Federal Prosecutor Investigates Cory Booker For Corruption

Another day, another crooked neo-liberal politician under investigation for corruption:

Federal prosecutors have launched a probe into the Newark Watershed Authority for actions it took while chaired by the city’s then-mayor Cory Booker, sources said.

The inquiry centers on alleged misappropriation of taxpayer funds first uncovered by the New Jersey Comptroller’s Office and a local watchdog group.

While Booker — who is now a US senator — served as the agency’s ex-officio chairman between 2007 and 2012, his former law firm, Trenk, DiPasquale, Webster, raked in $1 million in legal fees. Elnardo Webster, Booker’s 2006 campaign treasurer, served as the authority’s general counsel.

The Post previously reported that the law firm paid Booker $700,000 — even after he became mayor. Booker claims the payments were part of a “separation agreement” for work done before he was elected.

Booker’s campaign spokeswoman said he “had nothing to do with the business the firm conducted with the Watershed, nor did he have a hand in their getting a contract there.”

The authority spilled the beans about the federal probe in a separate court proceeding as it sought reimbursement from the city for expenses, said Renee Steinhagen, executive director of NJ Appleseed, a public-interest law firm that represents a citizens’ group.

Booker refused to respond to news of the story, prompting this editorial from the Murdoch Post: (the outlet which reported the story in the first place):

Even though he’s running for re-election to the US Senate, Cory Booker refuses to answer key questions about millions siphoned from a commission he chaired.

The questions for the former Newark mayor boil down to two: 

Did he know about the taxpayer dollars that went to enrich his pals at the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corp. while he was chairman? And were checks he continued to receive from his law firm after becoming mayor a quid pro quo?

These questions take on a new importance now that a federal prosecutor is looking into them, as The Post’s Carl Campanile reported Monday.

Booker’s law firm of Trenk, DiPasquale made $2 million doing legal work for the city of Newark — $1 million on the watershed alone.

Meanwhile, the firm continued to pay Booker $700,000 throughout most of his mayoral tenure — including a final payment of $30,000 in 2012 that was “accidentally” left off his subsequent federal disclosure forms.

Booker has been all over the map with explanations, first denying the firm paid him or that he did any work for the firm, then blaming omissions on an accounting error, then saying the payments were from a “confidential” separation agreement.

If a written copy of his separation agreement with Trenk, DiPasquale exists, Booker could clear up much of the confusion simply by releasing it. Why won’t he?

Booker's a slippery fellow.

It sure would be nice to see federal prosecutors get him.

Cory Booker, Mitch McConnell Have Same Donors

If you're even dimly aware of the fevered ego that is neo-liberal Senator Cory Booker, you're not surprised by this news:

Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) share at least one thing: campaign donors.
Booker, a Senate newbie, and McConnell, the Senate minority leader, show up dipping into the same donor pool more than any other opposing-party members of Congress.

They shared 74 donors in the first year of this election cycle.

...

Predictably, the list of Booker and McConnell crossover donors includes powerful names at Fortune 500 companies, like  Lawrence J. Salva, senior vice president of Comcast, William Lauder, chairman of Estée Lauder Companies, and Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google.

Cory Booker, the hedge fund managers favorite former Newark mayor, still lapping up the Wall Street and corporate largesse.

Taking Back Newark From The Privatizers

In case you missed this:

@KarenLewisCTU @deBlasioNYC @berthalewis Ras Baraka for Mayor of Newark http://t.co/7PjLgIioQx …
— Mark Naison (@McFiredogg) December 21, 2013

Electing a pro-public school mayor to Newark would be a big thing, a really big thing.

Hedge fund crony Cory Booker has gone on to do bigger and more damaging things at the federal level now, but maybe, just maybe, somebody can come in after him in Newark and clean up the privatized mess he left there.

Christie, Cuomo, Booker - All The Same

Mark Naison points out Chris Christie is not the only local teacher-basher and destroyer of public education:

 As we watch, with excitement and some trepidation, how our Hero-BAT Love Light is being given national exposure because of her campaign trail encounter with Republican Gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie, let us remember that there are two other Presidential aspirants in the New York Metropolitan area- both of them Democrats-whose positions on education issues are indistinguishable from that of Christie: New Jersey Senator elect Cory Booker, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. They may not engage in the kind of theatrical display of teacher bullying that Governor Cristie gave us, but attacks on teachers and teachers unions are integral part of the political formula they hope will elevate them to the White House and they draw funds and advisors from Astro Turf school reform groups the same way Cristie's does.

Indeed, Cuomo and Booker, like Barack Obama before them, can be more dangerous than a virulent and violent anti-unionist and teacher basher like Christie because as Dems they can push through much more harmful anti-labor initiatives then Republicans like Christie would get away with.

Hell, the unions here in NY State supported Cuomo's anti-teacher initiatives.

The (D) after Cuomo's name gave them the cover to do it, just the way the (D) after Cuomo's name gave him the cover to shove through a radical privatization agenda for the public school system.

So yes, Christie is dangerous and must be stopped.

But the same goes for Cory Booker and Andrew Cuomo.

Cory Booker Beats Tea Party Candidate In Special Election

Yeah, he won by 12 percentage points (at least as of 10:10 PM.)

You know what?

He should have won by 30+.

Booker's opponent, Steve Lonegan, was a Tea Party favorite who trotted around with Sarah Palin during the campaign.

Booker faced a Tea Party opponent during the Washington default crisis brought on by Tea Party Republicans, something that hasn't been lost on Americans who now say they like the Tea Party even less post-default crisis than they did before it.

Booker's Daddy, Mike Bloomberg, had to drop a million bucks in the race to help Boooker pull this out.

And yet the media's favorite Dem, Cory Booker could only beat Tea Party Steve Lonegan by 12 points.

Nothing to brag about if you're Cory Booker.

It's a win - but it's not a pretty one.

Cory Booker Still Has A Race On His Hands

This special election was supposed to be a Cory Booker blow-out:

A new Quinnipiac poll in New Jersey finds Cory Booker (D) leading Steve Lonegan (R) by 12 points in the U.S. Senate race, 53% to 41%.

Said pollster Maurice Carroll: "It's still not the predicted blow-out, but with a week to go, Newark Mayor Cory Booker hangs on to a nice, if not exactly comfortable, double-digit lead."

Booker will win this race - but he should win it by 40 points.

That he is only beating a Tea Party Republican with an affinity for Sarah Palin in a special election in a very blue state tells you a lot about how weak Booker really is.

Mayor Bloomberg Spends $1 Million In Cash For Cory Booker's Floundering Senate Campaign

Wall Street shill Cory Booker, ostensibly a "rock star politician" who is supposed to be entering the national stage as one of the great future hopes of the Democratic Party, needs Mike Bloomberg's money to dispense with a Tea Party opponent who should be 50 points down but is suddenly within 12.

