Carl Heastie: Senate Republicans Love Charters - Just Not In Their Own Districts

State of Politics:

Heastie on Friday reiterated the Assembly’s reticence to support lifting the cap on charter schools, which Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan has linked to an extension of mayoral control in New York City.

“For the most part, the Assembly conference are not big supporters of charter schools,” Heastie said. “Charters are something Senate Republicans like to support. They never want them in their district.”

Indeed, John Flanagan loves charters - and charter school money.


How many charter schools are there on Long Island, where Flanagan is from?

Just five.

Flanagan and his fellow Senate Republicans from Long Island sure do love their charters - just not in their own districts.

John Flanagan's Another One Of Those "Blame Teachers" Politicians

Tom Precious in tha Buffalo News looks at John Flanagan and his education "expertise":

Flanagan, 54, has a long reputation with Albany insiders as a student of the issues. Some lawmakers spend little time actually reading bills, but Flanagan, following in the path of his father, a former assemblyman, has a voracious appetite for reading up on and talking policy matters.

As chairman of the committee on education, Flanagan has spent much of his time on the subject in the last four years. He understands, as much as anyone, the state’s extraordinarily complex annual maze that devises the school funding formula. He understands the problems related to Common Core-based standardized tests but insists that better training for teachers is the key to improving student performance.

Ah, yes - teacher training is the key to improving student performance.

Not funding, not smaller class sizes, not moving away from a test-centric education system for one where that attempts to reach the whole child.

Nope - teacher training.

In short, problems in the education system are the fault of teachers and can be addressed by focusing on "improving" teachers via training (and if that "fails," firing.)

I wouldn't expect any other take from a politican squarely on the StudentsFirst payroll.

The last five senate majority leaders have been arrested on criminal charges.

I look forward to the day when #6 gets carted out.

Is Bill Cosby Still On The StudentsFirst Board? (UPDATED - 10:40 AM)

StudentsFirst seems to have scrubbed their website a bit.

When I put in a Google search for Bill Cosby + Board of Directors + StudentsFirst, here's what comes up:

StudentsFirst Board of Directors | StudentsFirst.org

https://www.studentsfirst.org/board-directors

StudentsFirst

One of America's most beloved comedians of all time, Bill Cosby has captivated generations of fans with his comedy routines, iconic albums and best-selling ...

And yet, when you click on that link, you don't find the page with the Board of Directors listed or the page with Cosby listed as sitting on the board.

Instead, you just get the StudentsFirst.Org page.

I looked around the StudentsFirst website, including under the "Who We Are" tab.

The Board of Directors page seems to have disappeared from the site.

Now I see plenty of stories about Cosby joining StudentsFirst back in September 2012.

I even see a video of him talking about StudentsFirst and education reform.

But I don't see any stories about him stepping down.

Strange that StudentsFirst.org has lots of information about "Meeting Their Team" - including Michelle Rhee - and learning about their "Mission," but alas, no information about their board.

You'd think they want to publicize information about their board, especially since there are some real luminaries sitting on it, including Roland Martin, Joel Klein, Connie Chung and Bill Cosby.

It's as if something happened recently that made them decide to scrub their Board of Directors page, but rather than own up to it, they did it in the dark and hoped nobody noticed.

Now it's possible I've gotten this all wrong here and I'm just missing the information about the Board of Directors at StudentsFirst and all the wonderful members on it.

It's possible that I'm just missing the information about Cosby and his commitment to education reform and children on the Studentsfirst website.

Or it's possible that Cosby stepped down and I'm missing the notice for that on the World Wide Web.

Though I don't think this is the case - Valerie Strauss has a Washington Post piece dated August 13, 2014 about Michelle Rhee stepping down from StudentsFirst and joining Miracle Gro and Cosby is said to still be a member of the StudentsFirst board as of that date.

So it seems likely Cosby was still a member of the StudentsFirst Board of Directors when the sexual assault allegations against Cosby that have long been in the public domain went viral the past few weeks.

It seems that StudentsFirst wanted to distance themselves from the sexual assault (including statutory rape) allegations against Cosby as quickly and as quietly as they could.

