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Huntsville Times – Holmes says he’ll subpoena CEO of firm
Huntsville Times – Madison interviews attorney candidates
Huntsville Times – Space Center puts kids in Triana back online
Huntsville Times – Dodging the budget bullet
Montgomery Advertiser – Byrne says he won’t take AEA money
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Huntsville Times – Holmes says he’ll subpoena CEO of firm
folks need to jump on board with holmes on this one….he may be onto something big…
A refreshing bit of honesty in the Advertiser’s article on Bradley Byrne and AEA:
But state Rep. Robert Bentley, R-Tuscaloosa, said Byrne’s pledge is a political ploy, and he would not be a party to it.
Bentley said he received money from AEA as a state legislator, and he suspects many Republicans including Byrne, have also because of PAC-to-PAC transfers. In fact, he said the only public official in the state that he knows who has not received any PAC contributions is state Rep. Jeff McLaughlin, D-Guntersville.
Bentley reflects what I was thinking when I saw the headline.
Rep. Holmes is quoted in one of the articles above as saying he will subpoena the CEO of Paragon to appear in front of the legislative committee that reviews state contracts. My question is: does the committee have the authority to issue subpoenas?
Bentley is only saying that because he has already KNOWINGLY taken AEA money and won’t back peddle.
TO # 2 Mullet. Yes the Contract Review Committee does have the power to issue subpoenas. The Chair can do it by himself or as in this case, Mr. Holmes wants to see where members of the committee stand on the issue. Regardless, a subpoena will be issued.
As a moderate, I really support Bradley Byrne, but this one note diatribe he has against anyone who’s ever taken AEA money, is ridiculous. At his press conference yesterday, he himself acknowledged that he can’t be sure that he never has taken AEA money “if it was it wasn’t much.”
Also, he now says money from PACs can be traced so he’ll know he’s not taking AEA money. But earlier, according to the Associated Press:
“Republican state Rep. Robert Bentley of Tuscaloosa, said he will only take money from PACs if he knows the source of the funds. But another GOP hopeful, former two-year college Chancellor Bradley Byrne, said under Alabama law there’s no way to be certain of the source of PAC contributions.”
Like all other politicians while attacking the PAC-to-PAC transfer problem, Byrne is taking PAC money from all the alphabet PACS from his special interests. Robert Bentley is an honorable man and Bradley Byrne was on him on the radio in Huntsville this morning. I think Bentley’s being honest and I think for all Bradley Byrne’s positives, he’s being a little disingenous.
AEA needs to be reined in, but they certainly aren’t the only ones walking around the Legislature passing money out to folks who say what they want them to say.
I understand Republican objections to many AEA policies even if I don’t agree with those objections. But why have GOPers always made them public enemy #1? The education trust fund takes up a lot of the state budget, but the vast, vast majority of AEA members are middle class Alabamians making less (some much less) than $60,000/yr. I imagine even the salaries of the best paid members of the union (administrators and the union’s leaders) pale in comparison to the leadership in the BCA or ALFA or Alabama Power/ Southern Co. They are a union committed to fighting for their members’ interests and they do a better job of that than anyone else south of the Mason-Dixon line. Byrne’s public hatred for the group that represents just about the only stable long-term source of middle class jobs in Alabama makes him look like a lunatic ideologue in the mold of Roy Moore.
Can’t speak for Bradley Byrne, but here are a few reasons that I don’t like AEA:
Alabama has two budgets. AEA controls both the education and general fund.
Every single dollar of every Alabamians income tax goes to education (the vast majority of which is spent on salaries for administrators, teachers, and support staff rather than in the classroom).
With the value of benefits, Alabama’s teachers/support staff are in the top 5 in the nation for pay – our education system is steadily in the bottom 5 for results.
Full and part time employees get full benefits and retirement for the rest of their lives for themselves and their dependents.
The tenure system is broken. We can’t even fire someone for having sex with their students (much less being incompetent).
AEA union bosses are on the state retirement system and get state benefits even though they aren’t state employees.
AEA union bosses control their own benefits and the benefits of their members by being the head of board the allocates and funds benefits for public employees (talk about the fox guarding the hen house).
AEA uses scare tactics and strong arming to get teachers to be members of AEA.
AEA uses scare tactics and strong arming to get legislators to vote with them.
Please let me know when ALFA, BCA, or Alabama Power get public benefits and retirement with tax dollars. I’ll be the first to call foul.
The truth hurts, and it looks like William hit the nail on the head there.
Anybody who doesn’t think it’s time to stand up to those wielding power within the AEA needs to take a close look at their own priorities and realize that those bad policies influenced by the AEA affect EVERYBODY in the entire state (especially our children). The AEA does not care about what is best for the SCHOOL CHILDREN of this state, and that is very, very sad. The children in this state are the future and are getting short-changed because of those sitting in Montgomery who believe things that benefit the union bosses, teachers, and other admin. staff are more important that what we can provide to the children IN THE CLASSROOM.
It’s time to take a stand and say NO to those special interests who stand in the way of a potentially great public school system.
