A $500k Donation the Same Week Sharpton Joins Klein? Mere Coincidence

by Clay Burell · 2009-04-02 06:33:00 UTC
Topics:

NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's Education Equality Project*, the darling of the corporate edu-"reform" crowd (Eli Broad, Bill Gates, Mayor Bloomberg, Sam Walton, etc.), must be good for the underprivileged, largely non-white students of America's urban schools, right? I mean, didn't Klein co-found it last year with civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton?

What? Sharpton received half a million dollars the same week he joined Klein to launch the EEP? And from a hedge fund operator run by a former NYC schools chancellor, whose company was angling for a multi-million dollar racetrack development deal in NY? Who funneled it through a non-profit so he could write it off as charity? Who then gave it to Sharpton's National Action Network - just as it and Sharpton were feeling the IRS tighten the screws for $1 million in back taxes?

Nothing but a coincidence, say Sharpton, Klein, and the hedge fund donor.

What a stink. Read the full outrage on the NY Daily News, "Rev. Al Sharpton's $500G Link to Education Reform." (And Mike Klonsky's post has an interesting discussion in the comments thread, plus more links.)

Then answer me this: Why couldn't Klein's project find a non-white civil rights leader co-founder to give it street credibility without the implicit enticements? 

And this couldn't have happened at a worse time for Arne Duncan, who championed Klein and mayoral control to the press this week, and is in NYC to support Klein and mayoral control across America.

In fact, here's Sharpton "personally inviting you" to join him and "cabinet members of the Obama administration" for that shindig, brought to you by Joel Klein and the EEP:
.

--

*Interesting. Klein and Sharpton's EEP site is down as I type. It was up yesterday when I visited. I wonder what changes we might see when it goes back up? Thank goodness for Google's cache.

Klein photo by azipaybarah
Sharpton photo br jonathanpberger

Clay Burell
PREVIOUS STORY:
Obama/Duncan: For Sale to the Highest Bidder?
NEXT STORY:
Student loans got you down? Start a petition.

COMMENTS (2)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.