Chicago's "Rear-ends" got Jesus on their lips, the Devil in their hearts and the tax payer's money in their pockets

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday declined to say whether it’s appropriate for faith-based groups that have become vocal public supporters of his controversial education agenda to receive millions of dollars in contracts from his administration.

Some organizations that were awarded grants to run after-school programs and to ensure children make it to and from school safely have come under scrutiny following complaints they paid people to testify in favor of Emanuel’s plans to lengthen the school day and close underperforming schools.
On Monday, the mayor was asked whether the intersection of contracts and political support amounted to a form of patronage. Emanuel did not directly answer the question.
Chicago Public Schools’ Inspector General James Sullivan is investigating complaints that the Rev. Roosevelt Watkins paid people to testify in support of Emanuel reforms at recent public hearings.
Sullivan said Monday that he will determine whether the allegations are true and if there is anything wrong with that. He plans to investigate whether “CPS funds were used to support Reverend Watkins’ alleged paying of protesters,” Sullivan said.
If a private group provided cash stipends to community members, it would not be under his jurisdiction to look into it, Sullivan said. It’s only because Watkins’ HOPE Organization receives city money.
“There’s an accounting. The IG’s going to look at it,” Emanuel said. “People want to add their voice to it, great. People want to distract from it, great. And people that need to review it and hold a level of accountability will do that.”
Last week, critics, including Ald. Robert Fioretti, 2nd, questioned whether church leaders become beholden to the administration when they operate city-funded social service programs.
Last spring, Watkins’ organization was among three groups awarded a roughly one-month, $1 million contract designed to keep children off the street during summer break.
In July, Watkins' group was among 10 community organizations that collectively received a one-year, $6.3 million Safe Passage contract to supervise children going to and from school and to squash potential conflict, according to public records.
Watkins also led an effort to get hundreds of pastors to sign a pledge supporting Emanuel’s push for a longer school day and year. Several other church leaders whose groups received “safe haven” money lent their names to Emanuel's school proposals.
Watkins acknowledged his group pays small stipends to people who receive training as community activists and attend public meetings. He also defended the custom, saying it helps community members offset transportation, food and child care expenses.
Watkins welcomed Sullivan’s to review the group's accounting. Both Watkins and a CPS spokeswoman said the grant money was used to support school programs

Matthew 23 (New International Version)
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.3So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.4They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.5"Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;6they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;7they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'

11The greatest among you will be your servant.12For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

13 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.15"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.25"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.27"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

33"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?