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EDITOR:
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced yesterday that President Obama “can’t have it both ways by arguing they’ll (sic) protect kids while also protecting the interests of teachers unions.” Here’s a shocking statement back to Mr. Romney: Teachers care for students. Supporting teachers and children are not mutually exclusive. Teachers unions generally support what is best for children. Some of the time, teachers unions support what is best for teachers. Without unions supporting teachers at times, the educational system would lose many of the best people planning to dedicate their lives to helping our youth. Most teachers could actually make more money in other fields but have chosen teaching because they care about the well being of children. As a teacher, I pay dues to teaching unions. That money mostly goes to the political support of the education of children in the best possible ways. This money supports candidates who support education. It is nowhere near the amount of money spent by big business and the super rich who seem to generally be motivated by their own well being. Polititians like Gov. Romney generally support whatever position they feel will get them the most votes and the most money. While not perfect, teachers unions generally support what is best for education.
DOUG BROWN
Placerville
Thank you for teaching our children. I respect good teachers and never complain about the money they earn. Unions are made up of workers and do one of two things or face oblivion. 1. What their member direct and authorize or 2. What the members let them get away with. The price a Union member pays is constant vigilance of their representatives’ . Do your part and we then only have to stay away from people and candidates we don’t respect such as
I don’t respect lock-step partisanship
I don’t respect embellishers (Spin).
I don’t respect Somali Patriots.
I don’t respect Pedophiles.
I don’t respect Corporate Raiders.
I don’t respect off shore banking.
I don’t respect out-sourcing American Jobs.”
Make your own list and keep our kids in mind.
Thanks,
Ernie Louis
Romney support who will give him the most votes? Is that why Obama wants voters not to have a picture ID and is that why he just cut the heart out of the Clintons welfare program that mandates work for money. That is why Obama doesn’t want immigration laws enforced; is that why he wants all illegal students from the high school through 35 to have automatic visas is that why Obama stands behind all unions. Is that why Obama gave billions of our dollars to green energy programs, is that why he bailed out GM so that the unions would survive, also that GM is now Chinas new super car manufacture and partner and they still owe us billions of dollars. Obama has done nothing he said that he would other than cram health care down our throats against populist protest and provided our children with future debt that will never be able to be paid for. Yes sir reeee we need him like a hole in the head, I would vote for an ice cream salesman before him again.
Teachers Unions do NOT have any say in what is taught in the Classroom. Didn’t we just see the Texas School Board vote on what goes in the TEXTBOOKS?….. That wasn’t done by teachers….. Didn’t we just see a news report that a teacher cannot flunk a student if they DON’T do their assignments or do their projects — they just have to pass the test ….. If a Cop, or a truck driver, or a Politician were told WHAT THEY CAN AND CANNOT DO TO COMPLETE THEIR JOB, if they were told WHAT THEY CAN AND CANNOT ASK OF their perp, customer or voter (STUDENT), and if they were told that they MUST BE AVAILABLE DURING BREAKS, LUNCH AND AFTER WORKING HOURS, what do you think would happen? Regular workers would NOT tolerate these working conditions… and yet strangers to the job have the RIGHT to decide what happens in the Teacher’s workplace or their working conditions. If they didn’t have a Union, who would speak for them?
Who would speak for them, are you kidding me? That has nothing to do with what is going on with unions. I am all for a union that helps and not hinders a work place.
If you don’t have a union and you didn’t like what is happening in your job you would open your mouth and speak for yourself and if that didn’t work you would quit; there problem fixed. Unions are nothing more than self induced dictatorship that squishes anything that don’t agree with them; let’s see want more money? We will strike.
I know that all that participate in the unions aren’t Democrats, so why is all the money put into their kiddy? That money doesn’t go to forward education it goes to forward participation into their almighty positioning; just another way of ruling and getting what you want without justification.
I would be all for unions if all donations and dues were either spent to better education, political donations were split between parties, teachers were placed in accordance with their ability to teach and if that meant firing a teacher so be it.
