Our state has made tremendous progress on school choice in the last 18 months under Gov. Bobby Jindal and State Superintendent Paul Pastorek. But if there has been one area where the support for reform has been inconsistent, it has been at the BESE board. And unfortunately, one of the weakest links has been Tammie McDaniel. As one of three people appointed by Jindal to the BESE board, you would think she would advocate his agenda and try to bring the board together to support it. In fact, she seems to have her own agenda and usually creates division among the members.
McDaniel has played the victim in the press and requested a meeting with the governor before she made a decision about her future. The Governor scheduled that meeting last Friday at 4:30 p.m.
I spoke with a staff member present for the meeting, and what he described shocked me. It was more of a “greeting” than a “meeting.” It only lasted about a minute. But not because of the governor. The staff member told me that McDaniel walked in, saw the staffer sitting there with the governor (as someone from his staff always does, for follow-up), and said to Jindal, ‘I thought I was meeting with you.’ The governor replied, ‘You are, but I always have a staff member sit in with me.’ McDaniel said, ‘But that’s not fair to have your adviser here.’ Jindal explained this is his protocol—at which point she turned around and walked out and left the mansion and drove home to Monroe. Never asked one question. That was it. The meeting she requested was over.
Now is that bizarre? Do you know of anyone who has walked out at the beginning of a meeting they requested with a governor or an elected official? Is it not strange in addition to being extremely rude? Does it sound like the actions of someone with good judgment? Not to me. She’s an embarrassment and it’s easy to see why the governor asked this appointee to resign. McDaniel can show us she is capable of making one right decision—by resigning. The governor and the children of Louisiana deserve better from his appointee. Read the full column here.. Send comments to editors@businessreport.com.—Rolfe McCollister
