| H o w w e t a k e b a c k o u r c h i l d r e n ' s e d u c a t i o n -- o n e p e r s o n , o n e q u e s t i o n , o n e s c h o o l a t a t i m e . |
| P E Y T O N W O L C O T T |
How we take back our children's education: one person, one question, one school at a time. |
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| Copyright 1999-2007 Peyton Wolcott |
| C o n s e r v a t i v e C o m m e n t a r y - 95 Questions |
| Our public schools are essentially socialist models and their engine and currency is the realm of emotions and people skills. |
| Former Bremond ISD supe |
| THE BIG PICTURE |
| Public Records |
| Sentencing |
| Bremond ISD |
| Practical steps: How to Organize 95 Questions How to ask for public records |
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| Meet Michael J. Donley, TEA's Inspector General By Peyton Wolcott Updated Friday, July 13, 2007/10:00 am |
| What do we know about Michael Donley? Because he doesn't return phone calls or emails--mine, at least--all we have is his work product, the June 15, 2007 contracts review "rough draft," and the fact that he served on the TEA task force which exonerated at least 590 Texas schools of TAKS cheating charges (what would our world be like if all offenders were invited to self-investigate?). |
Below (scroll down) are excerpted relevant portions (see comments in red) of TEA Inspector General Michael J. Donley's employment application for the IG position at TEA. TEA received Donley's application on May 17, 2006 (top). Donley's signature and July 10, 2007 (7-10-07) date (below) were added almost 15 months later-- after my public records request. |
| Dear readers: Can you find any education law experience listed above? I couldn't. |
| And we have Donley's employment application (below). Even though it was date stamped as received by HR on May 17, 2006, a date did not appear by his signature for almost another 14 months--on July 10, 2007 (below)--which date exactly coincides with the day after my July 9, 2007 public records request to see it. In fact, we do not know for certain on which date Michael Donley signed the application--whether he signed it when he submitted it undated in May 2006 or he signed it earlier this week when the date was added; as before, Donley has not responded to queries. |
| "For every action there will be an equal and opposite reaction," Sir Isaac Newton observed, and this has seldom been truer than with the public education spectacle we've observed here in Texas these past few weeks. Long-time TEA executive Robert Scott has served Texas education for several years now, quietly, working |
| And in response to Robert Scott's actions--true to Newton's law--the "education blob"--what I call Education, Inc.--has, with Shirley Neeley finally out the door, in the past two weeks launched an unprecedented witch hunt. Those forces committed to maintaining the corrupt status quo in public education do not welcome Robert Scott with open arms. This is a good thing. It's a sign he can do something of real value for our schoolchildren and our parents and our taxpayers. If Education, Inc. thought for a nanosecond he would continue the old inept and corrupt ways, they wouldn't be bothering. I believe that with Rick Perry as governor, Don McLeroy as State Board of Education chair, and Robert Scott as commissioner, Texas public schools have a very real chance of coming back out of the abyss into which we've sunk. Our kids can't read and they can't multiply without a calculator. We are poised for a real education miracle. It's time. |
| "Do not leave questions blank." |
| More from TEA Inspector General Michael J. Donley's May 27, 2006 employment application for IG position at TEA: |
| "Current/Final Salary: $80,000." (Three months work as a summer associate still in law school.) |
| Boxes not filled in. |
| NOTE: This is the only employment listed for the three-year period in law school. |
| The "Leaving Date" is not filled in, although the narrative "Summary of experience" is in the past tense: "I excelled..." |
| "Employer addresses must be complete...." |
| How is it possible to manage teams without supervising anyone? |
_
| "Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of applications...." |
| "Omission of information may be grounds for.... termina- tion." |
| "This application must be signed." |
| "Indicate your understand- ing and acceptance by signing in the space provided." |
| No address. |
| "Fill out application form completely." |
| "Be sure to sign when completed." |
| "These instructions must be followed exactly." |
| "The official record of your employment history...." |
| "same information in the same format...." |
| Texas Gov. Rick Perry names Don McLeroy new State Board of Education Chair By Peyton Wolcott Updated Wednesday, July 18, 2007/12:52 pm |
