Former CPS liar-in-chief leaves Rahm's Super PAC to start her own biz.

Substance photo

"She will be a real asset to those that work with her," says Michael Sacks, CEO of Grosvenor Capital Management. -- Crain's

Becky Carroll served as J.C. Brizard's and Byrd-Bennett's liar-in-chief at CPS before moving over to run Rahm's campaign Super PAC. Now, after a year and a half at Chicago Forward, Carroll is setting out on her own. Her new money-making venture is called Chicago Backward (just kidding) C-Strategies LLC and I assume her specialty will be union-busting, school privatization, and attacking progressive political candidates, as always.

Carroll's time at CPS was mostly spent trying to cover up Brizard's ineptness (admittedly an impossible job) and then keep a lid on the BBB/SUPES affair and the UNO corruption scandals. Then there was her CPS budget deception and her selling of the school closings (she named it, "right-sizing"). 

Oh, I almost forgot her efforts to spread dis-information about the Chicago teachers strike in 2012. Quite a track record.

After her relationship with local reporters crashed and burned last year, the mayor pulled her out of CPS' massive Communications Dept. and moved her over to run Chicago Forward where she headed the PAC's $5M effort to elect Rahm's favored puppy-dog aldermen. $2M of that was used to target two progressives, Scott Waguespack in the 32nd and Carlos Rosa in the 35th. Both won handily over machine candidates.

For more on Chicago Forward's failed run at the progressives, see Paul Blumenthal's piece at Huffington, "Chicago Progressives Emboldened After Rahm Emanuel's Super PAC Fails To Beat Them."

Despite this trail of losses, I'm sure Carroll, with investors like Michael Sacks behind her, will make a pile of money in her new venture. Carroll says she's already signed up 10 or so clients, including the Illinois Restaurant Association, who's leading the charge against increasing the minimum wage, and  union-busting education group, Stand for Children.

I can't say I wish her well.

UNO charter debacle hurts parents. Shows charters aren't 'public' after all.

A single picture tells the story

The latest UNO scandal represents a potential disaster for the thousands of mainly Latino students and parents enrolled in Chicago charter schools. It should also put an end to claims that privately-run charters are truly "public schools"

For those who haven't been following, there's been a split between the scandal-plagued United Neighborhood Organization (UNO) and the charter school chain it founded. Now UNO is threatening to force closure of six of those charters, potentially leaving parents and teachers scrambling to find a new school for thousands of children come next fall.

UNO claims that the separately incorporated UNO Charter School Network owes them $3 million in management fees. The schools are said to be withholding payments to UNO because of lack of transparency about how the millions are being spent and also because UNO is currently the target of ongoing federal investigations.

Mike Madigan

UNO is threatening to sell all four school buildings it owns-- buildings that are home to six schools-- unless the charter network pays up. UNO CEO Rick Cerda says that conflicts between his group and the charter chain “raise a question as to whether the UCSN schools will continue to operate as they do today.”

It's hard to know how much of this is bluff or what UNO would be able to do with those empty buildings. But CPS has plenty of space to house those six schools now that it is sitting on dozens of empty school buildings of its own.

Imagine the power this clout-heavy, private group has over neighborhood parents, teachers, and children through its virtual ownership of their supposedly "public" schools.

Cerda never mentions that his  group only owns those schools because of a $98 million construction grant for the projects which was greased by Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, Alderman Eddie Burke, former Gov. Quinn and Mayor Emanuel. The huge state grant was blocked temporarily by Quinn when the feds came in, and then released again by Quinn under pressure from Madigan. This despite flagrant nepotism, conflicts of interest, and a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation that has already led to a few cosmetic changes at the top and the fall of UNO big-dog Juan Rangel (the co-chair of Rahm Emanuel's first campaign for mayor in 2011). In 2011, UNO received $37.5 million in state-backed loans.

Meanwhile, the school network was handing out its own contracts to more familiar names. Monterrey Security, a firm that was previously co-owned by Alderman Danny Solis’s brother Santiago, won a $75,000 security contract.

Among other charges against UNO was its failure  to make pension contributions for more than 90 certified teachers in its charter schools. So far the federal investigators have failed to produce any indictments although they did help pull the city's bond rating down close to minus. Not that it needed any help in that area.

CPS oversees UNO's charter and provides funding support. It's the largest charter school operator in the state. But UNO has carried a BBB-minus rating from Standard & Poor's, the lowest investment grade level.

It's hard for most to even imagine the power this private group has over neighborhood parents, teachers and children through its virtual ownership of their supposedly "public" schools. But this is exactly what corporate school reformers envisioned when they promoted unrestricted expansion of privately-run charters through mayoral control of the schools and closing schools as accountability and cost-saving strategies.

Chuy says, 'Enough charter mania'!

Today at the City Club, in response to a question from the UNO charter hustlers, Chuy Garcia called for a "pause" in charter expansion. NBC reporter Mary Ann Ahern Tweets:

Chuy Garcia: "there's been a charter mania in Chicago for sometime" #Mayor15 pic.twitter.com/wRALzcCDbI
— Mary Ann Ahern (@MaryAnnAhernNBC) January 20, 2015

Chuy also says he's willing to use TIF money if necessary, pending the court's decision, and "scour the earth" for new revenue to help solve the pension crisis. Finally, a politician who sees the pension problem as a revenue issue rather than a how-to-rob-the-elderly issue.

