Mr. Burns Sends A Tweet

Private sector business executive, and former federal prosecutor,  Joel Klein sent a tweet earlier today! This, during a slow summer month, is really big news!

His Twitter account, which was created in 2011 but has hardly been used, has had some activity as of late.

Twitter's annoying "twitter notice" feature on my cell phone informs me that reporters from the Ed sites Chalkbeat and Schoolbook * just today decided to  follow the tweets of this very successful business executive. While there is no way to tell whether or not this notice update feature is accurate, I would like to say that it is really annoying to be receiving these notices, and super annoying that they compel me to read the words "Joel" and "Klein" during my summer vacation.

These notices do, however, remind me that Mr. Klein, who happily collects a $34K fixed pension (which he spent on a laptop so he could write this Op-Ed opposing teacher pensions) has been busy working for some Australian guy, somewhere in New York City.

I am also reminded that Mr. Klein made himself famous for railing against the monopolistic practices of the Microsoft Corporation during his tenure as head of the DOJ's Antitrust Division. His hard work and dedication earned him such confidence that the pro business New York Times once noted that it was :

"disheartening and disqualifying that President Clinton's nominee, Joel Klein, is scheduled to come up for confirmation.. with a record that suggests he might knuckle under to the powerful ... companies and the politicians who do their bidding." (NYTimes; 7/11/97 "A Weak Antitrust Nominee")

We, of course, know this not to be true.!!! Mr. Klein (who can be seen here posing for a picture with former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates in 2011) rallied hard against corporate interests during his time with the Federal Government- almost winning a breakup of Microsoft. As I recall, Mr. Klein, out of the sheer kindness of heart, changed his mind at the last minute and took the settlement that MS offered.

Mr. Klein now earns his tax dollars by selling tablets to public schools (and advises his boss at Parliamentary hearings as needed).  He can be found on Twitter @JoelKlein and would, I'm sure, love to read a tweet from teachers (who will praise his company's tablet).

STILL no word on exactly what Mr. Klein was up to between his time at DOJ and Amplify. Some folks say he has been working for Fox this entire time. The Ed Team could not confirm nor disprove this theory.