| Don McLeroy (L) of Bryan at July 2006 SBOE meeting; (L to R) SBOE members Cynthia Thornton and Pat Hardy, attendee |
| Gov. Rick Perry has named Don McLeroy (R-Bryan) as chairman of the State Board of Education for a two-year term. McLeroy has served as vice- chairman of the state board and a member of the Bryan Independent School District Board of Trustees. McLeroy will serve a two-year term on the board. McLeroy has close ties to social conservatives throughout the state. With McLeroy at the helm, expect the board to continue work already underway on expanding the charter school movement, making more rigorous the content of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, and toughening the standards for the state's testing program. "We've got to have top-notch standards," McLeroy said. "That's the key and our Number One Priority." McLeroy said he plans to get to work right away on the rewrite for the English Language Arts portion of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and aims to make them rigorous, measurable and grade-level specific. McLeroy has served on the board since 1998. |
| In announcing yesterday that he'd named Don McLeroy chair of the State Board of Education, I believe that Gov. Perry has made the correct decision for Texas schoolchildren, parents and taxpayers. Don has proven with both his professional and his private life that he is committed to improving education for Texas school children. Speaking personally, I want to say that after dealing with education executives and officials for many years now, Don's modesty is refreshing and speaks well of his character. So modest in fact is Don that I just recently discovered his website, by accident. Here's hoping this quote (below) is prophetic of Don's dynamic SBOE leadership. |
| TEA's interim commissioner Robert Scott and Newton's third law of physics By Peyton Wolcott Friday, July 13, 2007/2:44 am |
| Too many decisions in the past such as those involved in the writing of our original subjective touchy-feely fake-consensus-driven TEKS standards directly benefited Texas school administrators and Education, Inc. including lobbyists like Sandy Kress (at far right); along these lines I've been listening this past week to tapes from a crucial 1997 SBOE meeting on which I'll be commenting soon. In the meantime, here's Gov. Perry's press release: |
| Don has a moral compass which helps him know when to compromise and when to stand uncompromisingly on principle. He understands how important it is to rewrite the education standards for our public schools, and he is determined that students must master basic skills before they can be expected to do higher-level thinking . . . . Don has the ability to work well with all types of people, is fair-minded, and is very wise. He is humble and does not revel in the limelight in order to feed his ego. |
| Excerpts from "Clear Thinking" By Don McLeroy |
| "The schools of the present day are being ruined by the absurb notion that education should follow the line of least resistance, and that something can be 'drawn out' of the mind before anything is put in." -- J. Gresham Machen (1923) "A body of facts accumulates and makes it possible for people to solve many more prob- lems than they could ever hope to handle suc- cessfully solely by their own thinking processes." -- Hy Ruchlis (1962) |
| The key to clear thinking is a mind filled with knowledge and facts. |
| Rudolf Flesch in The Art of Clear Thinking (1951) states, "Here is your definition of thinking: It is the manipula- tion of memories." But what are memor- ies? Memories are the recordings of knowledge, facts and experiences in the mind. Minds cannot function in a vacuum. |
| Don quotes two more authors: |
| Filling the mind with knowledge and facts is, in fact, the special task given to education. Thus, the most amazing orthodoxy which dominates the educa- tional establishment leviathan today is the slighting of facts and knowledge for emphasis on problem-solving and critical thinking. Problem solving and critical thinking are secondary skills. Before one can think and solve he must first have something to think about. Surgeons must be drilled and saturated in the facts of anatomy before they problem solve with a scalpel. Yet today there is a real bias in the public schools to de-emphasize knowledge and facts. For a child, the years before puberty are the golden time to learn, to be exposed to myriads of facts, to be trained in arithmetic, grammar and spelling. In spite of this, each of these areas have been a battleground at the state level where the dogmatic orthodoxies have been challenged by the back-to-the-basics advocates. What we need in our schools is a real commitment to filling our children's minds with knowledge, facts and experiences; this is the school's job; no one else is going to do it; it is what parents expect. Clear thinking will be the result. |