The Times reports Bloomberg is putting $1 million of his own money in on Booker's side, running ads touting Booker's talents and skills.

Alas, that Booker needs Daddy Bloomberg to finish buying the election for him shows you just how weak a politician he really is.

This campaign should have been over already, with Booker's opponent Steve Lonegan using Sarah Palin to campaign for him in a what is a pretty blue state - not exactly a winning formula.

But Booker's arrogance and ineptitude have made this election close and now his Wall Street backers need to come in and save it for him.

I am going to make a prediction here.

Booker wins this race and gets his Senate seat.

But his personal flaws will cost him dearly throughout his Senate career and while he may win re-election next year when his Senate seat is up once again, he will not grow into the national politician his Wall Street backers and media shills think he will.

His ambivalent governance of Newark and his ham-handed Senate campaign are two pieces of evidence to let us see that Cory Booker is no Barack Obama when it comes to the talent, skill, temperament and discpline needed to make it to the highest office in the land.

If anything, I wouldn't be surprised to see Booker taken down by scandal in the near future - either from the lies and exaggerations he tells about himself or from his shady business dealings.

Cory Booker Frightened He's Going To Lose Senate Race

Two stories make me think Newark Mayor Cory Booker is worried he might lose his Senate race or barely squeak out a victory in what was supposed to be a huge blowout.

First, Booker's opponent released an internal poll showing the race within six points.

Now that's a Republican poll taken for a Republican candidate so we have take the results with a grain of salt.

But then, there's this:

Cory Booker May Have A Senate Race On His Hands

DFER favorite-Cory Booker is supposed to win this New Jersey Senate race hands down.

But Quinnipiac finds the race has narrowed with a little more than six weeks to go before election day:

A new Quinnipiac poll in New Jersey finds Cory Booker (D) leading Steve Lonegan by 12 points in the U.S. Senate race among likely voters, 53% to 41%.

Said pollster Maurice Carroll: "Maybe that 'show horse vs. work horse' charge from Lonegan is having an impact. While we can't make a direct comparison between registered voters and likely voters, Booker did have a 54% to 29% registered voter lead over Lonegan in Quinnipiac's August 7 pre-primary survey."

Booker is still over 50% in the race, which means Lonegan has an uphill battle to win.

But there have been some negative stories about Booker out in the press lately, which could be contributing to some support going to Lonegan.

In the end, I think Booker still wins the race,

But it will be interesting to see if he wins in a double digit blowout or if Lonegan can close the gap even more and make it a real race.

Newark Star Ledger: Chris Christie And Cory Booker Share Same Key Donors

The corporate education reformers are coming out for both Christie and Booker:

Five dozen wealthy donors from Wall Street to Silicon Valley have placed their bets on both of New Jersey’s big political stars — Republican Gov. Chris Christie and Democratic Newark Mayor Cory Booker — this campaign season, a Star-Ledger review of state and federal records shows.

When the governor and the mayor hit the fundraising circuit in California this year, they collected maximum donations from many of the same tech moguls at gatherings hosted by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, a friend to both men.

When they were home in the Garden State, the two celebrity politicians drew big checks from the same prominent real estate brokers and land developers.

And in New York, Kenneth Langone, the Republican billionaire who pushed Christie to run against President Obama in the 2012 race, has given $5,200 to Booker’s campaign for U.S. Senate this year and $3,800 to Christie’s re-election effort.

In all, 59 people in four states have given to both candidates this year, The Star-Ledger review found. From that donor base, Booker has received $300,550 and Christie has drawn $212,000 — a small portion of their total fundraising hauls: $8.6 million for the mayor and nearly $7 million for the governor.

...

Some of their support seems to be issue-based. Two billionaires — Alan Fournier of New Jersey and John Doerr of California — are prominent backers of some of the education policies Booker and Christie espouse.

"It’s really all about education. They both have very strong track records on education reform and trying to help kids," said Fournier, founder of a multibillion-dollar hedge fund based in Summit and co-founder of the nonprofit education group Better Education for New Jersey Kids. "New Jersey has the worst gap between minority students and upper-class suburban kids in the country, and we spend more in New Jersey than most states on a per-pupil basis, but we haven’t gotten the results."

Fournier, who was in the audience last week for Christie’s speech at a KIPP charter schools conference in Las Vegas, applauded Christie’s work tying teacher tenure to student achievement last year. Fournier, a registered Republican, stressed that education reform is a bipartisan effort and noted he also supports Democrats such as Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex).

"If you want to make change in New Jersey, it has to be on both sides of the aisle," he said.

Facebook spokeswoman Sarah Feinberg said Zuckerberg "is a longtime supporter of both Christie and Booker, dating back to Mark’s work with both of them on the issue of education reform."

The three worked on a $100 million education initiative for Newark schools — donated by Zuckerberg — that kicked off when they appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2010.

A vote for Cory Booker is a vote for Chris Christie is a vote for hedge fundie-backed corporate education reform as well as Wall Street-friendly policies that steal money from the little people to give it to the wealthy.

Same goes for Steve Fulop, Booker's Goldman Sachs buddy in Jersey City.

Using Cory Booker's Hedge Fundie/Charter School Connections Against Him

Buzzfeed has a piece out that says opponents of Newark Mayor Cory Booker have a four-pronged strategy to take him out before the special election to replace Frank Lautenberg's Senate seat from NJ - and one part of that strategy is to hit him on charters and his adversarial relationship with teachers:

But one a strategist connected to an opposing campaign said one weak spot in Booker’s campaign would be “the fact that his record in Newark is even debatable,” the source said. “You look at Pallone and Holt and you see a proven record in Washington, not to mention a voting record.”

As mayor of a city, Booker has managerial experience that very well may appeal to voters, but Pallone and Holt have both voted on a range of economic, social, and foreign issues on the floor of the House, providing voters a clear sense of where both candidates stand on national policy.

Rival candidates could also seize on Booker’s strained relationship with state teachers unions, as well as his support for charter schools, which are championed by the same hedge fund and Wall Street communities that have financed Booker for years.

“That’s what makes us least comfortable,” said Steve Phillips, a progressive fundraiser whose political action committee has vowed to raise $1 to $2 million for Booker. “I understand the complexities of trying to do something for lower-income kids in a political bureaucracy, but if I could wave my magic wand, I wouldn’t want him as close to the hedge fund folks as he is.”

Booker is way ahead of Frank Pallone and Rush Holt in polls, but as one commenter in the piece notes: “Nothing is inevitable.”

We'll see.