If they did want to distance themselves from Cosby and the growing scandal around him, it's a shame they didn't go public and explain EXACTLY why they wanted to do that.

Berklee College of Music did just that with a scholarship Cosby sponsored at the school.

Alas, it seems the "students first" people at StudentsFirst haven't take that same route.

That's a shame - this could have been a teachable moment for us all, as the "Blame Teachers First" crowd turned on one of their own who looks to be a serial sexual assaulter.

You can bet if this was a teacher alleged to have committed these egregious acts, the StudentsFirst crowd wouldn't have gone quietly.

But they seem to have taken the coward's route out instead and scrubbed him away in the middle of the night.

If I've gotten any of this wrong, I will publicly apologize to StudentsFirst and Michelle Rhee herself  for vilifying them for secretly scrubbing their ties away to a man alleged to have committed at least 18 acts of sexual assault and more coming out every day.

Just let me know, StudentsFirst folks.

Is Bill Cosby still a member of your board or not?

UPDATED - 10:40 AM: Patrick Sullivan left the following comment on the post:

 Looks like they took their board page down. Google has a cached copy as of 10/31 that includes Cosby. This link should bring it up:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:mWnrmFEAN-QJ:https://www.studentsfirst.org/board-directors

It seems Michelle Rhee and StudentsFirst did not have the guts to go public with their cutting Cosby loose.

Too bad, but not unexpected.

After all, Rhee helped sexual misconduct allegations against her husband, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, go away.

It seems Ms. Rhee and her fellow ed deformers are only looking for accountability against people who are accused of sexual misconduct when they're teachers.

Bill Cosby And Kevin Johnson - Brothers In Education Reform AND Sexual Predation

When Diane Ravitch blogged in 2012 that Bill Cosby was joining Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst board, I left the following comment on her post, comparing Cosby to Rhee's husband, Kevin Johnson:

reality-based educator

September 17, 2012 at 6:13 pm

Actually Bill Cosby was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a 32 year old woman in 2004. She tried to bring a criminal case against him in 2005, but police declined to file charges. She brought civil charges against him. Her attorneys found 10 other women who also claimed to have been drugged and sexually assaulted by Cosby in the past. Nine were listed anonymously in the court documents, one made the accusations publicly. The court documents are here:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/bill-cosbys-prior-bad-acts

The LA Times covered the story, including the settlement Cosby reached with the woman, here:

http://articles.latimes.com/2006/nov/09/news/wk-cosby9

Cosby settled the 2005 case for an undisclosed amount, the alleged victim of the assault signed a non-disclosure agreement, so no other details of the case emerged. But People magazine covered the aftermath and interviewed three other women who claimed they had been drugged by Cosby and assaulted. People also reported that Cosby had paid off several women who had made these accusations in the past against Cosby.

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20059561,00.html

I have two things to say about this:

First, Cosby fits right in with Kevin Johnson, Rhee’s husband, who himself has at least two accusations of sexual misconduct lodged against him (one by a minor.)

Second, how dare anybody with so many accusations leveled against him in the past lecture people about bad behavior, as Cosby has been known to do?

I stand by that comment tonight- both the Cosby part and the KJ part.

Cosby still fits in at StudentsFirst, which was founded by a woman who made sexual misconduct allegations against her boyfriend (now husband) go away.

Cosby lost his Netflix special, NBC canceled a sitcom they were developing with him and TVLand has stopped running The Cosby Show reruns.

While Cosby is free from the criminal justice system since all of the reported acts happened long ago, his career and reputation are in tatters.

His fellow ed deformer Kevin Johnson, however, remains free and clear tonight, still in power as mayor of Sacramento, even though he's got at least two accusations against him for sexual misconduct.

Isn't it time somebody revisits the Michelle Rhee/Kevin Johnson sexual misconduct case and cover-up again?

Pro-Charter Group Backed By StudentsFirst Drops $672,000+ In Late Campaign Ads For GOP

From State of Politics:

A pro-charter school independent expenditure committee is spending a combined $504,310 in TV and radio ads to oppose to Democratic Senate candidates running in key swing districts next month, according to Board of Elections records.

