Secretary of Education under investigation for Chicago corruption

Yesterday it surfaced that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was under investigation for his days at the Chicago Public Schools. Duncan had maintained a list of well-connected Chicagoans who would get their children bumped to the front of the line to get into elite schools. The selection process was supposed to be based on merit, not social status.

Now Duncan may find himself in some serious hot water.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has been interviewed by the Chicago Public Schools' inspector general as part of an investigation into how kids won admission to the city's most competitive public high schools while Duncan ran the system here, the Chicago Sun-Times learned Tuesday.

Duncan's name surfaced about 10 times on a 2008 log, now in possession of federal investigators, that contained the names of elected officials and others who interceded on behalf of students trying to win admission to the system's elite schools, sources told the Sun-Times.

Mayor Daley insisted Tuesday that there was nothing wrong with Duncan's office maintaining such a log because "no favoritism" resulted from it.

Daley's defense doesn't pass the laugh test. The names on the list were socialites who knew Duncan well. And even if they weren't, it's impossible to argue that bumping someone to the front based on anything other than school performance isn't favoritism. If there was genuinely nothing wrong with what Duncan did, he wouldn't have kept the list under lock and key, as he did. If Duncan received anything in return for his special list (and it's hard to imagine he didn't), then he could be headed to prison for illegal lobbying. As Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass wrote about the incident, "And once again, the bright road that is the Chicago Way is paved with shiny bricks for all to see."

At this point, Daley may just be defending himself. The Chicago mayor was on the list, as was former White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers, and Attorney General Lisa Madigan, close ally of Obama and Rahm. Obama transplanted the well-connected circle of Chicagoans who benefited from Duncan's malfeasance into the White House. If the inspector general wants to really get to the bottom of this scandal, he's going to have to look through the highest levels of government.

The base corruption of Obama's Education Secretary

Breaking news out of Chicago this morning that should lead to the resignation of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, at the very least.

While many Chicago parents took formal routes to land their children in the best schools, the well-connected also sought help through a shadowy appeals system created in recent years under former schools chief Arne Duncan.

Whispers have long swirled that some children get spots in the city's premier schools based on whom their parents know. But a list maintained over several years in Duncan's office and obtained by the Tribune lends further evidence to those charges. Duncan is now secretary of education under President Barack Obama.

The log is a compilation of politicians and influential business people who interceded on behalf of children during Duncan's tenure. It includes 25 aldermen, Mayor Richard Daley's office, House Speaker Michael Madigan, his daughter Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, former White House social secretary Desiree Rogers and former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun.

...

The list was maintained by a top Duncan aide, David Pickens, currently chief of staff to the president of the Chicago Board of Education. Pickens said he created the log at Duncan's behest to track the flood of calls pouring into district offices from parents, politicians and business leaders trying to navigate the system's mysterious and maligned application process.

...

The initials "AD" are listed 10 times as the sole person requesting help for a student, and as a co-requester about 40 times. Pickens said "AD" stood for Arne Duncan, though Duncan's involvement is unclear. Duncan's mother appears as a sponsor, as does "KD," whom Pickens identified as Karen Duncan, Arne's wife.

While Duncan was abusing his power to get his well-connected friends' children into good schools, other children were growing up educationally-stunted. Chicago's public schools are the second-worst in the nation. Many have criticized Obama in the past for rewarding failure by promoting Duncan to education secretary. Now we know he was also rewarding blatant corruption.

It's highly unlikely Obama himself didn't know about Duncan's list. Desiree Rogers, the White House's own former social secretary and close friend of the First Lady's, received preferential treatment. So did Lisa Madigan, a friend of Obama's and Rahm's who the White House favored to take over the president's former Senate seat. If there is a legitimate investigation into this (and in Chicago that's a huge "if"), it could find guilt at our highest levels of government.