A weird tale of possible ethical lapses has driven a Henrico county school board member to resign her seat and the school system’s superintendent to be placed on (paid) leave:
Diana D. Winston offered her official resignation from the Henrico County School Board on Monday as another member confirmed that prosecutors had been asked to investigate a possible conflict of interest in Winston’s husband’s work relationship with the county.
Winston will resign effective Aug. 21, one day before the next School Board meeting, when the panel’s remaining members expect to decide the fate of Patrick J. Russo. The superintendent was put on paid leave after a closed session last week.
Winston’s husband runs a marketing firm that has, both before and after her election to the school board, produced various promotional items for the school system. The question is whether a series of emails between Winston and the superintendent indicate a conflict of interest.
It’s all a bit strange — Winston’s sudden resignation, Russo’s being kicked to the curb, an investigation. It could all turn out to be nothing more than, as Winston charges, a bunch trumped-up allegations by people who need to “get a life.” But in the current environment, politicians who appear to have their hands out are news. Big news.
While it’s far too early to tell what may come of the commonwealth attorney’s investigation into all this, one potential casualty is Henrico’s proposed meals tax. The county has set-up the proposed tax in a way that all the money will be dedicated to the school system. The argument? Without the new cash stream, a host of programs will have to be cut or eliminated.
The Winston-Russo case casts a pall over that, especially when we consider just what sort of money the school board was spending with Winston’s husband:
Last year, the central office transactions with TechnoMarketing included an $825 order for 1,000 “red suction cup phone stands,” a $1,038 order for 1500 gel highlighters, a $2,055 order for 150 glass desk frames, a $2,227 order for 1,000 cooler lunch bags for an employee appreciation week, and a $4,319 order for 3,456 pairs of “junior sunglasses” for the Food Explorers program and a YMCA walk.
Other purchases from TechnoMarketing were for lip balm, lanyards, flash drives, pedometers, magnets, cups, liquid rotating clocks, pens, balsa gliders, mugs, chewing gum and sports-themed stress relievers.
In other works, doo-dads, all from a school system that, as Mr. Russo stated many times, had made budget cut after budget cut and simply could cut no more.
And let us not forget the conferences Mr. Russo attended every year:
All of this is bad news for the meals tax. It may be grossly unfair to link Winston and Russo’s activities to the tax, but fairness has nothing to do with it. In purely political terms, the system’s top leaders appear to have been caught doing something bad with taxpayer money. That hurts the pro-meals tax side. It may not be fatal. There is still plenty of time for them to make their case and put distance between themselves and Winston/Russo.
But if this story grows legs, their effort may flop.
