Expense records show who has had Arlene Ackerman's ear
It was a working dinner - salad, crimson snapper, halibut, and key lime pie - for Philadelphia schools chief Arlene C. Ackerman and Melonease Shaw, a political consultant and lobbyist.
Shaw was briefing Ackerman in 2009 "after mtg. with legislators on Charter/Renaissance Schools," according to Ackerman's expense-account records released to The Inquirer by the Philadelphia School District. The two met at Devon, a seafood restaurant on Rittenhouse Square, and their tab topped $100.
The records - covering a period from February 2008, before Ackerman was formally hired, through May of this year - show that more than a third of her local dinners were with Shaw, who has received $268,997 in district contracts since 2008 and touts her relationship with Ackerman on the website of her company, Maven Inc.
For months, the Maven website also has highlighted Ackerman's praise for Shaw's business services