An incredible, inspiring story on the front page of today's NYT about how Cory Booker, his supporters and adversaries and the entire city of Newark are coming together after the terrible shootings.

If disaster can be seen to have even a hint of silver lining, the homicides, which have drawn news coverage across the nation, have provoked a level of outrage, and commitment to change, not seen here since the riots of 40 years ago.

A group of ministers have come together to form a youth mentoring program, residents and organizations have donated more than $150,000 to assist the victims’ families and local antiviolence organizations have been flooded with offers of assistance.

The killings have also become a defining moment for Mayor Cory A. Booker, who has been struggling to turn around this city since his election last year and who lately has found himself besieged by critics. The week before the killings, Mr. Booker had been grappling with the aftermath of a speech, captured on YouTube, that was intended as affectionate ribbing of a community leader who recently died, but instead provoked offense and fueled the sentiment that he is detached from his constituents.

In rousing eulogies at funerals for the victims last weekend, Mr. Booker repented the remarks, and throughout the past week he has become the spiritual voice of a city in mourning.

He has repeatedly visited the scene of the crime, cried with grieving relatives, and in a bizarre moment that only helped to elevate his central role, found himself presiding over the surrender of a prime suspect, who had requested such personal attention through his lawyer.

Through his anger and grief, captured on countless radio and television programs, Mayor Booker has lived and breathed this experience along with his stunned community, allowing him to temper the widespread sentiment that has long painted him as an outsider because he grew up in a mostly white upper-middle-class suburb and attended elite schools.

“I feel like this is a unique moment and it’s upon all of us to harness it,” he said in an interview on Monday. “This is a chance for Newark to not let a vicious moment define us, but a chance for us to turn it into a defining moment for our city.”

Amid the calls for healing and unity, Mr. Booker has denounced the critics who have blamed him for the city’s homicide rate, which, unlike most other categories of crime, has stayed high. (In the last week, there were none.) “This is not a time for pointing fingers,” he said. “Each of us has to take responsibility for what is happening in our community.”

Three people, including two teenagers, have been arrested in the shootings, while the police continue to seek three more, two of them teenagers as well. The police say the primary suspects are Jose Lachira Carranza, 28, who was out on $150,000 bail despite pending indictments on a charge of raping a 5-year-old, and one of aggravated assault in a bar fight; and Rodolfo Godinez, 24, convicted of theft in 2003. (Mr. Carranza pleaded not guilty on Friday; Mr. Godinez is at large.)

On Aug. 6, some 36 hours after the shooting, protesters invoked the killings as evidence of Mr. Booker’s shortcomings, calling for his resignation in a rally on the steps of City Hall. But as the week unfolded, his most vehement critics — including Donna Jackson, who organized the rally, and Rahaman Muhammad, a local union leader who has feuded with the mayor — temporarily set aside their invective.

“I think our children need to see that even in the face of disagreement we still have a common agenda,” Mr. Muhammad said. “This is an excellent opportunity for the mayor to use the bully pulpit and bring people together as a community.”

Mr. Muhammad said the killings prompted him to revive a moribund group he had founded, Fathers in the Hood, that pushes men to become better parents, and that Mr. Booker had agreed to help promote it. “We have to show people that this tragedy is bigger than just me and the mayor,” he said.

PS--Be sure the watch the short video embedded in the story at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/nyregion/14newark.html

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The Hard Part

After Killings, Sense of Unity Surprises Newark

By ANDREW JACOBS

Published: August 14, 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/nyregion/14newark.html

NEWARK, Aug. 13 — An unexpected thing has happened to this crime-weary city since three young friends were shot to death in a school playground nine days ago.

Democrats for Education Reform, Joe Williams and I got some nice press in this article in the Boston Globe earlier this week on how Obama and Clinton are emphasizing very different messages on school reform when they're speaking off the record to education reformers vs. at the NEA convention.  (Note that I didn't use the word hypocrisy, which might have sent me off on another multi-email diversion!)  This is not surprising -- they're politicians after all! -- but it highlights how we ed reformers have to keep up the pressure.

 

Here's the first quote:

Both Obama and Clinton "recognize how badly schools are failing low-income kids in this country," said Whitney Tilson, an investor who is involved with charter schools and helped form a group called Democrats for Education Reform. "But the question is, 'So what?' If they aren't willing to say what they believe and advocate for meaningful reforms for a broken system, does it mean anything that they understand?"

Tilson, who helped found Teach for America, has raised $50,000 for Obama, but is frustrated by what the candidate has had to say on education.

And the second:

Some of those who are criticizing the candidates say they have been more daring in private settings. At a fund-raiser in SoHo in April, which Tilson cohosted, "Obama said that our friends in the union are going to have to decide if they want to be part of the discussions about reinventing the education system, or be left out entirely," recalled Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, who was present.

And at another small event in New York in the spring, Clinton spoke with "real passion and urgency" about the need to strengthen accountability in the schools and promised that she is independent from the unions, Tilson recalled.