Nobody came.

WHAT IF NOBODY CAME?... Rahm promised a big showing of community groups at today's major policy address on Public Safety. Uh oh. Less than 20 people showed up. I guess people are fed up with his bragging about crime numbers that nobody in the neighborhoods believe. Plus no Q & A allowed. Can't blame him. Once voters start asking hard questions...

CUBA... IL Sen. Dick Durbin is back from Cuba. Says the trip was "very productive."

"Re-establishing travel and trade relations will mean real benefits for people in Illinois and across the country, from farmers to small businesses to working families. But this policy change is about more than just travel and trade — it's about opening Cuba to new ideas, new values, and improved human rights that our 50-year-old policy of exclusion could not achieve."

He's right of course. But I hope that works both ways -- opening to new ideas, values and improved human rights, that is. After all, Michigan has a higher incarceration rate than Cuba. More educator exchanges, like the one I organized back in 2000 would benefit schools in both countries. Diane Ravitch went in 2013 and had this to say:

The old world is passing, dissolving, and a new world is beginning, shoots of grass breaking through the concrete. The embargo seems as antique as the now ancient slogans.The sooner the embargo is lifted, the sooner there will be normal relations between our countries.

TESTING MADNESS ... The AFT together with the liberal group Center for American Progress, are calling on Congress to end the use of annual tests for high-stakes consequences. And so am I.

The difference being, the teacher unions and some liberal groups, for reasons most educators can't fathom, still support Arne Duncan's call for even more standardized testing, beginning even earlier. To argue that you just want the mandated testing without the high-stakes consequences or arguing for Common Core without Pearson testing profiteers, is to deny reality. That's not leadership.

The upcoming battle for the Latino vote in Chicago

Former UNO CEO Juan Rangel, Rahm Emanuel, and Rep. Luis Gutierrez at a news conference at Little Village High School

The Sun-Times' Natasha Korecki tries her best to assess the upcoming battle for the "Latino vote" (Is there only one?) between Rahm Emanuel and "Chuy" Garcia.

Korecki seems to give the edge to the mayor because he's wrangled some opportunist support from Rep. Luis Gutierrez. But Luis' record of political support is tattered. It certainly didn't do much for Gery Chico in the 2010 race. And wasn't Luis the one blasting Rahm not so long ago, for his key role in the Obama administration’s failure to move ahead on immigration reform. Remember, Rahm was the one who called immigration "the third rail of American politics," warning that Democrats who tried to work on the issue would suffer heavy political losses.

Now Luis claims Rahm has "evolved" on the issue. Evolution works in mysterious ways in an election year. Doesn't it? We may never know what kind of deal was cut between the two back in May.

It's also worth considering whether or not the so-called "Latino vote" only swings on the immigration reform issue. What about education? Gun violence? Neglected city services in the community? Environmental racism? All weak spots for Rahm.

UNO tied to Madigan

For example, in his first big media ad buy, Rahm tries to take sole credit for closing two area coal plants in the Pilsen/Little Village neighborhoods, when in fact it had taken years of work by community activists.

"Rahm is a thief," said Gloria Fallon of Rising Tide Chicago. "He stole our photograph and our hard work for political gain." -- Chicago Tribune

Korecki doesn't even mention UNO in her analysis. Particularly in the Mexican community, UNO's support for Rahm may be a much more the lynch pin than the Gutierrez endorsement or support from proven losers like machine-boss Joe Berrios. But UNO support is a double-edged sword and the ongoing UNO charter school scandal, with direct ties to Rahm, Gov. Quinn and Speaker Madigan, may end up damaging the mayor, depending on how and whether or not his opponents raise it.

Chuy Garcia and his wife Evelyn

On the other hand, "Chuy Garcia" has a lot going for him (if you don't count money). For one thing, he speaks Spanish and can communicate directly with community residence.

More from Korecki:

Garcia already has the backing of Karen Lewis and the Chicago Teachers Union, which immediately helped put him into contention in a race where he will be significantly outspent by Emanuel.

“If Chuy can’t do it, I don’t know who can,” says Don Rose, a political adviser on Garcia’s campaign. “The guy is just extremely popular. North, south, east, west, he’s been around long enough, and maintained enough relationships. He’s got all of these relationships that really make him a citywide candidate who happens to be Latino. I’m sure he’s going to get a substantial Latino vote.”

Rose said Garcia can put together a coalition of support from Latinos, progressive whites and African-Americans. Garcia, a Cook County commissioner, is Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s floor leader. Garcia’s ties to the black community date back to the days of the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington.

The 63,000 petition signatures Chuy amassed in just 3 weeks is evidence of a strong ground game. He has a long, progressive history in the community and a successful track record as a politician. And polls show that together with Ald. Bob Fioretti, the two have a good chance on forcing Rahm into a runoff, where an edge for Garcia in the Latino community could push him over the top.

