Pasco school official should resign. Not for his past crimes, but what he denied voters

Pasco citizens unknowingly voted in a new school board member with two domestic violence convictions, and one involving a toddler.

So now what?

The noble act would be for Stephen Asay Simmons to resign — not because of his troubled past, but because he lied by omission to the community.

This ugly chapter from Simmons’ life should have been brought to light long before ballots were due Nov. 2, and Simmons should have been the one to do it.

Those regrettable acts happened in 2005 and 2014, and Simmons told the Tri-City Herald he has since been to counseling and has learned how to address his problems.

He ran unopposed for a vacant seat, and he was endorsed by the Franklin County Republican Party. If he had come clean early in his campaign, people might have believed he was a changed man and supported him anyway.

But now we will never know how Pasco voters would have reacted had they known the full details of Simmons’ fourth-degree assault convictions.

They were robbed of the chance to make an informed decision — and that’s the crux of this frustrating situation.

The Herald received a tip about one of the convictions too close to Election Day to confirm the full story, and because he was running unopposed he managed to fly under the radar throughout most of the campaign season.

Had the domestic violence convictions been made public knowledge early enough, it is possible Pasco citizens could have organized a write-in campaign to provide voters an alternative.

But that didn’t happen.

Some criminal convictions can affect a person’s ability to be hired as an employee by a school district. Even people who wish to volunteer in Pasco schools must submit to a law enforcement background check.

But the standards for elected school directors are not so strict, and criminal convictions don’t automatically disqualify candidates for school board.

Unless Simmons resigns, not much can be done. The Pasco School Board and the school district administration have no authority to dismiss him. Only the voters can do that.

As it happens, they may get that chance within a year.

Pasco school leaders are seriously considering changing how school board candidates are chosen, and if they do, then all five school board members would be up for election in November 2022.

Currently, board members are elected at-large, which means everyone in the entire school district votes for them. But officials are looking at adopting a system in which three to five board positions would be elected within certain districts.

The reason is that such a move would help ensure the school district is in line with state and federal voting rights laws, and that the Latino vote is not diluted

The population in the Pasco School District is more than half Latino, but currently there is only one Latino school director on the board. The way the school board is moving on this effort, the decision could be made by mid-January and that would mean Simmons — along with the other school board members — would have to run for office again.

If anything, this story is an example of why it is so important for people to step up and run for office — even if they don’t think they have a chance of getting elected.

Recent Tri-City election results certainly show the strength of a GOP endorsement, but there is a danger when those endorsements may not be thoroughly vetted.

If Simmons had faced a challenger instead of getting a free pass, it’s a sure bet his domestic violence convictions would have surfaced sooner.

And voters could have had the full picture when making their choice.

The honorable thing for him to do now is resign. If he still wants to serve, Simmons can run for school board again.

At least on the second time around, voters would be fully informed.

This story was originally published December 10, 2021 at 4:00 AM.