CT Attorney General Launches Investigation Into Greenwich School Administrator Seen in Viral Video

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced Thursday he has invoked his civil rights enforcement authority to launch an investigation into a now-viral video of a Greenwich school administrator apparently making comments about his hiring practices.

Project Veritas, the group that posted the video online Tuesday, says it shows the administrator with a woman at a series of restaurants in July.

The hidden camera video is highly-edited and NBC Connecticut has not independently verified its accuracy.

At several points in the video, the administrator is asked about his hiring practices. He appears to say he doesn't hire conservatives.

He also appears to label Catholics conservative, and when asked what he does if he finds out a job applicant is Catholic, he responded "You don't hire them." The administrator apparently says he also favors candidates who will push progressive political ideas in the classroom.

"Yesterday, most of us saw for the first time a video that appears to contain troubling, discriminatory statements that appear to have been made by a Greenwich public school official. Today, I am invoking my civil rights enforcement authority to investigate any potentially illegal discrimination or other actionable misconduct related to that video," Tong said.

Tong said his investigation will be thorough and will take time.

"Discrimination, hate, bigotry against any person, and against any religion or on the basis of age, is reprehensible. The video is disturbing, and if teachers, school staff, or applicants for education jobs have been illegally discriminated against for any reason, I will take action," Tong said.

The school administrator was placed on leave and the Greenwich School District has begun its own investigation, according to superintendent Dr. Toni Jones.

The Greenwich Board of Education chair released a statement Thursday:

"These comments were clearly disturbing. The staff member involved has been placed on administrative leave and the incident is being investigated. To be clear, the Board and our policies do not support any discriminatory hiring practices based on race, religion, gender, or age," Kathleen Stowe said in the statement.