Unions are a relic of the past that need to be shot and buried – like a great old dog that’s reached the end of a good life! In the distant past there were no regulations over worker safety and pay. Workers banded together and eventually these issues we resolved for everyone. We have OSHA and the minimum wage, 401k’s and IRA’s, overtime laws, etc. Seems like the bases are covered when it comes to workers rights and safety. Today, most unions seem more interested in seeing how much they can extort from their employers and operating as pseudo super PACs to bend the law. It’s time to outlaw worker unions. It’s time to do away with public pensions. It’s time to rework the rules when it comes to hiring and firing public employees, and don’t get me started on “Tenure” for primary school teachers – where did that come from? Example? Look at Senate Bill 1530 – that would have made it “easier” to dismiss sex offending teachers – the California Teachers Association got that one put down fast! I have great respect for some teachers, great disdain for others… and the system is clearly broken – the USA is missing the mark when it comes to educating our kids. We need major reform!
Thank you Mr Brown for being a concerned and interested teacher.
I’m afraid you have been misinformed, though, about the levels of political contributions of labor unions versus big business. As you’ll see, unions far outspend private enterprise and naturally, their contributions are overwhelmingly to Democrats.
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php
I’d wager that if you removed unions from the education picture we’d have higher paid teachers, more efficient and updated teaching and learning technologies, and a generally better education system.
The teachers’ unions perpetuate the myth that “it’s us against them.” Bologna. Show me one parent who doesn’t support quality teachers.
Teachers are vastly underpaid and under-appreciated. If school districts were forced to compete for the best and brightest, the market for teachers would change dramatically. Of course, the trade off would be that teachers that don’t carry their own water would find themselves making less money is lesser districts or in an entirely different profession.
Finance/Insurance/Real Estate –> $299 Million; Misc Business –> $194 Million; Lawyers/Lobbyist –> $130 Million; Health –> $116 Million; Ideological/Single Issue –> $103 Million; Communications/Electronics –> $88 Million; Energy/Natural Res –> $66 Million; Construction –> $54 Million; Teachers Union — $7 million…. in fact all the labor unions together only put in $52 Million…… According to OpenSecrets…. Unions HAVE NOT OUTSPENT PRIVATE Enterprises.. But sure sounds good to your Anti-Union friends…
Teachers Unions contribute 0.06% to the $1,142 Million contributed in just this election cycle….and you know there’s more to come… and I don’t think it will be UNIONS….. but you guys keep doing the KOCH Brother’s bidding for them…. Blasting Unions so they won’t have any competition in buying or Government…
I just finished looking up union participation in this election, and found that 98% of all union contributions went to the democratic party, not very bipartisan. That is a lot of money donated by Republicans and Democrats to all end up in some democratic reelection fund. I am sure that if it was just a tad more bipartisan there wouldn’t be so much focus on them, but the way that it is they are cutting the limb off that they are standing on.
The presidents of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association each earn nearly $500,000 pa. The average nationwide salary for teachers is $44,000.
“Notalone” — How much of the $450 Million from the KOCH Brothers went to Democrats?
At the TOP the Koch Bros. are Tea Partiers. Now, for you quick-on-the-draw 2-party true believers, name the financial owners of the Republican and Democratic parties. Take your time. Research is allowed.
Start with these numbers: So far this year the Dems have raised nearly $900M, the Repubs $800M.
Where did you find that $450 million figure?
“MoneyBags”…. That’s too easy…. Dems=Labor ($52 M–including the $7 M from teachers) and Reps=$1,050,000,000 (Energy, Finance, Health Insurance, Wall Street, etc.) Now, the actual $$$ raised through Karl Rove & Koch Brothers is SECRET…. Do you count them in the #s you provided? They ALONE spent $350 M….and not ONE ad supported labor or a teacher…
To the psydanoym Dink,
Teachers Unions are not teachers. It is a special interest that has corrupted our public education system. I say let ElDorado County run its education system with out sending any of our tax dollars to Sacrament or DC.
Our children and teachers would be far better off.
