By trying to recruit student volunteers.
Shoreline City Council candidate Patty Hale side-stepped the law in one of the roles touted on her campaign mailer: substitute teacher.
Hale, the leading vote-getter in the August primary for Council Position 3, will be fined by the state Public Disclosure Commission for using a classroom at Shorecrest High School to help recruit students to volunteer for her campaign.
The PDC determined that Hale violated a state law that prohibits elected officials and candidates for public office from using public facilities to assist their campaign or advocate for or against any ballot proposition.
Hale says that she didn't know it was illegal to recruit campaign volunteers in her classroom. If so, you have to wonder just how good she is at recognizing ethical boundaries — in the classroom, or in public office, because that isn't a close call.
(It would be a mistake to extrapolate too much from this one incident, just as it would be a mistake to make too much out of the much more famous New Jersey case. With millions of classrooms, it is certain that a few of them will have teachers who don't recognize obvious boundaries in politics, and elsewhere.)
Cross posted at Jim Miller on Politics.
Posted by Jim Miller at September 27, 2009 09:17 AM | Email ThisThat seems like much more of an interesting angle on this than simply reporting an innocent mistake made by someone running for office for the first time... that you yourself admit is pretty minor!
Posted by: demo kid on September 27, 2009 09:38 AM1st, that the left believes that community service is good and moral. It's not. Mandatory volunteer programs are a contradiction in an of themselves. You have a right to the pursuit of your own happiness and that does not include serving others. Altruism is bad. Charity is fine if you want to do it on your own dime. But forcing people to serve is morally repugnant.
2nd, that a Progressive would see it fit to intermingle their campaign with both volunteerism and a conflict of interest that is also illegal. This is the norm for Progressives. Just look at all the laundered gift credit card fraud that helped bring in millions to the coffers of the Obama campaign. Also illegal. Not to mention all of the kids singing for Obama in schools and other cult like behaviors of the left. Your duty to "The Party" never ends when you are a Progressive. And Progressives will overlook anything illegal if it helps the cause. See ACORN.
3rd, it's not at all distressing that one would use anything to satisfy the ridiculous and unconstitutional requirement for volunteerism in schools. There's a great movement out there whereby kids can volunteer on efforts to repeal and defeat mandatory volunteerism requirements that are in place now in many schools as a means to filling their service requirements. Unchaining legions of future students will help mankind far more than wasting a few nights here and there in a soup line.
The immorality of volunteerism is that it completely breaks the process of self interest that is necessary for great achievements. We could have a prodigy child in schools right now that is already working towards the ideas that will solve one of humankind's great problems. And instead of allowing such a kid to pursue his own interests and happiness that would lead to that great idea, we are mind numbing them with trivial feel good garbage. Trivial Garbage and the idea that their greatest contribution will be doing some cheesy volunteer work that will randomly benefit some local person who probably makes $50K a year tax free collecting handouts at a freeway off ramp.
It's right there in the Constitution. The pursuit of happiness. That is the pursuit of your happiness, and not that of some Progressive's idea of how enriched you will feel if you serve others.
Posted by: Jeff B. on September 27, 2009 12:28 PMShe wasn't endorsed by any progressive organization at all, she was backed by the usual Shoreline conservatives known as "Pro Shoreline."
I cannot boil down the moral bankruptcy of modern conservative philosophy better than this statement ever could. Thanks!
"conservative conservatives!"
What more can I say? Their words, not mine.
Patty Hale, Shari Tracey, and Keith McGlashan were all in attendance at the aforementioned event and graced the public with a photo op to memorialize their attendance.
Posted by: seadog on September 27, 2009 01:29 PMI am grateful that you are not in any position of authority.
While I too believe that no one should be forced by the state to do anything against their will, I am taken aback by your arrogant rejection of volunteerism.
There are many areas where volunteers do very important and needed work. This work has wide scale positive benifits.
