No action taken in state school ethics charge

State school board member Dave Cook will not face any disciplinary action for an ill-timed disclosure, the ethics commission decided Friday.

"From my perspective, I was exonerated," Cook said. "There was no sanctioning, no penalties. It's over."

In the opinion adopted by the ethics commission in Friday's meeting, it says that Cook's failure to disclose properly "was not willful in that he made a good faith effort to comply with the Commission's Advisory Opinion."

The complaint was brought last month by Michelle Trusty-Murphy who is looking to unseat Cook in this year's election.

Trusty-Murphy filed the complaint regarding Cook's vote to adopt health standard set forth by the Legislature.

The ethics panel told Cook in February of last year not to vote on health-related issues because he is engaged to Robinette Bacon, the HIV/AIDS Comprehensive School Health Coordinator for the State Department of Education.

However, Deputy Attorney General Melanie Meehan-Crossley wrote in a Nov. 29, 1999 letter to the state board that members must approve the standards set forth by the Standards Council appointed by the Legislature or resign.

Cook said the vote was predetermined and his vote did not make any difference.

To avoid breaching the ethics ruling, however, he issued a disclosure explaining his situation.

He issued the disclosure after casting his vote and proper protocol dictates that a disclosure must come before the vote.

"The frustrating part is that I wish I would have known that," Cook said. "I was trying to follow the rules as I understood them."

Cook said the complaint was politically motivated.

"This was a malicious personal attack for cheap political gain and it didn't work," he said. "She's trying to distract the public from her real agenda, which is to oppose proficiency exams, other tests and standards."

However, Trusty-Murphy said her motives were pure.

"I felt it was my duty as a citizen to bring it forward," she said. "Mr. Cook is now aware of how to properly disclose."

She said she did not mean it as a personal attack.

"He is a good man but he has not always been ethical in his actions," Trusty-Murphy said. "Whether I was running for office or not, I would have reported this conflict of interest."