AG Cox retreats on phony Hillsdale issue

Attorney General Stephen Cox is trying to hide from his reckless allegations against the Anchorage School District. And it appears that Education Commissioner Deena Bishop is also retreating in formation.

All they can manage is this CYA paragraph signed by Cox.

Cox has not officially mentioned his serious conflict of interest in the matter, but he is trying to recuse himself, telling the district to deal with one of the lawyers who works in Cox’s office “if further assistance is desired.”

Cox and his wife are co-founders of a proposed Christian private school, “Alaska’s first Hillsdale College-supported classical school.”

The temporary general and the education leader refuse to admit that they were wrong in attacking the Anchorage School District over the trumped-up charge about the handling of a Hillsdale College pamphlet given to some students at the request of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Cox harrumphed that he and Bishop “are committed to enforcing and defending all of Alaska’s laws—from the rules governing public officials to the United States Constitution itself.”

Cox is claiming now that he and Bishop were not worried about the “specific physical document” that they complained about in this hyperbolic screed.

They were worried about policies “that led to a disclaimer concerning the Constitution.”

The problem with the claims by Cox and Bishop is that the “specific physical document” is a partisan publication promoting the Hillsdale College right-wing view of government.

Here is background on the issue.

In his new letter trying to end his involvement, Cox uses the pronoun “we” four times, responding to a letter from Matt Singer, the school district lawyer.

Singer’s letter mentioned Cox’s conflict of interest as well as this entire episode being outside of the attorney general’s sphere of operations.

The new letter is signed only by Cox, not by Bishop. Bishop co-wrote the original letter, but is only copied on the new missive.

“Our office remains available to assist with the review, but at your option,” Cox said of any further review.

Bishop failed to mention that the same pamphlet and the same disclaimer reached her desk when she was Anchorage superintendent, but she did not treat it as a real problem.

This letter is not enough from Cox and Bishop to make amends for their eagerness to amplify half-baked claims that the district is dissing the Constitution. Or their baseless suggestion that Anchorage school board members violated their oath of office.

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