Democrats block education nominee - Democrat Reed Hastings

Democrats block education nominee
By Aurelio Rojas -- Bee Capitol Bureau

Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, January 13, 2005

A legislative panel Wednesday refused to confirm Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's renomination of Reed Hastings to the state Board of Education after an emotional debate that exposed lingering divisions over bilingual education.

On a 2-2 vote - with the two Democrats on the five-member Senate Rules Committee voting in opposition and the third abstaining - the panel declined to confirm Hastings to a new four-year term.

Hastings, a Democrat, was appointed to the Board of Education by Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in 2000, and renominated last year by Schwarzenegger, a Republican.

But as board president in 2002, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur angered advocates of bilingual education when the 11-member panel imposed restrictions that advocates charged undermined bilingual education.

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http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/ca/story/12022287p-12892640c.html