The group, New Yorkers For A Balanced Albany, is spending $272,000 in radio and TV ads opposing Justin Wagner, a Democrat in the Hudson Valley.

...

Further to the north, the group is spending and additional $232,310 to oppose Sen. Terry Gipson, a freshman Democrat running against Dutchess County Legislator Sue Serino.

The committee is backed by StudentsFirstNY, a group that is primarily funded by wealthy hedge funds and supporters of charter schools such as Paul Tudor Jones II and Daniel Loeb.

On Long Island, the group on Thursday posted a $168,341 cable and TV media buy to oppose the candidacy of Democratic Senate hopeful Adrienne Esposito, who faces Republican Tom Croci in Suffolk County.

Charter entrepreneurs and backers are pushing hard for a GOP/IDC State Senate.

That way, they don't have to worry about anything changing when it comes to charter policy.

They probably wouldn't have to worry if Dems took over either - they've got a lot of them in their pockets too - but nonetheless they're working as hard as they can in some of these districts to ensure the Republican candidate wins.

Meanwhile Cuomo - who promised he would work for a Democratic takeover of the Senate as a tradeoff for the Working Families Party ballot nod - hasn't lifted a finger toward that cause.

StudentsFirst Runs Pro-Republican Ads In NY State Senate Campaigns

Can we dispense with the idea that education reform groups are "liberal"?

Take StudentsFirst, for example:

ALBANY—A pro-charter school group spent a combined $78,000 on Thursday on radio and TV ads in three competitive State Senate races, according to financial disclosure filed with the state's Board of Elections.

New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany, formed by StudentsFirst and run by the New York chapter of the organization, spent $47,000 on a radio ad on behalf of Republican State Senate candidate Tom Croci, who is vying to replace State Senator Lee Zeldin, a Republican who is vacating the seat to run for Congress.

...

Republicans have repeatedly tried to tie Democratic candidates to de Blasio as a way of alienating voters outside New York City. De Blasio campaigned on a pledge to limit the influence of charters in New York City.

New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany, an independent expenditure political action committee created last month and funded largely by pro-charter hedge fund executives, is dedicated to preserving the current majority in the Senate. The upper chamber is controlled by the Republicans and the Independent Democratic Conference, who have been largely supportive of charter schools.

Capital reported yesterday that the PAC had spent $107,000 surveying battleground State Senate districts around New York.

New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany spent an additional $31,000 on cable and radio "media productions," in two competitive districts in the Hudson Valley.

Time and time again, we see these education reforms groups - from the Orwellian-named "Democrats for Education Reform" to supposed Democrat Michelle Rhee's group, StudentsFirst - raising money from the wealthiest (and toniest) of Republican donors (i.e., hedge fundies and other Wall Street types), then using that money to promote right-wing policies and right wing candidates, mostly with (R) after their names.

Carl Korn, spokesman for NYSUT (which is putting up some ads for Senate Dems), puts all this in perspective:

"What we see here is a small group of hedge fund billionaires working to privatize public education by siphoning money away from those schools that serve the vast majority of New Yorkers," NYSUT spokesman Carl Korn told Capital. "In terms of our work, we are proud to support those candidates who support public education and oppose the overreliance of standardized testing…We're working aggressively in a number of Senate races, and Assembly races , to elect candidates whose values align with out members".

StudentsFirst is using dark money from unknown sources to push for their right-wing policies and elect right-wing candidates to keep the State Senate Republican.

There's nothing "liberal" about them - they're no different than any other Republican donor group.

Which is fine - I have no problem with Republican donors groups raising cash and putting it into campaigns to elect their own people and push their own causes and issues.

I simply want those Republican donors to openly say "We're a Republican interest group pushing Republican causes and Republican candidates."

Not to much to ask, right?

Apparently with StudentsFirst it is.

Education Reformers Turned On Michelle Rhee

Mostly because she sucked:

StudentsFirst was hobbled by a high staff turnover rate, embarrassing PR blunders and a lack of focus. But several leading education reformers say Rhee’s biggest weakness was her failure to build coalitions; instead, she alienated activists who should have been her natural allies with tactics they perceived as imperious, inflexible and often illogical. Several said her biggest contribution to the cause was drawing fire away from them as she positioned herself as the face of the national education reform movement.

