PAYOFF CONTINUES TO AL SHARPTON FOR JOINING WAR ON PUBLIC EDUCATION

NY Daily News - The Rev. Al Sharpton will score a big personal and political coup when Vice President Biden makes a visit to the Sheraton New York hotel in midtown to address the annual meeting of the National Action Network, Sharpton's organization. . .

In addition to Biden, whose schedule was confirmed by a White House press official, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan also are speaking at Sharpton's conference. . .

Note the presence of Duncan at the gathering. Here's the earlier story:

NY Daily News - The Rev. Al Sharpton and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein stunned the education world last June when they joined forces to reform the nation's public schools. They called their ambitious venture the Education Equality Project, and they vowed in a Washington press conference to lead a campaign to close the decades-old achievement gap between white and black students. What Klein and Sharpton never revealed is that the National Action Network, Sharpton's organization, immediately received a $500,000 donation for its involvement in the new effort.

The huge infusion of cash - equal to more than a year's payroll for Sharpton's entire organization - was quietly provided by Plainfield Asset Management, a Connecticut-based hedge fund, where former Chancellor Harold Levy is a managing director.

The money came at a critical moment for the National Action Network. Sharpton was then settling a long-running IRS investigation of his organization. As part of that settlement, he agreed in July to pay $1 million in back taxes and penalties both he personally and his organization owed the government.

The $500,000 from the Connecticut firm did not go directly to National Action Network. Levy funneled the cash to another nonprofit, Education Reform Now, which allowed his company to claim the donation as a charitable tax deduction.

The Education Equality Project is part of a corporate backed plan to create a two-track educational system based on favored charter schools and public schools. Involved in this effort are Education Secretary Duncan, Sharpton, Joel Klein and DC school chancellor Michelle Rhee.