Lefty Elected President of California Federation of Teachers
Ever since Wayne Johnson was term-limited out of his position as president of the California Teachers Association, it has been pretty slim pickins for pungent quotes out here. We had hopes that UTLA's A.J. Duffy would fill the gap, but he has been a disappointment in that regard.
But now we have a new Great White Hope. The delegates to the California Federation of Teachers convention saw fit to oust long-time CFT President Mary Bergan and install Marty Hittelman in her place. Hittelman was a CFT senior vice-president and community college teacher, but he's probably best known for his leftist - as opposed to mainstream Democratic -politics.
Hittelman is connected to US Labor Against the War and was a co-founder of Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal. In the press statement announcing his victory, Hittelman repeated his campaign promise for CFT's new direction:
Since CFT has relatively little clout in the legislature, Hittelman will be limited to mighty flights of rhetoric, making him a likely regular in "Quote of the Week."
But now we have a new Great White Hope. The delegates to the California Federation of Teachers convention saw fit to oust long-time CFT President Mary Bergan and install Marty Hittelman in her place. Hittelman was a CFT senior vice-president and community college teacher, but he's probably best known for his leftist - as opposed to mainstream Democratic -politics.
Hittelman is connected to US Labor Against the War and was a co-founder of Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal. In the press statement announcing his victory, Hittelman repeated his campaign promise for CFT's new direction:
"I am dedicated to continuing the California Federation of Teachers' strong
progressive traditions of advocacy for better working conditions for all of its
members, higher quality learning conditions for California's students, and
better living conditions for all Californians. I believe that to further those
goals, we need to weigh in on the issues of the day - ending the war in Iraq;
cleaning up the environment; implementing a single payer universal health care
system; protecting people's personal and civil rights; and, having a progressive
tax system which adequately invests in education in order to enhance the quality
of life for all Californians."
Since CFT has relatively little clout in the legislature, Hittelman will be limited to mighty flights of rhetoric, making him a likely regular in "Quote of the Week."
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