“There was a growing consensus in the education reform community that she didn’t play well in the sandbox,” one reform leader said.

Gee, I am shocked, shocked to find out Michelle Rhee was imperious, illogical, inflexible and didn't play well with others.

Now we're starting to get stories of Rhee's hubris not from her "enemies" but her former allies:

And her fellow education reformers tell remarkably consistent stories about their frustration with Rhee and the organization she founded.

 In Connecticut, Minnesota, Florida and elsewhere, activists said StudentsFirst often swooped in with pre-fab policy agendas set by national strategists operating out of its Sacramento headquarters.

Rhee’s state directors then promoted those policies and only those policies, without regard to local needs or political realities, according to activists who tried to work with them. In at least one case, the StudentsFirst team insisted on pushing legislation that clashed with other state laws and would have been impossible to implement, sources said.

“They’d walk around with a 15-point legislative agenda and a legislator would say, ‘What are your top two on the list?’ and they would say, ‘Nope, we need all 15,’ — so then they got zero,” one activist said. “They were policy purists in a way that made them seem oblivious to political reality.”

...

An education reform leader familiar with her tactics said Rhee made audacious demands of potential backers — once asking for $50 million from a single donor. (She got $1 million, this source said.)

That's Oprah's "warrior woman" in crystallized form - her way or the highway.

So, she's been told "Hit the highway!"

What more will we learn about Michelle Rhee now that the education reformer knives are out for her?

De Blasio Defends Teacher Tenure System In NYC

It's behind a paywall at Capital NY, but this much was up at State of Politics:

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio defended the city’s teacher-tenure system after a California judge ruled yesterday that the Golden State’s teacher protection laws were unconstitutional.

I would expect corporate education reformers and their hedge fundie backers to attack tenure here soon, but probably wait until the California case plays out first so that they can see the best tact to take here.

But you can bet we'll have a similar case launched in NY.

I know many teachers are pissed at de Blasio, angry over the contract, some still mad about the snow day.

Some have argued, quite plausibly, that the new contract weakens tenure protections for teachers.

Still, one point about the politics I want to say here:

Would the last mayor have defended the city's teacher-tenure system publicly in the wake if the California ruling?

Has Cuomo?

Or Obama?

No Court Case On Teacher Tenure In Works For New York - Yet

From Politicker:

A California court ruling striking down teacher tenure laws as unconstitutional prompted an outpouring of applause from education reform advocates–and a chorus of boos from supporters of public school instructors.

 ...


“It is fantastic news,” said TV anchor-turned-public education critic Campbell Brown. “The parents in California clearly felt the same frustration that many parents are feeling across the country at inaction at the legislative level and inaction by the politicians, and they took.”

Ms. Brown, who sits on the board of the controversial Success Academy Charter School chain, said that no such suit was in the works in New York, but said Treu’s decision would rally pro-charter and anti-tenure movements nationwide.

“What this has done is inspire a lot of education reform groups in states with similar laws,” said Ms. Brown, noting that the school system has similar difficulties removing teachers in New York.

It's only a matter of time until the Wall Street-backed Students First or some other corporate-funded education reform group takes on tenure laws here in NY State or NYC.

Yes, all eyes will watch to see what happens to the appeals in this case.

But you can bet the hedge fundies and the corporate deformers are licking their lips and getting ready to take down tenure here.

Pro-Common Core Speakers At NYC Forums Used Talking Points Scripts With Timelines

Via Chris Cerrone, we learn the following from the Epoch Times about those Common Core supporters who flocked to the NYC Common Core forums to talk up the wonders of CCSS and testing:

NEW YORK—In contrast to the angry crowds of parents who attended forums with the State Education Commissioner John King in other places, the speeches by many parents in New York City extolled his agenda.

 ...

Photos from the forum show a speaker reading a printed note with instructions.

The sheet, marked “Time sensitive,” read: “In the first minute, talk about how we have always taught our children, that if they work hard and apply themselves, there’s no limit to what they can accomplish.”

