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Conflict of Interest

The legislature voted last month to approve Erik Clemons to the Connecticut Board of Education. Mr. Clemons has been active on the boards of charter schools in New Haven, and owns a company that has benefited from hundreds of thousands of dollars from that very same Board of Education.

Dave Yaccarino was one of 10 house Republicans who voted in favor of Mr. Clemons for membership on the Board, which passed by a close vote of 78-62 (it’s HJ-27, Roll Call 14 if you’re interested).

I’ve never met Mr. Clemons. He is clearly a passionate supporter of education and the charter school movement, and has been a helpful advisor to the companies that operate them, but his financial conflict of interest alone should have been enough to disqualify his membership on the Board of Education. What’s more, in a year where the state is cutting education funding to public schools, an extra cheerleader for charter schools is a step backwards for the rest of our schools.

We expect our legislators to provide support for public education, to provide oversight for education spending, and to weed out this sort of conflict of interest. Representative Yaccarino’s support of this candidate does not help our students.

Steve Gifford

North Haven

Steve Gifford has established an exploratory committee to run for the General Assembly.