The Daily News reports the mayor turned on Chancellor Klein after the test score fiasco, the loss to the UFT and the NAACP in the school closures lawsuit, and polls showed Klein was very unpopular with the public and most people did not believe the mayor had improved the city's school system.
The mayor, who sees education as the signature accomplishment of his three terms, doesn't like that a majority of the city do not see it as an accomplishment at all.
The News article, which has five writers on the byline and claims six sources with knowledge of the relationship between the two men, says Klein wasn't exactly pushed out but he no longer had the power and juice he once had within the administration.
So he left on his own accord.
The article also says Cathie Black was hired because she is sunnier than Klein and is a specialist in "salesmanship."
Interesting.
Speculation on the blogs has been that Klein was pushed by Bloomberg because he plans to run for mayor in 2012 and the sour and dour Klein, very unpopular with the public and especially women, was an albatross around his political neck.
This News article, while not addressing the presidential run in 2012, seems to confirm that angle on the resignation.
The other thing that is interesting about the article is the care the News takes to document that they have six sources with knowledge of the relationship between the two men.
Interestingly enough, Howard Wolfson's name never comes up in the article. Wolfson, the mayor's communications director, comes up in almost every article about Bloomberg these days.
I have to wonder if Wolfson is one of those anonymous sources. It is clearly in Bloomberg's interest to get the story out that Klein, while not pushed, was encouraged to leave because the mayor was not happy with Klein's "performance" lately.
At least, that's how I read this.
Klein doesn't push back against Bloomberg in this article. Rather he just says in a statement the article is wrong, that he left simply to start a new career in media, not because his relationship with Bloomberg had "cooled."
It will be interesting to see if we don't see a Klein push back against Bloomberg somewhere else - like in the Post or the Wall Street Journal, two media publications owned by Klein's new employer, Rupert Murdoch.
I don't know if he runs. Linda McMahon dropped $50,000,000 to run against the "I served in 'Nam, no I didn't" Richard Blumenthal, "HP" Carly Failurina dropped some megabucks and could not beat Feinstein or Boxer while "Megabucks" Meg Whitman dropped $115 million and she could not beat political relic "Governor Moonbeam" Jerry Brown.
ReplyDeleteIf anything, I see a "I'm for, no against, now for..." (see the trend) Bloomberg Part IV---Race to the Unemployment Line. If he is to run for President, he would start soon and start now dropping the $30 billion he intends to have once his middle class pillaging is done.
Noun/Verb/September 11 Giuliani met a similar fate. I don't think Americans can be so stupid but from reading your blog, I'm not so sure.
Yes of course the 2012 run for the White House. There it is, it could not be any clearer. His Honor has to replace anyone who might at a future date cause skepticism regarding his signature achievement the Education Mayor. That also would explain Madam Weingartens posture all these years with Bloomberg. He pays to play with contracts for those who allow the perception of reform and accountability while the reality is carefully kept out of the mass public view. See Adam Lisberg's comments in todays daily news on how the mayors handlers keep a lid on information they deem problematic for the mayor. Guess what, for a really good opinion on all of this Black/Klein/Mayor fiasco, read on line Andrew Wolf's opinion(New York Sun) page dated Nov 19th. He as usual nails the true story about the schools and mayoral control. I especially like the dollars he exposes (23 Billion at last count per the past school year) during Bloomberg and Kleins administration.
ReplyDeleteMoney doesn't always prevail but Bloomberg was incredibly lucky after 9/11. Rudy went from bum to hero in a flash, and Mark Green was the most inept candidate we'd seen in some time.
ReplyDeleteWill he be able to buy the White House with a shaky Obama and a lunatic Republican as opponents? Let's hope he doesn't get a scenario like that to invest in.
Let's not forget that Wiengarten and Mulgrew persistently left Bloomberg out of the discussion whenever they pretended to oppose the destruction of the schools and the weakening of the union under mayoral control, preferring tp paint Klein as the bad guy. Additionally, Wolfson is, or was, a consultant to the UFT, so there's an incestuous little connection between Unity Caucus and Bloomberg.
ReplyDeleteIf this Daily News story is true, then hopefully some of Klein's loyalists will start feeding stories that undermine the Big Lie of mayoral control under His Contemptuousness.
As for Bloomberg's election in 2001, yes, Mark Green ran an inept campaign, but don't forget the help that Reverend Al gave to Bloomberg, attacking Green non-stop in the weeks after he defeated Freddy Ferrer in the primary. Yes, Al has a nose for money, and will follow it wherever it leads.
It's a good point you make about the Conn and CA races, Social Studies in Staten Island, but the difference with Bloomberg is this: he has a ready made constituency in the Washington press corps. and Village Elite. They LOVE him (just as they loved Fenty and Rhee) and you can bet they'll egg him on to run. I would agree that it is a long shot that America votes for a pro-gay rights, pro-gun control, pro-take people's cares and transfats Jewish Wall Street CEO, but he you never know. If the GOP screws up and nominates a tea party fave, things could get interesting, like NYC Educator suggests. Can you imagine Cathie Black as Secretary of Education and Howard Wolfson as chief of staff. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteAnon, Lisberg's columns are really great. I look forward to his stuff every week. He usually covers something that few in the media are covering.
Michael, I think that's right about Klein using the Post to push back against Bloomberg and save his "legacy." Let's see if that audit of the grad rates Norm was talking about actually happens. If it does, you can bet that Bloomberg will try and blame that on Klein. Wouldn't it be great if there was a rift between them a la Bush/Cheney and we got dueling leak battles in the press?