Free Republic

January 30, 2004 Teachers Union Chief Sentenced in Scandal By BRIAN WESTLEY ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) - The former president of the Washington Teachers' Union was sentenced Friday to more than nine years in prison for a scam in which she embezzled millions of dollars in union dues. The judge sentenced Barbara A. Bullock, 65, on charges of conspiracy and mail fraud in a case that prosecutors described as "nothing short of brazen greed." U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon also ordered Bullock upon her release to spend three years in a halfway house and to perform 3,000 hours of...

Today: January 30, 2004 at 16:40:17 PST Teachers Union Chief Sentenced in Scandal By BRIAN WESTLEYASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) - The former president of the Washington Teachers' Union was sentenced Friday to more than nine years in prison for a scam in which she embezzled millions of dollars in union dues. The judge sentenced Barbara A. Bullock, 65, on charges of conspiracy and mail fraud in a case that prosecutors described as "nothing short of brazen greed." U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon also ordered Bullock upon her release to spend three years in a halfway house and to perform...

<p>Today, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing into the teachers union scandals that have erupted over the last several months.</p> <p>Mr. Baxter's double salary wasn't picked up on because the WTU hasn't filed its required biennial internal audit of its affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), since 1995. The AFT actively refused such a commonsense responsibility. After a D.C. teacher filed a lawsuit to impose a court monitor over AFT's oversight of the WTU's finances, AFT President Sandra Feldman even sent union attorneys to court to insist that the AFT had no legal obligation to review WTU audits.</p>

Officials charged with diverting $5 million in member dues Just before Christmas last year, federal officials raided the homes and offices of former officials of the Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) in search of goods allegedly purchased with more than $5 million in union funds.The items listed in an FBI affidavit include $500,000 in custom-made clothing, a 288-piece antique Tiffany sterling silver set, a $6,800 ice bucket, furs, alligator shoes, jewelry, artwork, wine, wigs, a 50" plasma television, and computer equipment. Agents were investigating expenditures on a Bahamas vacation and bar and nightclub tabs.Police also found a double-barrel shotgun in the...

Buried in the president's budget this week was enough money to dramatically transform educational opportunity for children in the nation's capital, one of the worst school systems in the country. As part of his continuing program to leave no child behind, President Bush has proposed a modest $756 million to promote school choice programs in the District of Columbia and several other cities. But the proposal faces tough opposition from Democrats beholden to teacher unions, who see school vouchers as a mortal threat. Nowhere could there be a starker contrast between what's good for kids and what's in the...