At least that's my most hopeful scenario.

UNO laying low 'til the heat blows over

Rahm and disgraced UNO leader Rangel (left)

The Reader's Ben Joravsky is at it again. He's still dogging UNO charter school hustlers who have handily ripped off the taxpayers for more than $98 million, thanks to the largesse of Gov. Quinn, Boss Madigan, and Mayor Emanuel.

Ben tells us how UNO uses its non-profit front, UNO Charter School Network, or UCSN, to hide behind while ace Sun-Times reporter Dan Mihalopoulos tries to make them accountable for how they spent all that money. Good luck on that one, Dan.

But at least all the sunlight shining on UNO has forced them to withdraw their bid for even more new charter schools. They are already the biggest private charter operator in the state. I guess Rahm must have told them to lay low for a while til the heat blows over. Rahm really needs to make this one go away before 2015. Good luck on that one, Rahm.

BTW, what ever happened to the feds's UNO investigation? Just asking.

SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS

As newly-elected N.Y. Mayor Bill de Blasio scrambles to find a decent chancellor to run the schools, he finds there's slim pickings. The New York Times reports:

No matter where he turns, it is almost impossible to find someone who has run a large school system in the last decade without having to close failing schools, expand charters or comply with state and federal guidelines on using tests to grade schools and teachers — all hallmarks of the education reform movement championed by Mayor Bloomberg, and all policies that Mr. de Blasio has said have serious flaws.

At least Byrd-Bennett has been dropped from consideration. But there's still got to be someone better than D.C. Rhee wannabe Kaya Henderson.

The Alderman From UNO Cuts Deal With Another Toxic Corp.

The potential site for Pure Metal at 2201 S Loomis across the street from Benito Juarez High School on Nov. 29 2013. (The Gate/ Theresa Campagna)

The Alderman from UNO, Danny Solis, has cut a deal with (not so) Pure Metal Recycling Corp. to put another dangerously toxic plant in the Pilsen community. If Ald. Solis, a close ally of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and a founder of charter school scandal-ridden UNO,  is successful in reining in mounting opposition, the company would be the only indoor recycling plant in the neighborhood, taking up 15 acres of land just across the river from predominantly Mexican Benito Juarez High School, It would also be the second recycling plant in Pilsen next to Sims Metal Management – one of the largest in the area. Students and other residents are threatened by a measurable rise in particle and diesel pollution from the truck traffic around the plant..

Last year, community protests forced the shut down of Fisk, a coal-fired power plant that was emitting health-hazardous contaminants like coal dust into the air and soil in the neighborhood. The Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization (PERRO) has been organizing neighbors to oppose the plant.

Chicago's slow job recovery has left its black and Latino neighborhoods like Pilsen, particularly vulnerable to assaults by polluting corporations. PERRO is part of a growing movement that includes a huge community protest against the Koch Bros. Petcoke storage facility in southeast Chicago.

But so far, despite some speeches and photo ops aimed at pacifying protesters, the Mayor and Sen. Durbin have done little to take on the Koch. Bros. who are among the world's largest polluters.

Also, check out last week's Tribune commentary, "No Harm in Petcoke" by Jim Watson, Executive Director, Illinois Petrolium Council, claiming that breathing petcoke dust is actually good for us and our children.

Send lawyers, guns and money...

The shit has hit the fan

It’s shocking to hear that Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios’ name would come up in a discussion of questionable activity. SHOCKING, I say. -- Evening Rush 

Rahm & Joe "The Boss" Berrios

I no sooner finished responding to Laura Washington, who practically wrote off the anti-Rahm opposition in upcoming elections, than a significant chunk of the mayor's team imploded.

It started with reports of another layer of UNO scandal.

Sun-Times reported that the federal Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating UNO for possible securities fraud related to state-backed bonds used to finance school construction projects. This is the second time this year that Quinn has suspended UNO’s funding.

 D’Escoto Inc., is listed on the board’s agenda as a minority-owned business subcontractor for construction projects under CPS’ capital improvement plan. The $4.3 million project director services contract is slated to be awarded to the Jacobs Project Management Company, according to the agenda. If approved, D’Escoto stands to earn about 17.5 percent, or about $731,000, according to CPS spokeswoman Becky Carrol

Remember, UNO boss Juan Rangel, who's likely to take the fall in the SEC investigation, served as finance chairman of Emanuel’s mayoral campaign and has been involved in countless financial dealings with the mayor, Ald. Eddie Burke, and House Speaker Mike Madigan.

Berrios' favorite, "Lettuce Salad"

Then the story broke about Cook County Democratic Party Chairman Joe "The Boss" Berrios being implicated in a bribe taking, tax fraud sting. One FBI informant was taped boasting that he was “with Berrios... having lettuce salads.” I don't think he was talking arugula.

“You know, with the lettuce, say here you go, man — sign this. Put this through right away,” Hawkins was taped saying.

 A timely gift for candidate Will Guzzardi who is running for State Rep. against Berrios' daughter and protege Toni. Berrios has 15 members of his family on the county and state payrolls. I think she's toast.

