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Thursday, June 14, 2012

Was there a clear conflict of interest at play, in one Republican's bill sponsorship and advocacy?

Anoka County, for vague reasons, is surrendering control of the Pines School it had been operating in the county juvenile detention facility to the local Centennial Independent School District, a step impacting the 29 teachers there, who have no job seniority with that district.

This link, headlined, "GOP Sen. Pam Wolf, author of [anti-]‘LIFO’ bill, loses teaching job," tells the political dimension of LIFO applying with there being no bargaining unit seniority among the existing teachers at the transferred school.

Wolf, in sponsoring legislation and advocating for it, to eliminate teacher LIFO [last in first out] seniority based teaching staff contraction requirements, had a stake in things, so was she out of step in participating in a way that advanced her outside paycheck, were her legislation to have passed?

Strangely, Strib had reported of Wolf's situation with the transfer of school jurisdiction, mentionig her by name as a focal person in the situation, but without mention of her having been in a conflicted situation as a legislator sponsoring stuff. Zippo reported, that way.

What Strib reported of interest:

"It is important to pass it on because a school does not fit our governance model, and we are required to have an entire administrative system within the county just for the school," said County Board Chairwoman Rhonda Sivarajah.

There's a touch of pretension in characterizing it as an issue of "our governance model" when the transfer of school jurisdiction also happens to look to be fobbing off a part of the cost of running the county juvenile detention site. With this controlling bunch presently on the County Board, however, fobbing off costs of governing might just be all there is to "our governance model."

After the November elections, the "governance model" might change; governance models not being carved in stone.

The bottom line situation appears to be Republicans fobbing off a part of governing jurisdiction, to the detriment of another Republican, one in the legislature who had conflicted interests in sponsoring legislation which would or might have had a direct impact on her day job. Usually they try to do in Democrats, but call this "unintentional collateral damage?" (When they are not gloating in doing in the likes of Brodkorb, as s kind of internal-GOP excommunication ritual, done with glee in a way that boomeranged to where taxpayers have to pick up lawyer bills).

My bet, Wolf has strings to pull, and gets her job back (even if others laid off do not and even if some of the others had more seniority with the county at the time of the transfer). It would be refreshing if this were not so, and if the Centennial people, taking over the school, deal first properly with their own bargaining unit, and then if there are jobs left over they honor seniority with the superseded faculty - however that positions Wolf in things. That would be the orderly way to proceed, no strings pulled, and if Wolf has her job back based on seniority it would be a most interesting outcome, given her legislative intents.