If nothing else, exposing Booker for the opportunistic corporate whore he is would be a good thing.

Cory Booker Does The Business Of Our Corporate Overlords

The WSJ covers the release of the emails related to Mark Zuckerberg's "gift" of $100 million in Facebook stock to the Newark school district.

Mayor Cory Booker had attempted to keep the emails secret but the ACLU sued to get release.

Via Schools Matter, Glenn Ford of the Black Agenda Report looks at the crimes of Cory Booker, Barack Obama and other black politicians who do the bidding of our corporate overlords.

Ford shows how the attacks on black progressivism and unionism have helped promote the corporate agenda.

It is good to remember that, as Booker's machinations with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, the Broad Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and David Einhorn and other hedge fund criminals to sell off the Newark public school system are exposed.

Booker likes to go on Oprah and make like he is trying to improve the lives of citizens of his city.

But most citizens in Newark are not fooled by Booker.

They know Booker is not out to improve public education, public schools or the lives of the citizens in Newark.

They know he is out to promote a corporate agenda, a privatization agenda, and thus promote himself for higher office.

If he tried to run for re-election in Newark, he probably wouldn't win - he has a reputation for being an "absentee mayor" - a politician more interested in national acclaim over stunts like his trying live on food stamps for a week than the difficult business of actually governing Newark.

But that's okay - he's aiming higher anyway.

He had been mulling running for governor for so long that it seemed a foregone conclusion he would run - until Hurricane Sandy. 

Following the storm,Chris Christie's approval ratings soared and Booker soured on running against Christie.

He will try and run for Frank Lautenberg's Senate seat instead, using the Senate as a launching pad to eventually run for president, just like another great sell-out of progressivism, Barack Obama.

Booker's ruffling some feathers by announcing this bid so far out from the election, but make no mistake, Big Money, Wall Street and the hedge fundies will be behind Cory Booker.

So will Bill Gates, the Broad Foundation and Oprah Winfrey.

Some of the same coalition that helped put Obama in the White House, btw.

Although unlike Obama, who has a lukewarm relationship with his corporate overlords at best, Booker is beloved by the corporate establishment.

Which is why he is so dangerous - he can look like a progressive to people who aren't paying close attention while actually harming progressive ideals and politics a great deal.

Take his food stamp stunt, where Booker lived on food stamps for a week to allegedly expose the problems with the program.

Rather than pulling stunts like that, he ought to be fighting for better paying jobs for people in New Jersey so they don't have to supplement their pay with food stamps to feed their families.

But this guy's too busy defending the private equity predators from attacks and backing Chris Christie up on his charter school proposals and attacks on teachers unions to get around to putting pressure on a company like, say, Walmart to provide a livable wage to its employees before it opens a store in Newark.

He's too busy promoting himself on Twitter, appearing on Oprah and writing opinion pieces in the Star-Ledger about his future plans to think much about the people who need help the most.

That's why the guys in private equity and on Wall Street love this guy - he's all show, and when it comes to policy agendas, Cory Booker can always be counted on to do the right thing - for Wall Street and the corporate state.

And so, as you peruse the Cory Booker/Facebook emails and see the coziness the mayor has with the Broad Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the hedge fund industry, remember that Booker is looking to use those relations to take his thing national.

Just like that other paragon of progressivism, Barack Obama.

Cory Booker Engineers City Council Coup In Newark, Near-Riot Ensues

Amazing footage from Newark as Mayor Cory Booker seated a crony on the City Council per a backroom deal, then got run off the stage by protesters in a near-riot:


The cops maced a bunch of people, Booker slunk off into the darkness and once again, we see democracy, American-style, in action.

Afterwards the crowd chanted "Cory's gotta go!  Cory's gotta go!" and Councilman Darrin Shariftold told the Newark Star-Ledger:

"This truly was an out-of-body experience. The mayor, who goes all around the country to talk about democracy … literally in the back of the room, hiding in the shadows."

As an aside, this is exactly the kind of political manipulation corporate education reformers like Cory Booker do all the time to sell off the public school system.

We need a little of this kind of response to get the message across to Booker and the other crooks when they pull their backroom deals selling off the schools and privatizing the system.

I've said it before, I'll say it again - until the oligarchs and their political functionaries like Booker fear the consequences of their actions, really fear that they will suffer financially or career-wise or personally for selling the 99% down the river to the corporate interests, nothing is going to change.

But you get this kind of reaction to a backroom political manipulation by Booker and the oligarchs and their political functionaries will take notice.

Booker was expected to announce a run for governor next year earlier this month and the political elite were eagerly anticipating a race between Christie and Booker.

Booker delayed that announcement, ostensibly because of the hurricane fall-out but more likely because Christie's post-Sandy approval ratings are through the roof and he's rethinking whether he wants to run or not.

I am willing to bet that last night's events, captured on video and ready for a 30 second spot to be used on him, put the last nail in Booker's 2013 campaign for governor.

Christie's post-Sandy popularity across political lines, coupled with the Obama footage from the hurricane, won't play well against last night's Newark video footage for Booker.

Booker is a favorite of the hedge fund criminals and Wall Street crooks, so I doubt last night's near-riot puts an end to his career trajectory.

But it surely takes the gloss off of it and makes him look like just another corrupt New Jersey pol - which he is.

Cory Booker Operates Shadow Government Funded By Billionaires In Newark

Newark Mayor Cory Booker finally offered some information on just who is funding education "reform" in Newark other than Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg:

Newark Mayor Cory Booker Thursday provided his most detailed accounting yet of private donations made to bolster reform efforts in the state’s largest school district.

There is $25 million from a New York investor, $10 million from a venture capitalist, $5 million from a team of husband-and-wife bankers and $3 million from one of the world’s most prominent philanthropists.

The disclosure comes amid a week of questions about just how much Booker has raised to match Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million gift to the city schools, what the money is being used for and in what amounts.

It also comes days after revelations of acting state Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf’s relationship with a consulting firm hired by Booker to audit Newark schools. The firm, Global Education Advisors, produced a controversial plan to close or consolidate low-performing, under-enrolled schools and provide space for charter and new high schools.

"There is no hiding going on here with the Zuckerberg grant/Match," Booker wrote in an e-mail.

Ah, but there is LOTS of hiding going on, Mayor Booker.

You still won't say who in your administration gave the go ahead to hire an education reform company started just a few months back by newly appointed New Jersey Education Commissioner Chris Cerf and STILL run out of his Montclair, New Jersey house to lead an audit of Newark's schools.

You kept other officials in the Newark education establishment in the dark about these plans so that they didn't realize who was running the audit until they actually met with someone from the group.

