Thursday, December 8, 2016

Law professor raps Oklahoma's 'ruthless and self-serving education establishment'


"The best reason to conduct an inquiry into Hofmeister’s conduct is to expose the most damaging corruption exemplified by her campaign—the destructive power wielded by the state’s ruthless and self-serving education establishment," Andrew Spiropoulos writes today in The Journal Record ("House should consider impeaching superintendent").
The evidentiary affidavit submitted in support of the criminal charges describes a conspiracy to commit a political crime far worse than violations of the campaign finance laws. It appears that the principal organizations leading the fight to undermine genuine reform of our failing system, including the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration and the Oklahoma Education Association (the state teachers union), conspired to use any means necessary to elect a Republican superintendent who would do the bidding of these organizations and their allies. All Hofmeister had to do is pose as a conservative reformer—which the establishment, the evidence shows, knew she was not—while the teacher unions, school superintendents, and the useful idiots in the Republican ranks raised the money to fund both Hofmeister’s disingenuous campaign and the not-so-independent negative campaign designed to destroy her Republican opponent. 
Any competent and thorough impeachment inquiry will lay bare how those who cling to the unacceptable status quo maintain their power at the expense of those who hope that our dysfunctional system might someday be reformed. The Legislature, for example, can ask questions prosecutors could not thoroughly explore, including whether and how deeply other establishment organizations, such as the Oklahoma State School Boards Association, were aware of or involved in the conspiracy.
I encourage you to read the entire column here

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