“The Common Core Standards make sure that every child—no matter their background or zip-code—has access to an education that prepares them for life after school,” the instructions followed.

“Common Core will ensure that every child, regardless of their zip-code, will have access to quality education,” said Natasha Muñoz, a mother of three from Bronx, in her speech.

“In the second minute,” the sheet instructed, “talk about how some people will ask to slow down change and slow down coming expectations [sic] with Common Core. But they don’t speak for you as a parent because your child’s education is time sensitive and we need to put reforms in place that improve our schools now.”

Several speakers used such “time sensitive” rhetoric, prompting cheers from a group holding look-alike banners which read “Our kids can hit your bar,” “Common Core,” or “Low Expectations” (crossed out with a red line in a circle).

“End by saying: Thank you for the opportunity to speak,” the sheet concluded.

Some of the Common Core supporters identified themselves as teachers with the Uncommon School charter chain. Others were members of StudentsFirstNY, a nonprofit connected to the Success Academy charter school network.

The Success Academy charter school chain is the biggest in New York City with 22 schools. Eva Moskowitz, CEO and founder of the Success Academy Network, is on the board of directors at StudentsFirstNY.

“I think it was rigged,” said Tracy Lynne, elementary school teacher and parent, after attending the forum in Brooklyn.

Lynne arrived an hour early, just so she could sign up for the opportunity to speak. But all 45 spots were already filled. Most of the speakers praised Common Core.

NYSED Commissioner John King, who famously said the parents at a Poughkeepsie forum were "special interests" brought to the meeting to disrupt the festivities, told Jessica Bakeman at Capital NY these Student Firsters and other pro-CCSS reformers using the printed up talking points were "not special interests":

ALBANY—For state education commissioner John King, some interest groups are more special than others.

King kicked off a furor in October when he canceled a series of public forums on the state's Common Core curriculum following an unruly public forum in Poughkeepsie that he said had been “co-opted by special interests."

King received a positive reception at a forum in Brooklyn Tuesday night—the first New York City meeting in King's revamped statewide listening tour—before a crowd of of pro-Common Core parents reportedly organized by an advocacy group that favors the new curriculum.

King said that was “categorically different."

 “What would be the special interest there?” King said Wednesday, referring to the Brooklyn parents who praised the state's adoption of the rigorous standards as well as controversial teacher evaluations. 

 “What are they organizing around?”

Students First NY is officially listed as a lobbying organization with deep, deep pockets for political advocacy.

They brought a bunch of people in to talk up their agenda using scripted talking points with timelines (proven by the photos the Epoch Times has.)

But King says these folks, unlike the outraged parents in Poughkeepsie, are not "special interests."

You just can't make this stuff up.

How'd That Ballot Line Thing Work Out For Students First?

The corporate education reform group Students First had their own ballot line this year - Joe Lhota was on it.

How many votes did Lhota get on the Students First line?

765 votes.

Not exactly a rousing success for either Students First or Joe Lhota.

Bill de Blasio was on the Working Families Party line as well as the Democratic ballot line.

De Blasio received 40,000 votes on the WFP line.

You Can't Put Students First If You Put Teachers Last

Went running from Jersey City to Bayonne yesterday because it was a beautiful day and I wanted to be outside and get some exercise.

Along Broadway, I saw signs like this in some shop windows:

Had lunch in one little restaurant that had that sign in the window.

It was nice to see signs like this that frame the battle for teachers' rights and work protections as a concurrent battle for students' rights.

The truth is, busting the teachers unions and bringing in non-unionized teachers who can be fired at will does not help students.

Burning teachers out by working them half to death, with 7 AM-7 PM schedules plus on-call hours for students to get homework help, does not help students.

Making teaching, already an emotionally and physically exhausting job, even more emotionally and physically exhausting by taking away vacation time and Saturdays, does not help students.

These kinds of schedules don't help students either.

They socialize children into believing that life is nothing more than work, that working 12-14 hours a day is the only way to "get ahead," that nothing matters in life more than work - not family nor friends, not hobbies nor outside activities that enrich the spirit and broaden the horizons.

All that matters is the grind, the test scores, "achievement," money, material wealth - whatever the "goal" the corporatists set up for people to aim for.

