Weaver dismissed Paige's distinction between the union and its members. "We are the teachers, there is no distinction," he said.***
NEA challenged on political outlays - Teacher's union fields "army of campaign workers"*** As much as one-third of the tax-exempt National Education Association's yearly $271 million income goes toward politically related activities, according to union documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service.
The documents show that the 2.7 million-member teacher's union spends millions annually to field what one critic calls an "army of campaign workers," while maintaining that it spends nothing on politics.
The NEA has avoided millions of dollars in federal and D.C. income taxes every year for political activities that are not tax-exempt, says the Landmark Legal Foundation, a Herndon-based public-interest group that has asked the IRS to investigate and recoup the money.
The NEA's Washington headquarters spends more than $47 million yearly to field a national advocacy staff called UniServ, whose 1,800 directors help screen and select political candidates for endorsement and campaign for their election.
State and local NEA affiliates spend an additional $43 million for the UniServ network, which enables the union to select, train, and fund at least one employee in each congressional district to link all 13,000 local affiliates.
"They're precinct workers," Mark R. Levin, Landmark's president, said of NEA UniServ directors. "It is the largest army of campaign workers that any organization has. They're free to do it - they just have to pay taxes on it."***
NEA To Support Non-Testing Measures, gay education, partnership with AFT
GOP bill draws teachers' anger***The GOP-dominated Senate Governmental Oversight and Productivity Committee on Tuesday approved Fasano's proposal (SB 1652) to limit payroll deductions only for the cost of collective bargaining and grievance adjustment. The committee split along party lines, with six Republicans supporting the measure and three Democrats opposing it.
"This bill is telling me to shut my mouth," said Maureen Dinnen, president of the teachers union, who was visibly shaking with anger after the vote. "We voted to support candidates who were chosen based on their educational positions. "***
Teachers' union sets gay issues task force
NEA's Political Activities Detailed
TEACHERS BACK DNC WITH MONEY, MUSCLE
Professors take on role as high priests of activism*** As they gathered downtown earlier this week to protest the war in Iraq, a motley group of students and activists busily readied the tricks of their trade. A couple of men gingerly laid on the sidewalk two cardboard "caskets" topped with plastic flowers and the bloodied heads and body parts of baby dolls. A man wearing a white Cheshire cat mask hung a severed fake head of Vice President Dick Cheney, with a "666" scribbled on its forehead and plastic sword speared into the top. A young woman expertly dabbed white and black makeup on a young man's face to evoke an image of a ghoulish skeleton.
But the leader of the pack simply donned his professor's gown.***
It is a close call. What else can you call an organization which has completely destroyed the school system of the United States? Is this not a terrorist act?
Hmmm....so when you lack credibility, it disqualifies someone as a spokesperson. Paging Jayson Blair!
When is telling the truth about the NEA stupid?