Michelle Rhee’s husband, Mayor Kevin Johnson of Sacramento, put a measure on the ballot that would have strengthened the powers of the mayor, himself.
Opponents said it was a power grab.
The voters agreed. The mayor’s proposal was defeated 57-43%.
The election capped one of the most expensive campaigns in the city’s history. More than $1.2 million was raised by the two sides combined, most of it by political action committees advocating for the measure.
The Measure L campaign’s largest contributors include prominent developer Angelo K. Tsakopoulos, Sacramento Republic FC lead investor Kevin Nagle, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Laurene Powell Jobs, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/local-election/article3528468.html#storylink=cpy
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Ha! Michelle Rhee Johnson represented Measure L at three debates but she wouldn’t debate Dr Ravitch once. The proviso that mayor could singlehandedly fire city manager must’ve been right up her alley.
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During the debates, Michelle Rhee told the people of Sacramento that she and her husband would both be voting for Measure L. The Sacramento Bee reported on the day after registration for this election closed that she wasn’t registered to vote in California. She said later in the week that she was registered to vote in Tennessee due to a child custody agreement with her ex-husband.
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She can’t seem to get the simplest facts—including those she literally knows firsthand—right.
Note this posting by Jersey Jazzman, 4-17-2014, “Why Is Michelle Rhee Wrong About Everything?”:
[start quote]
Michelle Rhee is consistently wrong about everything.
She was wrong about teaching to the test. She was wrong about her grading of state education policies. She was wrong about truancy. She was wrong about student surveys and VAM. She was wrong about the effectiveness of her “reforms” while leading the Washington, D.C. schools.
Michelle Rhee was even wrong about her own record as a teacher.
And now America’s #1 corporate reformer is wrong about the amount of classroom time taken up by standardized testing:
Those test-crazed districts need to be reeled in. But a new study by Teach Plus, an organization that advocates for students in urban schools, found that on average, in grades three and seven, just 1.7 percent of classroom time is devoted to preparing for and taking standardized tests. That’s not outrageous at all. Most people spend a larger percentage of their waking day choosing an outfit to wear or watching TV. …
Let’s be very clear: in direct contradiction to Rhee, the Teach Plus report specifically says the 1.7 percent figure does not include test preparation time.
[end quote]
Read the entire piece for more context.
Link: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2014/04/why-is-michelle-rhee-wrong-about.html
Now she doesn’t even know where she can vote.
😱
And she headed an entire school system?
😳
And she is a supernova in the firmament of self-styled “education reform”…
And also fond of describing herself according to approved Marxist tenets:
“I’ve got the brain of a four year old. I’ll bet he was glad to be rid of it.” [Groucho, the one and only]
😎
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Sounds like voter fraud to me. You can’t vote where you don’t live. I looked her up a few years back and she was registered to vote in CA and was registered as a DINO, I mean Democrat. Any Tennessee native/s want to file a complaint or look into this?
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Hedge funders are celebrating tonight:
“This PAC has been the largest source of financial support to the Republicans running for the New York State Senate, and has, at its core, the mission of enacting pro-charter school education reform in the state. Armed with $1 million donations from Loeb and former Tiger Management hedge fund boss and billionaire Julian Robertson, as well as $500,00 from Singer, New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany took aim at the state senate seats, looking to install Republican candidates this year.
The strategy worked, with Republicans taking control of the New York State Senate last night, and Singer and Loeb coasting to another victory of their own.”
Why do they bother calling it education reform? It’s 100% charter schools and vouchers. Even the labeling is dishonest. They have zero interest in public schools, unless it’s shutting them down.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mariahsummers/hedge-fund-donors-win-big-in-the-midterms
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So glad to have seen Mario out there campaigning for a Democratic NY State Senate. Just warms the heart!
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Ed reformer in Wisconsin immediately moves to expand voucher program.
Can ed reformers actually destroy the existing public school systems in the midwest? I think we’re about to find out!
We shouldn’t put people who don’t value public schools in charge of public schools. Our schools don’t fare very well.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/gov-scott-walker-proposes-expanding-school-voucher-program-ft8qmt8-191669951.html
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Wait a minute, Diane. Are you insinuating that a man as virtuous as Mike Bloomberg would bankroll a proposal that undermines democracy ? How could you think such a thing?
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And there it is, right to the very heart of it, if indeed these scumbags had hearts.
The powerful want more power. Period. I am amazed at the amount of funding it takes to try and bamboozle people. Thank goodness people got out and voted.
Maybe Rhee will start saying that she is the Queen of America, and believing it.
