Tuesday evening’s debate between U.S. Senate candidates Dale Strong and Casey Wardynski turned tense after ethical comments were made pertaining to Wardynski’s resignation as Huntsville superintendent in 2016. The two candidates are vying for the seat being vacated by Mo Brooks. The two were combative, which has been apparent in their T.V. ads throughout the race and showed itself during the debate on WHNT News 19.
Yellowhammer News confirmed with multiple sources that after the debate, a heated exchange occurred between Strong and Karen Wardynski, Casey Wardynski’s wife.
According to the sources, Mrs. Wardynski approached Strong while the candidates were exiting the debate stage and told Strong, “I’m coming after you. I’m going to get you.”
Strong responded to Mrs. Wardynski, “OK, no-bid contract.”
The exchange came from questions raised about Dr. Wardynski’s sudden resignation as superintendent of Huntsville City Schools in September 2016. Wardynski said he resigned because his relationship with then-Karen Lee, who was CEO of Pinnacle Schools, which did business with Huntsville Schools. Wardynski claimed that he didn’t want any ethical issues to occur because of their relationship and so he resigned.
Wardynski said he was in a relationship with Lee in July, and by September, he knew he should resign.
Wardynski stated, “I thought I should resign since I supervised her. It would create an ethical challenge that I didn’t want to have. They said, ‘No, no stay.’ On the 13th of September, my attorney wrote a letter and hand-carried it and never got an answer. So on the 15th, one month in, I resigned because I thought it would create an ethical problem.”
All of Wardynski’s comments during the debate mirror his comments from AL.com at the time of his resignation in 2016. Wardynski stated, “I have talked to ethics attorneys, and I shared with responsible authorities with the school system when I felt that it was an issue.”
The next question in the debate pertained to Critical Race Theory (CRT) being taught in schools. Wardynski said he supported the banning of CRT and that he had helped President Donald Trump remove CRT from the Army.
Wardynski stated, “As far as school systems go, I was superintendent up until 2016, and I don’t recall anybody ever hearing of Critical Race Theory until 2020 when we saw the riots. That’s when it came on my radar in the Army.”
Strong responded, arguing that CRT had, in fact, been in Huntsville schools back in 2015 and argued that there is evidence to prove it. “Parents, they saw it. Teacher in-service: they saw it. It says Critical Race Theory in 2015. Not only that, Common Core, my opponent supported that.”
Strong continued, “Talk to the teachers; some 800 of them that were relieved of their jobs that did a lot less than what he did with this Pinnacle contract where he was getting personal sexual gratification from that contract. I think that the record is clear. He supported CRT, he supported Common Core, and he also supported that the dollar shouldn’t follow the child whenever we had failing schools, and that’s where I believe there’s a big difference.”
Wardynski was allowed to respond to Strong’s comments and called the remarks “lies.” Wardynski reiterated that CRT wasn’t in Huntsville schools in 2015.
Later in the debate, when asked about attack ads during campaigns, Wardynski said, “Ask this guy because he’s the one who did it first.”
“He accused me of taking sexual favors from somebody to do work. You know, that’s a scumbag in my book,” Wardynski said of Strong. “This fellow has never served his country under the uniform or under the flag. I’ve got three kids serving around the world. They get to listen to this garbage. They don’t appreciate it.”
Wardynski continued, “This is the kind of garbage you get out of a 26-year career politician who lives in the gutter. He works for people who date on Ashley Madison, and I don’t. I come from service, from a place where the motto is ‘duty, honor, country.’ I left the school system because it was the thing to do that was ethical, and he turns that into sex. That’s where his mind goes. That’s not what we need in Washington D.C.”
Strong responded, “I stand behind my record.” He also argued that his attack ads came from accusations that he didn’t support Donald Trump.
