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http://www.politico.com/click/stories/1103/marc_ecko_wants_to_end_paddling.html

Marc Ecko wants to end paddling - PATRICK GAVIN | POLITICO CLICK

Energy policy, government spending, education ... Congress has a lot on its plate. Does it also have room for spanking reform?

Maybe.

Designer Marc Ecko, founder of Marc Ecko Enterprises, is determined to put an end to corporal punishment in U.S. classrooms. According to Ecko, more than 220,000 instances of paddling occur in public schools each year, 20,000 of which require medical attention.

Ecko swung through Washington on Friday to drum up support for his efforts.

"We’re the only industrialized nation on earth where this is happening, and young people are aware of some of the idiosyncrasies and hypocrisy of the system," Ecko told POLITICO. "It's a good time to say, hey, we're all united on this. All Americans deserve the best education."

Ecko is doing his best to get lawmakers to pay attention.

"I've been working on keeping boots on the ground with a whole host of legislators, from the National Lieutenant Governors Association to attorneys general to folks inside the Department of Education from the Office of Civil Rights."

Ecko cites Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) as a leading voice on the issue after she introduced a bill last year that would ban corporal punishment in any school that receives federal funding. He also points to Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown (D), who helped rally the NLGA to call for a ban on corporal punishment.

"I'm not really a legislator or a lobbyist," said Ecko. "I'm not an inside-the-Beltway kind of guy, although I'm respectful of the mechanisms that you have to employ to have a successful campaign."


Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com
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