| More from Don's site: |
| TEXAS PUBLIC EDUCATION EXTRA! EXTRA! The questions--and answers--you won't find anywhere else By Peyton Wolcott Updated Monday, Aug. 6, 2007 - 12:16 am |
| Question #2: Why didn't Texas Monthly publish something like this instead? |
| Question #1: Did Texas Monthly wage a fair fight or a yellow-dog attack* in its August 2007 issue? |
| Evan Smith (L); neighbor Sandy Kress (Kress/PHOTO/PBS) |
| New York lib gathering in Leonard Bernstein's Park Avenue duplex "In 'Radical Chic,' Wolfe describes an intriguing phenomenon of the late Sixties: the courting of romantic radicals—Black Panthers, striking grape- workers, Young Lords—by New York's socially |
| Leaders or team players? The private school Evan Smith's children attend tells parents their children are being groomed to be "leaders" whereas Austin ISD tells parents the focus is on "teamwork and cooperation." World o'difference. Why is any of this is germane? He who controls the agenda controls the meeting. Evan Smith and Texas Monthly's leadership have put forth a negative case against Rick Perry and Robert Scott, not to mention every other conservative in the political stratosphere, not in a void but in a glossy magazine with--by their own count, 300,000 readers--order to advance their own purposes. I for one do not consider that fair. Given that it was not Shirley Neeley's idea but Rick Perry's and Robert Scott's to put TEA's check register online in February and given that Neeley thwarted Perry's RP47 (65% in the classroom) which Scott supported, let's give the last word to Robyn Hadley on her Capitol Crowd blog: |
| Michael Joseph comments in TLS: |
| Tom Wolfe "both defends and exonerates the Bernsteins, that is--their motives were sound, liberal, serious, responsible--while cocking an almighty snook at 'the essential double-track mentality of Radical Chic-nostalgie de la boue and high protocol' that can entertain Afro hair-styles with Roquefort cheese savouries in a Park Avenue duplex." |
| As regards men who would own up in print to admit- ting that seeing Bill Clinton was a "thrill," or would notice his girth or lack of it, or call a grown six-foot two-inch male "tiny," I don't know any. Having myself been in close physical proximity to Clinton on one occasion in Los Angeles, even given the post- surgery diet, "tiny" is the last descriptor that comes to mind. |
| 8th grade 2007 trip to Costa Rica, Evan Smith's kids' school |
| "Out walked Bill and Hillary Clinton (a thrill; also, he looked tiny–he’s obviously kept off the weight he lost after the heart surgery...."(SOURCE-- Evan Smith/Texas Monthly) |
| Floating Box House everyone's so eager to get inside of! I don't CARE if you're on the committee! YES, I insist! Go without me, honey. Your happiness means more to me than my own. I'm just your husband, the magazine executive who brings in the bacon who sadly must pretend to be remain apolitical." Or something along those lines. |
| Floating Box House (PHOTO-- Paul Warchol/Texas Architect) |
| Hard to imagine, for instance, a self- described "new-house junkie" declaring a Khadafi-esque line in the sand: "Honey, you GO to the Michelle Obama $1,000 reception at Alexa's and Blaine's Peter Gluck-designed |
| Égalité, Fraternité? Equality, fraternity for liberals Kress and Smith--but at arm's length, and safely away from their children, as appears to be the case in these three photos (above left and below right) from their kids' schools, the pix presumably an accurate depiction of the student population. Tom Wolfe nailed libs' propensity to say one thing and live quite another in his 1970 classic, "Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers": |
| 2007 grads, Sandy Kress' son's school |
| elite. He focuses primarily on one symbolic event: the gathering of the radically chic at Leonard Bernstein's duplex apartment on Park Avenue to meet spokesmen of the Black Panther Party, to hear them out, and to talk over ways of aiding their cause. Tom Wolfe recreates the incongruous scene—and its astonishing repercussions—with high fidelity. But he gives us more than just a wry account of life among the Beautiful People; he also provides a historical perspective on that impulse of the upper classes to identify themselves with what they imagine to be the raw, vital lifestyle of the lower orders." |
| Smith dropped another clue about his liberal loyalties when he recently blogged poetic over a Bill and Hillary Clinton sighting at Lady Bird's funeral: |
| Bill Clinton |
| But wait, there's more: Both Smith and Kress send their kiddos to private schools where it's possible to talk about the importance of diversity without having to actually associate at close quarters with a diverse student population—as, say, at Austin ISD public schools. |
| 2007 DC trip, Smith's kids' school |
