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1) NEA Republicans, Your Turn Is Next. NEA
distributed its election post-mortem to its activists last week. As you
might imagine, NEA's score was pretty good: union-recommended candidates won
14 of 21 gubernatorial races, 14 of 15 U.S. Senate races, and 18 of 25
targeted U.S. House races.
The union deployed 67 staffers in 26 states, sent 188
different direct mail pieces with a combined distribution of 3.6 million,
and racked up 28,000 hits on its member-only, political action web page.
But there was one statistic that NEA disaggregated that
was worth further examination. Of the 27 NEA-recommended Congressional
candidates who were Republican incumbents, 26 won. There's a lot of meat
there, so let's cut it open.
The first thing it shows is that NEA is formidable when
protecting incumbents, of either party, and on a par with other special
interest groups when it comes to capturing open seats or defeating
incumbents.
NEA donated 12 percent of its PAC money to Republicans
this cycle, which is higher than usual. But a quick examination of the
recipients shows no money going to Republican challengers (it's possible I
missed one, so I'm willing to be corrected). So the second lesson is that
even if you are a Republican who supports NEA's agenda, you need to be
elected first, before you start to see any support.
The results of the 2006 elections, coupled with the
close margins in races where the Republican held on, will prompt some
interesting choices by NEA for 2008. The union worked closely with the
Republican Main Street Partnership during its years in the Congressional
wilderness, but many of the Main Street members were the very ones who
drowned in the Democratic wave: Senator Lincoln Chafee, and Reps. Charles
Bass (NH), Nancy Johnson (CT), Sue Kelly (NY), Jim Leach (IA), Curt Weldon
(PA), and others.
If NEA's crystal ball had been clearer, would the union
have donated $10,000 to incumbent Republican Jim Gerlach (PA), who eked out
a 3,000 victory over Democrat Lois Murphy?
When 2008 comes around, NEA will want to defend its new
2006 incumbents, plus pick up additional seats for the Democratic majority.
Where will these seats come from? From conservatives in gerrymandered safe
districts? Or in the remainder of the GOP-held seats in blue areas, most
likely to contain NEA-favored Republicans?
With a Democratic Congress, NEA's entire calculus
changes for 2008. The ones who will get run over during the change in
direction are the Republicans who are closest to NEA now.
2) Your NEA PAC Dollars at Work: Lucian
Wojciechowski for President. While researching the above story, EIA
discovered a strange entry in the disclosure report of NEA's Fund for
Children and Public Education, the union's political action committee. It
appears NEA contributed to a U.S. Presidential candidate in the 2006
election cycle. If the contribution was odd, its recipient was even more so.
NEA donated
$5,000 to Lucian Wojciechowski's presidential campaign. Who the heck is
Lucian Wojciechowski, you ask? Good question, because it took a lot of
digging to turn up this little bit.
Evidently,
Wojciechowski was a fringe candidate in the 2004 U.S. Presidential campaign.
He ran as a Democrat, along with other notables, such as Lyndon LaRouche and
Vermin Supreme. According to the
American RealPolitik web site, Wojciechowski finished last in the DC
primary, picking up 38 votes. RealPolitik reported:
"A phone call to Wojciechowski did not yield abundant
information about his political views, though he did forcefully advocate the
construction of 40-story buildings, each many miles long, to run up the
California coastline from San Diego to Los Angeles.
"He also mentioned a recent skirmish with the court
system.
"'I couldn't leave Imperial County for a while because
two women accused me of doing something I didn't do, and I had to go to
court, and I missed the debates. We're going to sue them for a billion
dollars,' he said.
"The accusation?
"'Lewd conduct.'"
Wojciechowski also made a short appearance in the
January 14, 2004 issue of The Hotline, which highlighted his
candidate statement in the DC Voters Guide. Wojciechowski stated his main
objective was "to replace Alan Greenspan in the Treasure Dept., return the
monies to investors in T notes, bonds, & bills, or certificates at banks and
money markets at investment brokers that is due to them." He also mentions
the lewd conduct charges, adding that he was convicted.
A further examination of NEA's disclosure reports
indicates the union's PAC
made the $5,000 contribution on June 21, 2005, via the California
Democratic National Committee. There were only a
handful of other contributors.
If all of this isn't oddball enough, it appears this
same Lucian Wojciechowski
was shot to death while sitting in a parked car in Palm Springs at 3:21
a.m. on March 16, 2005 – three months before NEA's presidential
campaign contribution.
EIA can only assume there is a bizarre clerical error
behind this whole thing, but the long journey of a PAC contribution from the
checkbooks of teachers to the committee of a dead fringe presidential
candidate is worth asking about.
