Intercepts
A listening post monitoring public education and teachers’ unions.

An amendment to vastly increase the scope of collective bargaining in Iowa went from first sighting to passage in both houses of the state legislature in six days.

The bill passed the Iowa Senate yesterday on a 27-23 vote, and even Democratic Gov. Chet Culver is uneasy about the way it happened.

“I believe it’s crystal clear more time is necessary for all Iowans to have a chance to better understand this proposed legislation and be more involved in the process,” Culver said.

Sen. Dick Dearden, a Democrat from Des Moines, defended the bill’s passage, claiming unions will be reasonable with their requests. “They’re not going to break the bank,” he said. (File that one under “famous last words.”)

Senate President Jack Kibbie, a Democrat from Emmetsburg, said he can’t believe Gov. Culver would veto the bill. “Because of his future,” Kibbie said. “He’s running on the Democratic ticket, I presume.”

Click here to read:

1) A Historical Look at the Teacher Labor Market
2) The Atlantic and Pacific Tides
3) Keep an Eye on Iowa
4) Butera Gets the Boot?
5) Last Week’s Intercepts
6) Quote of the Week

From today’s Miami Herald:

“Whatever happens with the Florida Democratic delegation, neither Obama nor
Clinton will have enough delegates to win the nomination. They’re locked in a
bitter struggle that I predict will continue right through the Democratic
convention, and then through the November presidential election. Next January
President McCain will be giving his inaugural address, while somewhere else in
America, Clinton and Obama will be holding their 1,387th debate, with the
hostility level between them having reached the point where the debate consists
entirely of spitting.”

“This group is anti-worker, anti-labor, anti-public school and in fact anti-American. This does nothing to address the real problems in education today. We’re getting a seven-story billboard when what we need are textbooks and smaller class sizes.” – Doug Pratt, communications director for the Michigan Education Association, responding to the TeachersUnionExposed.com billboard campaign.

I’m glad he feels that way. Maybe now we won’t see so many of these:

or these:

or these:

or these.

I’m making a quick road trip to New Orleans to deliver a keynote speech at the annual conference of the North American Association of Educational Negotiators. I’ll be back blogging on Thursday.