Senate panel votes against Yecke

From the Star Tribune:

Cheri Pierson Yecke lost a crucial vote Tuesday in the Senate Education Committee, which voted against recommending that she be confirmed as commissioner of education.

The committee voted 6-4 against recommending her confirmation. If the full Senate follows the committee's advice, Yecke will be removed as Gov. Tim Pawlenty's education chief. It would take 34 votes to oust her.

The vote came during the committee's second hearing into Yecke. Before senators weighed in Tuesday, a handful of supporters and opponents argued their case.

``I frankly find the commissioner to be an effective, articulate, energetic advocate for change I feel is fundamentally important for the welfare of our public schools,'' said Terry Tofte, the superintendent of Northfield's school district.

Noel Schmidt, a White Bear Lake principal and the president of the Minnesota Middle School Association, disagreed. He held up Yecke's recently published book critical of middle schools as an example of her polarizing nature.

``As I see it the role of commissioner is to clarify and promote successes,'' Schmidt said. ``So far I see only mystification, confusion and the creation of negative images.''

Yecke said her book wasn't written about Minnesota and was intended to provide a national perspective.

Yecke joins Transportation Commissioner Carol Molnau and Metropolitan Council member Annette Meeks as Pawlenty appointees who have been dealt committee setbacks. Rich Stanek of the Department of Public Safety and Jane Volz of the Department of Labor and Industry resigned when parts of their personal pasts threw their confirmations in doubt.

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