Meet Bob Chanin.
He’s the former chief legal counsel for the National Education Association – the largest public sector labor union in America and the leading opponent of parental choice and other long-overdue education reforms.
Chanin has become famous (or infamous) thanks to a new television advertisement from Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies – a 501(c)4 organization created by Karl Rove.
In the ad – which quotes from his 2009 resignation speech – Chanin explains the effectiveness of his public sector union.
“It is not because of creative ideas, it is not because of the merit of our position, it is not because we care about children, it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child,” Chanin says. “NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power and we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars in dues each year.”
Here’s the spot:
Pretty damning stuff, eh? Not to mention the fact that this group’s annual meeting looks like a friggin’ presidential nominating convention …
Anyway, given our low opinion of Rove here at FITS, we naturally presumed that his group had taken this tired old man’s remarks out of context (albeit for a good cause). But then we listened to the entire speech (available here).
Not only were Chanin’s remarks quoted in context, but Rove’s group actually missed some of his more inflammatory statements – like his effusive praise for the late New York union leader Albert Shanker, who organized illegal teacher strikes in the late 1960s.
Shanker, of course, is famous for this gem of a quote:
“When school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of school children.”
In elaborating on this “educrat first” vision, Chanin’s speech offered the following corollary as it relates to achieving the goals of individual academic achievement and better public schools (i.e. what public education is supposed to be about).
“These goals that guide the work we do they need not and must not be achieved at the cost of due process, employee rights and collective bargaining,” he said. “When all is said and done NEA and its affiliates must never lose sight of the fact that they are unions and what unions do first and foremost is represent their members.”
Chanin also specifically derided “conservative and right wing bastards” for their opposition to the NEA’s “liberal social and economic agenda.”
The NEA is represented in the Palmetto state by the liberal South Carolina Education Association (SCEA) – which along with the S.C. School Boards Association and S.C. Association of School Administrators has successfully blocked parental choice legislation over the past six years while securing record amounts of funding for a failed public education system that spends more than 55 cents of every dollar it receives on non-classroom expenses.
Not surprisingly, our state’s overall graduation rate remains among the worst in the nation – improving by a meager 1.5 percent over the last decade (one of the worst percentage improvements in the entire country). That’s consistent with our rural graduation rate (which currently ranks dead last in the country) as well as our declining SAT and stagnating ACT scores.
In spite of record funding increases in recent years, our monopolistic system has continued to produce nothing but incremental gains among white students while relegating yet another generation of black students to second-class status – even as black “leaders” continue embracing the failed status quo.
In fact, at this very moment there are 109,000 South Carolina school children trapped in persistently failing schools.
Such are the sad fruits of a system that puts educrats first, teachers second and children last …
We cannot allow this self-serving system to continue perpetuating failure at an increasingly higher cost to the taxpayer. It is past time that South Carolina leaders stopped listening to liberal unions who claim to be “for the children” and start listening to individual parents …
***
By eggaday March 17, 2011 at 8:43 am
Does anyone here know the real reason for Patrick Henry’s famous ” give me liberty or give me death ” speech? Don’t most of us agree that Patrick Henry was a ” real American” , a patriot, right?
Look up the reason for this part of his speech and you’ll be floored. None of us know our American history.
It seems Mr. Henry had the right idea, despite the fact he was an attorney.
He was horrified that a man was ” scorched” because he refused to get a ” license”. The scorched man refused to become a 501 organization.
One of America’s biggest problems is that 501 organizations exist.
You won’t hear that from a now a days politician will you? Naw, they’ll form a new 501 catagory, purely to benefit themselves.
Point: if we didn’t have 501′s, we wouldn’t need unions. Then we wouldn’t have so many conflicts. Think about it.
By baker March 17, 2011 at 8:57 am
“It is not because of creative ideas, it is not because of the merit of our position, it is not because we care about children, it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child,” Chanin says. “NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power and we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars in dues each year.”
