Chicago Daily Observer

Vallas.

Paul Vallas, superintendent of the Recovery School District of New Orleans and former reform superintendent of the Chicago public schools, will be the guest this Sunday on my WLS-AM (890) program (8 to 9 p.m.). He ran for the Democratic nomination for governor of Illinois in 2002, losing narrowly to Rod Blagojevich. Since then, he was CEO of the School District of Philadelphia, presiding over the nation’s largest experiment in privatized management of schools, turning over the management of 40 schools to for-profits, nonprofits and universities, winning national acclaim. Regarded as one of the finest public administrators in the nation, he left Philadelphia when his contract was completed and went to work in New Orleans where today he reports directly to the governor, now Bobby Jindal. His contract will be up in 2008. He was also budget director for the city of Chicago and director of budgetary ... Read More...

It was a typical political tease. A proven administrator with boundless energy leaps up to the rostrum and executes an enthusiastic stream-of-consciousness about his goals and objectives. He was greeted with a standing ovation and when he completed his breathless talk, the audience arose to its feet again. Midway in the talk he gave a gentle slip…which was not a slip really but was intended to be such…that if he talked too long he would “lose votes” in the future. Everyone applauded and nodded while he softly declaimed and said it was a slip of the lip. This was Paul Vallas, a friend of mine, at the City Club of Chicago of which I’m chairman. Jay Doherty, City Club president who has instilled energy and vision into the Club had been deeply involved in Vallas’ prior campaign in 2002 for the Democratic nomination—which he lost by inches.

Probably the most ... Read More...

With a bob and a weave and a joke — and a lot of winking — former Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas on Monday made it clear that he is interested in running again for governor of Illinois.

In remarks before and after a luncheon of the City Club, Mr. Vallas, repeatedly insisted that, while he would never say never to a race here, his hands are full with his current job as superintendent of schools in New Orleans.

But such insistence quickly crumbled under persistent questions from reporters and from Mr. Vallas’ own hints that he really wanted to say more.

“Would I be open to running again? Yes,” he ultimately concluded. “Am I planning that? No.