And finally, the internal war within the state Democratic Party exploded with State. Senator Cullerton gang banging with Republican billionaire and Rahm's patron, Bruce Rauner over how badly to stick it state retirees.

Crain's Greg Hinz says: 

But for those who are really curious why nothing happens, take a careful look at recent comments by a political odd couple: Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, a true blue North Side liberal, and investment banker Bruce Rauner, the tough guy GOP candidate for governor who stands behind no one in his vows to put worker unions in their place.

 Thieves inevitably fall out. That's why there are no certainties in Chicago politics.

Jeb Bush's "Mystery Guest"

What's Mayor 1% doing in Boston? Why he's the "mystery guest" at Jeb Bush's Education Forum of course. Throw in his support for Republican Bruce Rauner in the upcoming governor's race and it's pretty easy to see what kind of "Democrat" is running our schools and our city. Plus the Mayor always seems to be out of town when his shit hits the fan.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER
From left: Quinn, Rangel, Madigan, and Burke.

HOW HIGH WILL IT GO?

The Bond Buyer reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the UNO Charter School Network for potential securities violations apparently tied to its October 2011 $37 million bond issue.

The network issued $37 million of mostly tax-exempt new-money and refunding bonds in 2011 to help fund its ongoing expansion. The Illinois Finance Authority issued the bonds on the not-for-profit's behalf. Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. and Cabrera Capital Markets LLC served as underwriters with Kutak Rock LLP acting as bond counsel.

CPS oversees UNO's charter and provides funding support for the organization despite UNO's BBB-minus rating from Standard & Poor's, the lowest possible investment grade level. Standard & Poor's reports noted the state support of $98 million. UNO's school network has a total of about $67 million in debt.

The Sun-Times reports that Gov. Quinn has once again, pulled UNO's state funding. Good move. Although he's withholding only $18 million of their $98 million and he still has UNO egg on his face. Remember, Quinn, under pressure from (Quinn fundraiser) Ald. Eddie Burke, Mike Madigan and Rahm, restored the state funding in early June, saying he was "confident UNO had implemented reforms." Last month, Chicago "businessman" Martin Cabrera Jr. — whose appointment as UNO chairman, replacing Juan Rangel, was cited by Quinn as an important reform — resigned.

Now we'll see if the board will pull UNO's charter or run the risk of being legally complicit.

CHARTER HUSTLERS GOING AFTER PROSSER

Even while feds are all over the UNO charter school scandal, the Noble Street Charter network hopes to pull off a similar scheme, using state money and connections with the Rahm and Rauner to do their real estate deal. They want zoning restrictions changed so they can build a new, expensive building to house a charter school across the street from Prosser Career Academy.

Yesterday, Rahm's hand-picked Chicago Plan Commission, which includes Burke as an ex-officio member and is chaired by none other than Cabrera himself, approved a zoning change that allows the Noble Network to build their new school and to try and recruit students and the money that follows them, away from Prosser.

That’s despite a boisterous protest outside City Council chambers by supporters of Prosser High School — including Ald. Nick Sposato — and of other neighborhood schools in Belmont Cragin whose budgets have undergone deep cuts this year.

 The protesters — mostly from the groups Chicago Students Organizing to Save Our Schools, and Communities United for Quality Education — pointed to a projected decline in high school-aged population in the Belmont Cragin area over the next four years, the presence of four CPS high schools within a 1.5 radius of the proposed site, and budget cuts at existing area schools totaling some $6.4 million. -- Sun-Times

Ald. Sposato

Sposato, whose ward will inherit Prosser High School in 2015 when ward maps are redrawn, called the plan “a recipe for disaster here to have two public high schools across the street from each other.”

“I worry about the impact on Prosser,” he said. “I worry about the safety of children.”

As usual, it's the Reader's Ben Joravsky who has the best take on the Noble Street Charter hustle.

With 14 schools and 9,000 students, [Noble founder Mike] Milkie's to charters what Ray Kroc was to fast food. If he keeps it up, he'll have an outlet on every block... But, c’mon, Mayor Emanuel—it's not like we're hard up for vacant lots in which to put your charters. There are hundreds and hundreds all over the city. Why stick a charter across the street from Prosser, which is a perfectly good, high-functioning school?

I found some of the disappeared school-closing kids

Whitenizing Chicago

Almost half the youngsters most affected by Mayor Rahm Emanuel's school shutdowns did not enroll this fall in the new schools where officials planned for them to go. Hundreds of them are MIA.

CPS spent $233 million preparing "welcoming schools" to receive thousands of new students who never came, and millions more on "Safe Passage" routes after shuttering 50 other schools on the south and west sides. But only about 60% of the displaced students have shown up at the receiving schools. After initially over-reporting the actual numbers in the consolidated schools, CPS leaders admitted  they had no idea where hundreds of former students have gone.

I was at a south suburban elementary school yesterday with classrooms bursting with 32 students in the lower grades. I was told by administrators that lots of these kids were Chicago transplants, newly arrived from Chicago's closed schools.

CPS Liar-in-Chief Becky Carroll would have us believe that the thousands of no-shows is a good thing because closing neighborhood schools "empowers" parents to find new schools for their kids. But what does it mean for the city if school closings and other City Hall actions are forcing hundreds of African-American families out of the city and into poor, isolated and re-segregated black suburbs?

Severe budget cuts in city schools and city services, the closing of neighborhood schools and health clinics, growing food deserts, the replacement of good-paying union jobs with sub-living-wage service and retail jobs, and pandemic gun violence, are all making the city an impossible place for many poor and black families to live. That's got to change. We've got to Take Back Chicago beginning with City Hall.

Here come the feds

It's about time. The SEC is in town investigating possible securities violations involving the state’s largest charter-school operator, the machine-connected United Neighborhood Organization. But remember, UNO could never have pulled off its $98 million scam without the help of Eddie Burke, Michael Madigan, Gov. Quinn and Mayor 1% himself.

Burke, a major Quinn campaign fund-raiser, had urged the governor to restore UNO's funding after it was temporarily halted when the scandal first broke. The SEC also demanded documents regarding UNO from the Quinn administration’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity-the agency overseeing the group’s school-building grant. So far, the state has given UNO $83 million of the promised $98 million.

Juan Rangel, UNO’s $250,000-a-year chief executive officer, was Rahm’s campaign co-chairman in 2011 and also has close ties to House Speaker Madigan. These guys may be too big to jail but once the federal investigations begin, there's no telling how things will unravel or how high up they will go.

Interesting that UNO has hired ASGK, the PR firm founded by Rahm's pal David Axelrod, to come in and try and clean up Rangel's mess.

For starters, UNO should have its charter revoked and their schools should be either taken under CPS control or handed over to a non-criminal enterprise to run.

Best Tweet so far today

Dave Gilson ‏@daudig NSA director stepping down to spend less time with your family. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/16/nsa-director-keith-alexander-depart …

How did this guy get hired by Arne Duncan? He had a guy.

Jesus Alanis sentenced to 20 years in Stateville. 

How did this child molester/pornographer land a high-paying job working for Arne Duncan at the top of the Chicago Public Schools system? That's an easy one.

The same way Arne Duncan got his own job. He had a guy. In his case it was venture capitalist power broker John Rogers who made a phone call and had golf buddy Mayor Daley tell schools CEO Paul Vallas to bring the unqualified Duncan on board as his assistant. Of course,Vallas obliged and the rest as they say, is history.

The same way billionaire pal of Rahm Emanuel and Republican candidate for governor, Bruce Rauner, got his kid into Walter Payton High School. He had a guy. All it took was phone call to Duncan.

The same way that convicted fraud and bribe-taker Amer Ahmad was hired by Rahm to fill one of the city's top financial positions, five months after he had been under federal investigation. He also had a guy.

In the same fashion, machine Ald. Danny Solis made a phone call to Duncan and said, "I got this guy, Alanis..."

What were Jesus Alanis' qualifications? None. Had he ever been a teacher? No. Did he have any experience at all in public education? No. Then, what in his background might make the CEO of the Chicago Public Schools want to put him in a high-paying job at the top of the city's school system?

He had worked since 2008 for the city’s Human Resources Department, where he made $80,904 a year in a post that, as a political appointment, was exempt from anti-patronage restrictions. 

Alanis says on his online profile that he previously worked for Ald. Danny Solis (25th) and for the United Neighborhood Organization, a community group that operates the largest charter-school network in Illinois. Alanis was a 2005 graduate of UNO’s Metropolitan Leadership Institute, a training program for young Hispanic professionals. According to profile information he provided to that program, he worked on immigration issues for UNO. His sister Veronica Alanis is a high-ranking Chicago Transit Authority official who, until recently, was a longtime member of UNO’s board. Jesus Alanis went to work for City Hall when longtime UNO lawyer Homero Tristan was commissioner of the Human Resources Department, city records show. -- Sun-Times

A couple of weeks ago, the city's Inspector General, Joe Ferguson, was reappointed for another four-year term — with the unwritten understanding that he’s likely to step down after next summer — in spite of his contentious relationship with the mayor. By mutual agreement with the mayor, Ferguson's job will be limited to, "end[ing] four decades of federal hiring oversight." 

Ferguson thanked the mayor for “agreeing to allow me to continue to work on wrapping up some unfinished projects, most notably achieving Shakman compliance and fully implementing the administration’s ethics reform bill.” 

If you ever needed a good reason to keep the Shakman Decree in effect, just think about Jesus Alanis.

UNO charters, pension robbers

Martin Cabrera Jr., (right) resigned from UNO's board amid growing scandal. | Sun-Times File Photo

The Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund on Monday charged that the already scandalized United Neighborhood Organization (UNO) had failed to make contributions for more than 90 certified teachers in its charter schools.

Writes the Trib's Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah:

The teachers pension fund announced the results of an audit of the organization on the same day the network opened a new school, UNO Soccer Academy High School, whose construction was halted along with other new UNO campuses after Gov. Pat Quinn temporarily blocked a $98 million construction grant for the projects. Eventually, money was released after the Latino organization promised to put in place rules outlawing nepotism and conflicts of interest and added several new members to its boards. But two of those members recently resigned.

