On second thought...

What I'm still trying to understand is why "on first thought" Gov thought the rally was a good idea (3.00 / 2)

As you saw in my blog that you were kind enough to re-post yesterday - Michelle Rhee is only part of the flock of vultures that are circling CT - hoping to get a piece of the education reform action.  The CT Parent's Union maybe sincere in their beliefs about inner city schools - and every parent should be angry, upset and willing to fight for their children but some of these reforms are connected to some pretty crazy right wing types including CT Parent's Union lead consultant who was generous enough to go and speak at a Minnesota Teabag education reform training event.

I'm putting another piece of the puzzle together and hope to have it ready to go soon - but this governor is pretty damn clear - i don't care who you are or where you've been but if you support me - i'm willing to overlook anything you have done or are doing to undermine our American way of life.

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by: jonpelto @ Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 17:00:24 PM UTC

Just the teacher unions? (0.00 / 0)

Standing up in public with her, however, would just annoy the teacher unions.

It would annoy pretty much anyone that has seen what that idiotic lady, Rhee, has done. Kind of like she and her boss, the DC mayor, pissed off voters there.

Does not really matter... She works for just another fine corporate funded and hyped up "Waiting for Superman" type propaganda for the corporate welfare elite group now, a film she was featured in as the hero, but does not address the voters crushing her dreams in DC.

The Myth of Charter Schools

...snip...

The message of these films has become alarmingly familiar: American public education is a failed enterprise. The problem is not money. Public schools already spend too much. Test scores are low because there are so many bad teachers, whose jobs are protected by powerful unions. Students drop out because the schools fail them, but they could accomplish practically anything if they were saved from bad teachers. They would get higher test scores if schools could fire more bad teachers and pay more to good ones. The only hope for the future of our society, especially for poor black and Hispanic children, is escape from public schools, especially to charter schools, which are mostly funded by the government but controlled by private organizations, many of them operating to make a profit.

...snip...

The stars of the film are Geoffrey Canada, the CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone, which provides a broad variety of social services to families and children and runs two charter schools; Michelle Rhee, chancellor of the Washington, D.C., public school system, who closed schools, fired teachers and principals, and gained a national reputation for her tough policies; David Levin and Michael Feinberg, who have built a network of nearly one hundred high-performing KIPP charter schools over the past sixteen years; and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, who is cast in the role of chief villain. Other charter school leaders, like Steve Barr of the Green Dot chain in Los Angeles, do star turns, as does Bill Gates of Microsoft, whose foundation has invested many millions of dollars in expanding the number of charter schools. No successful public school teacher or principal or superintendent appears in the film; indeed there is no mention of any successful public school, only the incessant drumbeat on the theme of public school failure.

...snip...

The propagandistic nature of Waiting for "Superman" is revealed by Guggenheim's complete indifference to the wide variation among charter schools. There are excellent charter schools, just as there are excellent public schools. Why did he not also inquire into the charter chains that are mired in unsavory real estate deals, or take his camera to the charters where most students are getting lower scores than those in the neighborhood public schools? Why did he not report on the charter principals who have been indicted for embezzlement, or the charters that blur the line between church and state? Why did he not look into the charter schools whose leaders are paid $300,000-$400,000 a year to oversee small numbers of schools and students?

She "gained a national reputation for her tough" AND proved failed policies in the voters eyes.

Also, Rhee worked in New York city before her failed stint in DC. Is their children learned yet? 'Nuff said.

Read the whole thing... It is worth it.


Drinking Liberally in New Milford
ePluribus Media

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by: Connecticut Man1 @ Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 17:10:46 PM UTC

Did Malloy's team do a poll and see his support amont Dems decrease? (0.00 / 0)

The last poll I saw, Malloy was at 49% approval among Democrats.  Wonder what it is now?

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by: Larkspur @ Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 18:43:29 PM UTC

The Power Of The Blogs (0.00 / 0)

Call me crazy, but I really think Jon Pelto and the power of the blogs caused this change of heart!

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by: Jon Kantrowitz @ Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 19:14:29 PM UTC

Are you saying that the Malloy Admin reads Blogs? (0.00 / 0)

Oh my!

If so, then Jon Pelto is a good progressive "thorn" in the Malloy Admin's side.

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by: Larkspur @ Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 20:20:38 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Pelto is a thorn in Malloy admin's side... (0.00 / 0)

Ted Mann:

The story in question is by the paper's Capitol reporter, Ed Jacovino, and it reveals that Matt Gianquinto, a veteran of the Malloy campaign, is now an employee of the Department of Public Safety.

"Malloy campaign staffer got state job," the headline reads.

There isn't much of a scandal here. Gianquinto has, if anything, pulled down a less desirable job than some of the others who worked for Dan Malloy's election campaign. (Like, say, Brian Durand, who's at OPM, or Arielle Reich, the government affairs director.) And it's not inappropriate to hire your supporters to certain state positions. That's why the job is classified as a political appointment.

No, what makes this so good is that it's going to drive Roy Occhiogrosso absolutely crazy. Malloy's senior adviser had already put in a call to Jacovino, warning him not to write this. Jacovino called to ask for Gianquinto's salary and job description, not long after the administration's angriest liberal critic, blogger Jonathan Pelto, sent a Freedom of Information request for the same material. To Roy, it's clear: Pelto's feeding this to reporters, trying to get someone to write a hit piece. So he warned Jacovino earlier in the week that if they ran with something pitched by Pelto, he'd be "cut off" from the press office. (Jacovino denied that was his source, not that the Malloy press staff believed that.)

[...]

Jacovino had better steer clear, and when someone brings up Pelto's name, Occhiogrosso's eyes drop into his searching squint, looking for the slightest sense of empathy with that turncoat, a creature now dead to the administration.

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by: ctblogger @ Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 22:01:57 PM UTC

[ Parent ]