project that was piloted last school year by the South Carolina Department of Education. In addition, the General Assembly approved a 15-year replacement cycle for school buses, a move that holds the promise of rejuvenating South Carolina’s oldest-in-the-nation fleet. A few days later, both houses of the Legislature quickly overrode Gov. Sanford’s veto of the bill.
Next year, Rex will present additional proposals to the General Assembly, guided by his first months in office and by the recommendations of statewide task forces currently at work. The package includes components on public school choice, testing and accountability, teacher recruitment and retention, and a comprehensive look at adequate and equitable school funding.
For more information or to sign up for regular updates, visit http://www.ed.sc.gov.
Thanks for the opportunity to share this with you and the other readers of Brad’s blog.
Actually, I like the cummings lower-case look, but why anyone would write out “post office box” mystifies me. I’m beginning to get a better sense of zeke, though. He seems to be quite the literate representative of our little town. If only he were a republican.
Zeke,
How many children will be able to choose different schools THIS YEAR thanks to Jim Rex’s plan? How about next year? And the year after? Can you at least be honest enough to admit that this supposed historic school choice plan will be used by fewer than a couple hundred kids across the state over the next three years?
And regarding streamlining testing, can you tell us how many fewer days will be allocated to PACT testing in 2007-2008? And whether the results of PACT will ever be used to keep kids from being socially promoted into high school where they end up as highly likely dropout candidates?
Can you tell us what PACT testing has done to improve education in South Carolina?
Today’s news brings us the fact that PACT scores across the state were essentially the same as the year before. What does that tell us? Most likely that we have reached the predicted point of the limits to where teaching to a test can take us with a large population of students. No Child Left Behind will be George Bush’s legacy: many years of testing proving that some kids aren’t ever going to be above average.
Hundreds of wasted classroom hours per year… plenty of data with zero accountability… millions of dollars wasted on educrats who think looking at PACT statistics adds some value to the educational process.
Meanwhile, nearly a third of the 8th grade students in South Carolina scored below basic on English and Math tests and yet the majority of them will be socially promoted to high school where they will likely drop out in two years. If you are going to test kids, why not use the tests to determine readiness for high school? Is it that difficult to see the correlation between not having basic english and math skills and doing poorly in high school? Do I need to get a PhD in Education to understand that complex association?
Meanwhile, Education Spinmaster General Jim Rex says “I’m pleased there is progress,” Rex said. “This is not an acceptable level of progress, but we are at least going in the right direction.” And the front page of the SC Department of Education website has the unmitigated chutzpah to claim
“Thursday, September 6, 2007
South Carolina students improve performance on 2007 PACT tests”
They spin it by including the Science and Social Studies numbers, which have not been tested for many years. If you look at English and Math results by grade across the state, students performed worse in 2006-2007 in 7 of 12 tests.
Total political public relation phony bull…