I am certain that people like Eva Moskowitz and David Levin of KIPP truly believe these are the right lessons to teach children and this is the right way to live a life.

But just because these people believe that stuff doesn't make them right.

To me, life is about balance - work, family, friends, hobbies, physical activity, spiritual work, emotional work.

I am always trying to find that balance between these different facets of my life.

It is not easy these days as the corporatists and the meritocrats promote the WORK IS ALL THAT MATTERS lifestyle for all of us, whether that's what we want or not, whether that is what we need or not.

But I am trying to strike balance in my life and I believe that is a sound, educational practice to teach to children as well.

Puts me at odds with Moskowitz and Levin and other "reformers" and corporatists, the CNBC set and the like.

And yet, when I look at these people, listen to them, watch the way they live, I am very glad I hold different values from them.

There is more to life than work, more to life than test scores and "achievement," more to life than money and material wealth.

I do not believe that God or Zeus or the universe or fate or whatever put us all here on earth for the time we are here did so because we're supposed to spend our lives working 12-14 hours a day so that we can make a ton of money and buy stuff that ultimately ends up in the garbage when we're through with it.

DFER Hedge Fundie Supports Eliot Spitzer

Eliot Spitzer is turning into the DFE/education reformie candidate this year.

Not only has Eliot Spitzer hired a former Students First p.r. hack to be his campaign spokesman, but one of the head honchos at the hedge fundie-backed Democrats For Education Reform is backing Spitzer for comptroller:

Hedge-funder Boykin Curry has sent out an astonishing pro-E liot Spitzer e-mail to his Wall Street colleagues in a bid to build support for the former Love Gov in the financial community.

Despite Spitzer’s storied crusade against Wall Street, Curry — managing director of Eagle Capital Management — writes in the missive to his fellow money managers, “Even the arrogance and bullying that some disliked in a Governor would serve us well in a Comptroller.”

Curry, born into a prominent banking family, is the founder of lobbying group Democrats for Education Reform, which raised money for Spitzer when he was governor as well as for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, State Sen. Malcolm Smith (now facing federal corruption charges) and disgraced former Assemblyman Vito Lopez. The group counted the charter cap lift, signed by Spitzer in April 2007, as a major victory. Curry and his socialite designer wife, Celerie Kemble, are society fixtures and known for hosting parties for power players like Cory Booker, David Koch and Eric Schmidt.

Curry wrote in his e-mail about Spitzer, “We have someone who is indisputably brilliant and doggedly hard-working, who owes nothing to anyone (to say the least), and who is expert in business, law and finance, volunteering to serve as the watchdog of the city’s treasure.

“There is a temptation to visit punishment on someone who has betrayed us, but at some point the safety of workers’ pensions and the future of New York City is more important than that . . . Surely it is not worth risking the future fiscal stability of New York — and the interests of eight million citizens — simply to punish a man who is willing to throw himself back into public service. Eliot is vastly better for this job than Scott Stringer on every conceivable dimension.”

Strike two for why teachers should not back Spitzer for comptroller.

Spitxer said he wants to use the comptroller office to audit the school system, grad rates, and the like.

With some in the Students First and DFER crowd joining and/or supporting him, you might wonder just what agenda he plans to bring to those audits.

Eliot Spitzer Hires Former Students First/Michelle Rhee Press Hack

Hari Sevugan just got hired to be Eliot Spitzer's press flack, but he used to work for Michelle Rhee's Students First political action committee.

At Students First, his job was to defend Michelle Rhee's right wing, pro-public school privatization agenda and pretend like it was a progressive agenda.

As you can imagine, he spent most of his days spewing lies and half-truths and making believe like they were truths brought down from the mount by Moses.

Diane Ravitch did a nice job countering some jive he spewed earlier this year when he was still working for Rhee here.

Now Sevugan has given up lying for Michelle Rhee for a living and taken on lying for Eliot Spitzer for a living.

But so far, Hari's not doing so well at his new job:

The battle between former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is getting personal.

Campaign spokespersons on both sides of the divisive comptroller’s contest got into a Twitter flap this afternoon after Mr. Spitzer’s new communications flack, Hari Sevugan, shot off a passive-aggressive missive at Mr. Stringer’s long-time spokeswoman, Audrey Gelman.

