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.

Education Secretary plays the race card

Education Secretary Arne Duncan was in Selma on Monday to commemorate the civil rights march that took place there. In a speech, Duncan said that the problems plaguing our public schools weren't due to teachers unions or low standards, but too much discipline against African-American students.

In a speech commemorating the 1965 “Bloody Sunday” civil rights protest in Selma, Ala., Education Secretary Arne Duncan referred to certain failing public schools in America as “dropout factories” and places that “seem to suspend and discipline only young African-American boys.”

“The achievement gap in our country is shameful,” Duncan said on Monday. He said some public schools are discriminating against students because of their race, gender, or disability by limiting their access to advanced and college preparatory classes. “Fifty-six years after Brown v. Board of Education, 45 years after Bloody Sunday, the achievement gap is still a cancer that imperils our national progress.”

Duncan is acting on behalf of teachers' unions like the National Education Association which want to see more federal prosecutions under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Title VI forbids institutions receiving federal assistance to discriminate on the basis of race, particularly schools. Duncan's words mirror the actions of the DOJ Civil Rights Division, which has aggressively prosecuted alleged cases of discrimination. If Duncan gets his way, the result could be an increase in civil rights prosecutions against schools. Schools could be targeted if Duncan feels that too many black children are being disciplined there, for example.

Before coming to Washington, Duncan was CEO of the Chicago Public Schools under Governor Rod Blagojevich. The CPS ranked 49th out of 50th in state-by-state ratings.

Here we go again: Obama brings in yet another Chicago hack

Last week the Senate approved Bryan H. Samuels to be Barack Obama's Commissioner of the Administration on Children. Samuels is a perfect fit for Obama's racket. Bringing in Samuels allows Obama to promote another old Chicago boy and reward spectacular failure, both at the same time.

Samuels comes from the Chicago Public School system where he was chief of staff. There, Samuels worked under Arne Duncan, who Obama would later elevate to be Secretary of Education. Samuels, like so many of Obama's friends, was appointed by disgraced former governor Rod Blagojevich. Even though many in the Chicago Public Schools considered him incompetent and inexperienced, he was still eventually promoted to be Duncan's chief of staff.

You have to try really hard to be considered incompetent and inexperienced in the Chicago Public Schools. They're rated abysmally, 49th out of 50th according to state-by-state ratings. Barack Obama haughtily refused to send his daughters to CPS, instead enrolling them at a nearby private school. Arne Duncan was known to give out jobs as patronage to his friends. Instead of worrying about teaching kids, Duncan larded up the CPS with as many worthless "administrative positions" as possible.

So the Chicago Public Schools are so failing and corrupt that Obama sends his own daughters elsewhere. But he will promote two of CPS' highest-level administrators to the Department of Education. When will the patronage end?