Actually, this seems like simply a factual observation. That is, it takes more than good ideas and compassion to have real power to advocate. It takes money. Pretty straightforward, seems to me.
After all, hasn’t the school choice movement in SC been dependent on piles of money from Howard Rich?
I do not know how to feel about the idea of the NEA being primarily about its members. Teachers work with kids, and educators paid by the public should have that as their main priority. Of course, any organization that depends on membership dues probably has a legal responsibility to its members.
Either way, “educrat-first” seems off target, at least if “educrat” is right-wing lingo for bureaucrats in education. Isn’t the NEA is actually in opposition to administrative school district management much of the time?
By Road to Serfdom March 17, 2011 at 10:00 am
These people are sick.
Their personal and organizational interests are at odds with the public service their employment was envisioned to achieve.
NEA/SCEA and their goons don’t give a crud about the kids; they just want to keep the money flowing…
By Meow March 17, 2011 at 10:09 am
If the purpose of this article is to imply that unions have selfish agendas, I don’t think even pro-unionists would disagree. However, it is the definition of ad hominem to imply that a political position has no merit due to the morality of an individual taking that position.
Is it not at least curious to the conservative that those actually involved in SC education (SCASA, SCSBA, etc), as well as educators across the country, believe school choice, vouchers, district consolidation, etc to be a bad idea?
By victor March 17, 2011 at 11:03 am
While it might be in other places, the NEA in South Carolina is a non-player. It has no impact about what goes on here and little or no clout with legislators. Blaming the NEA for anything that goes on in South Carolina is a non-starter if you look at reality. If the NEA disappeared in South Carolina tomorrow, nothing would change for the better or for the worse. Pick another scapegoat. Actually, Howard Rich has more impact in South Carolina than the NEA if you look at money spent on campaign contributions and funding to PACs.
By The Colonel March 17, 2011 at 11:19 am
Egg,
I teach history. Please enlighten me as to what the “…real reason for Patrick Henry’s famous…” speech was. I’m struggling to figure out how you could have developed some concurrent / contradictory theme other than the widely accepted one. No one really knows exactly what he said as his speech was not recorded. T. Jefferson commented (in writing) “what the Devil has he said”. Most ear witnesses remembered him saying something that stirred them but beyond that struggled to recall the speech.
The only widely agreed upon quote is “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” Henry probably did say the “..give me…” part but the rest of the reported speech is largely conjecture.
By Bob Smith March 17, 2011 at 11:54 am
The crappy education in this state is largely a distribution problem. Namely, the counties that really need the help don’t get it because they don’t have the tax base. While counties like Lexington and Richland are building multimillion dollar schools right and left, other counties don’t have heat in their schools. The problem with ALL of the issues in this state and others is that politicians refuse to deal with “truth” in favor of a version that will benefit them polictically.
Oh, and “HOW BOUT THAT NICKI”. Boy, when you guys elect a liar, you really do it up right. You know her hubby has got to be thinkin’; “well, she lied about this and she lied about that, she could also be lying about gettin’ laid.
By Huhhh??? March 17, 2011 at 12:19 pm
I think more and more people are seeing the value of unions every day that a Koch/Rich/Cato/C Street owned Republican politician tries to stomp them into the ground. I think you can see it right here in SC. They are realizing there is power in numbers and that is the only way to fight the power of the billionaires.
People are finally realizing that Koch/Rich/Cato/C Street Republican politicians want them to work like the drones in that great old silent film “Metropolis” to keep THEM rich, while the workers lose everything they ever worked for. But, those workers rose up and threw out their masters. That day is coming.
Pingback: Thursday Headlines 03.17.11
By NoName March 17, 2011 at 2:49 pm
Is Spinning ? Winning ?
Pingback: SC Tea Party Rallies Behind Parental Choice
Pingback: GOP scheme to keep people from worrying about Tsunamis... - Page 4 - SailNet Community
Pingback: Why SC Educrats Are Attacking A Scaled Down Choice Bill | South Carolina News Press | South Carolina Breaking News Headlines | SC