Jay Rehak, president of the pension fund's board of trustees, said a closer review of UNO came as part of a larger study of charters and their contributions to the pension fund.

While they continue to wring their hands over an impending pension fund crisis, Mayor Emanuel, Gov. Quinn and House Speaker Madigan continue to funnel millions in public funds to UNO pension fund robbers.

Where are the feds?

THE EXISTENTIAL BILL DALEY

When asked why he is abandoning the race for governor, the man from J.P. Morgan responded:

“Is this really me? Is this really what I want to spend my next five to nine years doing?"

 Translation:  "I'm just another pension bomber, getting my ass kicked in the polls. Why throw any more good money after bad?"

And when Pat Quinn is beating you in the polls, you know all hope is lost.

Rahm -- 'Let them eat chaos.'

While protesting teachers marched outside, parent Chitunda Tillman Sr, who has 3 kids who are CPS students, tells the board exactly what he thinks about their school budget cuts. (Alex Wroblewski~Sun-Times)

 “With a historic billion-dollar deficit, we are taking every step we can to minimize any impacts to the classroom."  --CPS Liar-in-Chief Becky Carroll

Homeowners, prepare to dig deeper. Schoolchildren — especially high schoolers — prepare to get less. -- Sun-Times

The Carroll quote is from a few weeks ago. The other is the lead-in to today's CPS budget story. Remember LIC Carroll assuring parents that budget cuts wouldn't target the classroom? Well they have, slashing classroom spending by $68 million. This while throwing the whole system into chaos by closing about 50 schools, mostly in African-American neighborhoods, further disrupting the lives of more than 40,000 children and their families and costing teachers and staff more than 3,000 jobs.

BBB claims that the big hit on classrooms is in response to the pension "crisis." Nothing could be farther from the truth. The CPS budget cuts have little to do with the size of retiree pensions or health care since the city and state haven't been paying their share into the pension fund for years. Rather it's a revenue problem in a state where the very rich and the big corporations pay little or no taxes.

Rosemary Vega wants at 'em as well.

Raising property taxes, and depleting district budget reserves, are wrong answers to a long-term funding problem. They're  the wrong way to generate revenue for the schools. Instead, Rahm should be pushing for a  larger and more progressive state income tax with less reliance on county property taxes. He should also be directing his huge TIF fund surplus towards school spending.

WINNERS AND LOSERS

As you might expect, with Rahm in control of city schools, not everyone came out losers in this year of draconian budget cuts. The pension "crisis" doesn't seem to have affected big budget winners including UNO's scandal-ridden charter schools and charter networks run by Chicago Int'l. and Noble St. who made out like bandits.Taking the biggest hits were Curie, Kelly, Fenger, Phillips and Morgan Park H.S.

Another big budget winner was Teach For America (TFA) who's 5-week wonders will be contracted with in record numbers to replace Chicago's fired teachers and staff. Since arriving in Chicago with 34 recruits in 2000, TFA's numbers have surged to a corps size of 500 this year, with over 1,700 alumni in the region.

A lot has changed in Chicago's education ecosphere since the '90s, however. Nowadays major budget cuts, layoffs, and school closings in Chicago have left an absence of vacant teaching positions. The added influx of TFA corps in the city means they now compete head-to-head for jobs with traditional teachers. But after almost two decades of sending their minimally trained elite college graduates into struggling schools across the county, the non-partisan data on TFA corp members' success is mixed at best. -- Gapers Block

Don't miss this HuffPost Live segment on TFA, including an interview with Chicago teacher activist, Katie Osgood.

GOOD GOSSIP

 I bet it got Rahm's attention.

Sneed hears [CTU Pres. Karen] Lewis may be enlisting the advice of a bazooka, the silent victim of Rahm’s verbal war: former Mayor Richard M. Daley, who made peace with the teachers union during his tenure in office — and who is the unnamed culprit in Rahm’s criticism of the Chicago school system.
◆ To wit: Sneed has learned that Lewis and Daley were spotted huddling at Gibsons eatery Tuesday in the wake of CPS officials announcing what Lewis called a bloodbath”: The layoffs last week of 2,113 teachers and other employees, a month after 850 CPS layoffs because of school closures. -- In Sneed's column this morning.

The Art of War
 If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. -- Sun Tsu

UNO, Quinn, Madigan, Rahm... The gang that won't shoot straight

$143,000 in public school funding up in smoke by UNO rip-off artists.

After holding parents and students at their new charter school hostage in order to get Gov. Quinn to restore millions in funding, the corrupt UNO gang is stiffing the contractors and workers who built their school.

With powerful patrons like Quinn, Boss Madigan, Rahm, and "Slow Eddie" Burke, UNO is having a field day with millions in public money.

Cheered on by Gov. Pat Quinn and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the United Neighborhood Organization celebrated the opening of its new $22 million charter school on the Northwest Side last September with a laser light show and fireworks display. The cost? More than $143,000, according to records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.

While UNO leaders, like Juan Rangel stuff their pockets and those of friends and relatives, with public dollars, UNO's contractors are still waiting to be paid for their work.