William, you stated “Every single dollar of every Alabamians income tax goes to education (the vast majority of which is spent on salaries for administrators, teachers, and support staff rather than in the classroom).”
Actually, Section 211.02 of the Ala. Constitution earmarks the income tax for payment of “public school teachers salaries only.” Don’t you think that the teachers are “in the classroom”?
–Teacher Code of Ethics & Paul Hubbert the “Great Satan” of Alabama politics–
Florence TimesDaily – * Employees placed on leave
FLORENCE – Three Florence city schools employees accused of misusing school property are on administrative leave and must decide if they want to appear before the school board in an Oct. 15 conference.
Florence Superintendent Kendy Behrends said Alabama’s fair dismissal laws preclude her from releasing names of the three individuals or the grounds on which they were placed on leave. [administrative leave... with pay?]
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* Sexual Misconduct and Abuse in Schools & Teacher Ethics
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On July 14, 2009: The Alabama State Board of Education voted unanimously, to move the teacher Code of Ethics to the Alabama Administrative Code to give it more weight. The teacher Code of Ethics was set to become law on [August 18th] 35 days after the vote.
Powerful [AEA] union boss Paul Hubbert, “the Great Satan” of Alabama politics, and his “double-dipping” cronies in the Alabama legislature, are against anything that has to do with “ethics.” Nothing new there! Protecting “child molesters” and “child abusers” & “neglecters” in court simply isn’t good enough for “the Great Satan,” and his cronies.
The Legislative Council, [dominated by: teachers, former teachers, teacher union-backed representatives, and funded by teacher-union contributions,] voted against the teacher Code of Ethics, on a cowardly voice vote. And, in doing so, voted to further protect “child molesters” and “child abusers” & “neglecters” in our public schools all across Alabama.
What are parents to think, when their children’s safety, and very survival is placed at risk by their own state senators, and representatives? For how long can our children’s needs be completely ignored? For how long can our children be asked to swim upstream? How long, before the people of Alabama say, “NO MORE…”? Or are we already saying that, but it’s in a voice that is too soft for self-important fools in that–retched hive–in Montgomery to hear?
You have betrayed parents, school children, and taxpayers of Alabama so often that we’re constantly reeling from all your careless ways. When a state ignores the needs of any part of its population, it becomes fertile soil for widespread anger and apathy that will destroy its spirit, its integrity, and its sense of community.
It often seems as if you want us to abdicate all reason, while you so carelessly destroy all standards of personal “integrity” and “ethics.” You’re like those evil parents who lose their salary in a casino, while their children are getting soaked by a leaking roof in their own home.
Are you even aware of the fact that it’s OUR money you’re so freely wasting, and stealing? We, the people of Alabama no longer wish to support your bankrupt system of “what’s in it for me” politics, personal rage, and the brutal exclusion of those few autonomous individuals among you, who have the intelligence and the courage to think for themselves, and do what is right! It’s time for you all to stop being “tone-deaf” and “vision-blind.”
Now the whole Legislature can vote on the teacher Code of Ethics during its next regular session, starting in January.
Please,… Please,… Please,… poo-leaze contact your representatives!
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QUESTION: Should the people of Alabama begin to initiate lawsuits against those representatives, senators, and other elected individuals who ignore the expressed will of the people and simply refuse to act on it?
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* S.E.S.A.M.E.
* School Teacher News – SCANDAL PAGE
* Thousands of teachers cited for sex misconduct
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-Pookie
Byrne… what a joke!! What he is forgetting to tell you is that AEA was not going to give him any money anyway…just a political ploy for a weak politician!!! When is someone going to look into his past state held jobs??
i’m liking bill johnson better and better every day…..
William, are you trying to claim that Alabama teachers and support staff are overpaid? Then why is there such a serious shortage of teachers, especially in math and science? Shouldn’t the “invisible hand” guide all these unemployed college graduates into these gilded teaching positions? Why wouldn’t students get a Masters in Education (which you now need in most cases to meet NCLB requirements) when there are all those crappy $100K+ entry level jobs for those who get an MBA or a JD or a degree in pharmacy or nursing?
You complain about the performance of Alabama public school children, but do the teachers have the authority to set curriculum? Do they even have the authority to set teaching methodology in most cases?
Running on improving efficiency in education is not a bad idea: it was one of the planks of the Barack Obama platform. Running on the stupid notion that we are paying teachers and janitors and lunchladies too much is a very bad idea. The problem is not the teachers or the janitors; the problem is the oversight. There are very clear and simple ways to fire incompetent and unethical teachers who have made tenure. One would think that knowledge of tenure hiring and firing rules would be a prerequisite for an administrator but far too often administrators get the job because of local political backslapping and not based on their qualifications. Until Republicans realize that those are the education issues most Alabamians care about and not so-called “overpaid teachers,” they will continue to lose on the education issue.
Sort of interesting to compare the AEA website with the ATF website. Which organization seems most interested in teaching? There are few AFT chapters in Alabama.
Your point about harping on overpaid teachers and lunch room workers is a good one. But workers who;ve been laid off for the past year or so,might find the harping pleasant