| The choices TM editor Evan Smith and his art director T.J. Tucker made to illustrate Paul Burka's usual rail against conser- atives (top left) paint quite the picture. First, they picked Gov. Rick Perry, former edu-mission- er Shirley Neeley, and interim commissioner Robert Scott to make a point about Texas public education, then exempted Neeley from their criticisms by placing the "FAIL" sign under Perry and Scott, an old advertising trick. |
| Robert Scott, Shirley Neeley (PHOTO--Harry Cabluck/AP) |
| brain that would produce such journalism as this image above or January's cover (below left) of Vice President Dick Cheney holding a shotgun with the caption, "If You Don't Buy This Magazine, Dick Cheney Will Shoot You in the Face" or even last month's cover featuring two astronauts on a bed which earned the following headline on Rachel Sklar's story at HuffingtonPost.com: "Texas Monthly 'Astronaut Sex' Cover Possibly Worst-Seller In Magazine History." |
| Speaking of TM stories we'd love to see, what about one addressing Shirley Neeley's monetary and other involve- ment in school district education foundations----in districts such as Leander ISD (at left) where her now-husband, school architect Bill M. Richardson, has built millions of dollars of schools through his corporation? Or what about a TM story on Mrs. Neeley's apparently directing her Inspector General to release a "rough draft" report on TEA's |
| TM didn't have to travel years back to AP to find a publishinged image of Robert Scott; this one at left, one I took recently, actually looks like him. (Would you be able to pick this guy out of a crowded elevator based on TM's watercolor?) To suggest TM make fairer depictions presupposes that TM's agenda was to depict all parties in a fair light, but should we so presuppose? What was TM thinking? I don't know. In fact, I think I prefer not being able to crawl around inside a |
| Robert Scott |
| What was/is TM's agenda? Was it to make both Rick Perry and Robert Scott look bad while at the same time advancing Shirley Neeley? And Sandy Kress? |
| Texas Monthly Covers Jan. 2007 (L), July 2007 (R) |
| 'Sandy Kress: Soldier of Edu-Fortune?' Why is Evan Smith's neighbor Sandy Kress referred to simply as an "education reform advocate" on page 27? Is this an accurate description of an education lobbyist/lawyer made "wealthy" by his "education reform" advocacy? Texas Monthly has never been shy about asking money questions as with last November's feature, "Soldier of Fortune: Did Vice President Dick Cheney steer $7 billion in Iraq war contracts to his old pals at Halliburton?" by Lou Dubose and Jake Bernstein. Wondering when TM will dispatch Dubose and Bernstein or anyone else to write a story with the above headline or any of the following descriptions: |
| I still consider it one of life's great mysteries how anyone who listens to Kress for as long as it takes to spell c-o-r-r-u-p-t-i-o-n could be impressed by anything he has to say about any legitimate conception of education. (SOURCE--Jim Horn/Schools Matter) |
| Sandy Kress has "made about $4 million in lobbying contracts, in large part from companies that profit from provisions of the [No Child Left Behind] law he helped to design. (SOURCE--Emily Pyle/Texas Observer) |
| Sandy Kress is "a lawyer, a lobbyist, an education policy wonk and a once-prominent Democrat who became a top adviser to Republicans. And today...Mr. Kress is among the most influential players in the education-industrial complex....On the one hand, Mr. Kress is a leading advocate of using test data to hold schools accountable; he says his motivation is to make education better for children. On the other, the accountability movement that he espouses benefits the clients who have made him wealthy." (SOURCE--Scott Parks/Dallas Morning News) |
| Scott Parks (PHOTO/DMN) |
| Then edu-missioner Shirley Neeley at Leander EEF event |
| contracts process based on anonymous "tips" aimed (is that too strong a word?) at her apparent successor, Robert Scott, and timing its release to coincide with her last week in office? With in-depth coverage on TEA Inspector General Michael J. Donley and his deputy, Jim Catazaro? |
| Coupla more questions Why wasn't a TM photog- rapher out on that golf course in Boerne last April to cover the TAS/MUS conference? Why instead did TM post the following two weeks later----on their blog rather than as a cover story: |
| When TM looks into whether Dick Cheney might have steered billions in "contracts" to "old pals" at Halliburton, that's apparently worth a cover story to them. But when Texas public school superintendents engage in "hospitality as a means for fruitful communication," resulting in millions and billions in contracts to old pals, that's somehow different? Has TM grown too gentrified, a fat-cat caricature of its former self, content to advance its own safe-for-now ultra-liberal |
