Rhee vs. the Central-Office Hydra

Exhibit 1 of which I speak is Brenda Belton.

Belton is the former charter schools oversight chief who pleaded guilty this week to four felony counts of stealing from the school system over a three-year span and not paying federal and D.C. taxes on the loot she pocketed.

To be sure, Belton brought all the necessary ingredients for success: greed, deceit and a powerful disposition to defraud. But the school system made it possible for her to live out her dreams (or schemes, as the case may be). Chancellor Rhee and her team of change agents should retire to a quiet place and read about the pre-indictment plea agreement and the statement of offenses accepted and signed by Belton, her lawyers and the U.S. attorney's office on Aug. 7.

It's all there: how Belton forged signatures, fabricated invoices, stashed public dollars intended for public education in her private bank account. She wasn't a Lone Ranger, either.

Belton awarded sweetheart contracts to her friends, who in turn rewarded her with kickbacks. When she wasn't directing more than $400,000 in business to her pals and a relative, she stuffed more than $200,000 into a phony company that she ran.

But even before she embarked upon her taxpayer rip-off, which prosecutors said began in March 2003, when she became executive director of the public schools' Office of Charter School Oversight, and lasted until May 2006, Belton was already going at it hot and heavy with the central office.

In January 2002, Belton created a company to obtain a contract to monitor charter schools. The next month, someone in the system gave her company a no-bid contract worth $63,000. While serving as a public school contractor, Belton was also hired to work as a consultant to the chief academic office from June through September. From September 2002 through February 2003, Belton worked in the central office as a grant writer in the office of early childhood education. Nothing like having friends on the inside.

Which gets us back to Michelle Rhee.

A hint to her: Hundreds of contractors and vendors make a good living off the school system. Follow the millions of dollars that flow from the central office to their destinations. Find out whether taxpayers are getting their money's worth.

But a warning, chancellor: Gird yourself for unbelievable blowback. The central office fancies itself not to be messed with.

kingc@washpost.com