Teacher Unions Need To Respect Their Members

Great article by a California school teacher on how disrespectful and unprincipled the unions are with regards to their own members.

"Recently, I learned that CTA officials had decided to increase all teachers' dues by another $60 a year, purely for the purpose of fighting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reforms on the ballot this November. They never asked our permission, nor even informed us of the purpose of the new fee. I found out purely by chance. Furthermore, when I asked for the money to be returned to me, CTA officials indicated that I could have to wait one or two years. "

"If teachers had the right to withdraw their financial support from the CTA union, perhaps union officials would actually have an incentive to care about what we think. If teachers had a say, I doubt that the union could get away with appropriating a chunk of our paychecks to play politics on a scale never before witnessed in our state."

Read the whole article here.
For the sake of our children, please vote YES on Proposition 75 and Proposition 74.

Yes On Proposition 75

Here is how unions spend political money they take from its members and why Prop 75 is so important:

Unions spent $88,000 (public employee unions' share was $68,000) in opposing Proposition 22, a 2000 initiative that defined marriage as between a man and a woman; a Los Angeles Times exit poll found that 58 percent of union households had voted yes on Prop. 22 and 42 percent had voted no.

Unions spent $32.7 million (public employee unions' share was $25.7 million) to oppose the recall of former Gov. Gray Davis, yet exit polls found half of union members casting ballots voted for the recall and 56 percent voted for a Republican candidate to replace him -- 43 percent for Schwarzenegger and 13 percent for Tom McClintock.

The overwhelming beneficiaries of public employee campaign contributions are Democrats. According to the Montana-based Institute on Money in State Politics, public sector unions gave $18.4 million to Democrats running for the Legislature or statewide office in 2002. Republican candidates received $900,000.

Proposition 75 protects public employee union members from having political contributions made from their dues without their annual permission. Currently public employee union members are forced to contribute their hard earned money to political candidates or issues they may oppose. Yes on Proposition 75 will make those contributions clearly voluntary.
Prop 75 returns choice to union membership, it's only fair.
Read more about it here.

Intellectual Dishonesty In California Politics

Interesting column by Sacramento Bee writer Dan Walters about State Treasurer Phil Angelides.
Unbelievably bad politics going on at the State level.

"Angelides is the state's banker, and one would expect that he would feel at least some compunction about the integrity of official financial reports. But he's also the leading Democratic candidate for governor and has never been shy about using his official position to tout himself or causes to advance his political career, or to undermine rivals."

"Angelides, moreover, has been accusing the governor of being too stingy in state spending on schools and other major programs. So on one hand, Angelides demands that Schwarzenegger spend many billions of dollars more, and on the other he taunts him to eliminate the gap between income and outgo."

Read the whole column here.