By Nick Carey

CHICAGO |
Thu Sep 13, 2012 1:34pm EDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel received far more money in campaign donations from wealthy financiers and entrepreneurs backing school reform than from unions, leaving him freer to confront the city’s teachers than some fellow Democrats, an examination of donations to his 2011 campaign shows.

The city’s 29,000 teachers have been on strike since Monday, halting classes in the country’s third-largest school district, over contract negotiations that are snagged on job security and Emanuel’s plan to rate teachers based on students’ standardized test scores.

Emanuel, a former congressman and top White House aide to President Barack Obama, raised $14.3 million for his mayoral bid in 2011. He easily fended off five poorly funded candidates for mayor.

Donations to Emanuel from the labor movement, closely allied with Democrats since the National Labor Relations Act was passed in 1935, were few and far between, a review of filings with the Illinois Board of Elections showed.

“Urban Democrats have historically been closely linked with the unions, but Emanuel comes from a different place with a very different base,” said Harley Shaiken, University of California, Berkeley, labor professor. “He views the unions through a different lens and is simply not that beholden to them.”

Emanuel did not receive any money from the Chicago Teachers Union in his mayoral run, and the union was openly hostile to his bid. Most city unions backed Democratic rivals Gery Chico and Miguel del Valle.

Emanuel in fact has built a strong base of donors outside the labor movement, including corporate and cultural icons and even some prominent Republicans. He received a $50,000 donation from real estate magnate Donald Trump, who flirted with a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, a disclosure to the elections board showed.

He also received a $50,000 donation from deceased Apple founder Steve Jobs, whose widow Laurene Powell Jobs has actively supported education reform.

Emanuel has enjoyed substantial support from wealthy backers of the national education reform movement, which aims to transform public schools — in part by weakening teacher unions.

ISSUES AT HEART OF STRIKE

The reform movement’s agenda includes rating educators in part by their students’ test scores and weakening job protections such as tenure and seniority. Those are the very issues that prompted the teacher strike in Chicago now in its fourth day.

Some of Emanuel’s major donors also gave generously to Stand for Children IL PAC, the statewide political action committee of the education reform group Stand for Children.

Stand for Children lobbied for an Illinois state law passed in 2011 that overhauled policies on teacher tenure, hiring, the length of the school day and year and teacher evaluations. Mayor Emanuel’s allies in the Chicago school district have cited that law in explaining why they feel they must stand their ground against the teachers’ union.

According to the regulatory filings, common donors to the Stand for Children PAC — which raised nearly $4 million in the last four months of 2010 — and to the Emanuel campaign include Kenneth Griffin, the founder and chief executive of hedge fund Citadel, and Paul Finnegan, a co-chief executive of private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners.

Other common donors include members of the Pritzker family, one of Chicago’s most prominent business families, and the well known Crown family of Chicago, who have a long history of philanthropy.

Some striking teachers have carried signs mocking Penny Pritzker, an executive of the family conglomerate and one of President Barack Obama’s biggest Democratic fundraisers.

Stand for Children Chicago director Juan Jose Gonzalez said many of its donors give generously to various groups and not too much should be read into the same names appearing on its PAC filings and those of Emanuel.

“I would say that Emanuel backs our position and is supportive of our agenda,” he said.

But the similarities between the donations to Emanuel and Stand for Children were not lost on the Chicago Teachers Union, which highlighted them during the 2011 election campaign and called the group an “out-of-state organization responsible for the latest legislative attacks” on the union.

Other education reform groups have made it their mission to provide financial cover for Democratic politicians willing to buck teachers unions and push big changes to public schools. They include Democrats for Education Reform, a coalition of wealthy financiers and entrepreneurs, and StudentsFirst, which is run by Michelle Rhee, the former chancellor of the Washington D.C. public schools.

The groups have directed donations to, or made independent expenditures to, political candidates in several states, including California, Florida and Michigan.

Rebeca Nieves Huffman, who runs the Illinois branch of Democrats for Education Reform, said donors will “absolutely” be watching to see whether Emanuel can hold his own against the union.

“One of the things that’s very attractive for us is here’s a Democratic mayor with a very bold education reform agenda,” Huffman added.

(Reporting By Nick Carey; Additional reporting by Stephanie Simon and Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Greg McCune and Cynthia Osterman)

• Romney: "No Donations From Teachers Unions"
• Political Spending by Unions Far Exceeds Direct Donations
• Unions’ political donations falling as their power fades
• Campaign notes: Romney would end donations by teachers unions
• Emanuel: Developers’ donations don’t influence his decisions

by BETH ALTENA

A Salvation Army donation truck will be parked at Ric’s Food Center, 6767 Belding Road from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on September 22. For the third year in a row the public is invited to pull up and donate clothing, furniture electronics, appliances and household goods, receiving help unloading and a receipt for a deduction on this year’s taxes.

According to Salvation Army Public Relations Director Diane Taber, people may not realize what exactly they are helping to achieve with the simple step of cleaning out no longer needed, gently used items and giving them to the Salvation Army. In addition to stocking the eight West Michigan Salvation Army stores, where customers can pick up good-as-new items for pennies on the dollar of what they originally cost, donations are literally saving lives and rebuilding souls.

Taber said she herself represents what has always been the organization’s main focus: helping individuals break away from the grips of addiction and allowing them to turn their lives around. The Salvation Army focuses on their local Adult Rehabilitation Center where people who are caught up in alcoholism or drug addiction can turn to for help.

“I am like a lot of people who had a good upbringing, a good family, a good education,” she described. “I didn’t have any alcoholism in my family, but I got it.”

