Ed Martin, former chief of staff to Gov. Matt Blunt, has a new gig: columnist for the Metro Sentinel.

Martin, who left Jefferson City last fall amidst a cloud of controversy involving electronic records, now finds himself on the delivery end of political commentary.

The role is not new for Martin, who, when he was chairman of the Board of Elections, had a column in the Arch City Chronicle, which has since become an online only publication.

Martin’s column in the Sentinel, a weekly African-American newspaper, appeared Feb. 28. In it, Martin, never one to mince words, takes aim at the struggling city schools.

“Too many of the schools are run down, many of the teachers are overworked and underpaid while others are lazy and uncommitted,” Martin writes.

Martin chastises elected officials, saying “they talk a big game about supporting public education but back down from real leadership.”

“Political leaders do not seem to care a whit about these mostly black and brown children in these failing schools,” Martin, a city resident, says. “If the children were white, would they be ignored? You know the answer: we would move mountains to change the schools.”

Martin: A writer, again