On November 13, 2015, the Turkish newspaper, The Daily Sabbah, published a letter dated November 3, 2015 and written by Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva to United States' Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.
In his letter to the Secretary, Grijalva, who sits on the House’s Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, requested that Duncan give him a status report on – what -- if any – the Department of Education’s involvement is in a pending federal investigation and as it relates to the 19 publicly funded charter schools that were raided by the feds way back in June 2014.
Great question – what exactly is happening with the ongoing investigation into the “E-rate” grants and possible misuse of those federal funds? It’s a pretty safe bet that the American taxpayers are equally curious about the status of those June 2015 raids held in 19 different locations, especially since the tax payers are the ones funding both the charter schools and the federal agencies investigating them.
When Congressional “free Turkey -- trippers and campaign money -mongers” wanted to complain about the alleged poor treatment of Turkish journalists and other Gulen-related political activities, the United States' lawmakers were quick to unify, author, and sign letters of support in defense of the Gulenists and in opposition to the Turkish government's probe into Gulen and his worldwide followers.
As reported in USA Today, on October 29, 2015, some of those very same "hands-always- out" politicians, led by Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., put together a letter sent to Secretary of State John Kerry, and “Seeking his help in defending Gülenist journalists who had been arrested by the Turkish government as part of the battle between Gülen and Erdogan.”
Yet, this guy – Congressman Grijalva, seems to be the lone ranger when it comes to ferreting out information about what our government is doing with our tax dollars that are funding our schools in our country; unlike the congressional clown coalition that seem to be more interested in Turkish politics rather than their own constituents' hard earned dollars.
And back to Arne Duncan. In October, Duncan announced his resignation as Secretary of Department of Education effective sometime in December 2015. But before Duncan books his plane trip back to his Chicago homeland, tax payers want to know why Duncan’s Department awarded the Texas Gulenist charter schools $30 million bucks as part of Duncan’s “Race to the Top,” charter school contest.
Likewise, inquiring minds want Duncan to explain why the Department of Education awarded $71 million dollars to Ohio charter schools despite the fact that Ohio’s state charter czar David Hansen, (a John Kasich appointee,) was pushed to resign over his department's shady activities -- like omitting F grades on failing charter school reports.
If Obama is still looking for Duncan’s replacement, perhaps he should consider hiring Congressman Grijalva – he’s seems like someone who might take the time to scrutinize educational funding applicants -- before – shelling out American tax dollars to meritless entities.
Below are the links to the October 29, 2015 USA Today story, the Daily Sabbah article, and Congressman Grijalva’s letter to Arne Duncan (see the Daily Sabbah article):
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/10/29/turkish-faith-movement-secretly-funded-200-trips-lawmakers-and-staff/74535104/
http://www.dailysabah.com/politics/2015/11/13/us-congressman-submits-enquiry-on-misuse-of-federal-funds-by-gulenist-schools
In his letter to the Secretary, Grijalva, who sits on the House’s Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, requested that Duncan give him a status report on – what -- if any – the Department of Education’s involvement is in a pending federal investigation and as it relates to the 19 publicly funded charter schools that were raided by the feds way back in June 2014.
Great question – what exactly is happening with the ongoing investigation into the “E-rate” grants and possible misuse of those federal funds? It’s a pretty safe bet that the American taxpayers are equally curious about the status of those June 2015 raids held in 19 different locations, especially since the tax payers are the ones funding both the charter schools and the federal agencies investigating them.
When Congressional “free Turkey -- trippers and campaign money -mongers” wanted to complain about the alleged poor treatment of Turkish journalists and other Gulen-related political activities, the United States' lawmakers were quick to unify, author, and sign letters of support in defense of the Gulenists and in opposition to the Turkish government's probe into Gulen and his worldwide followers.
As reported in USA Today, on October 29, 2015, some of those very same "hands-always- out" politicians, led by Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., put together a letter sent to Secretary of State John Kerry, and “Seeking his help in defending Gülenist journalists who had been arrested by the Turkish government as part of the battle between Gülen and Erdogan.”
Yet, this guy – Congressman Grijalva, seems to be the lone ranger when it comes to ferreting out information about what our government is doing with our tax dollars that are funding our schools in our country; unlike the congressional clown coalition that seem to be more interested in Turkish politics rather than their own constituents' hard earned dollars.
And back to Arne Duncan. In October, Duncan announced his resignation as Secretary of Department of Education effective sometime in December 2015. But before Duncan books his plane trip back to his Chicago homeland, tax payers want to know why Duncan’s Department awarded the Texas Gulenist charter schools $30 million bucks as part of Duncan’s “Race to the Top,” charter school contest.
Likewise, inquiring minds want Duncan to explain why the Department of Education awarded $71 million dollars to Ohio charter schools despite the fact that Ohio’s state charter czar David Hansen, (a John Kasich appointee,) was pushed to resign over his department's shady activities -- like omitting F grades on failing charter school reports.
If Obama is still looking for Duncan’s replacement, perhaps he should consider hiring Congressman Grijalva – he’s seems like someone who might take the time to scrutinize educational funding applicants -- before – shelling out American tax dollars to meritless entities.
Below are the links to the October 29, 2015 USA Today story, the Daily Sabbah article, and Congressman Grijalva’s letter to Arne Duncan (see the Daily Sabbah article):
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/10/29/turkish-faith-movement-secretly-funded-200-trips-lawmakers-and-staff/74535104/
http://www.dailysabah.com/politics/2015/11/13/us-congressman-submits-enquiry-on-misuse-of-federal-funds-by-gulenist-schools
