Former Beaufort Co. school board member who called his peer a ‘hot chick’ is running again

A former Beaufort County school board member who was reprimanded for referring to a fellow board member as a “hot chick” and making other disparaging comments about his peers is running for the board again, in spite of losing a race for another seat two years ago.

Paul Roth, of Hilton Head Island, filed Tuesday for the Beaufort County Board of Education’s District 8 seat, which represents portions of Hilton Head Island and the Bluffton area.

District 8 is represented by Mary Cordray, former chair and vice chair of the board. She announced Wednesday that she is not running for re-election.

Roth, 85, will face former educators John Eddy and Cathy Robine for the District 8 seat in the Nov. 6 election.

He is a retired chairman and CEO of numerous public and nonprofit enterprises, where he handled billions of dollars as a fiduciary, according to a candidate questionnaire he filled out in 2012. He moved to southern Beaufort County about 23 years ago and formerly was a member of the Hilton Head Island Planning Commission and the Beaufort County Southern Corridor Review Board.

Roth served on the school board from 2013 to 2016 as the representative for district 6, which covers Okatie and the Sun City Hilton Head and Rose Hill neighborhoods. He ran for re-election in Nov. 2016 but was beaten by former educator Patricia Felton-Montgomery, who earned nearly 60 percent of the vote.

In June 2016, shortly before his run for a second term, Roth came under fire for a wide-ranging interview in which he disparaged his fellow board members’ experience, calling some “screw ups” and implying another was elected, in part, because she was a “hot chick.”

When asked about board member JoAnn Orischak, who represents southern Hilton Head Island, Roth suggested at the time that her appearance was a major factor in her 2012 election and her lack of challengers in 2016.

“If she was 50 pounds heavier, and she had a big wart on her nose, I don’t think people would react to her the same way. Let’s say it that way,” he said during the 2016 interview.

At the time, Roth defended his comments, saying he was not being sexist but stating a “plain fact.”

During the following board meeting, which Roth was not present for, the school board unanimously voted to censure — or formally state disapproval of — Roth for his comments.

On Wednesday, more than two years after the incident, Roth said the comments “turned out to be a lot of fake news.”

When asked whether he denied saying any of those comments about his fellow board members in 2016, he reiterated his earlier sentiment, “I said it was fake news.”

While a member of the school board, Roth stood by former Beaufort County School District superintendent Jeff Moss, in spite of the two ethics violations he admitted to after hiring his wife for a high-paying district administrator position in 2015.

When asked Wednesday if he would have done anything differently during his first term on the school board, Roth said, “I supported all of the board’s decisions.

“That’s the obligation as member of the board of education, to support the will of the board.”

Roth, as well as the other members on the board in 2013, made the decision to hire Moss.

Moss left the district on July 31, two years before his contract was up and after five controversial years in the district that included two failed referendums, the two state ethics violations and at least one ongoing FBI investigation.

Since January, the school district and its employees have received four federal grand jury subpoenas. The most recent subpoena, issued to the district on Aug. 2, asked the district to hand over Moss’ full personnel file and information on more than 30 companies the district and Moss had worked with during his five-year tenure.

Despite Moss’ controversial leadership, Roth said, if elected to the school board again, he would hope to accomplish the same objectives he did while on the board the first time.

“The situation is somewhat similar now to when I was elected to the board the last time in 2013,” Roth said, pointing to the board’s need to hire a new superintendent and dealing with student overcrowding issues.

“I felt that the board of education that assumed authority in 2013 had made considerable progress in both of those matters, but it seems like they’re now undone.”

Who else has filed?

Seven of the board’s 11 seats are up for grabs in the November election:

District 1: Seat held by board member Earl Campbell is up for election in 2020.

District 2: Longtime Lady’s Island resident Terry Thomas filed in April. The seat is held by board member David Striebinger, who filed for re-election in July.

District 3: St. Helena businessman William Smith filed in mid-July. Mortician Buryl Garnett Sumpter and Gullah Geechee performing artist Natasha D. Robinson filed in late July. The seat is held by board member Cynthia Gregory-Smalls, who filed for re-election in March.

District 4: Retired Beaufort County educator Tricia Fidrych filed in mid-July. The seat is held by board member Joseph Dunkle, who filed for re-election in early July.

District 5: Two retired military men — Richard Geier and Ray Johnson — filed to run in March. Sarah Stuchell, a licensed marriage and family therapist, filed in July. The seat is held by board member Geri Kinton, who is not running for re-election.

District 6: Seat held by board member John Dowling is up for election in 2020.

District 7: Hilton Head native Rachel Wisnefski and Chris Davey, parts and service manager at Grainger Nissan of Beaufort, filed to run in July. The seat is held by board member Evva Anderson, who filed in August for re-election.

District 8: Former educators John Eddy and Cathy Robine have both filed for the race. The seat is held by board member Mary Cordray, who is not running for re-election.

District 9: Seat held by board member Christina Gwozdz is up for election in 2020.

District 10: Peter Kristian, the manager of Hilton Head Plantation, filed for the seat in late June. Melvin Campbell, a longtime retired educator and native islander, filed in August. The seat is held by board member Bill Payne, who is not running for re-election.

District 11: Seat held by board member JoAnn Orischak is up for election in 2020.

Those interested in running for school board have until noon Aug. 15 to file for candidacy.

To find which board district represents you, visit https://bit.ly/2FyQiNW.

This story was originally published August 16, 2018 at 11:36 AM.