Image: TN Dept of Education / Facebook
By Sam Stockard [The Tennessee Lookout -CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –
Seeking a deputy secretary post in the Trump administration, former Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn is promising to eliminate financial conflicts of interest to get the job, including minimizing ties to a Tennessee lobbying firm.
Schwinn, who left the state job in 2023 and served for a short time as Vice President for PK-12 and Pre-Bachelors Programs at the University of Florida, was selected for the U.S. Department of Education position nearly as soon as President Donald Trump won election this year but still hasn’t received Senate confirmation to take the appointment.
In a May 5 letter to an Education Department ethics official, the former Tennessee education leader for Gov. Bill Lee described steps she would take to avoid any “actual or apparent” conflict of interest, including personal participation in any matter in which she would have a financial interest.
If confirmed for the job, Schwinn said she will resign from an unpaid position with Nashville-based 38 Ventures LLC and become a non-managing member, though she will receive passive investment income from the entity. Blake Harris, former chief of staff for Lee, is the registered agent for the company located at 611 Commerce St.
In addition, Schwinn said she would resign her post with BHA Strategy, a lobbying company founded by Harris, Lee’s former communication director Laine Arnold, and Brent Easley, the governor’s former legislative director. Schwinn wrote, though, that she would receive a set referral fee of 30% for a contract she brought to BHA.
Schwinn said two companies she controls, Bexley Group, LLC, and PLSchwinn LLC, which are set up to receive business income, would stop conducting business and representing clients. Bexley Group’s listed address also is 611 Commerce St. in Nashville.
After being confirmed, she also would resign from a post with Soliant Health LLC through which she holds vested and unvested incentives with TVG-Soliant Holdings, LP. She would receive a cash payout for her vested incentives before taking the deputy secretary post, according to the letter.
In addition, Schwinn said she would resign from posts with TVG-MGT, Edmuntum Inc. and Really Great Reading and would divest interests in Odyssey and Amira Learning.
Schwinn went through a similar ethics process in March 2021 when she told Tennessee’s Central Procurement Office she would distance herself from an $8 million contract with TNTP Inc., a reading skills educator training company that employed her husband, Paul.
Schwinn came under fire from lawmakers in 2020 when the legislature removed the education commissioner as a voting member of the Tennessee textbook commission and took away the commissioner’s ability to grant waivers for school districts seeking to use unapproved books and materials. Lawmakers were concerned that Schwinn was too involved in the textbook adoption process.
3 Responses
Well this is one Trump confirmation for which I hope the U.S. Senate will take their sweet time ….you know…just like they are doing with the Trump judicial nominations….sand bagging them or even ignoring them so they can take the vacations! So much for so called ‘public servitude’ ! LOL! Anyway, back to my point, Penny Schwinn, Bill Lee appointee for OUR state Dept. of Education, now ADMITS her serious CONFLICTS OF INTEREST and is FORCED to cut ties with lobbyist to be appointed! REALLY? The people have all been aware of what the politicians either are to ignorant to understand or simply try to cover up….one has to wonder why? Maybe it is DIRECTLY related to that ‘filthy lucre’…you know…..MONEY for the ‘re-election’ which seems to be their ONE AND ONLY PASSION! Campaign contributions from the ‘big guys’ to the Lee campaign obviously had everything to do with his nomination of Schwinn, a leftist educrat at best and a radical, leftist educrat at worst! Why else would Lee have appointed this woman, when by all accounts and based on her history and vision for public education, is a dedicated socialist? And, now Trump has nominated her………..UGH! This woman is NOT a MAGA Trumpian willing to cut the U.S. Dept. of Education, but a wolf in sheep’s clothing who’ll simply extend the misery…..why can’t politicians see this? Again, sad to say, but it’s all about the MONEY, and our kids education is on the line. Take your kids out of public, indoctrination centers! And vote to THROW THE BUMS OUT!
WHO??? advises DJT on these “picks”? Seems nothing was learned from 1st term.
NOT GOOD ENOUGH. She is a Trojan horse for marxists ideas and plans. She is a manchurian candidate. A CALIFORNIA grad of liberal Berkeley, and an intern of liberal Dem Diane Feinstein. In other words, a DEMOCRAT. She was a train wreck for Texas and then Tennessee. WHY is she being considered??!!??!!