More Blunt Pay To Play: Pro-Voucher Groups Pay For Education Appointment

Missouri education groups took the extraordinary step today of opposing Governor Blunt's recent appointment of an anti-public school advocate to the State Board of Education.

It's bad enough that pro-public school groups were forced to take this step, but there's an even more shocking aspect to this appointment. The anti-public school group--The Friedman Foundation--paid thousands of dollars to have their ally appointed to the State Board.

Last December, the Friedman Foundation hired Andy Blunt to secure the appointment of
Donayle E. Whitmore-Smith to the Board of Education. Whitmore-Smith is a favorite of the Friedman Foundation. She was featured in their publication in Februrary of 2005.

The Blunt's went to great lengths in an attempt to cover their trail on this one. After receiving the agreed upon sum for the appointment (insiders speculate it could have been as much as $50,000), Blunt quietly dropped the client from his roster. The Governor made the appointment of Whitmore-Smith a few short weeks later.

It figures that the going rate with this Governor for buying an appointment to the State Board of Education is more than the annual salary of the average public school teacher in Missouri.