And of course you keep saying you have sought public opinion on these plans and gotten consensus even as the announcement that you plan to close schools and replace them with charters - a plan that will DIRECTLY benefit Global Education Advisors, the group that created the plan - has inspired community outrage and anger.

Why not just be open about all of this and say "Listen, I don't give a shit what anybody thinks. I'm going ahead with what my corporate overlords who dole out my money want me to do."

Because that's essentially what you're doing, only you don't have the guts to be open about it.

Here's more from the Newark Star Ledger on just who those overlords are and how they allow Booker to run a shadow government in Newark that operates in secret, subverts the will of the people and enriches the corporate donors to Booker's coffers:

The potential influx of hundreds of millions of dollars into Newark’s public schools has political and education leaders calling for greater oversight of the donations and how they are spent.

"I know the mayor’s heart is in the right place, but the need for greater transparency should be obvious" Assembly Education Committee Chairman Patrick Diegnan (D-Middlesex) said.

State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), who sits on the committee that will rule on Cerf’s nomination, said the growing trend of private dollars being spent on public schools will likely require new legislation to govern its use.

"We’re seeing a whole new cottage industry growing in the operation of quasi-public schools," Weinberg said.

"If you want to deal in the public arena, then I’m not sure you can expect anonymity."

Weinberg said she has been dealing with similar issues in gaining disclosure from private for-profit hospitals and parallels with education donations, specifically for charter schools.

"We have to find out who’s spending the money and are they getting any return on their investment other than better students," Weinberg said.

Of the $43 million raised so far, the donations came from:

• $25 million from New York investor William Ackman, head of the Pershing Square Foundation.

• $10 million from venture capitalist John Doerr, a founder of the NewSchools Venture Fund.

• $5 million from Elizabeth and Ravenel Curry, founders of the New York investment firm Eagle Capital Management.

• $3 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

So what's the problem with all of this "free" billionaire philanthropy coming into Newark? Plenty:

Rutgers School of Law-Newark professor Paul Tractenberg said he’s not aware of any state laws that require public officials like Booker to be more forthcoming about donations made to the cities they represent and said the average citizen is not aware of how many private dollars are at work in the public sector. But the lack of a statute is not an excuse for Booker to operate a "shadow government," he said.

"We have a bunch of private people having tremendous influence over education policy, and exercising that influence through public officials, in this case Booker," Tractenberg said. "It’s this notion of ‘I don’t have to act like an elected official, I can act like a private power broker’ and there’s something that really smells about that."

Booker said sending private money to public schools is nothing new, citing districts in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

"There have been millions and millions of private dollars flowing into our public school system over the last decade and years before," Booker said, noting "tremendous investments by private individuals as well as corporate foundations who have been seeking to help our children and NPS leadership in their efforts."

Former Newark Superintendent Marion Bolden said Booker’s use of foundation money to shape education policy is unlawful because he has no authority over the district. Newark has been under state control for the past 15 years and only a citywide vote could return decision-making power to the mayor or the board of education.

"The mayor has no legal role in running the schools, and yet he is acting as if has direct control of the schools," said Bolden, whose contract with the state ended in 2008.

"He would need a referendum in order to take control of the schools but he is bypassing that, pretending he doesn’t need one."

Bolden, who has criticized Booker in the past, said the lack of transparency surrounding Booker’s use of donations like those from the Gates and other foundations disenfranchises Newark residents.

She also predicted that community groups would seek a court order to prevent Booker from meddling in the schools.

Robert Curvin, a prominent education and civil rights leader, said this influx of money represents a growing national trend, but the sheer magnitude of donations in Newark is causing alarm.

"You generally have not had private money take over an entire public sector and that is what is very different here," Curvin said.

As the economy becomes more global, American students are struggling to keep up, Curvin said, which is driving private investment in schools. "Given the nature of globalization there’s thoroughly a sense of nervousness about America’s place in the global marketplace and education is the place where that nervousness is most manifested."

But according to Curvin and others, Booker’s recent handling of events, including a the secret plan to phase out numerous schools, is harming reform efforts in Newark.

"I think it’s a manifestation of a total lack of understanding of urban life," Curvin said.

"If this is the man who says he’s going to set a new standard for urban transformation he has, in my view, shown a lack of understanding of what urban transformation is."

Booker is looking to transform Newark all right - right into a feudal playground owned by the corporate overlords with a corporate school system to train obedient workers and shoppers to do just as the overlords want - WORK, SHOP, OBEY - even as the overlords devour more and more of the power, influence, real estate and wealth until Newark the city and America the country become little more than a quasi-democracy in name but a feudal corporate state in practice.

The corporate overlords need friendly faces to do this work and make no mistake, they like to have people of color like Obama, Booker, Fenty, and Patrick to do this stuff.

It looks better than if you have a bunch of white rich guys like Bill Gates, Eli Broad, Michael Bloomberg, the Koch Brothers, the Walton Family and most of the financial industry doing this out front.

But make no mistake, Obama, Booker, Fenty and Patrick are just the face of the neo-urban colonialism we are seeing in places like Newark.

They are operating at the behest of the rich white guys behind them who fund them.

Booker is a crook on the take, operating in the shadows to hand over power and real estate to the corporate interests.

Now Cerf Changes His Tune On Newark Education Auditing Business

Chris Cerf didn't want the Newark Star Ledger to publish the story that Newark Mayor Cory Booker hired an education reform firm started by Chris Cerf back in May 2010 that STILL operates out of Cerf's house in Montclair, New Jersey, because "Cerf did not think it was very important."

Booker could not say how much money the city of Newark has paid Cerf's firm or where the money came from - only that it was raised from outside donations.

Cerf maintained that nothing illicit or unethical was going on with this, that he had no ties to the firm anymore and had cut his ties right before he got named to permanently replace former NJ Education Commissioner Bret Schundler as the state's top education official.

Now the Newark Star Ledger says Cerf has "revised" his story just one day after saying that the story wasn't important at all and the paper shouldn't publish it.

This story IS an important one and so I post nearly all of it:

A controversial consultant’s report recommending that some of Newark’s worst public schools be replaced with charter schools was funded by a $500,000 grant from a California educational foundation at the behest of Mayor Cory Booker.

The revelation came in an interview with officials at the foundation late Wednesday. It followed two days in which the mayor declined to provide details about the report: who funded it or the amount spent on it.

Contacted by the Star-Ledger, the spokeswoman for the Broad Foundation in Los Angeles readily acknowledged it put up the money that was used to retain Global Education Advisors to conduct an audit of the city’s schools. The spokeswoman said she wondered why the grant was kept secret.

The consulting firm, incorporated by Christopher D. Cerf before he was named the state’s acting education commissioner, has itself become the focus of growing questions over its ties to the commissioner and the mysterious way it was selected.

