ANALYSIS Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew’s astounding threat to quit if the city implements a schools voucher experiment shoves Mayor Giuliani into one the strangest political corners of his career.
If he keeps promoting vouchers, the mayor could lose Crew – an ally Giuliani never fails to praise, to the point of calling him a “miracle worker.”
Giuliani’s popularity plummeted in 1995 after he ousted Chancellor Ramon Cortines, a holdover from the Dinkins Administration. Imagine the polls if the mayor forces out a second chancellor, one he selected.
But if Giuliani backs down, what does he tell the Republican voters he’s trying to woo for his U.S. Senate run next year?
“I’m sure this will get resolved,” said one administration insider. “The two [Giuliani and Crew] have strong ties.”
Crew is reportedly feeling tremendous personal and professional pressure these days. Friends say his wife is less than enchanted with New York and Gov. Pataki’s appointment of a commission to investigate city schools was deeply unsettling.
“I think he’s pretty fed up,” said one source. Packing it in on philosophical grounds would make Crew a hero to the educational establishment that openly abhors vouchers.
Crew’s threat to walk stunned mayoral aides, who said the chancellor’s opposition to vouchers was not considered a “hot button” issue until this week.
In fact, one mayoral aide said Crew was allowed to review the mayor’s State of the City speech – where vouchers were first proposed – before it was delivered last January and “they agreed to disagree.”
Crew allies say he’s made his feelings known for weeks and felt betrayed that mayoral aides were lobbying Board of Education members to approve a voucher experiment.
But Giuliani and Crew meet weekly. The mayor describes their relationship as “close.” So why didn’t these guys, who’ve hammered out contentious issues for three years in private, suddenly disconnect?
Aides said Giuliani was caught “completely off guard” by Crew’s remarks. Until a few years ago, Giuliani also opposed vouchers.