| After Scott’s term as governor ended, three of the major state agricultural leaders asked if he would take a new full-time position with the Agribusiness Council. Scott agreed, knowing he had a strong agricultural background and could benefit the council. While he was serving with the council, he encouraged his wife to run for labor commissioner after the incumbent commissioner decided not to run for reelection. She won the first primary, but a close primary count forced a runoff, which she lost. Scott got a disappointment of his own; his application for the position of president of the community college system was denied, a decision that Scott says was recommended by the governor.
In 1979, Bob Scott decided to run in the state primary against Governor Jim Hunt. His primary motivation in running was the recent passage of the two-term governor bill that Scott himself had initiated, and Governor Hunt had succeeded in having passed. Although he still had several supporters, he discovered while campaigning that the major political landscape had completely changed, and that the majority of voters did not associate him with the governor’s office. Hunt was successful at winning a second term. Scott was not the only family member disappointed by election results that year; his uncle Ralph, who had been in the state legislature for years, lost his bid for reelection.
Scott did succeed in becoming president of the community college system in 1983. As president, he was able to increase communication between the different community college presidents and eventually establish common credits that allowed community college students to transfer from one college to another, and from a community college to a four-year college or university. In addition, Scott helped to establish several programs that allowed citizens to obtain their GED or have literacy training.
Scott’s daughter Meg was the only of his five children to show an interest in politics. In 1996 she made her first run for public office in a campaign for a seat in the state House of Representatives. She lost that election, but four years later, she won her bid for state Commissioner of Agriculture, just months before Scott announced that he was resigning from his position as president of the community colleges. Although both Scott and Jessie Rae tried to talk Meg out of running for Commissioner of Agriculture, Meg had made up her mind.
However, during Meg’s term as commissioner, allegations about the mismanagement of her campaign funds began to surface. Scott says he was surprised not only by the allegations, but by the way the federal judicial system handled the situation. Although what happened during Meg’s case disappointed him, he says it has not left him bitter. Unfortunately, he says, stories like Meg’s discourage citizens from voting and leave them feeling as if they cannot make a difference in the political system.
Scott ends his time with Biographical Conversations by noting that he would like to be remembered as someone who cared about the citizens of the state and as someone who is willing to stand up for what he believes in—that the government exists to help people who cannot help themselves.
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