DFER’s Joe Williams channeled the money.

DFER's Joe Williams was the go-between.

A side bar to the story of Al Sharpton and the half million dollars he received from Plainfield Asset Management and Harold Levy in exchange for supporting the Education Equality Project is the role of Joe Williams of Democrats for Education Reform.

Joe, you remember, was the guy who said he would kick my ass when I criticized DFER’s pro-voucher privatization education schemes during the presidential campaign.

From Gotham Gazette:

Juan Gonzalez reported in the Daily News that soon after Sharpton and Klein forged their alliance Sharpton’s National Action Network received a $500,000 donation to support his work for the project. “The huge infusion of cash — equal to more than a year’s payroll for Sharpton’s entire organization — was quietly provided by Plainfield Asset Management, a Connecticut-based hedge fund, where former Chancellor Harold Levy is a managing director,” Gonzalez writes. The money reportedly did not go directly to Sharpton but was channeled through Education Reform Now, a group Gonzalez said is headed by former Daily News reporter and charter school advocate Joe Williams, who also heads Democrats for Education Reform. Williams (another busy guy), who is president and treasurer of the Education Equity project, would not tell Gonzalez how the donation was handled or what it was used for.