Vallas says no to gov bid

Joe Ryan's having some technical difficulties, so he asked me to post this for him from his Sunday coverage:

Paul Vallas announced Sunday he would not run for governor or any office and has instead signed on for a third year as head of New Orleans’ public schools.
“I would have liked to have run for governor,” Vallas said.
But Vallas said he is staying on as chief of New Orleans’ school district for at least an extra year to “get it done right.”
Vallas signed on for a third year down South last week, meaning his contract won’t expire until June of 2010, too late he said to make a run for office in an election that November.
However, Vallas said, “I’m not going to say I’m never going to run for anything again.”
Vallas made a point Sunday of repeatedly saying he was a registered voter in Illinois and that he had paid off the campaign debt, some $350,000, from his 2002 gubernatorial bid out of his own pocket.
Vallas’ wife and children live in Palos Heights and he commutes to work in New Orleans.
Despite a strong suburban showing, Vallas lost a three-way primary by about 20,000 votes to Rod Blagojevich, who is now serving his second term. After loosing, Vallas took a position heading Philadelphia’s public schools.
Vallas’ name has been floated as a potential GOP candidate for governor or Cook County board president. Most recently, DuPage County GOP chair Dan Cronin, a state senator, said he was in talks with Vallas about the move.
Vallas made the disclosure Sunday at a news conference he held to endorse a referendum for a constitutional convention.
After the press conference, Vallas also said he doesn’t want to be considered for a top education post in a Barack Obama White House.
Vallas disagrees with Obama on public school vouchers, a central issue in education policy, and he also said he doesn’t like traveling.
“I’m not interested,” he said of the nation’s top education post.
Vallas has also openly criticized school grants distributed in a program under the Annenberg Foundation, which Obama helped direct on a panel with the infamous Bill Ayers.
On Sunday Vallas said Obama can’t be blamed for what he saw as the program’s failure because the presidential contender came on board several years after the grants were started.
“The die had been cast,” Vallas said.
Meanwhile, Vallas decided to shine the spotlight on current Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan as a potential education secretary.
“I think Arne Duncan would make a splendid choice,” he said.