Washington Post: STATE SAYS PRINCE GEORGE’S SCHOOLS CFO COMMITTED INSURANCE FRAUD, PLACED ON LEAVE

Read the article: http://wapo.st/1DsO6T3

smf /4LAKids opines: It would take a lot of of twisty twist-ties to connect this story of almost comic alleged wrongdoing (Trying to run the same scam against two different insurance companies for the loss of the same wedding ring) to the former Prince George’s Schools superintendent who left that gig under a cloud to join the Gates Foundation and then LAUSD in quick succession.

But let’s make a couple of notes:

Lead us not into temptation….

• Apparently the law and the public (un)consciousness in Maryland is different from – I don’t know – lets take: California.
• The Chief Financial Officer of Prince George’s County Public Schools is Colby R. White.
• His wife, Keisha White, is an Auditor for PGCPS.
• It matters not whether they were in the insurance fraud game as an outside money-making opportunity to supplement their generous PGCPS salaries. Doesn’t the fact that the CFO and the Auditor were married raise an Appearance of a Conflict of Interest eyebrow at superintendent, general counsel, school board or local press level in Prince George’s County?
• (Mr. & Mrs. Colby are currently on administrative leave at full salary pending an investigation by the school district.)

 …but deliver us from evil

• Maryland is a different place!  The District of Columbia is built on swampland carved out of Maryland (Virginia contributed some but it was eventually given back.)
• The politics of Maryland are – shall we say – colorful. And certainly untainted by ethics and/or the laws regulating such.
• Spiro Agnew could’ve been the 38th President of the United States if only he hadn’t been the crooked governor of Maryland. (At the time the punditry claimed that one couldn’t become governor of Maryland without being a crook!)
• The recent difficulties of former Virginia Governor (and recently convicted felon) Bob McDonnnell and his wife almost exactly duplicate those of former Maryland governor Marvin Mendel and his wife – only 37 years later.  See this.
• To paraphrase the eminently quotable Dr. Deasy:  “Maryland is like Virginia  …only sooner.”