Former Md. gubernatorial hopeful hired to school post after backing county leader

Onetime Maryland gubernatorial candidate Valerie Ervin was hired into a six-figure job with the Prince George’s County school system less than three months after she dropped out of the governor’s race and threw her support behind the county’s top leader.

In the final stretch of the campaign, Ervin regularly stumped for Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III, who was in a heated battle for the Democratic nomination. Baker hinted publicly that if he were elected, Ervin would join his administration.

But Baker lost the June 26 primary. In August, Ervin was hired to a $133,200-a-year position as a special assistant in the school system’s Office of Employee and Labor Relations. Officials in the state’s second-largest school system said the job was created in August to improve communication with the labor unions representing the district’s 20,000 full-time employees.

At least one school board member, David Murray, raised questions about political favoritism...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/former-md-gubernatorial-hopeful-hired-to-school-post-after-backing-county-leader/2018/09/18/682f739a-baba-11e8-a8aa-860695e7f3fc_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.72ac6becea29