Reevaluating Rhee

In these last days before the September 14th primary election, District of Columbia Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee is expected to make a number of campaign appearances on behalf of her boss, Mayor Adrian Fenty. Saturday morning, Rhee addressed a rally of Fenty supporters that took place within walking distance of an early voting site in Chevy Chase. Later that morning, Rhee teamed up with Fenty supporters at Eastern Market and marched around the early voting center located there.
 
Rhee’s campaigning may amount to a violation of the spirit – if not the letter – of the Hatch Act, a federal law which limits campaiging by Distict of Columbia government officials. This is not the first time Rhee has been in danger of violating the Hatch Act. In a July 7, 2010 post discussing Rhee’s comments about Fenty’s leading opponent, D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray, Bill Turque of the Washington Post said, (“Did Michelle Rhee violate the Hatch Act?”):
 
“That’s what a number of folks have been asking since the chancellor weighed in on the mayor’s race last week, asserting that Vince Gray was no Adrian Fenty when it came to education reform. The Hatch Act, the federal law that regulates political activity by District employees, says they “may not use their official authority or influence to interfere with the result of an election.” In a series of interviews last week Rhee seemed to be doing precisely that, staking out her support for the mayor by characterizing the D.C. Council chairman as a conventional politician too concerned with public opinion.”
 
As Rhee puts herself front and center in the upcoming September 14th primary, TheFightBack.org will be scrutinizing Rhee’s record on so-called “school reform.”