SCHOOL GOALS
Tea party should seek to improve education
Because great numbers of Americans — especially military and corporate employees — are required to be mobile, it is absolutely necessary to standardize educational goals from state to state.
This is an appropriate job for the federal government, and it has been for some time. It is not an invention of the Obama administration.
If the Georgia tea party wishes to be taken seriously, it should work for, not against, improving public education. Otherwise, corporations will take their business elsewhere, as they will have no use for poorly educated, incompetent employees — no matter how many tax breaks we give them.
MARGARET CURTIS, ATLANTA
ETHICS
Too many regulators exit by revolving door
Regarding “Bank leader to head lobby” (News, June 1), the Community Bankers Association of Georgia is a vital organization that promotes the interests of small, locally owned banks. These institutions provide Georgians with an alternative to the too-big-to-fail Wall Street banks. However, their hiring of the former head of Georgia’s Department of Banking and Finance (Rob Braswell) is a prime example of the revolving door that connects regulators to the entities they regulate.
Is Braswell’s hiring a reward for favorable treatment given to community banks? In his new role at the CBA, he will undoubtedly be contacting his former associates at the banking regulatory agency. Will his former co-workers give him preferential treatment in hopes of someday also landing a job at the CBA?
We should have every confidence that our public servants are not being influenced by the prospects of high-paying private-sector jobs in the industries they are charged to regulate. But as it is, this revolving door is just another of Georgia’s ethical failures.
DON MCADAM, SANDY SPRINGS
SCOUTING
Bedrooms should be off limits to sponsors
It’s a pretty sad state of affairs when the organizations that profess to preach love and acceptance find that a gay Boy Scout will contaminate their premises and the minds of other youths.
They are quick to complain when they think the government is invading their bedrooms, but think nothing of invading the bedrooms of gay Scouts. You can’t get more hypocritical than that without trying really hard.
BERNARD J. ROSS, WOODSTOCK
