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1) Friends and Family Plan: NEA to
Send 100 Staffers and Kin from DC to Ohio. Two
weeks ago, EIA reported on the contribution of
up to $5 million by the National Education Association to defeat Issue 2
in Ohio. The measure would severely limit collective bargaining for public
employees. Additionally, the story noted the likelihood of "a large presence
of NEA national staff and UniServ directors from other states in Ohio over
the next month." Now that prediction is coming to pass.
NEA will send, and partially fund, the
deployment of up to 100 staff volunteers from the union's Washington, DC
headquarters to Ohio to participate in the ballot referendum campaign. These
employees are in addition to staffers recruited from other NEA state
affiliates and, of course, the employees of the Ohio Education Association.
The NEA employees will begin arriving in
Ohio this Friday, and contingents will operate through Election Day. EIA is
unaware of any previous effort of this size, encompassing nearly one-fifth
of NEA's DC workforce.
What makes this undertaking truly unique
is that the union will also provide meals, hotels and transportation for
friends and family members of these employees, provided they also volunteer
to work on the Issue 2 campaign.
It is not clear at this time whether
these in-kind contributions are part of, or in addition to, NEA's $5 million
commitment to the referendum's defeat.
2) Last Week's Intercepts.
EIA's blog,
Intercepts, covered these topics from October 18-24:
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UFT Proles and Goldman Sachs. Capitalist tool.
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A Question About Patricia McAllister. You can be a bigot, just not on
TV.
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Silver Lining. Hooray! Things are as bad as we predicted!
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Always Keep an Eye on Your Porridge. The moral of the story.
3) Quote of the Week #1.
"If you want to divide that $240,000 into the amount of hours spent, I think
you would find that the per hour was probably not much at all, considering
the work that had to be done." - Former National Education Association
President Reg Weaver, explaining why he deserves his $242,657 annual pension
from the state of Illinois. (October 23
Chicago Tribune)
Quote of the Week #2.
"The NEA's position is no surprise. Although its liberal members support
federal mandates for special education, desegregation and a hundred other
things, God forbid they should be judged by federal standards on the little
matter of whether their students are actually learning anything. The union
prefers the status quo, where they use their muscle and sophistication to
turn every state and local accountability effort into mush." - Columnist
Jonathan Alter. (October 20
Bloomberg)
Quote of the Week #3.
"I applaud the association for hiring John
Vellardita. Finally, a strong-armed man who knows how to fight fire with
fire. School district officials are scared of him, and know they cannot own
him, as they have other directors. He will be the Jimmy Hoffa of the CCEA
and, for once, the teachers will have a voice to be heard. Mr. Vellardita
will take names and get things done. He is a no-nonsense man and will not be
underestimated. Remember, Mr. Hoffa wasn't anything until the Kennedys came
after him. Then he became a powerhouse to be dealt with. And so did his
workers. Mr. Vellardita will keep the playing field even. He has all the
moxie that old-time Las Vegans had. They weren't anybody until their tactics
of persuasion were proved, and Mr. Vellardita has proved himself by his
actions in California." - Kim L.
Chesley, in a letter to the editor about the Clark County Education
Association's hiring of
John Vellardita as its executive director. (October 23
Las Vegas Review-Journal) |