First: Reps=$1,050,000,000? Second: If the money raised by Karl Rove and the Ks is secret (which may well be true) then there’s still no source for the “$450 Million from the KOCH Brothers”.
Where’s that $450 Million??????? OpenSecrets.org reports that over a 22 year period, 1990 – 2012, Koch Industries have contributed $13M to political parties (91% Republican) and $5M to individuals and PACs. http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/totals.php?cycle=2012&id=D000000186
SuperPACs are a 501 (c)(4)…..effectively negating their obligation to release financial statements…. so they won’t report to FEC (opensecrets.org source) …. policymic.com reported: “Just this week Romney was thrown a lavish fundraiser in the Hamptons by the billionaire Koch brothers with an asking price of $50,000 per person. The campaign contributions of the Kochs have totaled some $400 million.” …… If you’re still confused…. pull up an old Steven Colbert show about “SuperPACs” It might help…
I bet if the Koch brothers had invited a bunch of ultra-rich Hollywood movie stars, Obama would have crashed the party……
Roundup: The Koch Bros. give to the Tea Party – actual $$$ raised through Karl Rove & Koch is SECRET – The Koch Bros threw a big fundraising bash, ticket price $50,000pp (outdoing than the cheapskate $40,000pp Hollywood Obama fundraiser) – SuperPACs being unaccountable to the FEC leave us guessing about who funds which parties to the tune of how much – and the Comedy Channel’s own witty & topical Steven Colbert is a reference point for understanding all this, or at least SuperPACs. But who will tell us why it is so much more important to know who funds the Tea Party than it is to know who funds the Dems and Repubs? Those two parties were bought and paid for eons ago.
Lawyers & Law Firms, always on the lookout for new and creative ways to sue people, are by far the biggest special interest donors at $41 million with 81% going to Democrats. Special interest groups all donate nearly 100% to the Democrats. It is no wonder this country is going bankrupt; the comment by A-Parent was right on target, get rid of the unions and let free enterprise work. Teachers would be paid what they are worth and the ones that don’t do their job won’t have a job.
“Public-employee unions are a mechanism by which every taxpayer is forced to fund the Democratic party. What are the contributions that public-employee unions make to our states and our citizens? Their incentives are to increase the cost of government and reduce toward zero the accountability of public employees — both contrary to the interests of taxpaying citizens.” http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/260525/follow-money-michael-barone
Republicans and teachers do not go together. Teachers make people smart. Smart people do not listen to Fox news propaganda, and therefore do not vote republican.
It sounds like “Moneybags” is more upset that ANY money goes to the Democratic Party… than unions…
Dink – You’ve got it wrong. Party political ideologues ALWAYS point to the foibles, maladies and funding of THE OTHER. You consistently ignore problems in YOUR OWN party. Dems, for example, round down on the Tea Party and Koch Bros. funding. So I’ll repeat from above: “At the TOP the Koch Bros. are Tea Partiers. Now, for you quick-on-the-draw 2-party true believers, name the financial owners of the Republican and Democratic parties. Take your time. Research is allowed.”
AND: “But who will tell us why it is so much more important to know who funds the Tea Party than it is to know who funds the Dems and Repubs? Those two parties were bought and paid for eons ago.”
Well “MoneyBags” It should thrill you to know that Republican Senator Mitch McConnell just filibustered for the 373rd time …. to BLOCK the “DISCLOSE Act of 2010″….. McConnell (R) has blocked it to death….. and blocked any other bills CALLING for disclosure –> who is FUNDING the independent expenditures enabled by the Supreme Court’s 5-4 “Citizens United” ruling. Republicans ONCE again blocked transparency –> So there you go Moneybags…. Dems maybe BAD… but the GOP Wins the PRIZE!
I’m not actually saying that Dems (or Repubs) are BAD, just a tad blind to their own foibles. Basically, I think that at grassroots level most people are decent and are trying to do good, but with differing foci and perspectives. As for “Citizens United”, it’s an abomination. We no longer have a representative democracy.