The grant disclosure came on a day when there were several developments in the mystery of Global Advisors.

The acting commissioner gave a revised account of his ties to the firm — acknowledging he had been more involved than he first indicated earlier this week. Cerf had first maintained he had done little more than lend his address for the incorporation papers.

State campaign finance records also show Cerf gave a $1,000 contribution to the re-election campaign of Booker just a month before Global Education Advisors was incorporated by Cerf.

Cerf says his motives have been mischaracterized.

"This was entirely driven by an impulse and my desire to support Newark public schools as they move toward reform.

At issue are concerns some have raised over whether Cerf would be conflicted as commissioner by his connections to a firm whose recommendations he may have helped draft or inspire. If implemented, the proposals call for closing or consolidating several Newark schools whose students continue to fail year after year, replacing them with charter schools and some new district schools throughout the city. Critics say because of the ties, Cerf could end up being on both ends of the reform process in Newark: The company founded by Cerf the reformer makes proposals that are then approved by Cerf the commissioner.

The continuing questions and new revelations about the ties between Cerf, his former consulting firm, and the mayor — drawn from state campaign finance reports and interviews with city advisory board officials and others — came as parents and educators continued to rally against the recommendations that would remake the city’s school system.

Cerf said Wednesday there was no conflict with his involvement with Global Education Advisors, or his support of Booker, and reiterated that he severed his connections as soon as he was nominated.

A spokesman for Gov. Chris Christie said Cerf fully disclosed his ties to Global Education Advisors and described his involvement to the governor’s office.

"He explained it to us during the vetting process and that he would be ending the association. We were completely satisfied by that," said the spokesman, Michael Drewniak. "It has no conflict with his nomination to be education commissioner."

However, Cerf’s public explanations varied from earlier statements just a day earlier, when he said he had done little more than lend his address for the incorporation papers.

He said Wednesday he had been involved more directly with the company during a brief period around Thanksgiving when it began working on an analysis that would count enrollment, facilities and student achievement. Cerf said the work did not begin in earnest until around December.

"Several weeks later I resigned," he noted. He was nominated for commissioner on Dec. 20.

Until then, he said his role was simply to conduct fact-based studies of the Newark Public Schools. He added that he had no role in drafting the recommendations that have generated so much concern by parents and educators.

"I never even saw it until a few days ago," he said.

He called his campaign contribution to Booker neither improper or unusual, adding that he had also contributed money to the school board campaign of Shavar Jeffries.

Newark school board officials said it was clear to them that Cerf was involved more deeply in the company before his departure. Advisory Board Vice Chairwoman Barbara King said the board’s leadership only became aware of Global Education Advisors and their work in the district after that work had begun, and they had a sit-down meeting with Cerf and Rajeev Bajaj, who now runs the consulting firm.

King also said she and Jeffries fought for face time with the consultants after learning of their mission.

"Everything was kept in secret," she complained. "We never knew about these schools that would close. If we had known, we could have involved the community. No one wants to learn things after the fact."

When they met in November, King said the consultants told the board members they were doing no more than gathering diagnostic data about the school district.

Booker yesterday again said he did not know how much Global Education Advisors was paid to do consulting work, although he said he looked at several different firms and settled on Bajaj because he had consulted with Newark in the past.

"We didn’t want to go with someone who was starting from scratch," Booker said.

The mayor confirmed that the grant money came from Broad but declined to say who was in charge of contracting the consulting firm, though he said it was not him. However, the Broad Foundation said the money was channeled to the Foundation for Newark’s Future, the nonprofit created to raise $100 million to match Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbeg’s gift to the city.

"We were in conversations for months about how we could help leaders in Newark, and we were asked if we could support an audit of the district," said spokeswoman Erica Lepping. "The purpose is to make sure local leaders have a factual basis for making decisions about reform."

Lepping said Global Education Advisors had been selected by the Foundation for Newark’s Future, but could not say on what grounds the consultants were selected.

Wow - so much to parse here.

First, the governor has already been called a liar by the former Education Commissioner Bret Schundler over the Race to the Top mess last year that ultimately cost Schundler his job.

So we shouldn't believe ANYTHING Christie or his office says about Cerf disclosing his ties to Global Education Advisors BEFORE Christie tapped Cerf for the commissioner's job.

Christie MUST provide proof that Cerf disclosed that information to the governor before Cerf was named.

If Christie is unable to provide that proof, then he MUST explain why his office said that Cerf had disclosed the extent of his relationship with the education reform firm.

That's the first thing here.

The next thing is, Booker MUST explain publicly how it is that Cerf's firm got hired to do this business in the first place. Perhaps Booker has legitimate and good reasons for it, but he MUST state what those reasons were. Also, he MUST state publicly who signed off on giving Global Education Advisors the contract.

Booker says he didn't hire Cerf's firm.

Okay, so who did?

And why was the process kept so secret? Why weren't education officials in Newark told that Cerf's firm was doing the auditing work?

Next, Cerf has lots of explaining to do over this:

Let's start with why he revised the story of his relationship with Global Education Advisors after first telling the Newark Star Ledger he no longer had any meaningful contact with them and was only lending his home address to them so that they had a NJ mailing address to use for business.

Now Cerf says he actually was involved in doing business for the firm right through December of 2010.

Why the change in story, Chris?

Or, as we used to say in Catholic School back in the day, why did you lie when they first caught you?

Next, what contacts have you had with officials in Newark from the time you first incorporated Global Education Advisors to now? Who did you talk to, what did you say to them, and what did they say in return? Who hired your firm and how did that decision get made?

Finally, explain why it is that you see nothing wrong with Newark hiring an education reform company that is STILL run out of your house that you were working for as late as December 2010 to do education reform business with Newark that YOU will have to approve as education commissioner?

At best, these circumstances constitute a pretty big conflict of interest.

At worst, they constitute criminal activity and jail time.

This is egregious stuff going on here in the New Jersey reform business.

Christie, Booker and Cerf have LOTS to answer for here.

Going forward, here is what should be done:

Cerf, caught in a lie about his relationship to Global Education Advisors, will have resign his post as NJ Education Commissioner before he even takes over.

It is NOT okay to have a liar, a cheat and a criminal running the NJ education department.

Next, Booker MUST disclose all the contacts either he or people in his administration have had over the Global Education Advisors business.

There is something fishy here too and until Booker adequately explains who hired Cerf's firm and why the process was kept so secretive, we MUST assume Booker is HIDING SOMETHING.

Chris Cerf, Cory Booker Are Crooks

The gravy train never ends for these ed deformers, what with the Gates Foundation money, Murdoch welfare and Koch Brothers largesse going to education reformers looking to bring "market-based solutions" to public education.