I’m sickened by all of it. I really feel I have no voice. He tried 4 times to power grab? What would be the purpose of all that money backing this proposal unless they stand to gain from it?
It is no longer a democracy. THEY will find a way to get their way. Is Johnson even good at his job? Maybe its time to vote this athlete out of office.
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I just read that one of his forthcoming ideas for Sacramento was/is Universal Pre-k – so there you have your angle in his wanting total control, with his Rhee-ject wife at his side and all those ties to TNTP and TFA and charters. Ka-frigging-ching. HIs way, her way, or no way.
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Where’s Shell’s L and I Voted sticker?
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TN Residency requirements:
http://www.tn.gov/sos/election/residency.htm
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Given Johnson’s background and behavior in the past, I’m surprised he isn’t trying to lower the age of consent.
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I believe he likes 16 year olds. I still am amazed that people still like to be photographed and seen with him. Shell is a different story. They sadly, must not know about “Sweet 16” Johnson.
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That might be next on his agenda when he runs for the governorship.
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Michelle Rhee, who makes more in an hour of bashing public school teachers & their unions as the average starting teacher makes in a year—while we have to read the outrageous stuff that her supporters claim about how self-less and noble she is..
Below, we can read as one of her backers blathers about how Rhee is now “shunning high salaries” to “improve the lot of our nation’s students,” and how she was targeted and victimized in D.C. because she “put students first.”
Check out what WAITING FOR SUPERMAN director Davis Guggenheim wrote in his blurb accompanying her page in TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Important People list:
(CAPS are mine… Jack… it’s in the last paragraph)
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2066367_2066369_2066128,00.html
—————————————
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM:
“She (Michelle Rhee) SET A GOAL TO IMPROVE THE LOT OF THE NATION’S STUDENTS, and she has stuck to that. And she PAID DEARLY FOR IT, stepping down from her D.C. post in 2010 after Mayor Adrian Fenty lost his bid for re-election, a public rejection that some saw as A REPUDIATION OF THE TOUGH STEPS to raise the standards of the city’s public schools.
“Subsequently, SHE SHUNNED ANY HIGH-SALARY OFFERS that resulted from her high-profile tenure and INSTEAD FOUNDED HER OWN ORGANIZATION.
” ‘PUTTING KIDS FIRST’ could be a pithy slogan. For many it is.FOR RHEE, IT’S A LIFELONG COMMITMENT.”
—————————————
Hey Davis, you know who else has to “pay dearly”? The folks who have to pay to have this woman speak for an hour or two!
Ms. Rhee may have “shunned any high salary offers” after the voters of D.C. ran her out of town, but she sure isn’t shy about lapping up her $50K / hour speaking fees!
(NOTE: her 2013 STUDENTS FIRST tax forms indicate she currently makes $350,000 annually… isn’t that “a high salary?)
It’s nice that her “lifelong commitment” to “putting kids first” pays so well.
Here’s Hollywood agency CAA’s promo blurb for her:
http://caaspeakers.com/michelle-rhee/
——————————————————————-
“In the ever-evolving landscape of education in America, Michelle Rhee has been working tirelessly for the past two decades to give children the skills and knowledge they will need to compete in a changing world.
“From adding instructional time after school and visiting students’ homes as a third grade teacher in Baltimore, to hosting hundreds of community meetings and creating a Youth Cabinet to bring students’ voices into reforming the DC Public Schools, Michelle has always been guided by one core principle: put students first.”
——————————————————————
Wow, Rhee has “been guided by one core principle: put students first.”
How touching and noble of her? Given that moving statement, I’m sure that—like Dr. Ravitch—Ms. Rhee probably donates her time to give speeches and make appearances… at most only asking to have her expenses covered.
Wait a sec. I just found something on-line. It says that… Ms. Rhee… NO, I DON’T BELIEVE IT… SOMEBODY’S LYING OR MAKING THIS UP TO HARM HER REPUTATION…
No… it says that… she actually CHARGES MONEY (???!!!) for her speeches?
Say it ain’t so!
And that, when giving speeches, she is represented by the top Hollywood agency C.A.A., Creative Artists Agency?
Well, I’m sure her pay is just a small honorarium… as, like you, Dr. Ravitch, her true motives are to improve the educational lives of children, and to make sure every child has a great teacher at the front of his or her classroom, and, as Davis Guggenheim puts it, her mission to “put students first,” while “shunning high salaries.”
What’s that? It’s NOT just a token honorarium. Let me guess…
$1,000?
$2,000?
Higher? You gotta be kidding!
$5,000?
$10,000?
Get outta town!
$15,000?
$20,000?
