When Joel "Numbnuts" Klein left his position as New York City's school chancellor last fall to become a senior VP at News Corp's reeducation eduction division, he "seemed happier than ever before." According to the Times, Klein received $4.5 million in compensation this year, gets a monthly car allowance of $1,200, and Rupert Murdoch promised to spend up to $1 billion on the newly formed educational wing of News Corp to fund Klein's visions. But thanks to the phone-hacking scandal that is tearing through Murdoch's media empire, Klein is charged with conducting an internal investigation of News Corp. "I am trying to get as far away from this as I can," he reportedly told a friend.
While James and Rupert Murdoch testified before a Parlimentary panel last week, Klein was literally right behind them for the entire three hours. Despite being a "dyed-in-the-wool-Democrat," he is still expected to serve his new boss as tenaciously as he pursued Microsoft for antitrust violations in the late '90s for the Justice Department. "He has a take-no-prisoners-attitude," former head of the city's teacher's union Randi Weingarten said, "He is a litigator. He is about winning."
Exactly how he will root out the wrongdoing at News Corp while remaining on its payroll is anyone's guess. His partner in the review, a prominent British lawyer, claims that the review will work because their reputations are on the line, but a source implies that Klein was the favored alternative to a wholly independent investigation because it would do the company less damage: "There was a clear message. Stay out. And let Joel handle it." As the world seems to pile on News Corp and the Murdoch family, it's up to Klein to mete justice and minimize the damage to the company's reputation and bottom line. As Barbara Walters, who is a friend of Klein's puts it: "This was nothing he could have ever expected."