Tabor said the Salvation Army began in the late 1800s in the slums of London where William Booth was determined to bring the word of God to those who were not allowed in the doors of churches.

“Those were the drunks and the prostitutes mostly,” Taber described.

She said another basis of the organization was Booth’s belief that “you can’t preach to a man with a toothache,” so caring for people’s physical well-being had to be part of bringing them to faith.

Even the common phrase to be “on the wagon” came from the earliest years of the Salvation Army. Taber said the organization went through the slums with horse-drawn wagons and those in need of food, clothes, caring and a spiritual second chance literally got on the wagon.

The Grand Rapids Adult Rehabilitation Center is a place where people can go and either stay six months to one year and receive the care to beat addictions and rebuild faith. Taber said she had been through many rehabilitation programs that didn’t ultimately help her quit drinking.

“I lost everything. I lost my job, I lost my marriage, my family didn’t know how to talk to me anymore,” she described.

She said she knew the damage she was causing by her behavior, but couldn’t stop on her own. She opted to stay in treatment for the full year and couldn’t be more enthusiastic and grateful at her sobriety and her rebuilt faith and self-esteem.

“When I was at my worst, my darkest days in my forties, I never imagined I could be this happy again,” she stated.

Taber said she took advantage of the work therapy and job training—an important part of the program. After completing her year in rehabilitation, she stayed with the Salvation Army to mentor others and worked for the organization part time. Today she is full time there and an enthusiastic spokesperson for what the Salvation Army can do.

“The donations of goods and sales at our family stores is the only funding the Salvation Army receives,” Taber said. “It’s a win-win for all. The donations go to a huge warehouse, which supplies all eight stores. It keeps the donations coming and going. People can clear out their closets and donate and go to the stores and shop for treasures.”

She pointed out that other groups that hold sales for fundraisers, from family yard sales to sports organization, churches and schools, are welcome to donate the didn’t sell items to the Salvation Army.

Other good works the organization offers are the services of their Angel Tree division, which offers physical and spiritual comfort in emergency relief. Taber said the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree personnel were among the first at ground zero for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“They were at ground zero in half an hour and stayed for nine months,” she said. “They served food for millions and held hands and offered spiritual support.”

Taber said she will always be grateful for the Grand Rapids Addiction Recovery Center, where she “learned how to live sober,” adding, “You go through the everyday ups and downs of recovery, which, the first year can be ‘hellatious.’ You work through that on a day-to-day basis.” Taber said as addicts pass milestones, they earn more and more freedom—after the first 30 days you can leave the building, eventually earn weekend passes out, and gradually work through the five levels of the program.

This summer there were 20 graduates of the program, and Taber said she is proud to know that 15 are at jobs back in the workforce. “The whole goal is to follow the plan God has for us,” she said.

Taber said her year of rehabilitation was followed by a stint as resident manager for the women’s program, where she helped people follow the rules and served as someone for them to talk to. Now she is greatly enjoys doing public relations for the Salvation Army.

“I lost everything when I was drinking and then this past summer my apartment burned down and I lost everything again. I can’t say I would change anything in my past though. I would never want to go back and be as hurtful as I was, but this is the path that brought me back to God. It feels so good to be sober and working and feel good about myself again. My family says, ‘We have Diane back.’”

Taber said she appreciates all Ric’s offers to the Salvation Army. Ric’s also works with other local assistance programs, such as Lean on Me, which picks up close-dated food and produce every single day of the year, and Mel Trotter Ministries, which has a donation box on site at the Rockford Ric’s.

Store Director David Brickner said the family-owned company has always done all it can to give back to the community. “This is also a good time of year for people to donate. It’s back to school and the weather will be changing, so kids need clothes,” Brickner said.

“When we ask for help, David never hesitates. Ric’s is so generous and willing to do all they can for the community,” Taber said. “They are just wonderful to work with and we greatly appreciate them.”

Find a link to Ric’s Food Center on the Salvation Army’s website and read about others who, like Diane, have beaten addictions with the help of the Salvation Army—works all funded by donations. Keep an eye out at home and if there are some items that are in good shape but realistically you aren’t likely to use again, consider dropping them off at Ric’s on September 22.

• Upstate Charities Ask for Your Donations After Holidays Pass
• Salvation Army in need of food donations; Eureka workers say pantry is … – Times
• Desperately seeking toy donations: Salvation Army in Santa Cruz has seen …
• Charities hurt by growing competition for thrift-store donations
• SAN BERNARDINO: Donations needed for hospitality house – Press

SANTA CLARA, Washington Co. — An account has been established to provide relief for residents and businesses affected by the Sept. 11 flood, city officials reported Wednesday.

Donations can be made at the State Bank of Southern Utah into an account called the “Santa Clara Flood Relief Fund 2012.”

A breach in a retention basin caused a surge of water to flow into a Santa Clara neighborhood Tuesday, resulting in flood damage to 31 homes and a dozen businesses, forcing residents to evacuate.

The dike, categorized as a high-risk dam once homes and businesses were built below it, was scheduled to be rebuilt before it spilled over Tuesday, said Ron Whitehead, Washington County public works director. The basin originally was built to protect the nearby highway, but expansion gradually surrounded it with structures.

“As the city recovers from this event, this is a time for the community to pull together and help those in need,” city officials said in a statement Wednesday. “Volunteers have done tremendous work in the cleanup efforts. The city thanks them for the love and support they have shown their neighbors.”

• Elwood flood victims receive donations – Wish TV 8
• Inquirer accepting donations for flood victims
• Free Tax Help From 2 Local Charities
• How to donate to Clermont County tornado victims- 7:27 pm
• Mental health provider closes its doors