Lhota Stays on the Attack



Today Joe Lhota held a press conference to express his support for charter schools.  It’s a clear distinction between himself and Bill de Blasio, who despite some recent tone changes, is decidedly unfriendly towards charter schools.

Lhota took press questions on a variety of topics, including charters, independent election expenditures and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruling issued yesterday, Ray Kelly, P-Tech and the president’s visit, whether as mayor he would substantially change the way that DOE interacts with charter schools and whether he has any former schools chancellors or other school leaders whom he views as good models or examples of what he would like his schools chancellor to do.

Among his responses: condemning Bill de Blasio for “hypocrisy” in criticizing the court ruling allowing expanded independent expenditure funding but benefiting from such spending, including a reported $1 million ad buy by the United Federation of Teachers.  Lhota’s attacks included asking, concerning de Blasio and the UFT, “how far down does Bill sit in their pocket?”  Lhota also expressed a fear, should de Blasio win, of “watching the UFT pick his pocket” in contract negotiations.

Here is the full Q & A portion of the press conference.