MEET HILLARY'S CAMPAIGN CHAIR: "Moneyman" John Podesta and his Revolving Door
Ouch!
If you haven't heard yet about John Podesta, don't be surprised - the major media's radio silence belies his power and influence, working both inside and outside the US government to convert campaign and lobbying money into policy on behalf of the America's richest. Outside the US, however his family's lobbying firm is a magnet for gobs of cash coming from Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Qatar and many others hoping to curry favor on the inside track despite spotty records on human rights.
The above video demonstrates the bluntness of Mr. Podesta, former chief of staff to Bill Clinton, as he lay out his ill-fated scheme for public education, raining aggressive standardized testing policies, Common Core and charter schools onto the states through an avalanche of money. Buddied up with Jeb Bush, this 42 minute conference unpacked in 2012 how the Race to the Top initiative would transform every 3rd-8th grade public school into testing factories built on unproven, secret logarithmic formulas to rank students, teachers and schools.
PEARSON PAYDAY: The clip shows Bush and Podesta laughing about how strongly they agreed that billionaire philanthropists, corporations, hedge fund managers and political action committees should pump money into "infrastructure" for education reform. The plot would succeed, farming out major education functions to for-profit testing firms and consultants as schools lost student funding, precious learning time, arts, sports and counseling services.
Part of the plan is to generate PR and "communications" funding astroturf through advocacy organizations, but the heavy lifting came as the hedge funders flooded statehouses with campaign cash. Once elected, Podesta's revolving door came into use, dispatching staffers to write the policy for politicians. He hired a slew of former Dept of Education officials at Center for American Progress, the think tank Politico has long called Hillary's "policy shop".
DEEDS, NOT WORDS: Hillary promised last month to end the revolving door onstage in televised debates, after her staff took funding from the Gates, Waltons and SuperPACs to support a network of nonprofits and advocacy groups to push corporate education reform. Her current staff includes lobbyists for Keystone XL, private prisons and big finance firms......
more at:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/MEET-HILLARY-S-CAMPAIGN-CH-by-Gustav-Wynn-Bernie-Sanders_Common-Core_Lobbyists-Lobbying-Influence_Panama-Papers-160417-972.html
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