The Tennessee Holler asks a pertinent question:
Why did Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn fail to mention her husband’s employer in her disclosure statement?
The Holler wrote:
This week some eagle-eyed Hollerers pointed out TN Ed Commissioner Penny Schwinn left TNTP, the company where her husband works, off of her source of income disclosure.
She listed it last year, but not this year, despite the fact that he remains on their website as a “Leadership Coach.”
This is especially noteworthy since TNTP was a recipient of an $16 MILLION contract from the Tennessee Education Department, a department Schwinn is in charge of… a fact that was not lost on legislators who raised the “Conflict of Schwinnterest” issue in committee last session.
Was leaving TNTP off the disclosure an oversight on Penny’s part? Was it intentional? Are they no longer married? Is he no longer at the company?
These are questions someone should ask, and we will next time we see her.
It’s worth noting that Schwinn has a history of conflicts of interest and self-dealing. They’ve been hallmarks of her career, showing up in both Delaware and Texas, her stops along the way since starting a charter school in Sacramento. She also ran for school board in Sacramento, where she was supported by Michelle Rhee, whose charters lobbyist organization 50 CAN now is affiliated with charter school lobbyist Victor Evans at Tennessee Can, who is now vocally pushing through the new TISA funding overhaul plan from Governor Lee, even standing with him at press conferences.
Victor does NOT want to talk to us about the connection between Michelle Rhee at his parent company and Schwinn, no matter how hard we try.
There is more. Open the link and follow the story.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Schwinn is a shady figure. Right before coming to TN,she did this.
In late 2017, Schwinn was embroiled in controversy surrounding Texas’ no-bid contract in dealing with special education. As deputy commissioner of academics in Texas, Schwinn oversaw TEA’s policies on testing and academic programs, including those for children requiring special education. Schwinn “spearheaded a no-bid contract with a Georgia-based company last year to mine data from thousands of students receiving special education services and to help create a long-term plan to help kids with disabilities.” Advocates protested the plan, and the contract was terminated in December 2017 after the TEA had spent $2.2 million for services rendered.
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Penny_Schwinn
My feeling is, this is exactly the reason she got the job in TN.
“O but they all do it.” What about Hunter Biden? Drain the swamp.
Cuz grifters gonna grift….that’s why!
The Right in America has consistently denied the conflict of interest concept. The Republican Party has simply ignored any criticism that raises the issue. Too many of these corporate socialists enrich themselves through such disdain.
a transparent disdain which so shockingly serves them well
Because she is unscrupulous, self-serving, and possibly greedy? Yes, I am speculating.
To build on the “grifters” for change theme, Mercedes Schneider examined a new group with many of the same old former Jeb Bush associates. They are vultures that seek to pick the bones of anything that can be monetized. Of course, they bring years of experience feeding on the common good to the table. Public education will never be safe from outside influence if it can be monetized with impunity. If you read the article, you will see many of the usual suspects in this pack of hyenas.https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/
Schwinn failed to mention she & her husband’s shady conflicts because there is zero accountability for the wealthy and well connected. Gov. Bill Lee (a trust fund baby who inherited his wealth & his business) knew she had been fired from Texas for the same problems when he hired her. What will be the consequences? He’ll be re-elected in a landslide on his Evangelical bone fides. These people know how to play the public image game.
Let’s keep pretending that people like Penny Schwinn don’t advance theocracy.
There’s a YouTube video of her sitting beside a Catholic bishop in 2020, effusively praising a Catholic school. She told the audience that they were lucky to go to the Catholic school. Expanding on commenter Chiara’s repetitive refrain, why in the hell are taxpayers paying education employees to promote theocracy? Posting about the same event, a Catholic school wrote, “It was an honor to have Tennessee Commissioner of Education visit our school system.”
Jefferson said, in every age, in every country, the priest aligns with the despot. Schwinn is a Chiefs of Change and a Claremont College grad. An internet search of Tennessee Catholic Conference school choice will show readers how strident and involved bishops are in advancing the agenda of the billionaire privatizers.
The overturning of Roe stands as example of the power of the theocracy as does the fact that tax funding has made Catholic organizations the nation’s 3rd largest employer. SCOTUS’ conservative Catholic majority exempted religious school employers from civil rights employment law protections.
After Roe, if not before, the refusal to fight against theocratic takeover is complicity.
The unholy alliance between Republicans and theocrats started when the Republican party realized that being anti-choice whipped Evangelicals into a fundraising frenzy, plus the temptation of real political power to force their diktats on the unwilling. Here’s an interesting interview by Frank Schaeffer giving an insider’s history of the so-called pro-life movement.
https://apple.news/A9Oeu97nyS36rBrOueOfowA
Schaffer says that Evangelicals were not anti- abortion until the likes of Ralph Reed and Jerry Falwell became the power brokers at the center of theri organizations. The Roman Catholics, previously considered anti-Christian papists by the Evangelicals, became allies soon after Roe was decided. According to Falwell, Jimmy Carter wasn’t extreme enough- that’s why they joined with the Republican party & campaigned against him to elect Reagan.
jcg-
Thanks for your links and comments.
The Catholic influence that steered the country to the right is protected from view. That protection was/is pervasive. Paul Weyrich, a Catholic funded by Koch, was a co-founder of the religious right. Yet, we only learn about Falwell and Reed. The average person on the street, if they’ve heard of Pat Buchanan, think he’s evangelical which is inferred to be protestant. Media reassign right wing Catholics like Amy Barrett, the label, Christian evangelicals. Articles about Christian nationalists at the Jan.6 insurrection leave the public with the impression that protestant evangelicals populated the movement. John Eastman is Catholic and was Pres. of the National Organization for Marriage, an organization founded by Robert P. George. Cleta Mitchell (Koch) was NOM’s attorney.
I have yet to read a comprehensive story about the role of state Catholic Conferences, some of which work with the Koch’s AFP, in school choice or anti-abortion campaigns. Mother Jones recently was one of the first to provide an overview highlighting that right wing Catholics have greater power in the public square than evangelical protestants.
When democracy’s enemies aren’t named, they gain advantage.
When the topic is Roe v. Wade, the conservative SCOTUS majority is from one sect and the Catholic Church never appears in any of the articles, or t.v. segments, Americans can gain understanding about why the right wing wins.
Linda, here’s the story on Schwinn at Holy Rosary Academy with the bishop of the Nashville Diocese https://tennesseeregister.com/education-commissioner-bishop-congratulate-hra-for-blue-ribbon-award/
Schwinn’s gushing can be seen in the linked video at the end of the article.
If a community parks commissioner stands next to a billionaire developer and praises his private and exclusive green space, the taxpayers paying that government official’s salary are being cheated.