So I'm never surprised to find out that a Michele Rhee or Joel Klein is cashing in on their reputation for union bashing and busting.

But even I was a little taken aback to find out that a company New Jersey Education Commissioner Chris Cerf founded just a few months ago that operates out of his house in Montclair has been retained to do some education reform work in Newark, New Jersey by Mayor Cory Booker:

A consulting firm hired by Newark’s mayor to overhaul the city’s failing schools was founded a few months ago by Christopher D. Cerf, the state’s acting education commissioner, and still lists his Montclair home as its New Jersey address.

The firm, Global Education Advisors, is at the heart of a controversial proposal to open nearly a dozen new charter schools — a move that would reshuffle thousands of city kids and one that has already drawn angry response from parents.

Cerf acknowledged Tuesday that he had a hand in the creation of the firm, but said he was no longer connected with it. He said he is now merely lending his address to the consulting firm because it needed a New Jersey mailing address. "When this little consulting company was formed, I was part of the creation of it," he said. "I severed my relationship to it literally right after its formation. I have never received any compensation from it."

He said he never did anything with the company. "I have no presence or association with it. I have never taken a nickel from it," he said. "I never actually did anything with it, so I’m not in any way, shape or form related to it."

He asked The Star-Ledger not to publish this story because he said he did not think it was very important.

Global Education Advisors was retained by Mayor Cory Booker two months ago to conduct an audit of the city’s public schools, under a contract that was funded using money brought in from private donors, according to Booker. He would not say how the firm was selected, but state records show the firm was incorporated by Cerf and Rajeev Bajaj last May.

Asked why the new firm was incorporated with his help, Cerf said he incorporated the company with like-minded reformers while he was still in the private sector. The firm, he said, consults with a "wide variety" of clients.

The association between the man who would presumably be the next commissioner and a firm receiving money from Newark will likely raise questions when Cerf comes up for confirmation before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), the chairman of the committee, asked why Cerf was even involved in the company.

"Does that experience bring him any preconceptions going into the job?" he asked. "I’d like to know what that means why he was involved. I look forward to having him in front of our committee."

Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), another member of the committee, said she wants a "very in-depth look" at the situation.

"Having a business registered to you, having formed only seven or eight months ago, that is suddenly emerging as a major player in the Newark schools system — we would have to look at what connections exist in the administration," she said Tuesday night.

Okay - so this is jailable stuff.

Seriously.

Why did Booker hire a company that was founded by Acting Education Commissioner Cerf just a few months ago that still operates out of his house to take over the school turnaround business in Newark?

Who paid who how much money to try and sneak this crooedk business through?

Both Booker and Cerf need to answer PUBLICLY for this crookedness.

And Cerf of course also needs to answer for why he asked the Newark Star Ledger to NOT report on this story.

Cerf says it's because it's not important.

Uh, huh.

Oh, wait - but it IS important.

So important, actually, because it draws the veil back on the business connections some of these "reformers" have that enables them to make gobs of money even as they bring their chaotic reforms to school systems that ultimately do more damage than good.

And even as they enrich themselves the way Cerf has on the public dime (remember, this guy used to run the failed Edison Schools contract in Philadelphia), they also get to play like they're the good guy just doing it for the kids.

Yeah, Cerf needs to be investigated for this, his appointment to run the NJ Ed Dept. needs to be held up while the investigation goes on and if criminal activity is found, Cerf needs to be charged with a crime.

Same goes for Booker.

Especially when you hear Booker say he doesn't know how much money the city of Newark has paid Cerf's firm for the work it has conducted so far.

Something funky is going in in Newark and Cerf and Booker are at the center of it.

Education Reformer Slams Booker, Defends Christie

Here in New Jersey, our governor, the Governor of Accountability and Youtube, is vacationing in sunny Florida with Minnie, Mickey and his family while the state is dealing with Snowmageddon 2010.

The newspapers report Christie hasn't even called to find out how things are going, although Christie's staff say they have been in constant contact with officials in N.J.

Contrast how Christie has dealt with (or not dealt with) Snowmageddon 2010 with how Newark Mayor Cory Booker has handled the mess.

Having laid off 13% of the police force and garnered some real anger from constituents over budget cuts, Booker used to the opportunity the storm afforded to help people dig out of the snow. He even took requests by Twitter. And of course he got plenty of photo ops of himself with constituents in the snow.

Say what you will about political opportunism, that was a pretty smart move on Booker's part, not such a smart move on Christie's part.

But here is an interesting thing - an ed deformer has come to the aid of Christie for staying on vacation with his family during Snowmageddon 2010 and criticized Booker for helping dig people out of the snow:

Jeanne Allen President, Center for Education Reform:

If you've ever lived (or known others who have) in the Northeast, you'll know that unlike Washington, they do not think of snow as a major disaster. On the contrary, it gets plowed, shoveled, plowed again and for the most part, those paid to do the job of making the roads safe do it really, really well.

This isn't a hurricane, or a foreign policy disaster. This is snow. Gov. Chris Christie is not on summer vacation, he's on Christmas vacation and where we come from (I, too, hail from NJ) it's a pretty serious deal, that starts with a high Holy Day and ends with lots of time reconnecting with the family you've probably neglected in months past. That Christie chooses to do that in Disney world with his young family while the state Senate president -- whose kids are long gone -- remains behind, is a testament to his character, not a political mishap.

Cory Booker's tweets have been obnoxious. Would that he'd tweet that much about what the governor is doing on changing state policy to help him dig out of a failing education system that has yet to see a turn around since he began (despite promises and speeches to the contrary).

Uh, Ms. Allen, people died in New York City because of the inability of emergency services to get to people needing them. This storm most certainly WAS a major disaster for many people in many places - especially those who lost loved ones or who almost lost loved ones for lack of emergency response.

New Jersey actually got more snow than New York did and many places were under two-and-a-half feet of snow. Sure, Booker was expedient in his snow photo ops, and no, no one is asking Chris Christie to dig voters out of the snow (he' probably have a heart attack and need his own EMS truck to take him to the hospital), but Governor Christie could have at least gotten off the Space Mountain ride in time to actually call N.J. officials himself and ask how things are going.

What does it say about the ed deform movement that the same tone deafness that Bloomberg exhibited a few days ago over the storm ("Go shopping...go to a Broadway play...) has been exhibited by a member of a major ed deform organization?

You know what I think it says?

It says people in the ed deform movement don't give a shit about human beings, they only care about their free market/ed deform ideologies.

Dunno why the ed deformer is slamming Booker, since he's squarely on the same page as the rest of the deform movement - yet she did.