According to the Sun-Times:

Now, more than nine months after the grand opening of the UNO Galewood Charter School, 10 contractors say the politically well-connected charter-school operator stiffed them out of more than $1.3 million they’re owed for work on the school at 2050 N. Natchez.

“We want to be paid for the work we did,” says John D’Angelo, president of State Mechanical Services, which filed a lien May 10 for nearly $400,000 — the second-biggest of the claims.

Gov Quinn: When Eddie Burke says jump, he says, "how high"?

D’Angelo’s Naperville business installed the school’s heating and air-conditioning.

Side note: Nobody has explained why they had to hire a company in Naperville for this job when there are plenty of capable Chicago companies using city workers. Must be that keeping it all in the family, white-guy thing. Although I'm sure if D'Angelo was related to Burke or Madigan, he would have already been paid off. I'll have to look into that.

The S-T article makes it clear that Quinn restored UNO's funding, even before the audit he himself ordered was completed, only because he was told to do so by Burke, "one of his biggest campaign contributors." Quinn is definitely Burke's boy.

UNO, Quinn, Burke, Madigan, Emanuel -- the biggest, unindicted rip-off artists in state history. Move over Bathhouse John and Hinky Dink. Where are you federal prosecutors?

Lipstick on a pig. The UNO makeover is complete

New board chair, Cabrera (right) says Rangel (left) will stay on as UNO boss, saying there is “no one more suitable to be CEO.”   John H. White~Sun-Times

“I am here today to apologize. "I have failed." -- Juan Rangel
" Oh that's funny. Oh please stop Juan. Oh, my side hurts from laughing..."  -- Mike Klonsky

In one of the largest and most outlandish school/political swindles of our time, the clout-heavy charter hustlers at UNO have made a few cosmetic changes in order to keep millions in taxpayer dollars flowing into their coffers. Gov. Quinn, Speaker Madigan and Mayor Emanuel are all playing along with the charade.

With investigators snooping around, Quinn had suspended all remaining payments from a $98 million school construction grant after the Chicago Sun-Times reported that $8.5 million of the state funding went to companies owned by two brothers of Miguel d’Escoto, a top UNO executive who resigned his $200,000-a-year post in the wake of the stories.

UNO political boss Juan Rangel, says he is stepping down from the boards that oversee UNO and its charter-school network, which is the biggest in Illinois. But amazingly, he will STAY ON AS CEO.

The Sun-Times reports that UNO's made-over board will be headed by Martin Cabrera Jr., head of a financial services firm that served as underwriter for a $37.5 million UNO bond issue in 2011.

Cabrera is founder and chief executive officer of Cabrera Capital Markets, one of Chicago’s leading Hispanic investment banks and a frequent recipient of pinstripe patronage from city bond issues.

Cabrera said Rangel will stay on in UNO’s top job, saying there is “no one more suitable to be CEO.”

Rangel has also been forced to step down from the board of the Public Building Commission of Chicago, which oversees construction of public schools, police and fire stations and other public buildings. Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed Rangel to the PBC board soon after being elected mayor in 2011. Rangel served as co-chairman of his mayoral election campaign.

To turn the money spigot back on, UNO is turning to "a little-known not-for-profit group", called IFF, which “will oversee the completion of the construction of the new UNO Soccer Academy Charter High School” and “will have the sole discretion to approve any and all contractors, subcontractors or material providers performing work relating to the project.”

Just reading the S-T article made me feel so dirty, I had to wash my hands. Yuck!

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Fired Crenshaw teacher Alex Caputo-Pearl

Dana Goldstein

At Crenshaw, a “politically and intellectually challenging” themed school-within-a-school reform was dumped and its leaders dispersed. That’s “discouraging.” -- Joanne Jacobs blog

UNO Lender Steven Levy

“It had to be more than just an appearance” of a conflict, Levy, whose firm bought bonds issued for construction of UNO’s schools, told Rangel during the conference call. “There must have been something else going on for [d’Escoto] to quit a job that was paying him 200K a year.” -- UNO charter-school scandal has Wall Street worried

Rahm Emanuel

"I don't create jobs. I create the environment, the atmosphere and the platform for success in the private sector." -- Emanuel not getting the jobs done?

Paul Vallas

 “Me criticizing standardized testing is like Nixon goes to China.” -- The Answer Sheet

Chicago Principal Rhonda Larkin

"I invested 10 years in my school, and it was my family. It was almost like my child. We were being phased out, but we always had hope we were going to be saved because we were doing such great things. It really hurt." -- Chicago Tribune

More trouble for UNO

It keeps getting worse and worse for the UNO charter hustlers. Now that Gov. Quinn has turned off the $98 million spigot, the construction company and its workers have walked off the job, demanding to be paid. UNO's shiny new charter school has been stalled in mid-stream.

According to the Sun-Times: 

Patrick Cermak, the president of general contractor Wight & Co. of Darien, cited unspecified past-due payments in a letter to subcontractors explaining why it was halting work on the new UNO Soccer Academy High School at 51st and St. Louis, which is being paid for out of the state grant.

 The only questions now are, where are the indictments? And, who will UNO bring down with them?

Has UNO's great charter school heist really ended?

