The story of how the for-profit colleges survived the threat of a major federal crackdown offers a case study in Washington power brokering. Rattled by the administration’s tough talk, the colleges spent more than $16 million on an all-star list of prominent figures, particularly Democrats with close ties to the White House, to plot strategy, mend their battered image and plead their case.
Anita Dunn, a close friend of President Obama and his former White House communications director, worked with Kaplan University, one of the embattled school networks. Jamie Rubin, a major fund-raising bundler for the president’s re-election campaign, met with administration officials about ATI, a college network based in Dallas, in which Mr. Rubin’s private-equity firm has a stake.
A who’s who of Democratic lobbyists — including Richard A. Gephardt, the former House majority leader; John Breaux, the former Louisiana senator; and Tony Podesta, whose brother, John, ran Mr. Obama’s transition team — were hired to buttonhole officials. And politically well-connected investors, including Donald E. Graham, chief executive of the Washington Post Company, which owns Kaplan, and John Sperling, founder of the University of Phoenix and a longtime friend of the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, made impassioned appeals.
Corporate, Domestic, Ethics, For-Profit, Gainful Employment, Investors, Legislation, Private education, Regulatory, Required, University & College - Written by Wired Academic on Saturday, February 25, 2012 6:00 - 0 Comments
Heard: For-Profit College Lobby Accomplishes Push To Water Down Washington Regulations
Eric Lichtblau of The New York Times writes (Dec. 9) about the for-profit college lobbying blitz that allegedly watered down the new rules on For-Profit colleges. He writes:
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