(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To This Post)
WASHINGTON—Being our semi-regular weekly survey of what's goin' down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin' gets done.
We begin in Missouri, where crackpots run wild and free. Here's Valentina Gomez, who wants to be the next Secretary of State, torching books she doesn't like with a homemade flamethrower. From KOMU8:
First Alert 4′s sister station was also at the event, which included a talk by Riley Gaines, who advocates to keep trans women out of women’s sports. Gomez was interviewed.“I’m fighting the political machine, I’m not backed by any special interests,” said Gomez. “Let’s get, excuse my language, our shit together and pull up our pants and fight back.
She's caught in a five-way scramble in the Republican primary, and she's not favored, unless the vote for the relatively sane people splits the right way. But I would like to point out one other piquant detail.
There is no Democratic candidate for this office.
Harry Truman must be at 78 rpm and rising.
We move along to Iowa, where Republicans are very concerned about kids being propagandized in public schools. Sometimes. On some subjects. From the Iowa Capital Dispatch:
Republicans on a three-member subcommittee voted to send House File 2031 to the House Education Committee. The bill would mandate that a video showing the development of a fetus is shown in Iowa K-12 schools’ human growth and development and health classes. The legislation requires that teachers show students an ultrasound video and video showing the development of the brain, heart and other organs in fetal development, as well as a rendering or animation showing the process of fertilization and fetal development during a pregnancy until birth. In the bill, the video “Meet Baby Olivia,” produced by the anti-abortion group Live Action, was highlighted as an example of the type of video that must be shown in classrooms.
I remember when a film was a welcome break in the school days. (My high school showed us Pasolini's Gospel According To St. Matthew, which features the scariest Jesus ever. I can't imagine what the good brothers were thinking.) But, glory to god, this Iowa law has me nostalgic for the drunk-driver-on-prom-night bloodfests of yore.
Off we go to Maine, where some folks have asked Governor Janet Mills to do something—anything!—about the sheriff of Oxford County, who apparently is living proof of the proposition that huge swaths of Maine are merely Mississippi with snow and lobster traps. From the AP (via WMTW8):
Describing Sheriff Christopher Wainwright as “unworthy” of the job, the commissioners said in a 10-page complaint that there's no room for a sheriff who holds himself “above the policies that he is charged with administering, above the ethical responsibilities that he swore an oath to uphold, and the laws that he is charged with enforcing.” Wainwright said he’s acknowledged mistakes and apologized for them. “But let me be clear, there is nothing about my conduct in office, personally or professionally, that merits my removal,” he said Wednesday in a written statement.
Not so fast there, Buford. One of the allegations is that the sheriff transferred guns from an evidence locker to a local gun dealer.
The gun transaction involved dozens of weapons that were given to a gun shop without notifying county officials or recording the transaction, commissioners said. The sheriff's office didn't receive cash but received credits for service weapons and ammunition in return, officials said. Wainwright has not faced any charges related to the allegations. Meanwhile, the complaint to the governor shed light on another sale of public property by the sheriff — exercise equipment — even as the propriety of his gun transfer was being investigated. "The sheriff’s willful and knowing violation of county policy and state law while under active investigation for the same behavior is a significant and meaningful indication that the sheriff has no intention of following the law or county policy going forward,” commissioners wrote.
The Maine Constitution gives the governor the sole power of removing a county sheriff. I don't know why. It's probably some colonial thing.
And we conclude, as is our custom, in the great state of Oklahoma, whence Blog Official Rotgut Diviner Friedman of the plains brings us the further adventures of Ryan Walters, the worst thing to happen to public education since the invention of meatloaf. From Oklahomas Voice:
An attempt by the Oklahoma State Department of Education to claw back teacher bonuses has raised new questions in the state Legislature over the agency’s handling of taxpayer funds. Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, said teachers shouldn’t be forced to pay back the bonuses if the state had mistakenly paid them. The Senate Education Committee leader told reporters on Tuesday it would be unfair and could diminish trust in other teacher incentive programs. Pugh said the situation “will raise additional questions” as lawmakers consider the state Education Department’s budget, including the agency’s request to expand teacher bonus initiatives. “I think it is fair for my colleagues to now have a little bit of suspicion when we’re getting asked, sometimes in the hundreds of millions of dollars, to implement new programs,” Pugh said.
Walters knows who the real culprits are...thieving teachers. And the media.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters said some teachers were untruthful when they applied for the bonus program, which he created last year. He then blamed the news media for reporting “prematurely” on the program while his agency is still verifying applicants’ eligibility, according to a letter he sent to the state Legislature on Monday.
This has led to some ill-feeling among the recipients of the bonuses and one of them is expressing it through a lawsuit.
One teacher, Kay Bojorquez, said her application was approved and was awarded $50,000 in October. She took home about $30,000 after taxes. Then, she received a letter on Jan. 13 demanding she repay the full $50,000 because the state agency had discovered she was never eligible. Bojorquez, an Osage County special education teacher with Epic Charter Schools, filed a lawsuit on Monday against the state Department of Education, contending an agency error shouldn’t force her to return the funds. Her lawsuit states it would be financially impossible for her to pay it back in full. She also sued Walters for defamation over his claim that she had lied on her application.
Nicely done, Superintendent Walters. The state may wind up letting her keep the incentive money and paying damages because you ran your gob.
This is your democracy, America. Cherish it.
Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston and has three children.