Madigan greased the deal

FINALLY, the state has cut off money to the UNO charter school hustlers. After countless media exposures and with the IG and possibly federal investigators looking around the $98 million swindle pulled off by Juan Rangel and the d’Escoto brothers, Gov. Quinn finally turned off the money spigot -- at least for now.

But Rangel, who co-chaired Rahm Emanuel's 2011 mayoral campaign, still has the so-sue-me look of the cat who ate the canary. Why? Well, for one thing, Quinn's move is too little, too late. UNO hustlers have already pocketed and spent $54.7 million of the money much of it funneled directly to Rangel's pal Federico “Fred” d’Escoto. Fred's brother Miguel d'Escoto, a city transportation commissioner in the Daley administration, resigned from his $200,000-a-year position as UNO’s No. 2 executive after Sun-Times reporter began sniffing out the story.

Another reason Rangel is still smiling -- UNO hustlers think they are too connected to be taken down. They could never have gamed the system without political bosses Madigan and Rahm greasing the deal. 

The problem is that there are thousands of others who are being hurt in the process, including parents, students, teachers, and the entire school community. UNO relies on tens of millions of dollars a year it gets from the Chicago Public Schools to pay back the money it borrowed and to operate its 13 charter schools, with more than 6,500, mostly Latino students. This at a time when the board in closing 54 mainly black neighborhood schools, supposedly for budgetary reasons.

This also coincides with an apparently successful attempt to unionize UNO's teachers. Word is that 80% of them have signed ACTS union cards. See Brother Fred's blog for more on this.

There ought to be more severe consequences for UNO and their political machine backers, Madigan and Emanuel, as well as Rahm's hand-picked school board that approved the deal. There is still a possibility that Quinn will back off and keep the dollars flowing if UNO makes a few cosmetic changes, like shifting around the titles of top execs and removing Rangel from his official leadership post. Not only should that game be rejected, there should be a full pay-back of the million in ill-gottens gains from the taxpayers and criminal charges for this public heist.

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Follow the money. UNO's kick-backs to Madigan.

Boss Madigan

Dan Mihalopoulos reports in this morning's Sun-Times that UNO has kicked back more than $24,000 to campaign funds controlled by Boss Madigan after receiving millions in charter school construction grants that Madigan greased.

Madigan had given a big boost to the group’s aspirations to be a major operator of charter schools in the city when he helped it get a $98 million state school-construction grant in 2009, without any requirement for competitive bidding on the work, as government agencies typically must do. The state money helped fuel UNO’s rapid growth as the operator of publicly funded schools that offer an alternative to Chicago’s public schools in heavily Latino neighborhoods. 

Funniest part of the story has the billionaire heiress State Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago) saying she doesn't know who wrote the provision into her latest bill, sending another $35 million UNO's way. Gee, I don't know. How did that get in there?

 Where are the feds? S-T journalists have already made the case. Is Madigan, UNO, too big to jail?

Rahm starring in 'Jobs Busters'

Robert Pawlaszek, of SEIU Local 1, gathers with O'Hare janitors and other employees during a prayer vigil outside Rahm's house. 

Perfect timing. As we head into the Christmas season in the land of high heating bills, comes the news that  Rahm is laying off many of the city's library custodians.

He's also put 300 union custodians's jobs on the chopping block at O’Hare Airport because of a controversial $99 million, non-union janitorial contract he's handed out to one of his mobster friends, Richard Simon, a buddy of  the son of the late mobster William “Potatoes” Daddano (stay with me now) who also happens to be connected to the UNO charter school hustlers.

According to the Sun-Times report, UNO’s non-union janitorial service is listed as an “anticipated” sub-contractor on the O’Hare deal — an arrangement that could have been worth almost $5 million, according to city records.

Charter schools, airport contracts, we always get our cut, says UNO boss and bag man for the machine, Juan Rangel. He tells the S-T that  his janitorial firm "does not have a deal with United Maintenance and hopes only to conduct “outreach” efforts to help the new city contractor find workers." Very funny.

Ben Joravsky, as usual, tears the jobs-creator mask off of the mayor in his latest Reader post, "Rahm's addition-by-subtraction approach to jobs."

 In the meantime, the real problem of economic development in Chicago is that the new jobs the mayor brags about are not being filled by people who live in the communities that need them the most. Meanwhile, the mayor replaces union jobs that bring much-needed money to hard-hit communities with low-wage, part-time ones. I'd love to hear the mayor give a speech explaining how this is a good economic development strategy for Chicago. 

Dynamite CTU report on Chicago charters

UNO and other private charter school operators also figure prominently in a devastating report on Rahm's school-closing, charter opening strategy. The union report, issued today, titled "The Black and White of Education in Chicago's Public Schools," accuses CPS of intentionally under-utilizing schools, in order to create more opportunities for privately run charter schools. The report goes on to say that school closings disproportionately hurt African-American students, creating segregation and "educational apartheid."

According to the report, over 80 percent of schools affected by closings had a student body that was overwhelmingly made up by people of color. CTU says that "the policy of closing schools in one area of the city and opening schools in another has been the failed status quo in Chicago for nearly 20 years."