  -------------------------

Clinton, Obama go easy on school reform talk

Approach reflects appeal to unions for endorsements

By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff  |  August 7, 2007

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/08/07/clinton_obama_go_easy_on_school_reform_talk/

Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have been among the strongest voices in the Democratic Party for education reform. And yet, as they pursue endorsements from the nation's powerful teachers unions, both candidates have avoided reform themes and instead have emphasized union favorites such as increasing federal school aid.

In a speech to the National Education Association last month, Obama focused on the need to pay teachers more and left out his past support for making it easier to get rid of ineffective teachers. And Clinton, talking to teachers in New Hampshire in March, railed that "our children's passion is being killed" by the federal testing regimen, without mentioning her longstanding support for charter schools.

Their reticence has strongly disappointed self-described reformers in the Democratic Party who have long yearned for a candidate courageous enough to take on the teachers unions.

Boston Globe peddles an "I bought the candidate" narrative on education

The Globe article led someone on the Daily Kos to rip me -- given the source, a proud moment! ;-)

I don't know if Tilson said anything like this, but the Globe article certainly implies that Tilson must be entitled to influence because of his fundraising.

No, I didn't say anything like that.  I was simply disclosing my personal support for one of the candidates I was commenting on, and the reporter was right to note this.  But to the extent that money obviously buys some degree of influence -- would anyone question that? -- the idea that my piddly $50,000 could compete with the bazillions of dollars in money and organizational clout that the unions bring to bear is ludicrous (and, unfortunately, it shows)...

 

-----------------------

Boston Globe peddles an "I bought the candidate" narrative on education

by SDorn

Tue Aug 07, 2007 at 10:54:51 AM PDT

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/8/7/13364/16332

The Boston Globe's story today on education reform has one jewel:

[Whitney] Tilson, who helped found Teach for America, has raised $50,000 for Obama, but is frustrated by what the candidate has had to say on education.

I don't know if Tilson said anything like this, but the Globe article certainly implies that Tilson must be entitled to influence because of his fundraising.

You can be sure there's more on the jump!

• SDorn's diary :: ::

For the moment, ignore the fact that reporter Marcella Bombardieri's non-campaign sources are Tilson, Joe Williams, and Amy Wilkins—all with a similar perspective on education policy. At its very basis, Bombardieri's paragraph implies that Tilson and Williams must be Important People because they Raise Big Money. On its face, that's an obnoxious argument, one I hope Tilson and Williams would disavow and one that flies in the face of Obama's vast small-donations base. I have not taken any sides in the nomination battle, but one of the strengths of a small-donation strategy is that a candidate doesn't have to give access to individuals just because of what they donate. In fact, I would consider it a fabulous consequence of the ban on soft-money and an affirmation of Obama's strategy that he can ignore bundlers' policy preferences if he thinks differently.

The other obnoxious part of Bombardieri's article is the ironic argument that Obama, Clinton, and other Democratic candidates have felt pressure to pander to teacher unions. Here's the story lede:

Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have been among the strongest voices in the Democratic Party for education reform. And yet, as they pursue endorsements from the nation's powerful teachers unions, both candidates have avoided reform themes and instead have emphasized union favorites such as increasing federal school aid.

Okay, Ms. Bombardieri: either resources should buy influence, in which case it's okay for Obama to pander to both Tilson and the NEA, or resources shouldn't buy influence. More fundamentally, she essentially buys into the argument that one is either pro-reform or pro-union and not both. That's fairly close to Joe Williams's rhetoric, which is often close to a "teachers unions are guilty until proven innocent" argument.

The article also implies a monolithic view of what education reform is or can be: charter schools, merit pay, high-stakes accountability all as a package. So much for sophistication. A lousy article all around.

In light of recent events, this isn't surprising.  It's still early though...

 

This was the biggest surprise to me:

In a three-way contest among Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Giuliani and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg running as an independent, the poll shows Mrs. Clinton winning with 42% of the vote to Mr. Giuliani's 34% and Mr. Bloomberg's 11%. That suggests Mr. Bloomberg -- who hasn't declared his candidacy -- would steal more support from the Republican than from the Democrat.

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Clinton Widens Poll Lead By Using Experience Card

By JACKIE CALMES
August 1, 2007; Page A7

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118593574230084340.html?mod=djemalert

WASHINGTON -- New York Sen. Hillary Clinton continues to pad her lead in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination, benefiting from high marks for experience and competence, while her chief rivals lose ground and the rest of the field lacks traction, according to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

Mrs. Clinton's steady rise in the Journal/NBC polls since spring follows well-received performances in a series of candidate debates. Also, she has blunted opposition among many Democrats for her 2002 Iraq-war vote by stepped-up antiwar moves in recent months, including a vote against war funding.

She has opened a 21-point edge over her closest contender, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, leading him 43% to 22% among Democrats, the poll suggests. That is up from a 14-point lead in a June poll. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards is third with 13%. Four other Democrats are in single digits.