“Congrats to @audreygelman for making Politico’s 50 to Watch List. She gets way better press than I do… Or her boss does, for that matter,” he tweeted earlier this afternoon, an obvious dig at Ms. Gelman’s many glossy magazine profiles and appearances on the hit show Girls.

Mr. Sevugan, apparently realizing his misstep quickly, apologized in a direct message to Ms. Gelman obtained by Politicker.

“Mr. Hey Audrey – hope I did’t go too far. I have a calibration problem, which isn’t the best quality in a flack. a sincere congratulations…,” he allegedly wrote, also offering his contact information in case she ever wanted to reach out.

Mr. Sevugan, who was also featured on Politico‘s “50 to Watch List” back in 2009, told Politicker he’d meant no harm and looked forward to sparring with Ms. Gelman through the campaign. “I was just have a little fun at her boss’ expense,” he said. “She deserves all the accolades she’s gotten.   She’s doing a tremendous job. And I look forward to going up against her in the papers every day.”

Nevertheless, Mr. Sevugan’s remark resulted in a barrage of criticism from Mr. Stringer’s not-so-secret allies.

The first came from Bloomberg spokeswoman Julie Wood, a close friend of Ms. Gelman. “@HariSevugan hi, who are you?” she asked.

“Welcome to NYC, this isnt how we do things here, dude,” added Risa Heller, who–in another layer of intrigue–is former Congressman Anthony Weiner’s former spokesman. Mr. Weiner, of course, hasn’t benefited from Mr. Spitzer’s jump into the race, which has dragged both of their infamous scandal back into the spotlight.

“Classless,” added Michael Morey, spokesman for City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and mayoral candidate–a vocal Stringer ally. Mr. Morey works at the same consulting firm, SKD Knickerbocker, as Ms. Gelman, as does the Washington-based Hilary Rosen, who also piled on.

“Spitzer – a classy guy with classy staff!!” agreed Dan Levitan, who reps fellow Stringer supporter and mayoral contender Bill de Blasio.

“Grabbing popcorn,” chimed Kamran Mumtaz, who works with Ms. Wood in Mayor Bloomberg’s press office.

Ms. Gelman herself declined to comment but re-tweeted a couple statements of support.
“Audrey is loving every minute of it. so are her twitter surrogates like julie wood. and so are her frenemies,” said one self-described “frenemy” of Ms. Gelman of the spat.

Now I know this is all inside baseball stuff and most people probably don't care much about this kind of thing.

But I want to point out two things here:

First, Spitzer hired a former Students First p.r. guy to work for him.

Second, that guy is an ass.

You know what, let me point out a third thing here:

Since Spitzer hired a former Students First p.r. guy to work for him, I will not be supporting him for comptroller.

Salon Picks Up The Story Of Michelle Rhee's "Reformer Of The Year" Award To A Virulently Homophobic Tennessee Lawmaker

From Salon:

Michelle Rhee’s controversial education reform nonprofit StudentsFirst recently selected a virulently anti-gay lawmaker as the organization’s “reformer of the year.”

StudentsFirst’s honoree, Tennessee state Rep. John Ragan, is the co-sponsor of the state’s shameful (and, thankfully, failed) “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, a measure that would have banned teachers from discussing sexuality that is not “related to natural human reproduction” in the classroom. The bill was a barely-concealed attempt to prevent teachers from talking about the existence of gays and lesbians with their students, and would have enshrined anti-gay discrimination in Tennessee law and educational policy. Additional language in Ragan’s measure would have compelled educators and school therapists to “out” students they suspected of being gay to parents or guardians.

Despite the Republican lawmaker’s public (and easily searchable) anti-gay legislative track record targeting queer students, StudentsFirst hailed Ragan as a “reformer” who “consistently voted to do right by kids when it comes to education.”

When confronted with Ragan’s voting record, StudentsFirst Vice President of National Policy Eric Lerum tweeted  that the organization “wouldn’t have endorsed had we known,” but, despite a request for comment from Salon, has issued no formal statement to address the matter or given any indication that they intend to retract their endorsement.

