State Didn’t Vet Advisers on Chancellor Pick for Conflicts
By MICHAEL BARBARO
Published: November 22, 2010
As new revelations surfaced about extensive ties between MayorMichael R. Bloomberg and members of the panel evaluating his choice for school’s chancellor, state officials acknowledged on Monday that they did not screen the panel members for conflicts of interest or connections to the Bloomberg administration before appointing them.
Andrew Burton for The New York Times
David Dobosz, a parent of a New York City public school student, signed a petition Monday opposing a waiver for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's choice to be schools chancellor.
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Post a CommentThe panel has been asked to consider whether Mr. Bloomberg’s selection,Cathleen P. Black, a publishing executive, should be exempted from a state law that requires experience in the education field. The New York Times reported last week that three of the eight panelists previously worked inside the city’s Education Departmentduring Mr. Bloomberg’s tenure.
But a fourth, Louise Mirrer, the head of the New-York Historical Society, has lobbied Mr. Bloomberg’s office on behalf of the museum, and is chairwoman of an academy for which the mayor has helped raise millions of dollars. He has personally donated $475,000 to the historical society, and he honored Dr. Mirrer with an award two years ago at Gracie Mansion.
And a fifth panelist, the chairwoman, Susan H. Fuhrman, runs Teachers College at Columbia University, which received about $60 million in contracts from the Bloomberg administration over the past five years.
Asked whether the state education commissioner, David M. Steiner, had screened the panelists for conflicts, his spokesman, Tom Dunn, indicated that no formal review was conducted.
“He asked each member if they felt they could be independent and offer critical confidential advice as to Ms. Black’s qualifications,” Mr. Dunn said.
In an interview, Dr. Mirrer dismissed the idea that her connections with Mr. Bloomberg posed a conflict or should have been disclosed. “If I had something I thought I should disclose, I would have disclosed it,” she said.
Before working at the historical society, Dr. Mirrer was vice chancellor for academic affairs at the City University of New York.
Three city and state lawmakers on Monday called on Dr. Mirrer to step down from the panel, which will advise Dr. Steiner on whether to grant Ms. Black the waiver.
The panel will hold its first meeting on Tuesday and could make its recommendation as soon as the afternoon.
Senator Eric Adams, who represents Brooklyn and has been a frequent critic of Mr. Bloomberg, said Dr. Mirrer “should not sit on the panel.” Mr. Adams added that the mayor had “great influence on her vote.”
Mr. Dunn played down the issue, saying Dr. Steiner had sought Dr. Mirrer’s involvement because of her perspective overseeing an important cultural institution and “was aware, as are most New Yorkers, that like the vast majority of cultural institutions in New York City, the New-York Historical Society benefits from the mayor’s philanthropy.”
Dr. Fuhrman could not be immediately reached.
The commissioner is trying to contain the fallout as parents and elected officials question the process by which the mayor has sought to install Ms. Black, saying it is secretive and is unlikely to lead to any result other than a rubber-stamping of the mayor’s wishes.
As scrutiny has intensified, Dr. Steiner’s aides have instructed the panelists not to speak with members of the news media.
On Monday afternoon, about a dozen protesters gathered in front of Dr. Steiner’s home on East 87th Street to deliver a petition opposing a waiver for Ms. Black that they said had been signed by about 13,000 New Yorkers.
Around 4:30 p.m., they handed the petition to Dr. Steiner’s doorman, who told them that they were trespassing.
The parents and activists complained that the panel’s role had been reduced to pantomime.
“I wish Steiner had picked more people outside Bloomberg’s circle of influence,” said Leonie Haimson, 55, of Greenwich Village, who runs a group that advocates for smaller classes and whose seventh-grade son attends public school in Manhattan.
The resentment over Ms. Black’s selection seems especially acute outside Manhattan. While Mr. Bloomberg has praised Ms. Black’s management savvy and corporate experience, some residents say her appointment reinforces the distance between the people who receive city services and those from the mayor’s orbit tapped to oversee those services.
“There was quite a reaction in the district,” said Assemblyman Marcos A. Crespo, who represents the Bronx. “Parents are upset, PTA leaders, they were shocked that somebody without experience in education could be appointed.”
It is not clear how soon Dr. Steiner will make his decision. Mr. Dunn emphasized that whatever the makeup of the board, its role was merely advisory. Others said that finding people in New York City who were qualified to serve on the panel and were completely disconnected from the mayor was close to impossible.
“Mayor Bloomberg, to his credit, has been so present in the cultural institutions and in the higher-education institutions that you’d have to go to Timbuktu to find someone not connected to him,” said Merryl H. Tisch, chancellor of the State Board of Regents.
But Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, suggested that there was a way around that: Dr. Steiner could have appointed more experts from outside the city, beyond the reach of Mr. Bloomberg’s money and muscle.
“There are real questions about whether this is an objective process,” Ms. Lerner said, “or whether it has been compromised by the selection process.”
“Is it legitimate to say, is this tilted, is there a thumb on the scale — not a super heavy one, but a thumb on the scale?” Ms. Lerner asked.
She then answered her own question: “Yes.”
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