Virginian-Pilot says resign!
By Brian Kirwin | Friday, September 2nd, 2011 | PoliticsTwo editorials today call for Sandra Smith-Jones to resign her Virginia Beach School Board seat. Both are absolutely correct.
This week, Smith-Jones rescinded her resignation in a terse letter to Board Chairman Dan Edwards. She said her job with a Saudi Arabia-based education company would be flexible enough to allow her to return home every couple of months for a few weeks. According to reporting by The Pilot’s Mike Hixenbaugh, Smith-Jones left Wednesday and said she’d be back for November’s School Board meeting. (Editorial VP)
Roger Chesley joins the chorus and is correct (I’m currently dealing with that notion with utter amazement).
Board members meet twice monthly, and Smith-Jones also sits on five committees. Edwards said one of those is the student discipline committee, which hears student appeals.
Plus, board members “adopt” seven or eight schools a year, visiting them on special occasions, discussing issues with teachers and staff members and serving as informal liaisons.
How in the heck would Smith-Jones fulfill her duties while being in the Beach just a small fraction of the time? And how could she truly represent her constituents?
Smith-Jones is gone. The School Board is stuck. There isn’t a lot they can do about a Board member who goes around the world and says she’ll be back in a few months.
The person who is really in a pickle is fellow Board member Brent McKenzie. McKenzie said he supported Smith-Jones keeping her seat while in Saudi Arabia, but added on Bearing Drift that “she assured me that she was staying here in Virginia Beach and would be traveling out of the country for her job from time to time. She led me to believe that she would be able to attend our meetings and serve the Kempsville constituents.”
There are only three options here. 1, Smith-Jones lied to him. 2, McKenzie misunderstood. 3, Smith-Jones said no such thing.
If Smith-Jones did say that to McKenzie, he’s the only one who got such a story. Everyone else, the press, the other School Board members, everyone was fully clear that she’d be gone for months at a time, if not longer.
It would take 12,000 signatures on a petition to start an effort to recall the seat. Smith-Jones doesn’t sound like she’s resigning anything, despite the Virginian-Pilot’s excellent commentary.
There is a part of me that thinks that her November return to a giant stack of petitions could be exactly the message that is needed.
Should we try?
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About the author
The right wants to jeer him. The left wants to censor him. Moderates usually want both. Brian Kirwin is a political consultant and public relations strategist in Virginia Beach with a lightning-rod flair. Brian also serves on the VB Arts & Humanities Commission and frequently appears on Hampton Roads theatrical stages, if only to prove that all actors aren’t liberals. Kirwin’s columns stir up debate and hit the political scene with no punches pulled.
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20 Responses to "Virginian-Pilot says resign!"
Yes, I’m in.
Bipartisan support.
I see that Brian is familiar with the Code of Virginia provisions of the 10% requirement for petitioning the Circuit court to adjudicate removal of an elected or appointed official for cause. I think it is a worthwhile endeavor and doable. Probably, several individuals strategically located throughout Kempsville could garner the required tally in a manner of days. Then the decision would rest with the court.
Better yet, the school board should vote whether or not to accept her rescinding the formalized resignation. If removed by the school board, it would be Smith-Jones burden to seek the court’s adjudication.
She could still go “native” in Saudi Arabia and petition the Justice Department to take up her case.
Tim,
If she did that then she would be admitting that she is no longer a resident of Virginia Beach.
Roc, so? The JD is doing it for illegals.
Tim,
Illegals aren’t elected office holders. Her entire premise for remaining on the School Board is that she continues to be a resident of Virginia Beach with frequent business travel of long duration overseas.
“Illegals aren’t elected office holders.” I didn’t know that… thanks and that must have been the one question I missed on an exam at UVA. And as to your second point… wasn’t she elected to represent the voters and people in Kempsville District on the School Board?
But, according to the School Board By-Laws:
“At any meeting of the School Board of the City of Virginia Beach a majority of the Members of the School Board shall constitute a quorum.” Since there are 11 members of the board, even with one missing every once in a while, and with the other members participating they can still get their jobs done. So maybe this is a non-issue after all.
