Check out this article (link dead) in the Chicago Tribune.

A national program created to give poor children access to the Internet has become so bogged down in mismanagement and waste in Chicago that the public school system is two years behind in wiring classrooms and has forfeited more than $50 million earmarked for projects here.

A Tribune investigation of thousands of pages of government records shows a program fraught with disorganization, billing irregularities and politically connected no-bid contracts.

And with new deadlines looming, Chicago Public Schools must spend tens of millions of dollars more or risk losing the progress that has been made.

Politically connected no-bid contracts? Halliburton, right? Oh, no…


In another no-bid contract, the school district awarded about $905,000 to Minnesota-based JDL Technologies Inc. for work, including research on the risks and benefits of wireless technology, and development of a district plan for making the most of E-rate funding opportunities.

School Board President Michael Scott acknowledged that he had recommended JDL Technologies in July 2002 and helped arrange meetings with school officials at the request of his longtime friend, businessman Dwain Kyles.

Kyles, son of a renowned civil-rights figure and lifelong friend of Rev. Jesse Jackson’s family, made headlines as owner of the E2 nightclub, where 21 people died in a stampede in February 2003. When JDL won the contract, it hired minority subcontractor Phoenix Co., a small technology company run by Kyles’ close friend Donna Gaines.

More…

JDL also got a push from the schools’ chief technology officer, Elaine Williams. She recommended in December 2002 that JDL Technologies replace SBC–then run by Mayor Richard Daley’s younger brother, William–as the main contractor.

However, she noted, “There may be significant political pressure to retain SBC.” JDL did not win that contract.

Williams wrote a Jan. 23, 2003, memo to Scott criticizing SBC’s performance, sending copies to Duncan and other high-level school officials. Within a week, Duncan fired Williams.

Four months later, Williams landed a consulting job with JDL and was hired full time in November as the company’s vice president for government programs and legal counsel.

Chicago is not the only large sow, though:

In the last year, E-rate has come under scrutiny nationwide, with Congress holding hearings on abuses ranging from fraud in San Francisco to waste in Puerto Rico, where $30 million in Internet equipment went unused. Nationally, the program has committed $10.5 billion since 1998, but only $6.5 billion has been spent so far.

In the first five years, Chicago had the worst spending record of the five school districts approved for the most E-rate money, including New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Houston.

I think I want my phone tax money back.