Ken the Blue Collar Muse details an interesting story about a former Tennessee high school football coach, years after pleading guilty to racketeering charges and having his teaching license revoked, then lying about his past to get a teaching job in Michigan, has had his license to teach reinstated by the Tennessee Board of Education. Here's how Ken brings the story home:Lynn Lang should not be licensed to teach. Tennessee educators gave him a pass simply because a period of time had passed. Despite a felony conviction and deceiving Michigan’s Board, Tennessee says Lang is fit to teach in Tennessee. I’m still trying to find out if he is. Even if he’s not, the fact he could be is outrageous. He was banned from coaching for life. … [Read more...]
Harsanyi: Choice Key to Overcoming Union Obstacle to Dropout Problem
In today's Denver Post column, David Harsanyi brings attention to the new America's Promise Alliance (APA) report on the dropout "crisis." Knowing the report will fuel the cry for more money to solve the problem, Harsanyi explains:Teachers unions place culpability for education woes on a lack of funding and "cuts." This is a myth. Obviously, schools could always benefit from an infusion of cash but, in most of the failing systems, funding per pupil is at an all-time high. According to a study by the right-of-center Hoover Institution, in 1982 per-pupil spending was $5,930 and rose 60 percent by 2000 to $9,230 in inflation-adjusted dollars (in high-population districts, the number is far higher). In Utah, a recent school-reform … [Read more...]
Big Labor Has Ritter Running Scared
Writing over at Politics West, my Independence Institute colleague Jessica Corry ((no, we didn't collaborate) calls out Gov. Bill Ritter's plea for business and labor to get along as one-sided and politically motivated:A battle over labor issues could cost Ritter and the Democratic Party serious political capital. And with national Democrats coming to Denver this August for their national convention, the last thing Ritter needs is an extremist union agenda to impede his party's effort to appeal to moderate small- and medium-sized business owners. It's no surprise really then that Ritter is being ignored. Cross posted at Ritter Watch … [Read more...]
Ritter Throws Weight Behind Big Labor, Says: “Holster Your Weapons”
Yesterday we learned that Big Labor has pulled out some more big guns to blast a hole in Colorado's economy, in the form of five new anti-business ballot initiatives. Supporters of right-to-work - who are well on their way to getting their measure on the ballot - and union bosses - who appear to be calling their bluff - may be loading up for a real duel, High Noon-style. It didn't take long for Governor Bill Ritter to come riding into town, telling everyone to "holster your weapons":Hoping to avoid an ugly confrontation between business and labor this fall, Gov. Bill Ritter wants the two sides to withdraw their competing ballot measures, his spokesman said Tuesday. "The governor believes the best thing for all of Colorado would be if … [Read more...]
Big Labor Unleashes More Big Guns to Aim at Right-to-Work Initiative
The Denver Post reports today that Big Labor has escalated its political battle with the business community by introducing new proposals for Colorado's fall ballot:The five ballot initiatives filed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 7 include measures that would: • Deny tax breaks and incentives to companies that relocate jobs outside Colorado. • Require businesses to pay more in property taxes. • Allow injured workers to sue employers outside the workers' compensation system. Along with ballot proposals backed by other unions, Monday's filings further set the stage for a fiery showdown between business and labor in November. Big Labor has pulled out the big guns to try to shoot down one … [Read more...]
One Reason NOT to Miss Michigan: Recall Dillon AND his Union Thugs
Updated from Arvada - Gateway Pundit also picked up on this story ... Linking to him was the right thing to do, since we were sitting next to each other when we blogged the story separately Blogging from Chicago... The longer I'm away from my native Michigan home, the less I miss it. It's been mired in the economic doldrums for a long time, and the public employee union-Democrat political machine is as corrupt as ever. In a weak and self-interested attempt to save the state government bureaucracy from the effects of economic downturn, the Michigan legislature and governor last fall approved a $1.4 billion tax increase. Angry and frustrated, the citizens of the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance are organizing a recall of state Speaker of … [Read more...]
More Outrageous Teacher Stories
The Center for Union Facts' campaign to pay the 10 worst teachers $10,000 each to retire, over at Teachers Union Exposed, has picked up some colorful entries in the past couple weeks. How about "The Drunk Gunman"?This week’s featured nominee pulled up, drunk, to the drive-thru window of a fast-food restaurant. After ordering, he became angry that he wasn’t getting his food fast enough, so he took out a gun and started waving it at restaurant employees. After his arrest, he pled nolo contendere to all charges and was sent to jail. His students, meanwhile, were told he was caring for an ill family member; now out of jail, he’s back in the classroom with his job intact. Or "Teaching to the Test":Two years ago [nominee] was caught … [Read more...]
Iowa, Like Colorado, Bending to Government Employee Union Pressure
The pressure to expand the power of government employee union officials at the expense of taxpayers is not isolated to Colorado. The Des Moines Register reports:Ignoring pleas from the governor and a slew of local elected officials to give Iowans time to weigh in, Democrats in the Iowa Senate today approved a labor-backed bill that would give unions more power at the negotiating table. House File 2645 would give public employees the same power as managers to open up contract talks to almost any workplace subject. The Senate approved the bill on a 27-23 vote. Six days passed between when this proposal was offered and the bill’s passage by both chambers. It marks the first substantial change since the collective bargaining law was … [Read more...]
Union Bosses Act Like State Property Owners Under Ritter’s Order
Face the State has the skinny on "Colorado WINS" union bosses acting like they own state government property:An executive order, signed by Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, last November, empowered unions to serve as “exclusive representatives†of state employees for the purposes of forming “employee partnerships.†Days after the order, a coalition of three major unions – CAPE-SEIU, AFSCME, and the American Federation of Teachers – announced a cooperative agreement to organize state workers under the name "Colorado WINS." After hearing from state employees that Colorado WINS is aggressively trying to organize an election, Face The State attempted to attend an on-site meeting between the union and state employees. Face The State … [Read more...]
Wow, Those Are Some Bad Teachers
Remember the cash-prize contest to get rid of America's 10 worst teachers unveiled a few days ago? A publicity stunt, to be sure, but it looks like Center for Union Facts already has received some worthy nominations:We’ve received more than three hundred nominations since our “Ten Worst Union-Protected Teachers†contest launched at TeachersUnionExposed.com on Tuesday. Just to give you a hint of what’s been coming our way, here are a few of the entries we’ve received so far (edited for privacy and clarity, of course): * Music teacher. Takes personal cell phone calls and answers e-mail while kids are in the room waiting to be taught. She yells at them if they start to talk because she can’t hear. Doesn’t really teach … [Read more...]
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