Honig Sees ‘Conspiracy’ to Harm Him Politically

Charging that some members of the State Board of Education are part of a “conspiracy to do me damage,” state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig vowed Tuesday to limit the authority and perquisites of the 11-member board.

Because the board voted last week to reject an agreement seeking to divide power and settle a long-running dispute between the board and the superintendent, Honig said in an interview that he will cooperate with its members only to the degree required by law.

“I no longer trust them to work for the good of education,” Honig said. “I put my hand out and they slapped me in the face.

“I gave up a lot in that (agreement) but it wasn’t enough,” he added. “All right, now they’ll get what the law says I have to give them and nothing more.”

Honig, who controls the board’s annual half-million-dollar budget, said the same tight spending restrictions that cover the department will be applied to the board as well. He said this means that “discretionary travel” at state expense for board members will be eliminated.

At the board’s request, the label “State Board of Education” has been added to Department of Education documents recently, but that practice probably will be stopped, said Susie Lange, spokeswoman for the Department of Education.

Also, Tom Bogetich, executive director of the board, has been permitted to operate the board’s small office independently, but in the future Honig “will assume closer oversight of the board’s operations,” Lange said.

Bogetich said that William D. Dawson, deputy superintendent and Honig’s top aide, has assured him “the board will not be prevented from doing what it needs to do.”

Honig also said he would not allow top staff members to be harassed by board members, as he charged has happened at recent board meetings.

Honig said he was taking these steps “to protect myself” against “a collaboration, a conspiracy, a working arrangement, whatever it is, to do me damage.”

He said members of this “conspiracy” include board President Joseph D. Carrabino, member Joseph Stein and other conservative board members; conservative Republicans in the state Assembly; the Little Hoover Commission, which has criticized Honig’s administration of the Department of Education; supporters of the teaching of “creation science,” and those who oppose bilingual education.

“What mix this is, I don’t know, but I do know there is a political agenda that’s malicious, vicious, personal and aimed at me,” Honig said.

“These people are telling each other, ‘We’ve got the votes (on the board), we can hang Honig up for the next year. I think that’s the agenda--to embarrass me, damage me, tie me up so I can’t do anything.”

He said board criticisms of the Quality Education Project, a successful parent involvement project run by Honig’s wife, Nancy, out of the Honig home in San Francisco is another part of the overall effort “to embarrass me politically.”

The constant “stirring of the pot” is damaging not only to him personally but also to the education reform movement he has been pushing since being elected eight years ago, Honig said.

“They’re trying to slow me down,” he said. “If I’m for it, they’re against it.”

The superintendent, a liberal Democrat, noted that only conservative Republicans were invited to a dinner held by the board before last week’s meeting.

Honig also pointed out that attorney Howard Dickstein, hired by the board to handle the power-sharing negotiations, is married to Jeannine L. English, executive director of the Little Hoover Commission, which criticized his leadership.

Dickstein seemed to most observers to be seeking a middle ground in the dispute between the superintendent and board. English denied that the commission was part of an anti-Honig conspiracy.

“We’re supposed to look at the efficiency of state agencies and state government and that’s what we do,” she said. “We have nothing against Bill Honig. He tends to want to make them (commission criticisms) personal, but they’re not personal.”

Carrabino and Stein could not be reached for comment.