Shad White says he sleeps with a clear conscience over the embezzlement probe that led to the closure of Nancy New’s New Summit School in Jackson and nearly did the same to her similar school in Greenwood.
“Someone asked me the other day: Do I feel responsible for shutting down a school for dyslexic children?” the Republican state auditor told the Greenwood Rotary Club this week. “Nope. I do not because I didn’t embezzle the money.”
It’s not been proven in court that New and her alleged co-conspirators illegally converted to their personal use millions of dollars in welfare and education funding. New has pleaded not guilty.
White’s attitude, though, is the correct one for a government watchdog.
Those in law enforcement and quasi-law enforcement jobs are tasked with going after those who break the law. They are not supposed to let wealth, connections or even good works stop them from holding accountable those for whom there is evidence of wrongdoing.
Sometimes there is collateral damage. But the responsibility for that rests on those who did wrong, not those who make them pay for it.
