Nickles says Rhee in the clear concerning teacher contract

D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles is blasting a complaint against D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee as “baseless” in its claims that Rhee broke D.C. law by crafting a lucrative teacher contract.

The complaint was filed with the city’s Office of Campaign Finance in June by Robert Vinson Brannum, a reliable Rhee antagonist and president of the D.C. Federation of Civic Associations. It charges that Rhee violated city law and standards of conduct when she “solicited or accepted private funding to support certain provisions of” the school system’s contract, passed in late June by the D.C. Council.