Michelle Rhee's Group Hired Lobbyist To Work On Controversial Ohio Teachers Bill

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Michelle Rhee's Group Hired Lobbyist To Work On Controversial Ohio Teachers Bill

First Posted: 05/24/11 01:17 PM ET Updated: 05/24/11 01:18 PM ET

WASHINGTON -- The nonprofit group set up by former Washington D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee is facing criticism for hiring a lobbyist to work on controversial legislation in Ohio that partially restricted the collective bargaining rights of teachers.

Between January and April of 2011, StudentsFirstemployed Robert Klaffky, the president of firm Van Meter, Ashbrook & Associates and a close adviser to Ohio Governor John Kasich (R) to help push various aspects of education policy.

In particular, the group, established by Rhee after she left the D.C. school system following then-Mayor Adrian Fenty's defeat, had Klaffky work on SB5, the infamous anti-collective bargaining bill passed into law but already facing the likelihood of referendum.

Klaffky, in a brief phone interview, said that as a lobbyist for StudentsFirst he did not work on some of the bill's toughest provisions, including language that limited collective bargaining rights among public employees (including teachers) for benefits, or language that eliminated blinding arbitration and prohibited those same employees from striking. Rather, he confined his work to the issue of