Paul Hyde's opinion of the Howie Rich interview

A reader of The State newspaper sent a scathing letter on August 18 about Katon Dawson's interview with Howie Rich. It's another self-explanatory note:

Howie Rich , the rich New Yorker who's trying to buy the S.C. Legislature, hates public education....

Rich, who spent a half million dollars in our state's primary election trying to put school voucher advocates in the S.C. Legislature, drips elitist contempt for S.C. public schools. In a fawning interview (posted on You Tube) with S.C. Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson, Rich describes public education supporters this way: "The other side is in it for one thing -- taxpayer dollars. They love it every year when the Legislature gives them more money for what they call 'education.'"

What they "call 'education'"? (In the interview, Rich supplies the quotation marks with his curled fingers.) Well, that's a nice slap in the face to 46,000 dedicated and hardworking South Carolina public school teachers, not to mention hundreds of thousands of parents and other supporters (of) public schools. Has the man ever met a South Carolina teacher?

PAUL HYDE
State, The (Columbia, SC) - August 18, 2008