From a reader: "I was so stunned by the unlikeliness of the Defender's rehashed Heartland PR piece (linked on your site) "Parents push for Ren Ten schools" by a non-staffer named Leila Noelliste, Defender October 19, 2007 that I Googled the organization whose rep is quoted in it, "Parents for School Choice". I found this: Earlier this month, a group called "D.C. Parents for School Choice" ran a two-page ad in the Chicago Defender taking Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to task for opposing school choice.
Admittedly, it's a little old (2003) for there to be a qui-pro-quo involving a 2007 article. Still, Lee Walker turns up as a member of the Defender's editorial board and a Heartland senior fellow (back in 2005). Heartland, of course, is the force behind the ironically named Parents... organization. I'm not a reporter (anymore) or a George Schmidt and don't have time to follow all this anywhere in particular, and I'm not sure why I think that the Defender is any longer anything but the most craven of pseudo news-organizations, but it does seem like there is something beyond disgusting in Heartland's use of this particular newspaper to sell a product as putrid as Ren 2010. Something has gone on there that would make a few old Sengstackes turn over in their graves."
More interesting factoids: Kim Ambrose, listed as a contact on Parents for School Choice's web site, was one of the parents at Williams who initially opposed CPS’s closing that school, but who then appeared on the CPS payroll (as a Renaissance 2010 TAC coordinator) and at Board meetings praising Renaissance 2010. This is a classic move by CPS.
“PSC Founder” Adrienne Leonard became semi-famous in 2004 when the Sun-Times made her a poster child for city of Chicago unfair auto towing fines and practices. At the time she was described as a missionary.
Posted by: Julie Woestehoff | October 23, 2007 at 11:28 AM