| "As all wise Southern women know, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. It makes me wonder if the vigilant reporting-- about lobby dinners and golf games, etc.--has cursed hospitality as a means for fruitful communication. Now all that's left is attack ads? This is not progress in human evolution." posted by Patricia Kilday Hart at 4:27 PM (May 9, 2007) |
| April 20, 2007 TAS/MUS golf tournament, Boerne; Ken Coffey works for vendor AIG |
| Robert Scott |
| behind the scenes, he has brought about the substantive changes for which many grassroots conservatives have been clamoring, one example being TEA's $28 million budget reduction a while back (have any of those folks been missed?); also, all of TEA's 2006 checks are now online. |
| Neighbors Smith and Kress occupy million-dollar houses three blocks from each other in Old Austin (Pemberton). |
| Topic A:Texas Schoolchildren Left Behind |
| Here are my three picks next time TM wants to paint a pic- ture about Texas public education: Mike Moses (left) for being Texas' prici- est supe, and still it wasn't enough. At right is Sandy Kress, arguably our |
| doesn't present Neeley in a favorable light, does it? Shirley's allowed a far-off gaze in TM's watercolor, whereas Perry and Scott look brooding, menacing. Then there's Perry's left collar. Was that nice? |
| TM lifted/borrowed (without attribution, that I could find) Scott's image from a photograph by Harry Cabluck for Associated Press. Wondering why they didn't just watercolor Neeley from the original two-person composition with Gov. Perry inserted easily in the middle. But Cabluck's photo |
| If TM ran more art/articles like this, maybe so many of us wouldn't have cancelled our subscriptions. (See full sized here) |
| most visible if not highest-paid edu-attorney/ lobbyist, a guy with a penchant for advocating "reforms" which prosper both him and his clients. |
| The guy in the middle is TM editor Evan Smith, included for two reasons: Running a big glossy like Texas Monthly lo these many years, he could have done something valuable and fine for Texas public education by sending investigative journalists and great photographers to tell the story about the true state of our public schools. |
| Second reason for including Smith: Also a Democratic voter like Kress, the two have much in common of which the average reader might not be aware, com- monalities which might reason- ably influence his magazine's endorsement by default of Kress |
| *Yellow Dog Journalism, The Best and Worst Lists By Gina Parker Ford June 14, 2007 Thirty-four years ago, Texas Monthly began publishing a bi-annual article on the “Ten Best and Ten Worst” Texas State Legislators. Political insiders in Austin and die- hard politicos across the State look forward to this review with much gusto like a blood-thirsty audience at a boxing event or a bull fight. A comprehensive review of the 34 year history of the “Ten Best and Ten Worst List,” however, shows distinct patterns of bias and prejudice against Hispanics, Conservatives, Republicans, and Women and Black members of the Legislature. Conservatives and Hispanics often dominate the “Worst List” and can be twice as likely to make the “Ten Worst List” as compared to the “Ten Best.” The most likely profile of a candidate for their “Ten Best List” is a white, urban, liberal male Democrat. Even more disturbing are the comments made about minority legislators in the various articles over the years. They indicate a pattern that denigrates the intellect and ethics of Hispanic and Black members, accusing them of personal prejudices far beyond those by which Anglo members were accused of. In 1973, Texas Monthly said that Rep. Lindsey Rodriguez “…actually works at being dumb….” The writer called Clay Smothers, an African American legislator from Dallas in the 1970s, “a black Archie Bunker.” Black Rep. Lanell Cofer’s legislative activities were referred to as “monkey- shines.” Hispanic Senator Bob Vale was described as a “parasite.” Current Black Rep. Yvonne Davis was accused of “legislative terrorism” in 2003. The comparisons, however, against Anglo legislators who make the “Ten Worst List” in the same years can be striking. Rep. Tim Von Dohlen was put on the 1973 “Ten Worst List,” but in his write-up he was referred to as “resourceful, hardworking and…quite intelligent.” In 1991, Ernestine Glossbrenner was described as “decent and caring.” In the collective review of the write- ups, one gets a sense that the magazine is saying, “it didn’t have to be this way” when writing about white members and “there is virtually no hope” when writing about minority members. |
