Obama Runs Afoul of School Regs with Fundraiser Film

Barack Obama's campaign organization is in hot water with Joel Klein, the NYC School's Chancellor, after it produced a short film (it runs about 13 minutes) starring Bronx public high school students and teachers discussing race issues and Obama's campaign. The video was distributed online to generate revenue for the candidate's campaign and the page where the video is located features a prominent "DONATE NOW" button.

The teacher prominently featured in the film is Jackson Shafer, and he defended the experience as an educational opportunity that got some of his students interested in politics. Dept. of Education regulations prohibit students from being filmed for promotional or political purposes inside school facilities. The Dept. is currently evaluating whether disciplinary action should be taken against school administrators and whether it would request the video be removed.

Jen Psaki, the spokeswoman for the Obama campaign, was unapologetic about the incident, calling it a positive experience for the kids and that no one associated with the production was aware that they were in violation of any rules. The campaign also declined to remove the video from its web site.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Dave Hogarty in News on April 5, 2008 5:45 PM

Comments [rss]

onceler

I'm sure if there is an actual problem, Mr. Bloomberg will let Mr. Obama know. And if there is, I'm sure it will be properly worked out. Calm down, folks.

Shtuey

Why should anyone from the Obama campaign be apologetic? Obama hasn't apologized for lying about taking money from lobbyists and corporate interests.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/22/681/

He thinks its okay to take his children to a church where the pastor preaches hate against Jews, and says that the government created HIV to kill black people.

And he thinks it's okay to deny the citizens of Michigan and Florida their constitutional right to vote so that he can win a nomination by voter fraud instead of vote of the people.

Why should it surprise anyone that he and his campaign would have no problem violating the law to make a video? Obama is a duplicitous liar and a fraud.

Clinton '08

Spirit of 76

And elections basically won on personality gave us Reagan and Dubya. Yeah, we need more of that, especially the latter, who is widely considered the worst president of recent decades and maybe of all American history.

KinoSport

#11: So elections without a "cult of personality" gave us Bush, Nixon, and Carter...

We need even more cult of personality in American politics.

matty

This hasn't made one major news outlet.

VanessaNYC

Spirit of 76,

"Regardless of whether the DoE is being silly, do we really want a president who says he does not need to abide by existing laws, policies and regulations?"

You make a good point except this isn't a law, just a policy/regulation. I think there's a substantial difference between breaking the law and ignoring a school policy.

I see where you're coming from though. I hadn't thought of it in comparison to the actions of the Bush goverment. Still, illegal war, wire-tapping & torture versus filming some high school kids...It's a stretch.

Spirit of 76

Regardless of whether the DoE is being silly, do we really want a president who says he does not need to abide by existing laws, policies and regulations? I could be wrong, but that's what the current president has been saying for seven years. I want a president who says if a law makes no sense, then change it, don't just ignore it. So much for all his talk about this being a nation of laws rather than of men.

JpMaxMan

I think if you watch the film, you'll see how silly the dept of education is being. *shrugs it off

Spirit of 76

Please name the year of the last presidential election that wasn't about a "cult of personality".

1988. Nobody can tell me that George H.W. Bush had charisma. He had to Willie Horton his way into the White House. (With a little help from a ridiculous tank ride.) And if you want to go before that, Nixon. Definitely not a likeable personality. Also Carter won not because most people found him likeable --although he was -- but because Ford acted like a dunce in office and during the election.

Snoopy

It would have to be spelled "niggerdly" to be a racial comment.

babyhitler

what? it's not a racial slur? Darn.

VanessaNYC

OOooooo babyhitler, won't it be great when someone takes the bait and then you can inform them that that is in fact a real word, and not a racial slur??!

babyhitler

obama should be less niggardly when it comes to campaign donations.

VanessaNYC

"If Hillary embellishes her Bosnia story, it's unforgivable. "

Speak for yourself. I'm an Obama supporter and I couldn't care less about the Hillary-Bosnia "scandal."

I think the media is a joke.

berniegoetz

Obama to City: Drop Dead.

matty

*shrugs it off anyway*

CR

#1 - Please name the year of the last presidential election that wasn't about a "cult of personality".

Snoopy

I'm glad they aren't using the race issue in his campaign.

Spirit of 76

What? Obama doesn't care about the rules? Stop the presses! Wait. Never mind. The Obama supporters will shrug it off anyway. The man is perfect, you know. He can do no wrong. If Hillary embellishes her Bosnia story, it's unforgivable. But if Obama embellishes his college days to make himself look like a party animal, that's just fine.

To quote Han Solo, "I have a bad feeling about this." I suppose we as a country have still not learned the perils of joining a cult of personality after the debacle of the last seven years.