Eli behind-the-scenes

 
- Advising Michigan's governor: "[Governor Rick ] Snyder also has met twice with philanthropist Eli Broad, a Michigan native and head of the Broad Foundation, which has aggressively funded some education initiatives." Detroit Free Press 26 Apr. 2011

- Eli's compulsion to micromanage things other than public education: Frank Gehry Calls Eli Broad a 'Control Freak' on National Television. 26 Apr. 2011

- "...Eli will crush you.": About the "billionaire philanthropist whose beneficence comes with not just strings but with ropes."

- Los Angeles public schools: Read Tony Castro’s report about Broad taking Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to dinner, “Eli Broad: The King of LA”  (LA Daily News, 04/08/2007)

- Washington, D.C. public schools: Reporting that Michelle Rhee meets with Broad on a regular basis, including visits to his Fifth Ave. apartment in NYC.

- Broad invites Diane Ravitch to his penthouse: Broad -- the CPA-trained-billionaire-businessman-turned-public-education-reformer -- informs Diane Ravitch, a distinguished education expert, about what needs to be done. According to Ravitch, “We talked about school reform for an hour or more, and he told me that what was needed to fix the schools was not all that complicated: A tough manager surrounded by smart graduates of business schools and law schools.”

- Setting his sites on Delaware: "Bully in Search of a Pulpit" (November 9, 2006 in Slate) reports that Broad "plans to virtually take over the Delaware school system in 2007, pending approval from that state's legislature." He backed the winning slate of candidates for the local board of education in 1999 and helped hire the superintendent.

- Getting his hands on Oakland: “Eli’s Experiment” (East Bay Express, October 10,2007) describes how campaign contributions and “friends” were made, and how control of a school district was arranged.




And this is just a teeny tiny taste.




As always, more coming soon!