3) Repayments to AFT Cause of UTD Treasurer
Suspension. Once rid of Pat Tornillo and his python pajamas, it seemed
the United Teachers of Dade (UTD) was a union well on the road to recovery.
Dues were cut, members returned to the fold, the AFT administratorship ended
with a new constitution and bylaws, and an opposition slate defeated
remnants of the old guard for control of the organization.
Considering the international news, it should come as
no surprise that the ousting of the evil tyrant did not result in a
flourishing democracy, but instead brought on an escalating series of
internecine struggles.
The latest turmoil concerns the
suspension of UTD Secretary-Treasurer Pamela Sturrup. At a Council of
Stewards meeting on October 19, Sturrup accused UTD President Karen
Aronowitz of signing a promissory note without Sturrup's knowledge or the
knowledge of the executive board. This caused an uproar among the stewards,
with denials all around.
Mark Richard, formerly the AFT Administrator of UTD and
now UTD's general counsel, told the assembly that President Aronowitz was
directed to sign the promissory note by AFT. The national union maintains
jurisdiction over UTD finances until all debts stemming from the Tornillo
years are repaid. Aronowitz informed the stewards that all the details would
be provided during an audit and financial oversight report at the stewards'
November 16 meeting.
Sturrup's accusations prompted an emergency meeting of
the UTD executive board, held on October 23. During the four-hour meeting, a
letter was drafted that listed and clarified "all of the misrepresentations
and misinformation" brought forward by Sturrup. The letter was mailed to
each member of the Council of Stewards.
The board then brought charges of dereliction of duty
against Sturrup, suspending her from all offices held, pending due process.
Ms. Sturrup advised the board "to seek counsel,"
suggesting she plans a strong legal defense.
4) Kerry Keeps the Press Away in South Carolina.
As reported by EIA last week, U.S. Senator
John Kerry addressed the South Carolina Education Association last Saturday,
but
reporters were turned away because Kerry was "not feeling well."
Funny thing, though. After
the fact,
Kerry posted his 27-minute speech on his web site. I'm no doctor, but he
looks fine, joking with the audience, no rasp in his voice, no tremors,
nothing. Of course, he didn't need much energy, since he was delivering
virtually the same speech he gave in front of the
AFT Convention in July 2004.
Senator Kerry didn't make any
"botched jokes," but near the end of his speech he did once again
demonstrate the combination of elitism and cluelessness for which he has
been constantly criticized. In the context of discussing Iraq, Kerry
mentioned his service in Vietnam and his vocal opposition to the war once he
returned home.
He concluded, "I've been
proven right by every book that's ever been written."
5) Post-Strike Melodrama in Detroit.
The Detroit Board of Education filed contempt of
court charges against the Detroit Federation of Teachers and its officers,
stemming from the union's illegal strike in September. The board is seeking
damages of $250 per member per day, $1,000 per day from the DFT officers,
and $50,000 from the union. A hearing will be held this Friday in Wayne
County Circuit Court.
Meanwhile, DFT President
Janna Garrison
had to be escorted from the district building last Friday when she
refused to leave until she learned why the union hadn't yet received
$780,000 in dues collected from members' paychecks. This being Detroit, it
should come as no surprise that the district claims the union owes the
district $1 million, but Garrison says it's only $550,000, which the union
will pay back when it gets its dues money. Simple, see?
Garrison is turning her trip
and departure from district headquarters into the stuff of legend, posting
an account of the incident on the union web site. "I had the police called
on me because I dared to challenge the district," she reports.
Garrison, coincidentally, is
in a battle for reelection. The strike and the contract settlement will be a
key determinant of the outcome.
6) Story Time.
As EIA reported last week, "The
National Education Association wants to hear your stories about how the No
Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the current version of ESEA, affects you, your
classroom, your school, and your community," or so says the NEA web site.
Here's the link to the form for submitting your story:
http://www.nea.org/esea/tellyourstory.html.
7) Last Week's Intercepts.
EIA's blog,
Intercepts, covered these topics from November 6-November 13:
*
"The Cards Never Lie!" Predictions are for psychics, but why couldn't
election night pundits even describe what was happening in the present? Bill
Kristol should be permanently barred from the telestrator and
given one of these instead.
*
Sore
Winners. Not content to get the Congress he wanted, AFT President Ed
McElroy had to deliver a sermon.
*
NEA Reacts with More Grace. NEA went the more traditional route.
8)
Quote of the Week.
"I think it's
a bad idea because charters are working. The parents like them. The kids
like them. I think charters are something that's here to stay. And every
time there's a financial hiccup, you can't put charters on the table. Why
don't they close some these bad [traditional] public schools?" – Charter
school executive David P. Hardy, responding to a charter school moratorium
proposal made by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. (November 8
Philadelphia Inquirer) |