The state can be in the business of providing incentives for people to do this work. Incentives such as partial student loan forgiveness for those who choose to work in rural and low-income areas, tax-breaks for charitable donations, tax-exemptions for charity/religious organizations etc . . .
Volunteer organizations help to invest and improve areas where a for-profit company would not necessarily think to invest their resources.
Its about helping people -- Its more moral than amoral.
Posted by: zrs on September 27, 2009 02:07 PMI am uncertain whether I have enough information to fully judge Patty's actions. I do know that she is by nature a community organizer - and I appreciate her energy in this regard. It does seem that she should have sensed that there may have been a conflict of interest with using taxpayer time and a "captive" audience of minors for her own personal campaign and, thus, confirmed with the administration before jumping into these waters. Ethical judgement is a sort of waters that a City Councilmember will constantly encounter and will be a political issue. We don't need any of these kinds of gaffes with all the other issues that we have to resolve.
Sincerely,
Genuine Conservative
Greg
Posted by: Greg Logan on September 27, 2009 05:21 PM"Why is it that people like Hale can never seem to admit they did something wrong?"
It's because they are liberals or "progressives" or whatever they call themselves now. If you pay attention to the way leftists behave you will notice that they never, ever, apologize. The closest they come to an apology is something like this: "if my remarks were misunderstood then I am sorry". They can't simply say "I was wrong". They are creepy, nasty people.
Watch these people. They won't ever admit they are wrong. The left attracts angry mean people. Study history and it is apparent. The left is filled with horrid people, Mao, Che, Castro, Stalin. Watch the behavior of Obama and his cronies and you will see it. They gleefully send thousands of innocent unborn human beings to their deaths and celebrate it.
The left is simply filled with the worst people among us. It's where they go. Controlling, nasty people who enjoy all the benefits of capitalism while they condemn it.
You know what I want to do to these people? I'd like them all to live for a year the way my grandparents did in 1900. No phones, no TV, no running water, they had to use wood or coal for heat.
A year of that and they would be crying for the benefits evil capitalism has bestowed on humanity.
There is a reason all those "communes" that hippies flocked to in the '70's no longer exist.
Liberals make me sick.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on September 27, 2009 06:30 PMBill
Apparently you missed this "independent thinking" class - your name calling, aspersions and what is nothing more than a manifestation of your own rank ignorance and dark heart are simply a sympton of the what is wrong with the right.
I never cease to be amazed at how the victimizers turn themselves into victims so readily as part of their ploy - and accuse others of what they so quickly do.
May God help you - you need it.
Pat
Posted by: Patrick on September 27, 2009 08:23 PMBill
Apparently you missed this "independent thinking" class - your name calling, aspersions and what is nothing more than a manifestation of your own rank ignorance and dark heart are simply a sympton of the what is wrong with the right.
I never cease to be amazed at how the victimizers turn themselves into victims so readily as part of their ploy - and accuse others of what they so quickly do.
May God help you - you need it.
Pat
Posted by: Patrick on September 27, 2009 08:23 PMYou need to get to submit your heart and mind to Jesus Christ and cleanse your mind with the Word of God from all the right-wing propaganda filth that you have been imbibing - but you first need a heart change to actually care about truth instead of your fleshly, humanist religion.
I will be praying for you!
P
Posted by: Patrick on September 27, 2009 10:16 PMPosted by: Daniel on September 27, 2009 11:05 PM
Is this lady that breathtakingly ignorant to not realize that the kids are in school to be taught the school cirriculum and not her self-serving interests? She should never again be allowed to teach since, apparently, that isn't what she's doing anyway. It's an all too familiar scene within the liberal run institutions of lower learning which would explain why Ms. Hale was surprised that her actions were not only unethical, but illegal. The hubris!!
