Sting has education link.
Legislators were arrested this morning in a sting operation conducted by the FBI, TBI and USDOJ. The sting involved a bogus computer recycling company trying to get legislation passed to their benefit.
Along with several legislators one of those arrested was Hamilton County School Board member Charles Love.
From the Tennessean this morning comes this paragraph:
"The bill would have allowed electronic recycling companies to contract with the state to dispose of surplus state computer equipment not claimed by school districts. Newton said it was pushed by E-Cycle Management Inc., an Atlanta-area company, and Charles Love, a Hamilton County school board member and lobbyist."There were two bills filed this year that may have been used in this sting:
Oddly, in this morning's Chattanooga times-Free Press there is is this:*HB0037 by *Newton, *Jones U, *Sargent, *Bowers, *Miller L, *Stanley, *Armstrong.
Surplus Property - Broadens types of surplus computer and electronic equipment available to LEAs; requires all surplus computer and electronic equipment not disposed to LEAs to be disposed of by a qualified electronic recycling company by negotiated contract for sale to be disposed of out of state. - Amends TCA Title 12, Chapter 2. (This bill was withdrawn just yesterday.)
and
HB0631 by *Jones U. (*SB0028 by *Ford.)
Surplus Property - Provides an alternative method for disposing of certain surplus computer and electronic equipment. - Amends TCA Title 12, Chapter 2.
School board member Love files for bankruptcyUnfortunately, I can't get the Times-Free Press to allow me to read the article.
Hamilton County Board of Education member Charles Love said Wednesday he filed for bankruptcy last week.
There is BIG money in education, as this sting so clearly proves.
3 comments:
I just clicked over to see if you had this one yet. Don't forget our good friend Roscoe Dixon who liked to introduce the testing regulation.
Eric Holcombe
The education committees have always been heavily "Memphis". For years I've been concerned by the fact that those folks had so much influence in the education committees and their own school districts were doing so poorly. Something big time wrong there.
I wasn't sad to see Mr. Dixon go earlier this year. Several years ago he wasn't happy when folks started calling him about legislation and actually told me in a phone conversation to 'call your dogs off'. I was quite surprised (naïve me) and could only respond that I thought it was the duty of citizens to make their opinions known to their representatives.
While I'm not glad to see legislators indicted I'm glad to see that serious house/senate cleaning has begun. We've needed it for a long time and it was obvious this session that they didn't have the backbone to do it themselves.
No kidding. I think the sting will have a much better effect than any of the lame "ethics" bills they were willing to pass. I found the whole idea that a new bill was required since Ford's previous offenses were not explicitly defined to be oh so Clintonesque.
Funny that Tennesseans, including legislators, bemoan the fact that the middle and east divisions are always comparatively "underfunded". When Memphis democrats control the lion's share (public ed.), they shouldn't be surprised.
Eric Holcombe
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