Emanuel says he’s never met Gary Solomon, key player in CPS scandal
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Wednesday he doesn’t know and has never met Gary Solomon, a key player in the $23 million contract kickback scheme that culminated in the guilty plea by his hand-picked former Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett.
Byrd-Bennett’s predecessor, Jean-Claude Brizard, has told the Chicago Sun-Times that Solomon, co-owner of SUPES Academy and two other education consulting firms, was instrumental in Byrd-Bennett’s hiring— first as chief education officer, then as Brizard’s replacement shortly after the 2012 teachers strike.
Brizard also has said that he got a call from Solomon shortly after Emanuel’s 2011 election. In the call, Solomon encouraged him to apply for the Chicago job.
After decades of bureaucrats at the helm of Chicago Public Schools, Brizard was skeptical that Emanuel would turn the job over to an educator. But Solomon assured him that the job was, indeed, wide open and urged Brizard to talk to the mayor’s transition team.
With Solomon’s fingerprints all over the hiring of two schools CEO that went sour, one of whom turned out to be a crook, Emanuel was asked Wednesday to clarify the nature of his relationship with Solomon, who was indicted along with Byrd-Bennett.
How did he know him? Where did he meet him? Why did he rely on him? And if he knewthat Byrd-Bennett once worked for Solomon’s company, why did the mayor not dis- qualify SUPES and two other Solomon-owned education consulting companies from receiving CPS contracts?
The mayor’s answer was enlightening and unequivocal.
“First, I don’t know Gary Solomon. Never met Gary Solomon. Not a supporter of mine in any effort. So, I don’t know how you can say that, based on the fact that there is no relationship between me and Gary Solomon ever,” Emanuel said.
“The U.S. attorney just finished five months of review. Didn’t talk to me about anything. Didn’t ask for anything from me. . . . And I don’t believe that mayors should get involved in contracts, which is why I did not,” he said.
Emanuel was not asked who on his transition team did know Solomon and used him as a go-between/education recruiter.
The mayor then reiterated what he said earlier this week about the contract at the center of the scandal.
“My staff did ask the appropriate questions, hard questions, difficult questions — to the point that Barbara Byrd-Bennett, when asked, got upset and angry at the direction of the questions by my staff. She hid behind her professional judgment when it really was the motivation of personal gain,” the mayor said.