...and Bill Cruchon is correct. Liberals/progressives can never just say "I was wrong". They play the Arthur fonzarelli and mumble incoherently and make excuses akin to:
"It depends on what the definition of is, is" - Bill Clinton in his grand jury testimony
Posted by: Rick D on September 28, 2009 05:13 AMWhen I was writing this post, I looked for material on Hale's partisanship and/or ideology -- and I didn't find any. Her rather bland campaign site says very little about her ideology. In fact, after looking at it, I am not sure she even has much of an ideology. (Believe it or not, many people, even some candidates, do not have ideologies, do not have an organized way of thinking about politics.) You can't call such people conservatives, leftists, libertarians, or whatever, because they don't have a systematic way of thinking about politics.
And, despite this misdemeanor, she may be better than her opponent -- about whom I know nothing.
She should, however, admit her mistake, tell voters how she will avoid making similar mistakes in the future, and end her complaint about the school's actions.
(Some of you may want to review Procrustes, or even Freud's famous comment about cigars. Or, if those are too obscure, the old line about the word "assume".)
Posted by: Jim Miller on September 28, 2009 07:27 AM
Really? Where?
Posted by: Bruce on September 28, 2009 07:31 AMHale may be a perfectly nice person. I think she probably is.
Call me cynical if you want. I expect she's a liberal like nearly every teacher in Shoreline. I don't imagine if you are a conservative teacher you dare to mention it. She did what liberals always do, simply assume everyone agrees with her politics. Anyone who has worked in the Seattle area is familiar with this. Leftism is so pervasive here that simply telling people at a social event that you watch Fox News brings gasps of horror. My wife and I have tried this experiment.
I think Hale presumed quite innocently that asking students to help her campaign was a form of community service. That doesn't make it right. Liberals who live in places such as Seattle tend to forget that not everyone is a liberal.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on September 28, 2009 11:03 AMMust be a uncomfortable place inside your head, Bill C. - liberals every where you look, ALL teachers in Shoreline are liberals LOL.
Posted by: seadog on September 28, 2009 01:10 PMZipcode 98133 includes the central part of the City of Shoreline, on either side of Aurora Ave. Zipcode 98177, west of Fremont Ave, includes such neighborhoods as The Highlands, Innis Arden, Richmond Beach, all with the highest median home values in Shoreline in which property taxes often exceed $25,000 annually.
Does it matter? Almost 34% of Hale's supporters come from 98177, with contributions ranging from $10 - $500, total contributions of $4450, and a mean contribution of $92.71. The 20.2% of Hale' contributors who come from 98133 contributed between $5 and $250 (maximum), a total amount of $1590, and a mean of $54.83. The 30.3% of her contributors who live in 98155 (from approximately 1st NE to the eastern limits of Shoreline) contributed a total of $2825, with a range from $5 - $500, and a mean contribution of $55.83. The remaining percentages (13%) come from surrounding municipalities, with almost 3% from out of state.
As well Hale's highest contributors are large firms, such as RE firms, financial services, and even one identified as from the Port of Seattle (!). The majority of Hale's contributors do not list their affiliations, but they do include many persons who are members of Pro-Shoreline, including many former Council members who failed to win re-elections.
One must ask what is going on that so many folks in the richest section of Shoreline would support a woman in quite another section of town, who admittedly was able to draw on those who know her as the Ridgecrest neighborhood coordinator with long affiliation with the city of Shoreline. Do these wealthy pro-business contributors know the real Patty Hale, or do they support her in preference to the staunch environmentalist Janet Way who lost to Hale in the primary?
Posted by: Gini on September 28, 2009 06:47 PMI am a teacher myself and I would never use my students for anything that seemed in any way self-serving. The fact that Patty Hale basically treated her students as a captive audience for her sales pitch and doesn't seem to have a problem with this - except for getting caught - speaks volumes about her sense of situational ethics.
Having said this, political affiliation doesn't doesn't always prevent one from ending up with Arlen Specter or John McCain.
We truly don't know Hale's leanings. What we do know is she made a mistake and is not in the least ashamed of it.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on September 29, 2009 08:28 AM