Perhaps the ed deform movement has decided Christie is their 2012 ticket to ed deform nirvana and are sad that he provided his political opposition with great political advertising material.

Cory Booker Shovels Snow, Bloomberg Gets Sarcastic

I'm not a huge fan of Cory Booker, but I have to say, after laying off 13% of the Newark police force and forcing city employees to bring their own toilet paper to work, he sure knows how to get some good, free press:

You know what would be nice? If we had a Mayor who, instead of telling us to stop our complaining as he frolics down his completely plowed street, picked up a shovel and lent a hand? Maybe we should move to Newark, because that's just what Mayor Cory Booker has been doing. Armed with Twitter, he's been taking requests, and recently announced to Rookie2Veteran "I am here now to help" not an hour after he wrote for help. However, Rookie (T. Bonds) doesn't think that Booker did a great job, and now the war of words is on.

If T. Bonds wanted Booker's help he certainly didn't act like it, writing, "I fuck around & get arrested if cory booker come here wit a fuckin shovel," but said, "#corybooker just called and said he comin thru #pause ...he on avon & stratford now...we will see." Once Booker arrived, Bonds quickly told the rest of the Twitter community that Booker "wasn't doin nuttin but chit chat...they was shovelin shit I shoveled already," and almost seemed jealous when he wrote, "This nigga talkin more than he shovel...da mother thinks he's martin da way she laughin at every joke." He finally stepped up to the mayor himself, writing, "I did everything before u came...I kno u had to see my path."

But Booker called him out on his shoveling work, writing, "Wow u shud b ashamed of yourself. U tweet vulgarities & then I come out here to help & its ur mom & sis digging. Where r u?" As if that weren't enough of a smackdown, Bonds said, "Cory booker really a mayor tho cuz he ratted on me to my moms smh...my mom said 'TaJuan I'm embarrassed.'" Seriously Bonds, all Booker was trying to do was garner a little good PR after laying off 13% of the police force! We'll see if the smack talk continues, or if Bonds just got grounded.

A tale of two mayors.

Booker taking shoveling requests on Twitter, Bloomberg getting sarcastic in warm, dry City Hall.

Cory Booker, the Facebook Money, and the Rule of Law

Much of the coverage of the Zuckerberg/Booker $100 million dollar grant has been overwhelmingly positive and congratulatory.

But taking a look at some of the details of how the Newark school system came to receive a $100 million grant from the Facebook CEO on the same day that a devastating movie about him was released that shows him to be “an insecure jerk who screws over people and becomes a much-richer insecure jerk" leaves me wondering just what will happen to the future of this country now that it seems little punk billionaires/insecure jerks like Zuckerberg and Bill Gates get to make all the policy calls on governmental matters.

Zuckerberg, for example, is calling for the closing of many Newark schools, the firing of teachers, and the institution of merit pay, as a way to improve the Newark school system.

And since he just gave the system $100 million, I bet he gets his way, even if many in Newark do not agree with those new policies.

In addition, Newark only gets ALL the Zuckerberg money if Booker retains control of the city's schools.

Giving Booker even a small amount of control of the school district without having the matter voted on in the state legislature is illegal.

So here we have the city of Newark, essentially held captive by Zuckerberg's demands.

Booker must run the system.

If Booker goes anywhere, the money goes with him.

In three years, Booker's term will run out.

Will Zuckerberg take the rest of the money and run if Booker chooses not to seek re-election or finds himself Fenty'd out of office?

For that matter, given that this is New Jersey and municipal leaders get arrested in justice sweeps all the time, what happens if Booker is nailed on corruption charges?

Don't think it can't happen.

Almost everybody around him in Newark has been arrested, so it may only be matter of time before Booker is targeted (unless of course the Obama justice department gets word not to go after an ally of the president.)

Even if Booker isn't dirty himself, the fact that many of the people he chose to work with and hire are says much about Booker and his judgment.

In February of this year, Booker's chief aide was indicted on corruption charges.

Here is the story:

NEWARK -- A former top aide to Mayor Cory Booker was indicted today on federal extortion and bribery charges for allegedly funneling contracts to a trucking company that he partially owned.

Ronald Salahuddin, who resigned last year as deputy mayor, was charged with steering contracts in 2006 and 2007 to a demolition firm. In return, authorities say Salahuddin demanded the firm hire his business partner in the trucking company, Sonnie Cooper, as a subcontractor. Cooper was also indicted.

"Salahuddin’s brazen efforts on Cooper’s behalf are at the core of what the federal corruption statues are designed to prevent," U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said.

Salahuddin, 59, was among the first high-level appointments made by Booker, elected in 2006 as a self-proclaimed reformer who vowed to fight corruption. Fishman stressed today that there is no evidence that Booker was involved in wrongdoing.

In an interview, Booker defended his efforts, saying his administration had mounted probes leading to 19 convictions within city hall. "We don’t wait for other people to investigate corruption in our city. We are aggressively working against it every single day," Booker said.

Perhaps Booker isn't dirty, although given that his political patrons are Mayor Bloomberg and Bill Gates, you can make the argument that he doesn't need to be dirty since he has sold out to the Wall Street/hedge fund criminal class and clearly has all the money he needs via his wealthy patrons.

Nonetheless, that many of his political appointees and cronies ARE dirty suggests he has questionable judgment at best and perhaps shouldn't be given sole control of the Newark school system, particularly since the move is illegal.

Here's how illegal it is:

If Cory Booker even thinks of making a decision affecting Newark schools, he and Gov. Chris Christie will find themselves in a lawsuit faster than you can say Facebook, the head of the Education Law Center said yesterday.

David Sciarra, a veteran of numerous court battles involving public education, said it would be "improper and illegal" for Christie to formally offer Booker any authority to make decisions about the Newark Public Schools. Sciarra was lead counsel on the historic — and successful — Abbott suit filed in 1997 against the state to provide more funding for its neediest schools.

"I have no doubt appropriate legal action would be taken on behalf of the residents of Newark to challenge such a move in court," Sciarra said.

Sciarra’s concerns are rooted in his intimate knowledge of state education law. He feels that giving Booker even a small amount of authority over his city’s schools violates New Jersey’s statute on school district takeovers by circumventing the will of the state’s legialture and Newark’s voters.

"We’ve had numerous contacts from parents and community and parent leaders concerned over giving any kind of power to the mayor," Sciarra said. "We have to see what the specifics are, and we need to assess if it does cross this line."

According to Sciarra and state law says Acting Commissioner of Education Rochelle Hendricks is the state official with true authority over school districts under state control. In Newark’s case, it’s elected advisory board also has some responsibility, but Booker and Christie do not. Newark schools have been under state control for fifteen years.

