Appalling

*  An article at the NYTimes might raise suspicion about how charter schools operate and try to influence the public and lawmakers. It seems that more people are realizing that these charter/virtual schools only benefit the owners and investors. Children are the real losers because teachers are overloaded with students and children rarely make progress. Here is an excerpt from the article at NYTimes:


...Former State Representative Stephen Dyer became suspicious when members of the benignly named organization My School, My Choice paraded through his northeastern Ohio district carrying signs attacking him: “Why Won’t Rep. Stephen Dyer let parents choose the best education for their kids?” 

The protest was prompted by questions Mr. Dyer had raised over the state’s financing formula for charter and online schools. The group describes itself as a coalition of parents, teachers and employees of the schools. But Mr. Dyer said that his wife questioned the people carrying the signs and found out they were paid temp agency workers...

If paid temp workers were used to protest against Stephen Dyer, were temp workers used on any other demonstrations? How much were these "demonstrators" paid?  Did the charter school group use state money to pay for the "demonstrators" who appeared downtown Columbus in 2009? Do the pro-charter school organizations regularly hire temp agency workers for demonstrators???? Are they misusing state money?

>>>  An editorial at Ohio.com wonders why Republican Josh Mandel, current Ohio Treasurer, doesn't have time to meet with the Akron Press Club.
Ohio.com:

Josh Mandel took several months beyond the required deadline to file his financial disclosure statement as a candidate for the U.S. Senate. He now has taken roughly as long to say no to the Akron Press Club, declining an invitation that Republicans and Democrats long have accepted, a chance to talk about his candidacy and take questions from people in the audience.

The refusal is cheeky given recent events in the emerging campaign, the state treasurer for 11 months challenging Sherrod Brown, the Democratic incumbent. Mandel has been hurling wild charges, most recently accusing Brown of siding with “fringe elements” (the Athens County commissioners?) in wanting to take care concerning oil and gas drilling in the Wayne National Forest.....

...The refusal is all the more galling in light of the Mandel schedule. The past six months he has been raising campaign money in Honolulu, San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Washington. No time for a luncheon talk at the Press Club in Akron?

Mandel has no time to work with local press, but he is willing to go anywhere to collect campaign money from big machers and right wing blowhards who want nothing more than to destroy Social Security, Medicare, and the middle class.