Tuesday, I went to Albany with the Chancellor’s Parents’ Advisory Council (C-PAC?), the UFT and the Principal’s Union to lobby legislators on behalf of smaller classes for public school children about which I will I write more later.

In the course of the day, we got a funny lesson in the manners and mores of the legislature.

The Senate and Assembly were set to vote on members of the Board of Regents, the group which hires the Education Commission. As a practical matter, the positions are in the gift of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, since Assembly Democrats make up the majority of the combined body. As they went to vote for the new members of this crucial body, none of the Senators and Assembly members I spoke to knew who Mr. Silver intended to nominate (elect). After the vote, none of those I spoke to knew anything about those for whom they voted.

One of them, CUNY Law School Professor Natalie Gomez-Velez is, in my view, an excellent choice: smart, focused, funny, light on her feet in debate; we schmoozed with her after her election. She represents the Bronx on the Panel on Education Policy and used to work for the Brennan Center.

The other is someone none of the elected officials I spoke with had ever heard of.
“Charles Bendit, of Manhattan, is co-founder of Taconic Investment Partners, which develops both commercial and residential real estate. He’s also on the Board of Governors for the state Real Estate Board and member of PENCIL or Public Education Needs Civic Involvement in Learning” according to the Times-Union, quoting the press release that no one else picked up. Mr. Bendit was elected in his absence. Who is he? Why is he a regent?

Obviously,I like one of Mr. Silver’s picks. Does that mean the system works for me or you?