| Open Letter to Paul Burka By Donna Garner July 27, 2007 Paul Burka, take it from this retired teacher: "You need to do your homework." Surely you know that Texas Sen. Bill Ratliff in SB 1 stripped our public schools of nearly all local control. You definitely misspoke when you wrote in your article in the August 2007 issue, "...but most decisions have been deregulated and left to local school districts..." S. B. 1 turned Texas into a state-controlled model through the TEKS and the TAKS regulations. Also, Paul, you surely know that Sandy Kress cannot be the Texas Commissioner of Education since he is a highly paid lobbyist for education vendors such as Pearson Publishing Company. Pearson is vying for the lucrative contract to produce the twelve new end-of-course tests which every Texas high-school student will be required to take before graduating. Talk about a conflict of interest -- Sandy Kress as Texas Commissioner of Education who has made upwards of $4 million from his deep ties with education vendors, the very ones who would profit from contracts with the Texas Education Agency! Sandy Kress cannot walk away from those deep ties with the education vendors; therefore, Kress is not a viable candidate for Commissioner of Education. Robert Scott, Interim Texas Commissioner of Education, and the majority of the Texas State Board of Education members are committed to making sure the Texas education standards are rewritten so that they are measurable, grade-level- specific, and explicit. With good education standards which can then be tested on good end-of-course tests, Texas has a chance to move public school students into mastery of basic skills which will equip them to do higher-level thinking skills. The end result will be students who are prepared for the workforce and/or for college. Robert Scott is ready and eager to be the next Texas Commissioner of Education, and I look forward to his receiving this appointment by Gov. Perry. _____________________ More about Donna Garner here. |
| The irony of all ironies is that Texas Monthly writer Paul Burka, who has written on each of the articles, endorsed Kinky Friedman for Governor last year, even though he said he didn’t approve of his (Friedman’s) racially tinged remarks.” Often when Conservatives made the “Ten Best List,” it was for doing some rather non-conservative acts. In 1985, Jim Rudd was praised for opposing a 2% across the board budget cut proposed by the House Conservative Caucus. Jack Vowell was put on the “Ten Best” in 1987 for opposing cuts to welfare and AFDC spending. Fred Hill, a repeat offender on the “Ten Worst List,” was suddenly awarded status on the “Ten Best” by Texas Monthly citing his opposition to lowering appraisal caps and implementing spending caps on local government. Since 1989, Burka has been joined in compiling the Lists by Austin writer Patti Kilday Hart, 52, and the magazine’s editor, currently Evan Smith, 41, a New Yorker who has lived in Texas since 1992. Burka, Hart and Smith are all Democrats by their own words, deeds, or familial ties. Hart and Smith have voted in the Democratic Primary in Travis County - with Hart voting in seven of the last nine Democratic primaries and Smith voting Democratic at least four times in the past decade. Evan Smith’s wife, Julia Null-Smith, is a Democratic Party activist who has served on the Board of Directors of the local chapter of Planned Parenthood. The Smiths also hosted a primary season gathering at their home for then-frontrunner Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean in 2003. Paul Burka stated in 2001 that he was a “Conservative Democrat” who voted in the Republican Primary because Republican “nominees are most likely to win those (statewide) races. Burka then promptly voted in the Democratic Primary the following year. Burka and Hart are not shy about trying to have an impact on the legislative process. For example, in 2005, Rep. Phil King’s inclusion on the “Ten Worst List” referred to his work on anti-abortion bills. Rep. Robert Talton’s campaign against gay foster parenting was cited as the reasoning behind his “Ten Worst” designation the same year. Being a Christian is bad, too: Rep. Robert Talton’s inclusion on the 2003 “Ten Worst List” ridiculed his use of his Christian faith during floor debate. Rep. Tim Von Dohlen was attacked in the “Ten Worst List” in 1973 as a Christian “zealot” who was “cut from a Crusaders Cloth.” In a time when technology takes its toll upon the weekly news magazine and the daily newspaper, the lack of diversity demonstrated by both writers and the writing may demand that the magazine’s owners bring this longstanding work into modern day journalism which demands balance, accountability, and fairness. Time will tell. Gina Parker's website: http://ginaparker.net/gp |
| agenda, no matter the marketplace or magazine sales----or reality? ___________________ P.S. to TM photographers and reporters: Be sure to take packets of SueBee with you to the golf course; apparently the magazine now expects journalists to now also proffer hospitality. As for the 'fruitful communication' you're on your own. |
