Opponents of Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson - a brave soul who dared support a statewide graduation test, charter schools, and the suspension of ever-popular class size and teacher pay initiatives - are pulling out all stops in their attempt to unseat her in November. (Click here for more details.) This week, a longtime Bergeson critic filed an ethics complaint against the superintendent and two of her colleagues, alleging that they had "conflicts of interest in managing, authoring, or paying for publications related to a handful of federal grants because all three have had a longtime professional association with [the publication's] author." Bergeson and colleagues deny receiving any royalties or payments for materials published with the grant money and federal officials overseeing the grant maintain that they are "satisfied that grant protocols were followed." But the smears continue.
"Top schools officials: targets of ethics probe," Associated Press, October 5, 2004
"Book deals draw ethics review," by Martha Modeen, News Tribune, October 3, 2004