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Carroll commissioner refuses to pay back teaching money
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Carroll County Commissioner Michael Zimmer, right, says he will not return $170 he was paid for working as a substitute teacher.
“I’m not sorry I did it,” Zimmer said. “I felt like I was doing it the right way, making a full disclosure at our meeting and at a Board of Education meeting.”
Zimmer held “dual employment” when he decided late last year to accept a challenge from teachers union head Barry Potts to work as a substitute teacher, according to a March 7 letter from the ethics commission. The Republican commissioner received $170 compensation.
“Carroll County officials and employees will not ... hold any outside employment or relationship that would impair their impartiality or independence of judgment,” according to the commission’s letter.
Zimmer agreed to take his name off the substitute teaching list, but said it would have been unfair to other teachers and him if he did not get paid for the two teaching assignments, at Century High School and Mount Airy Middle School.
“Far from impairing my impartiality or judgment, I think the experience of doing this twice ... has informed my judgment and put me in a better position to make decisions on behalf of Carroll County government and our funding for the Board of Education,” Zimmer said.
Martin Radinsky, chairman of the county’s Democratic Central Committee, said he requested an investigation as an independent citizen to see if any of the commissioners were working with the schools system unethically.
He disagreed with Zimmer’s refusal to pay back the money, saying it is part of commissioners’ job to understand all aspects of government without receiving more money to do so.
“Wouldn’t he get just as much insight sitting at other people’s jobs?” Radinsky asked. “If he did that, would he expect to be paid for that service? So my question is: Why does he feel he’s entitled to be paid from the schools system for his insight?
“It’s my $170, and it’s the citizens of Carroll County’s $170, and I want my money back.”
msilvestri@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
6:20 PM MST on Sun., Mar. 16, 2008 re: "Carroll commissioner refuses to pay back teaching money"
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10:31 AM MST on Sat., Mar. 15, 2008
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6:59 AM MST on Sat., Mar. 15, 2008
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Examiner Reader said:
The whole issue is a bunch of baloney, cooked up by Marty Radinsky. Hooey.
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Concerned Parent said:
Has any evaluation been done relating to Mr. Zimmer's subsitute teaching? If so, what does it say? What did he teach? Also, if he was doing this to further his insight into the school system as a Commissioner why was he paid by the school system? Wouldn't he already have been paid by the County as a Commissioner?
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What If? said:
So, what if a school administrator wrote a negative job evaluation of the commissioner/teacher or had to reprimand the commissioner/teacher? Then the administrator is transferred/demoted? Could the eval and demotion be related? Commissioners do have contact with School Board members, school superintendent, parents, and principals. Another one. What if the administrator is demoted for some unconnected reason, could the administrator say he was demoted because the commissioner disagreed with some school policy? Through his teaching, has the commissioner now placed himself in a position that could give the appearance of impropriety even where there is impropriety?
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