| for edu-missioner in the August 2007 issue. |
| In-common weal Both men have shown a predilection for mixing government funds with personal gain: Smith serves on the board of Austin's PBS affiliate KLRU--which also carries the "Texas Monthly Talks" TV show (he hosts). More about Kress in grey boxes below left. |
| Robert Scott, cont'd impressive people I've ever known--not just because of his bright legal mind and work ethic, but because of the character he's shown in facing life's challenges. After working his way up the messenger ladder, Scott landed a job with then-state senator Gene Green as a legislative aide. Yeah, Green is a Democrat. When Sen. Green ran for Congress and won, Scott moved to D.C. to work for him there. He and his wife started a family. Single father After a few years, they moved back to Central Texas and Robert started law school at St. Mary's in San Antonio. Through a series of events, Robert ended up a divorced dad with full custody of his two very young children. Somehow, he raised those kids on his own, got a law degree (from U.T. where he transferred because they had an education policy specialty), and began working in the arena of public education. How many dads do you know who could juggle all of that? I can't remember when he began working for Gov. Perry, but Scott also served as a top aide to former TEA Commissioners Mike Moses and Jim Nelson, both of whom earned the praise of the education establishment and the mainstream media during their years of service. Scott learned how to run that agency beside the best of them. Scott may or may not be appointed the next Commissioner of TEA, and it's my understanding that he's perfectly at peace with that. He's never taught school or been a principal or a superintendent, so it's understandable that the education establishment might have reservations about him. He is an example, though, of how far a public school education can take you in this state... from senate messenger to trusted advisor to the governor. I am proud of Robert Scott for the way he's lived his life. Like everyone around the Capitol, he's so much more than his job title. http://capitolcrowd.blogs pot.com/2007/07/in-defen se-of-robert-scott.html |
| Michael J. Donley |
| Mixed media collage by Peyton Wolcott Inspired by Texas Monthly illustration (Art director T.J. Tucker, ART/byAndy Potts/agoodson.com) |
| UPDATE: The following was sent by a TEA spokesperson Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:49:35 -0500: Mr. Donley states that he believes he provided adequate information to the Human Resources Division prior to his hiring. He said he did not sign his job application until July 10, 2007. Mr. Donley said the $80,000 figure listed on the job application is an annualized salary figure. Mr. Donley said he and James Catazaro had not met prior to Mr. Catazaro’s job interview at TEA. Mr. Donley did not meet Commissioner Neeley until he joined the TEA staff. |
| 95 QUESTIONS |
| Question #3: Things are getting Merck-ier and Merck-ier with TEA commissioner possibility, Austin edu-lobbyist/ lawyer Sandy Kress. Who are his (and his attorney firm's) other clients and why do they matter if he should be named TEA commish? |
| The unkind appraisal would be that [Akin Gump] is part of the capital's current climate that elevates money above all else. -- Robert Novak |
| Akin Gump's other DC lobbying clients (Source: Wikipedia) Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: According to its 2001 FARA return the "registrant provided legal advice and strategic counsel with respect to the foreign principal's proposed accession to WTO". [8] It was paid "$6,770.50 for the six month period ending June 24,2001. "The U.S. Embassy of the government of Colombia: According to its 2001 FARA return the "registrant contacted congressional and executive branch officials to discuss U.S. policy towards Colombia." [5]. It was paid "$86,129.04 for the six month period ending June 24,2001," the return states. Government of British Columbia: According to its 2001 FARA return the "registrant communicated with U.S. Government officials regarding trade in softwood lumber." [6] It was paid " $350,607.26 for the six month period ending June 24,2001." Republic of Georgia: According to its 2001 FARA return the "registrant provided advisory services in preparation for Georgia's framework negotiations with the Paris Club group of creditors". [7]. No payment was reported. CNOOC Ltd (Chinese National Oil Corpooration) "President Bush's top independent intelligence adviser met last winter with investment bankers in China to help secure his law firm's role in lobbying for a state-run Chinese energy firm and its bid for the U.S. oil company Unocal Corp., according to his law firm, Akin Gump. The involvement of James C. Langdon Jr., chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and a major Bush fundraiser, underscores the tangled Washington connections beneath CNOOC Ltd.'s bid... Langdon's involvement, given his dual role as Bush intelligence adviser and energy lawyer at the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, may prove politically problematic, some security experts said. Members of the intelligence board, known as PFIAB, are granted the highest security clearance and develop top-secret advisories and reports for the president, most of which are not even available to members of Congress." |
