A political consulting firm with close ties to Mayor Rahm Emanuel has funded and helped organize community groups and faith leaders on behalf of the mayor's contentious education agenda as a counterweight to fierce opposition from the Chicago Teachers Union.

Greg Goldner, who ran Emanuel's successful 2002 bid for Congress, dedicated the skills of Resolute Consulting to write press releases for pastors, produce a video presentation and help plan events. The effort supports Emanuel's attempts to lengthen the school day, bolster charter schools and close underperforming schools.

The issue of who is generating grass-roots support and whether it's real or the faux kind political types call AstroTurf took a turn recently when the Chicago Public Schools inspector general started looking at the Rev. Roosevelt Watkins, who is under scrutiny for paying people to attend hearings and speak on behalf of school closings.

Watkins said he has received money from Resolute. His organization also holds city school contracts. But Watkins said he didn't use public funds or the firm's money to pay the protesters.

Goldner acknowledged giving money to Watkins and other groups, but declined to say to whom or how much.

"No one at the mayor's office, no one at CPS has asked us to do this," Goldner said. "We were doing this before this administration was in City Hall, and before the leadership at CPS now was in CPS. So our involvement predates this administration."

Goldner said he started dedicating the resources of his consulting firm to education issues in December 2010. Emanuel's mayoral campaign already was in full force, and he was advocating for a longer school day and school year.

The mayor's office declined to weigh in on Goldner's involvement organizing ministers, instead restating its previous defense of support from faith groups.

"The ministers have a voice that carries beyond their congregation — to the children of their congregation," Emanuel spokeswoman Sarah Hamilton said. "They have historically played a role in education and school reform, and they will and should continue to play a role to fight for a better education system for our children."

It's not the first time Goldner's and Emanuel's interests have aligned. During last year's city elections, Goldner created a secretly funded campaign committee that supported Emanuel-backed politicians in aldermanic runoffs. He refused to disclose donors, even when called on to do so by the mayor.

Last week, Goldner declined to say how much money his firm has handed out to community groups. His work on education, which he called his public policy passion, is not on behalf of any clients, Goldner said.

"I can't write big checks. But what we do and have are good folks who know community organizing," Goldner said. "So if we can offer advice … if we can meet with a group and talk about what community organizing is, and how to get engaged and what the different bureaucracies mean, and where there are opportunities to participate, that's stuff that we can afford to do."

At the same time, Goldner said he has directed money from wealthy donors to community groups supporting an education reform agenda. The admission comes at a time when the teachers union and community groups opposed to neighborhood school closings have noted that deep-pocketed Chicago civic and business leaders are bankrolling reform efforts such as promoting more charter schools, shuttering failing schools, extending the school day and making it harder for Chicago teachers to strike.

Goldner again declined to identify the donors and organizations he has connected.

"What (community groups) use the money for and how they do it is their business, not ours," Goldner said.

Watkins said he was "not at liberty to disclose" how much he accepted from Goldner's firm.

"We have several individuals, private donors, who support our cause. Resolute happens to be one of those," Watkins said.

CPS Inspector General James Sullivan is looking into complaints that Watkins paid busloads of people $25 or $50 each to attend public hearings in support of Emanuel's plan to close failing schools. Watkins' HOPE Organization has received more than $1 million since 2010 to run programs designed to keep children off the street during school breaks and to ensure children make it to and from school safely.

Sullivan has said he is examining whether "CPS funds were used to support Rev. Watkins' alleged paying of protesters."

Watkins has acknowledged paying stipends to people who receive training as community activists and attend public meetings, but he has said the grant money was used to support school programs.

Watkins, a longtime education advocate, said he did not need help organizing the community. But Resolute has provided Watkins and other pastors with "professional expertise" and "technical support."

Opponents noticed. Last week, local school council members referred to the ministers as "rent-a-pastors" at a news conference to announce a lawsuit to try to stop Emanuel's school closings.

The Rev. Freddy Santiago, of lglesia Rebano, defended ministers' involvement.

"It's unfair and unjust that every pastor who is at a meeting — because we've been asked time and time again to be involved as faith leaders, being the cornerstone of the communities — that we would be the target," Santiago said.

Goldner is a veteran of tough political fights. He was Emanuel's campaign manager a decade ago when city patronage workers aligned with then-Mayor Richard Daley helped Emanuel win a seat in Congress.

Resolute has devoted a few other staff members to the education push, each spending up to 40 percent of their time, Goldner said. The firm's consultants have been making the rounds in education circles and letting their presence be known, several pastors and community leaders said.

Phyllis Lockett, CEO of New Schools for Chicago, a nonprofit that raises funds mostly for charter schools, took Resolute up on its offer to help with a Sept. 24 rally for charter school parents at the UIC Pavilion. The firm provided a video watched by the 4,000 in attendance.