Here is another clue to determining Ms. Smith-Jones’ residence status. I have done business in Saudi Arabia and traveled in the kingdom. It is an incredibly closed society, probably second only to North Korea. There is no such thing as a tourist visa. The only exceptions are visas issued to Hajj pilgrims on an annual basis using a quota system that represents the Islamic population of your country. And these visas are for a one-time entry during the Hajj. The only other visas are for business travelers and expatriate residents working for Saudi Arabian companies. All companies in Saudi Arabia must be at least 51% Saudi-owned. Western companies do business there as joint ventures with Saudi companies, 51-49 split. To get an expatriate resident visa is a laborious process that requires your employer to document your future resident status in the kingdom. To get a business visa, you must be sponsored by a Saudi company or joint venture and you are limited to a single entry for a maximum duration of six months.
So, if Ms. Smith-Jones is spending several months at a time in Saudi Arabia, returning to the US frequently, and then returning to Saudi Arabia within the same six months, then she most probably is on an expatriate visa, not a business visa. If so, her domicile is Saudi Arabia and not Virginia Beach.
Tim,
You are starting to sound stupid. Are you saying that just because the School Board can conduct business as long as they have a quorum then the residents of Kempsville need not be concerned that their School Board member doesn’t live in Kempsville, but seven time zones away in Saudi Arabia? That would hardly be a non-issue to me if I had children attending school in Kempsville District.
No Roc, you continuing to point out the obvious is starting to sound stupid. By the way, are you sure she isn’t supporting a DoD contract where a SOFA agreement would override the standard “business” visa rules?
Tim,
If your previous comments were intended somehow to be sarcastic or humorous, that was too obtuse, at least for me. However, your continued willingness to show your ignorance in matters that you apparently know little or nothing about is nothing short of impressive.
There is no SOFA with Saudi Arabia that covers foreign contractors because there are no foreign contractors in Saudi Arabia, just expatriate employees of Saudi-controlled companies, something that I already explained but was obviously too complex for your brilliant UVA-educated mind to comprehend. BTW, when I was doing business there I was working on a DoD FMS contract. The same visa rules applied.
Roc, I posed a simple question, not a statement about SOFA which you answered with a condescending and idiotic attack, but understandable based on your previous comments. So, “… there are no foreign contractors in Saudi Arabia, just expatriate employees of Saudi-controlled companies,” “I have done business in Saudi Arabia and traveled in the kingdom. …when I was doing business there I was working on a DoD FMS contract.” With your all-knowing insight and vast experience in the Kingdom, we can probably also deduce that maybe, perhaps, probably she isn’t a DoD contractor. And maybe, as you have done here, you can help explain to the Va Beach school board and to the Virginian Pilot the intricacies of working in Saudi, the status of our foreign relations with the Saudis and Americans who aren’t really working there, but are.
Could you could also do some homework to develop a bullet PowerPoint slide that breaks down the pros and cons of why this elected official should/shouldn’t continue serving on the School Board in her current employment capacity? My “brilliant UVA-educated mind” aside, it would be very helpful and explain to us UVA simpletons and the press, the complex nature of your insight into the fundamentals of this problem.
Tim,
Uh-huh. Go away, kid. You annoy me.
Yeah, I thought so. Must be UVA envy….
Is that anything like penis envy? I understand that is a common ailment among UVA frat rats.
Meanwhile, in the real world, it matters little what college you graduated from. What matters is what you can do with the education your parents paid dearly for. Grow up, bozo. If you think that the world owes you respect because you survived four years of drunken debauchery in Charlottesville while Mummy and Danny paid the freight, then you have a rude awakening coming. Lets hope that Daddy has set up a trust fund for you.
Wally,
Your last petition drive went well.
Regardless, someone is bound to try this one. Just sit back and see what happens.
Mr. Roc, thanks for confirming your intellectual pettiness, immaturity and some deep seated psychological problems you are obviously struggling with. Let’s see… where to begin… Did you like your parents? Did you marry an intellectual superior? So many questions….
HR: Lay down with pigs…..
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