| Skin Cancer Is Up; Tanning Industry a Target New York Times By Paul Vitello Published: August 14, 2006 "Even the most conscientious health officials cannot keep the sun from rising; so in response to an unexplained increase in skin cancer among young people, some have fixed their sights on a more governable suspect: the $5 billion-a-year indoor tanning industry. Since 2003, 19 states have passed laws restricting access to tanning salons among those under 18. State laws have been adopted in the past year in New York and New Jersey . . . . Though less stringent than some health advocates would like, the new legislation reflects a growing sense of alarm among public health organizations about unregulated use of tanning beds by young people, especially teenage girls . . . . "Since 2001, the Indoor Tanning Association has retained the services of Akin, Gump." |
| In defense of Robert Scott By Robyn Hadley July 27, 2007 I opened my new Texas Monthly yesterday and gasped when I saw an article by Paul Burka about how the Texas Education Agency (TEA) is a "shell of what it used to be." It has an interesting drawing of Governor Rick Perry, former TEA Commissioner Shirley Neeley, and Chief Deputy Commissioner Robert Scott...along with what looks like a book with the word "FAIL" written inside of it. I really don't know anything about what's been going on at TEA the past couple of years, but I'm getting really tired of reporters describing Scott as just a "former Perry staffer," like he's some unqualified political crony who's been placed over there to mess up the state's education system. Senate messenger Everyone who knows me knows I take great pride in having helped Scott get his first job at the Capitol as a senate messenger in about 1990. I've known Scott and his family since he was a little boy, and he's one of the most (continued at left) |
| And it is Pearson, of all of Sandy Kress' clients, who is likely the cause of most of our concerns because it's so closely tied to the edu-reforms Kress touts: |
| This week while reviewing the list (link here) of lobbyist Sandy Kress (and his firm's) lobbying clients, I noticed a name new on the list to me: Merck, the pharmaceutical giant and manufacturer of Gardasil--one and the same as the HPV vaccine that got Gov. Perry into so much trouble earlier this year with conservatives around the state because (a) he'd just received a lot of money from a Merck PAC and (b) he wanted to |
| Merck's "One Less" Gardasil ad; U. Mich. coed preparing tanning bed (PHOTO--Brendan O'Donnell/Michigan Daily) |
| require all of our girl children to be vaccinated with what is still considered--despite many good folks' best and noblest intentions including Gov. Perry's--by many other good folks to be an unproven and unncessary drug. And Merck is just one of Akin Gump's clients ($127,789,000 at the national level alone, 1998-2004). Others among many include the Indoor Tanning Ass'n, the government of Colombia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, South Korean steel mills and Pearson, the publishing folks. |
Developing . . . . |
| 1. Did Texas Monthly wage a fair fight or a yellow-dog attack in its August 2007 issue (p. 27, at right)? |
| 3. Things are getting Merck-ier and Merck-ier with TEA commissioner possibility, Austin edu-lobbyist/lawyer Sandy Kress. |
| 2. Why didn't Texas Monthly publish something like this at right instead? |
| Agua Caliente Casino, Rancho Mirage |
| Links: Sandy Kress - Akin Gump/DC Lobbying Sandy Kress - Akin Gump/Texas Lobbying Texas Edu-Missioner 95 Questions |
| 4. Should Texas' next edu-missioner be only two degrees of commercial separation from Libya & Kadhafi? |
| 5. What about Sandy Kress' ties to British publishing powerhouse Pearson? 6. Hasn't Texas public education had enough of the appearance of "anything for a buck" hucksterism from vendors and officials? |
| P R E V I E W |
| Who are his (and his attorney firm's) other clients and why do they matter if he should be named TEA commish? |
Developing . . . . |
Developing . . . . |
| Our public schools are essentially socialist models and their engine and currency is the realm of emotions and people skills. -- Peyton Wolcott |