After supporters of his opponent in the District 7 Metro Board of Education race sent out documents outlining child support battles and a nasty divorce, Jackson Miller's campaign released a video endorsement from his ex-wife Monday.
Miller's ex-wife Sabrina Langlois, who lives in District 7, says in the video she never intended to get involved in her ex-husband's race against incumbent Will Pinkston. (Neither candidate could manage to garner an endorsement from the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. But hey, an endorsement from your ex can't hurt, right?)
"What started to happen is that personal and private details of our divorce — things that I don't think have any bearing on this election — have been publicized," she says. "So it's really impacted my kids. It's really hurt them, and so I felt like I needed to say something, and that is that I support Jackson."
Miller and his ex-wife settled the child support issues in 2014, and he says he's avoided talking about it thus far to spare bringing "painful and personal details about other people" into the race. Miller says the details of a private matter don't have any place in the race. His critics argue that they do when you're overseeing a nearly billion dollar school budget. At any rate, releasing a video of your ex-wife endorsing your campaign in the face of documents petitioning a criminal contempt charge based on underpaying child support might not be the best way for people to stop talking about the issue. Or maybe it is.
Here's the full video endorsement from Langlois:
Jackson's ex-wife decided to release a statement in response to nasty campaigning by the Will Pinkston.
Update (3:55 p.m.): Miller reached out to Pith to say the petition had actually been dismissed, not settled.
The document here shows Miller provided proof of payment.
Miller says the contempt charges weren’t brought by Langlois, but by the state, and only after his ex-wife applied for public assistance.
“The burden’s not on me to clear my name, when the court dismissed the case,” Miller says. “My kids see this stuff. It impacts them, and they shouldn’t have to see that I didn’t pay child support when that’s completely untrue.”
