NEA Endorses Kerry for President

Yahoo ^ | 7/5/04 | Ben Feller - AP

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON - The National Education Association, the nation's largest union, endorsed Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) for president Monday, the final touch in its campaign to drive up school spending and reshape the biggest education law in decades.

The NEA, a 2.7-million member group composed mainly of teachers, is out to advance its agenda on everything from testing students to halting private-school vouchers. The union is mobilizing its money and forces for Kerry — targeting political staff in 15 swing states, going into schools to rally its members, and joining liberal groups to organize a massive night of political house parties.

Kerry, who is scheduled to speak to the 9,000 delegates at the NEA convention on Tuesday, was endorsed by 86.5 percent of them. The Massachusetts senator offers many teacher-friendly promises the union likes, but he also advances ideas the NEA has long opposed, such as paying bonuses to teachers based on student test scores.

Although a quarter of NEA members identify themselves with the Republican Party, the union has never endorsed a Republican for president and typically spends $9 out of every $10 it raises on Democrats. Its relationship with the Bush administration has been particularly prickly since his education secretary, Rod Paige, jokingly referred to the union as a "terrorist organization" and annoyed members with how he apologized for the remark.

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On the Net:

National Education Association: http://www.nea.org

Kerry campaign: http://www.johnkerry.com

[NormsRevenge]

the final touch in its campaign to drive up school spending and reshape the biggest education law in decades

What the heck did President Bush do to deserve this treatment? He signed the largest chunk of federal monies ever for Education, to many folks disappointment btw.

[NormsRevenge]

The NEA, a 2.7-million member group composed mainly of teachers, is out to advance its agenda ..

guffaw... agenda.. for the children.. ;-]

[alisasny]

Lemmings..if we could only get one of them to walk of a cliff that would be the end of them : )

[KevinDavis]

This is not news...... What would be news if the NEA supports George W.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Bush can sign a $1 trillion dollar education bill - these people will never support him or Republicans.

[lilylangtree]

No one is surprised by this announcement. It's a bloody union and a bad one at that. That means here in Washington that the WEA will also support Ketchupman.

[Drango]

Take away their tax free status.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Thought campaign finance reform was supposed to REMOVE union spending from politics ..........

[Thumper1960]

NEWS FLASH!!!

NEA supports Demoncrat!

Ohhhh.....that's news???

[FourPeas]

Its relationship with the Bush administration has been particularly prickly since his education secretary, Rod Paige, jokingly correctly referred to the union as a "terrorist organization"

Who else would you expect the terrorists to support?

[babaloo999]

Did you know that Kerry was in Vietnam?

[evolved_rage]

such as paying bonuses to teachers based on student test scores.

And there will be no cheating on these. Besides, if they cheat, why not. If they had gone into business, they would have been cheating, like all successful business people do. Why not cheat the Gubmint, its the Gubmints money.<\sarcasm>

[KriegerGeist]

Surprise! The indoctrinators of Communism endorse the Communist for President.
The are orgasmic over his continuously quoting the poetry of the anti-American Communist Langston Hughs.

When he picks Hillary "we are going to take from you to distribute for the common good" Clinton, the Communist Party ticket will be complete.

[maestro]

The U.N.E.A., a 2.7-million member group composed mainly of teachers, is out to advance its agenda on everything from testing students to halting private-school vouchers. The union is mobilizing its money and forces for Kerry ? targeting political staff in 15 swing states, going into schools to rally its members, and joining liberal groups to organize a massive night of political house parties.

/sarcasm

[dangus]

Yes, but like is father, Bush thinks he can make liberals like him by sticking his ankles behind his head. Cause, you know, that worked so well for Pappy.

[NormsRevenge]

From Publishers Weekly
America's labor unions pour money into the Democratic Party in pursuit of a "socialist," big government political agenda and have abandoned their mission of collective bargaining, contend Fox pundit Chavez (An Unlikely Conservative) and Gray, a consultant for Stop Union Political Abuse. What makes this worse than corporate bosses funding Republicans, they note, is that labor's pelf comes from the "forced dues" of workers who don't individually consent to union political donations. Chavez, a former union official and Bush labor secretary nominee, and Gray, a former National Right to Work Committee official, make some charges stick. They show that unions do give a lot of money to, and wield a lot of clout with, Democrats, with the usual problems of corruption and favoritism that big money special-interest politics entails. But by the authors' own accounting, unions spend less than 5% of their money on politics—a percentage that, they concede, workers can get refunded from their dues, albeit with some difficulty. And when Chavez and Gray show unions sticking to winning better pay, better benefits and lighter workloads for their members, they damn them for bankrupting companies and driving jobs abroad. At that point, the book's critique of unions' excesses shades into a one-sided attack on their very existence.

[dangus]

>>Why he ever bothered I have no idea.<<

I do. Because the war aside, Bush is a RINO.

[abclily]

This is an outrage! That the NEA gives the hard earned money of teachers to Democrats, who undercut the authority of local teachers to insist on orderly conduct in the classroom.

[DarkWaters]

"will turn"

They have been against him from the start. The only thing his reaching will do is embolden their fury and hopefully they look nutty enough they marginalize themselves at least to some extent. You can't appease the left no matter how much you try. They always find an excuse to justify their actions.