Oregon Department of Education Refers Val Hoyle Incident to Val Hoyle *Probably*

A day before the Oregon primary, Project Veritas released video showing the former Majority leader of Oregon’s House of Representatives exploiting children in Oregon’s public educational system in her climb to political power. “I need you (high school students) to help me make sure that I do not lose my campaign to a man with a mullet,” said Hoyle to a bus full of students.

In this new video, O’Keefe conducts a multi-year investigation into the Oregon public school education. During his investigation, O’Keefe specifically focused on Oregon’s service learning program, which is a mandatory component of every public school student’s curriculum in Oregon.

In the video, Val Hoyle is seen collaborating her political activities with then Oregon Superintendent of Public Schools, Susan Castillo. “I think it’s absolutely critical that we are all here today to help Val Hoyle be very, very successful in her election campaign for the Oregon House.”

As the Superintendent of Oregon’s Public School System, Castillo was effectively asking high school students to help re-elect a particular candidate, which is highly unethical given the fact that her job requires her to remain objective. Not only was Castillo verbally encouraging students to support Van Hoyle and other Democratic candidates, but, students were receiving community service credit towards their mandatory curriculum for their campaign activity.

When Project Veritas first reached out to the Oregon Department of Education for a comment on May 29, 2013, we received the following reply:

“Thank you for forwarding the video. The Oregon Department of Education has no comment for Mr. O’Keefe about the summer Bus Project event. If he feels that there is a violation of state election law, he should contact the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office.”

Best regards,

Andrea

Andrea Morgan, Education Specialist

Social Sciences Curriculum, Advanced Placement Test Fee Program, Statewide Field Support

Oregon Department of Education

255 Capitol St. NE

Salem, OR 97310-0203

andrea.morgan@state.or.us

(503) 947-5772

Now that Val Hoyle is the candidate for Secretary of State in Oregon, another request for comment would be directed to her probable future office of employment, the Secretary of State’s office. Clearly Oregon has a problem when the official who is supposed to be investigating election malfeasance is committing unethical election behaviors herself, at the expense of Oregon public school children. How can Oregon trust a Secretary of State who is already violating her presumed code of ethics?