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.