This isn’t the first time StudentsFirst has honored a bigoted legislator. In 2012, the organization selected state Sen. Chip Rogers, an anti-immigrant Republican from Georgia, as their “reformer of the year.” Rogers is infamous for, among other anti-immigrant measures, sponsoring a bill that would have cut off all state services to undocumented immigrants, including preventing DREAMers from attending public schools.

As the Daily Kos notes and as Salon has previously reported, StudentsFirst has stirred controversy in the past with their anti-tenure, anti-union and pro-charter “reform” recommendations, and a heavily Republican, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT and anti-choice political candidate endorsement list.

Oh, we wouldn't have chosen the virulent homophobe who wants teachers and school therapists to out students if they make disclosures about their sexuality if we'd known that's what he's like, but since we already chose him and since neither Michelle Rhee nor anyone associated with her ever makes mistakes, we're going to continue to honor him as the "reformer of the year."

So what if he's a bigot.

The mainstream media and political world has ho-hummed this story so far.

Can you imagine if the AFT or the NEA gave an award to somebody like Ragan?

What would the reaction be in the corporate media and the political world?

Michelle Rhee does live a charmed life, doesn't she?

Seems like nothing she or her PAC can do brings down accountability onto them.

Michelle Rhee Attacks Teachers For Living On The "Gravy Train"

You just can't make this stuff up.

At one of Michelle Rhee's final, pre-cheating memo appearances, she attacked teachers for being greedy, lazy and, you know, unaccountable:

COLUMBIA , SC — Former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee had trouble recalling the names of South Carolina’s “key players” after a quick visit to the State House on Wednesday. But state lawmakers may want to take note of hers.

Rhee’s education advocacy group, StudentsFirst, is lobbying in 18 states, including South Carolina. The group says it backed 105 legislative candidates in 2012 – 91 Republicans and 14 Democrats – and 86 won.

 ...

So what are Rhee and her advocacy group doing in South Carolina?

Meeting with teachers, now a part of the 25,000 members that StudentsFirst claims in the state, and meeting with education leaders, including S.C. schools Superintendent Mick Zais.

Rhee’s group supports bills in the S.C. Legislature aimed at strengthening the state’s charter-school law, helping parents mobilize to force reforms in failing schools and allowing students to enroll in neighboring school districts.

A top goal is backing the S.C. Department of Education’s plan to evaluate teachers based on how much students improve on test scores.

Educators make excuses for failing schools, Rhee said. But, she added, “The bottom line is: The system did not become the way that it is by accident. It operates exactly the way it was designed to operate, which is in a wholly unaccountable, dysfunctional manner.

“So when you seek to change that dynamic” – including going after “low-performing” teachers – “you’re gonna have a whole lot of unhappy people on your hands. When you stop that gravy train, somebody is going to be unhappy.”

Yeah, there are so many teachers in South Carolina, where the average teaching salary is $46,306.67 a year, who are on the "gravy train."

And Rhee, who charges a $50,000 speaking fee plus first class expenses, is just the person to get those lazy, greedy teachers off that gravy train and of course, she's doing it for the kids.

Oh, and herself, since she pays herself somewhere between $125,000-$200,000 a year for running her corporate education reform PAC, Students First.

And that's just the money she's making on the books.

You can be sure there is a lot of other wingnut welfare she's receiving outside of the Students First salary and the speaking fees for pushing the corporate education reform agenda.

Now I'm pretty sure that Michelle Rhee believes her own b.s. and isn't in this just for the money.

But I'm also pretty sure that someone who pays herself between $125,000-$200,000 a year for her day job and charges $50,000 + first class expenses every time she speaks somewhere sure does like the money and first class things and, dare I say, some gravy train living herself.

We'll just have to see if she can maintain her gravy train lifestyle post-cheating memo.

If the D.C. cheating scandal continues to snowball, she may find herself off the gravy train too.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/04/13/2722899/the-buzz-the-bee-eater-was-here.html#storylink=rss#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/04/13/2722899/the-buzz-the-bee-eater-was-here.html#storylink=rss#storylink=cpy