If Booker does anything more than advise Henricks on how to run Newark’s schools or who to select as the districts’ next superintendent, those actions invite a legal challenge, Sciarra said.

Yesterday, on the Oprah Winfrey sho Christie said Booker will be the point person leading his effort to reform Newark’s schools, but did not offer any more explicit details about Booker’s role in the restucturing.

For the remainder of this academic year, Booker said he will lead a community effort to articulate a set of standards, benchmarks and reforms to recommend to the governor and will not have any legal authority over his city’s schools.

"He, right now, statutorally is in charge of the Newark schools," Booker said of the governor.

Not so, Sciarra said.

"The state’s commissioner of education has statutory responsibilities to the legislature by law to oversee the Newark Public Schools," Sciarra said, "The commissioner needs to be extremely cautious that she not be put in a position by the governor that’s inconsistent with her responsibilities to the school district under state law. She could be held responsible."

So Christie doesn't actually have the legal power to hand the school system to Booker, not even through the jive-ass dodge he used by naming Booker a "special assistant to the governor."

No matter, education reform is more important than other niceties like the rule of law.

That seems to be the message we get from the education reform/hedge fund movement these days.

They keep saying they've "waited" too long for change, and since democracy is too slow to bring about change, they're going to do it through anti-democratic means.

They lost the election in D.C. when the will of the people threw Adrian Fenty and Michelle Rhee out on their arrogant asses.

But now they will have Newark to work with as their next high profile sandbox for education reform.

The fact that the move giving Booker power over the schools is illegal or that Zuckerberg is engaging in extortion by holding the $100 million over the heads of the people of Newark and demanding they cede to his desires or lose the grant, well, that stuff doesn't matter.

What matters is that we close schools, fire teachers, open up charter schools all over Newark, institute merit pay and break the teachers union.

We'll see how this plays out.

Booker is roundly hated in Newark these days, having had some pretty big battles over the budget and layoffs (he famously said he was holding back toilet paper from city workers until they agreed to pay cuts.)

The crime rate and murder rate has soared over the past year as well.

The hedge fund criminal class will now be invested in making sure that the Newark experiment works, so I have a feeling we will see Goldman Sachs and others hand over money to the city and/or invest in the city.

Maybe that money will be enough to make Newark a better place to live and work.

But you know once they make their political points and break the unions, the Zuckerbergs and the Goldmans will be out of there and the poor black people of the city will be right where they are today.

As Usual, Education Reformers Ignore The Community

The shit eating grins on Governor Chris Christie, Mayor Cory Booker, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Oprah Winfrey yesterday at Winfrey's show to celebrate Booker's receiving both control of the Newark school system from the state and $100 million education grant from Zuckerberg say it all:

Look at us! Look how wonderful we are! Look what wonderful things we are doing for the kids!

But the Newark Star Ledger points out that many people in Newark are NOT happy about this deal:

When Newark Mayor Cory Booker walks off the set of the Oprah Winfrey show Friday with a $100 million gift to bolster Newark schools, there will be no raptured audience waiting for him back home.

As news spread through Newark today that Gov. Chris Christie will give Booker oversight of the city’s schools, and that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will help set up a $100 million educational foundation to support school reforms, political and community leaders here reacted with a combination of cautious optimism and outrage.

Many in Newark say the arrangement could be the spark that ignites true reform in the chronically failing district. Others cast the announcement as a classic backroom deal that skirts the will of the voters.

Booker, who has been fighting since July to regain his footing in Newark politics, will have to sell the plan to residents and marshal support for the city’s next superintendent. If recent battles over city water, layoffs, and police practices are any indication, it will be a tough slog.

"The outrage seems to be not about the $100 million deal, but about this backroom deal," said Wilhemina Holder, a longtime education activist, grandmother, and mother of current and former Newark schoolchildren. She said her phone began ringing Wednesday evening when news of the deal first broke on NJ.com and it hasn’t stopped since. "People are just outraged that the governor has ignored the Newark voters. Over and over again every phone call I got was about this."

In order to get full mayoral control over Newark’s schools, Christie would have to get approval from the Legislature. Newark residents would then get a chance to vote on whether the mayor should run the operation that has been under state control since 1995.

The deal that will be announced today is seen by many in Newark as an end-run around the law. Christie needs no approval from voters to simply appoint Booker as his "special assistant" for Newark schools, thus transferring responsibility to the mayor while maintaining the ultimate right to veto any changes that Booker makes.

"In terms of the state’s perspective of how it wanted to proceed, there wasn’t any meaningful engagement," said school advisory board president Shavar Jeffries referring to today’s announcement as well Christie’s decision to not re-hire Superintendent Clifford Janey.

Jeffries has repeatedly warned that without the blessing of the community, reform will be very difficult. "We cannot sustain a robust education reform agenda if it’s not supported by the people and parents of Newark."

Like Adrian Fenty and Michelle Rhee in D.C., Booker and Christie intend to push through their reforms without any input from the people who work in those schools, the parents who send their children to those schools, or the people in the neighborhoods where those schools are.

And just as Rhee got money from vulture philanthropists for the D.C. teachers contract that would only be provided if she stays on as D.C. chancellor, Zuckerberg's education grant only happens if Booker gets control of the school system.

Nothing like corporate entities calling the shots and subverting the will of the people, eh?

But as Oprah says, this is for the kids, you know, so who cares about niceties like democracy or community input.

What they are saying is: "We are in an education crisis and only strong-willing leaders like Chris Christie, Cory Booker, Joel Klein, Michael Bloomberg, Adrian Fenty and Michelle Rhee can get things done to fix the schools."

We who actually work in schools, especially schools run by those folks, know differently.

We'll see how this plays out.

Christie is under investigation for the Race to the Top mess in Jersey and is going to be subpoenaed to testify before the legislature.

He is currently declaring "executive privilege" and refusing to testify before the legislature.

This education deal and windfall financial gift from Zuckerberg (and the accompanying p.r. he received from Ms. Winfrey on her show) will divert people for a little while from the mess that is coming down the pike for the governor.

But the governor has lied in public about what happened during the Race to the Top process.

He blamed former state ed commissioner Bret Schundler instead.

Schundler has documents proving Christie lied.

But Christie thinks he can bluster his way through.

It's just another example of the arrogance Christie and other ed deformers have over reform.

They just don;t care what people think.

Even people who support ed reform - like Eugene Robinson, Bob Herbert, and Errol Louis in the media and Mike Petrilli and Rick Hess in the blogosphere - have warned that the hubris reformers are showing in their steamroll attempts to reform the system will come back to undo them.

We'll see.

But certainly the announcement that Christie was giving Booker control of the schools through a loophole and subverting the will of the people at the same time is more of the same from the ed deform movement.