What? She gets more than that just for an hour or two of speaking and answering questions?
Really? It’s actually higher?
$25,000?
$30,000?
Okay, someone’s just winding me up here. There’s NO WAY she charges more than THAT!!!
$50,000!
BINGO!!!!!
$50,000???!!! I don’t believe it.
Somebody’s gotta be making that up to discredit Ms. Rhee. It’s probably some evil, corrupt defenders-of-a-failed-status-quo teachers union thugs who put adult teachers’ interests ahead of children/students’ interest that hacked into C.A.A.’s website and created… yeah, it’s probably them who are making up and spreading these lies in an effort to harm Ms. Rhee’s reputation, and protect those teachers’ own selfish interest and cushy jobs-for-life.
Apparently not.
Some enterprising writer named Molly Bloom at the on-line publication STATE IMPACT actually got a copy of the contract that Rhee uses for her personal appearances and posted it on-line.
Oh, will you just shut up and gimme that link!
http://stateimpact.npr.org/ohio/2011/10/10/michelle-rhee-to-speak-at-kent-statestark-prompts-faculty-to-organize-counter-event/
What’s that? Just scroll down and you can see
a scanned copy of Rhee’s boilerplate contract? Hmmm….
Yep! There it is… In the contract posted, $35,000 is indeed what she’s getting paid to speak at Kent State, plus a bunch o’ FIRST CLASS expenses. .. (She claims here that she was discounting her usual $50,000 / hour fee because the venue, Kent State, was “a school.)
The contract posted is the actual one used for Ms. Rhee’s appearance at at Kent State University,
Why, that’s SECOND worst atrocity ever associated with that school’s history. (“Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming… Four dead in O – hi – o… “)
(Watch this whole video… it’s pretty well done!)
I like how the “Purchaser”—the entity or person who hires her— sends the payment to:
“Rhee Enterprises, LLC” (PAGE 2)
Helping improve the education of children and “putting students first” is a lucrative Big Business, apparently.
There’s more on PAGE 3:
——————————————————————
“a. Purchaser shall provide the Artist with one (1) First Class round-trip, unrestricted, fully-refundable airplane tickets, or cash equivalent, at Artist’s election;
“b. Purchaser shall one (1) VIP hotel suite; Purchaser to make and confirm reservations in consultation with the Artist; Artist reserves the right to choose hotel;
“c. Purchaser to provide the Artist with meals and all reasonable incidentals;
“d. Purchase shall provide Artist with a towncar and Professional Driver for round-trip transportation from the Artist’s home to the airport, airport to hotel, hotel to engagement, or any combination thereof;”
——————————————————————
Yes, that’s right… Rhee demands not just a hotel room, but a “VIP hotel suite” at a hotel approved by her, as well as a towncar with a chauffer to drive her around???!!!
Come one. Be fair. Don’t beat up on Rhee because of this. You need all that if you’re going to be “putting students first.”
Item 6 is telling. Michelle or her agent crosses out the following:
——————————————————————
(CROSSED OUT WITH A PEN)
“6. RESPONSIBILITY for EVENT-RELATED TAXES. Purchase agrees to pay any and all local, State, and/or Federal rental, amusement, sales or other taxes as required by law.”
——————————————————————
Next to the crossing out, Michelle or her agent scrawls,
“TAX EXEMPT”…
… as Students First is a non-profit organization.
Awww, that’s too bad. That money would have gone to the state’s general fund for education, as Ohio schools are hurting for cash right now.
Item 9 is interesting:
——————————————————————
“9. ARTIST’S MERCHANDISING RIGHTS. Artist shall have the right, but not the obligation, to sell souvenir programs and other merchandising items on the premises on the place of the presentation without participation by the Purchaser, subject to local venue’s contract requirements, if any, of which the Artist is notified in writing.”
——————————————————————
(INSERT JOKE HERE… it’s too easy… i.e. Michelle Rhee T-shirts, action figures, etc.)
There’s also a pay-or-play clause, which means that if the event is cancelled for any reason, you have to pay Michelle her $35K anyway.
Reading this I feel like I’m watching a final scene of “THE WOLF OF WALL STREET”, where the slimebucket and convicted Wall Street felon Jordan Belfort now makes a cushy living as a “motivational speaker.”
God save us all!
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When you are a former NBA player who becomes mayor, what’s your signature achievement? Keeping the Kings (NBA team) in Sacramento and funding a new arena. I’m sure that’s what Sacramento needed the most. I am so, so tired of people who use their “fame” to go into politics. And his wife? I don’t even want to go there. The clueless mated with the clueless.
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