Sen. Fred Smith did not fill out a teachers' survey.
The candidate for the Republican nomination for governor met with the N.C. Association of Educators Saturday, but he refused to fill out its 23-question survey beforehand.
"He felt it was much more important to sit down and discuss the issues than it was to sit down and write a paragraph," said chief of staff Jonathan Hill.
He said the campaign knew that the teachers group would endorse Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, but felt it was important for Smith to explain his vision for education in person. He said Smith also criticized its questions.
"He was really disappointed afterwards," said Hill. "None of them were about improving the education of children. They were all about bureaucracy, pay raises and teachers."
On at least one issue, Smith's positions should be well known. As a state senator, Smith has sponsored unsuccessful legislation to raise the cap on charter schools.
Comments
Re: Smith skipped survey
August 29, 2007 - 7:21am — awbealBy the way, Senator, teacher salaries -- which attract and retain the highest quality teachers -- actually do have something to do with improving the education of our children.
Re: Smith skipped survey
August 28, 2007 - 5:43pm — kimkimHow lazy can you be?!?
Honestly, EVERYONE knew that Bev Perdue was getting the endorsement but at least Moore and Orr answered the questionnaire. What was Fred trying to prove?
To summarize, Fred was trying to win an endorsement that was Perdue's from the start. In trying to win the endorsement he took a day to travel and interview with the NCAE. However, he was ineligible from being considered for the endorsement because he was too lazy to fill out their questionnaire.
Gee whiz - can you be that lazy? What's worse, Jonathan Hill comments:
"He felt it was much more important to sit down and discuss the issues than it was to sit down and write a paragraph."
Uh, Jonathan, how LONG does it take Fred to write a paragraph?!
Again, Moore and Graham handled this situation perfectly.