MUTH’S TRUTHS

The Nevada State Board of Education met on Friday.  Yes, unfortunately.  As we all know, nothing good comes for the children in Nevada and their parents when this group meets.  Remember the meeting last December when the Board banned any new charter schools in the state, despite the overwhelming demand for more charter schools in the state?  Yeah, these folks really have the public’s educational interest at heart.
 
But the following agenda item scheduled for Friday’s meeting caught my attention:  “Report from the Governor’s Office.”  The report was to be given by “Dianne Cornwall, Chief Operating Officer, Office of the Governor.”
 
Only…
 
Cornwall didn’t show up.  Nor did she send a surrogate.  Or even fax over a written report.  She apparently just blew the Board off.
 
Interesting.  When it comes to talking about the governor’s personal family life to a reporter, Cornwall is a veritable chatter-box.  But when it comes to discussing the governor’s education policies and priorities with the members of the Nevada State Board of Education, the woman in charge of running the day-to-day activities for the governor’s office goes AWOL.
 
Knowing that Cornwall’s daughter has medical problems, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was attending to some personal family business (Get Hugh Jackson on the line!).  Fine. 
 
But Cornwall was “promoted” to “chief operating officer” in the governor’s office with much pomp and circumstance not too long ago.  It’s her job to run the ship of state of a daily basis.  And if her personal family commitments prevented her from being at the board meeting Friday night, she should have at least provided a written report or made sure someone else from the staff spoke on her behalf.
 
Then again, considering how many staffers Cornwall has run off or fired over the past year - often, reportedly, simply because she didn’t “like” them, or they “liked” somebody Cornwall didn’t “like” (like, totally immature) - maybe there just weren’t any staffers left in the office to go on her behalf.

Or maybe the reports of Cornwall being a world-class “control freak” are true, and she simply wouldn’t allow anyone else to appear on her behalf. Whatever the case, the governor’s chief operating officer wasn’t operating on Friday at the Board of Education meeting, giving the Administration another unnecessary and unwelcome black eye. 

I guess if the Board really wants Cornwall to talk to them, they’re just going to have to put something on the agenda about the governor’s personal life for the next meeting.

Posted on March 8th, 2008 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada