Saturday, July 16, 2005

Charles Love: What was on his laptop?

When the "Tennessee Waltz" indictments first came down I pointed out that Hamilton County School Board member Charles Love, a registered lobbyist, could hardly have avoided violating the TSBA (Tennessee School Board Association) code of ethics. Now, Adam Groves at Simply I points to yet another conflict in that, according to reports, Love was using his school board issued computer to do his lobbying business and political campaigns.


Charles Love used his Hamilton County school board-issued laptop computer and his district e-mail account in his private lobbying business, to help with political campaigns and to search for a new job, records show.
(snip)
The Hamilton County Board of Education e-mail policy states that messages sent from school district e-mail accounts "shall pertain to legitimate board/district business" and shall not be used to "promote illegal or unethical activity." The policy also prohibits using e-mail for political campaigns."
(snip)
The analysts also found evidence showing the use of a program called Disk Cleaner, a program that allows users to erase files and other evidence of work on a computer. Mr. Love said he believed the program might have come installed on his computer. From the Chattanooga Times-Free Press.

Did it come installed on his computer isn't the question. The question is did he use the program to hide activities which violate the Hamilton County School Board e-mail policy and the code of ethics for the TSBA?

According to the Times-Free Press article, Mr. Love doesn't plan on resigning from the school board and is looking for employment. Good luck with that. I can't imagine hiring anyone with all this hanging over their head. Once your trust has been tarnished, it takes years and a mountain of effort to earn it back.

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