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Republican Dave Hedgepeth, the Washington Post's preferred candidate for the Ward 3 council seat
The Washington Post Co. owns the for-profit college and test company Kaplan, which earned a 2009 revenue of $2.6 billion, accounting for more than 60 percent of the Post Co.’s total revenue. For-profit colleges have come under federal investigation recently for allegedly encouraging students to take on more debt than they are able to handle. In an article published in today’s Washington Post, reporter Nick Anderson reveals a number of startling facts. From the article:
“Companies that run colleges and trade schools for profit are mounting a full-tilt, high-dollar campaign against an Obama administration effort to tighten rules for their access to federal aid. The industry has staged a Capitol Hill rally, run advertisements in national newspapers, hired big-name lobbyists and coordinated thousands of comments on the proposed regulation in an effort to derail or dilute it. This month, industry executives are beginning a round of private meetings with senior Education Department officials to argue their case. At stake is a lucrative source of funding for a sector of higher education that serves about one of every 10 post-secondary students and has more than doubled its market share in the past decade. Stocks of for-profit colleges have fallen sharply in recent months amid warning about how the proposed rules could shake up the schools… For profit schools receieve about $1 of every $4 spent on federal Pell grants for students in financial need. That totaled more than $7 billion in the last school year – up from nearly $1 billion a decade earlier… The Washington Post Co. operates for-profit schools through its subsidiary Kaplan and owns more than 8 percent of stock in Corinthian Colleges, another for-profit company, based in Santa Ana, Calif.”
Continuing to quote from the Washington Post, “Corinthian, with about 110,000 students… hired former House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt (Mo.) as a lobbyist. The Post Co., with about 112,000 students, retained Steve Elmendorf, a former Gephardt aid, as a lobbyist and Anita Dunn, a former communications director in the Obama White house, as an adviser… Records analyzed by the Center for Responsive Politics show the industry spent more than $3 million from January through September on lobbying. Corinthian spent $570,000, the records show… and The Post Co. $420,000. Donald E. Graham, chairman and chief executive of The Post Co., is pressing his views personally with lawmakers and the administration. A federal official said this week that Graham is expected to meet soon with Education Secretary Arne Duncan. [Graham said] “Out of completely good intentions, the administration has come up with a regulation that will have very bad consequences.”… Graham, who called the issue of “vital importance” to a key part of the company, said it is the first time he has lobbied directly on any federal matter in a dozen years.”
Allan Assarsson is an education activist who has been closely following the Washington Post coverage of – and business dealings in – education.
Last night, hundreds of people gathered at Mathews Memorial Baptist Church for the Ward 8 Town Hall which was part of D.C. Council Chairman and presumptive-mayor-elect Vincent Gray’s listening tour. Linda Miller, Resident Council for Barry Farms and chair for the New Community, was one of those in attendance.
Also attending last night’s Ward 8 Town Hall was John Briscoe who is concerned about the city’s deficit – at least $175 million – as well as the significant payouts being given to top officials. Briscoe pointed to Fire Chief Dennis Rubin and Police Chief Cathy Lanier. Despite being only 43, if Lanier were to leave her position, she is scheduled to receive a pension of more than 70 percent of her base salary, which began at $175,000 three years ago. John Briscoe raised these issues directly following last night’s Ward 8 Town Hall.
October 11th, at Vincent Gray’s Ward 5 Town Hall at Community Academy Public Charter School, two Hardy Middle School students spoke up. Direclty following her schoolmate, Asia, 13-year old Miranda Woods addressed the crowd and Gray.
Coming up later in the program, Miranda Woods and her brother Malachi will be joining me in studio to discuss the situation at Hardy Middle School and their organizing efforts.
Today, the Washington Post made its endorsements for the D.C. Council. In Ward 3, the Post endorsed the Republican Dave Hedgepeth over the incumbent, Democrat Mary Cheh. City Paper‘s Loose Lips had this to say of the Post‘s Ward 3 endorsement: “It’s Payback Time, Mary Cheh: The Washington Post editorial board has not forgotten Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh’s endorsement of… Vince Gray over the paper’s preferred choice… Adrian Fenty. And today, the paper avenges that wrong by endorsing Cheh’s opponent… in the upcoming general election…, Republican Dave Hedgepeth.
In Ward 5, the Post endorsed another Republican, Tim Day, over the incumbent Harry Thomas Jr. The Post editorial reads, “Mr. Thomas has stood in the way of school reform, catered unduly to the unions and made a mockery of council oversight.” It is worth noting that Fenty and Rhee’s school reform has left the entire Ward 5, which Mr. Thomas represents, without a single public middle school.
For the non-Democratic at-large council seat, the Post gave its “enthusiastic endorsement” to David Catania and said that he faced “token opposition from Statehood Green candidate David Schwartzman and Richard Urban, an independent.” David Schwartzman received more than 18,000 votes in the November 2008 general election, beating two Democrats-turned-independents who greatly outspent him. Responding to the Post‘s endorsement of his opponent, Repubican-turned-Independent David Catania, Schwartzman said: “I’m proud that I’m not being endorsed by the Washington Post given their long-standing support for the Fenty/Rhee/Catania team who have served to protect the interests of the very wealthy and the big corporate sector at the expense of the low-income, working and middle-class majority.”
Jonathan O’Connell reports in the Washington Post that a $950 million project is moving forward on the grounds of the old convention center. Construction is scheduled to begin in April on six new buildings that will make up “one of the largest active developments on the East Coast.” Neither the developer nor the city would name the investor behind the deal, saying only that it is a foreign entity and willing to foot almost the entire bill. This development is taking place in Ward 2, which is represented by Councilmember Jack Evans, chair of the Finance and Revenue Committee.
And those are some of the local headlines. This is “Spectrum Today” here on WPFW 89.3 FM, Pacifica Radio. I’m Pete Tucker.