Posted by I have been trying to make time to figure what reasonable observations could be drawn from Bradley Byrne’s challenge to fellow GOP candidates for governor that they not take campaign contributions from AEA.
Seems like a good play on Byrne’s part. Isn’t he likely to be among the leaders in fundraising anyway? This challenge, if accepted, would shut down a potential source of fundraising for challengers already trying to keep up with Byrne in that department. Byrne is unlikely to be showered with AEA funds anyway, so it’s not like it’s a real sacrifice to his campaign, right? By making clear that AEA is or should be an objectionable influence, he sets up guilt-by-association for any competitors that do take its money.
Is there any downside to this for Byrne? Wouldn’t any additional support gained from those pleased about his denunciation of AEA’s influence more than offset those unhappy by it? Could it play out as a net negative in a general election for him?
South Union Street has a good roundup of the responses from the other GOP candidates and Democrats Davis and Sparks.
Robert Bentley (”I won’t make my campaign about any one person or any one group. We all need to work together to make Alabama a better state.”), Bill Johnson (”We fully intend to request the support and votes from ALL citizens in this state and commit to work together with all citizens to make Alabama a better place to live and work for all of us when elected.”), and Artur Davis (”But after experiencing seven years in Washington of bitter infighting and the demonization of political adversaries, I think that Bradley Byrne’s denunciation of AEA is the opposite of the consensus building a governor needs to practice.”) talked particularly about consensus building.
Bentley suspects Byrne and many Republicans have received AEA funds because of PAC-to-PAC transfers, and Johnson pointed out that there was a time when Byrne knowingly accepted AEA money.
Ron Sparks stepped up to the plate in a big way for AEA, saying
[T]housands of classroom teachers and school support workers were publicly humiliated and insulted by the remarks made by (former) Chancellor Bradley Byrne. Making no attempt to cloak his contempt for the rank and file public education employees, Byrne launched an unwarranted and unfounded attack on the Alabama Education Association.
[...]
(Former) Chancellor Byrne must feel a need to pick a fight with AEA to motivate the extreme right wing of his party who feels humdrum about his candidacy for governor. Ron Sparks has traveled the state from one end to the other, meeting and speaking with thousands of AEA members.
Today, I’m proud to stand in support of the transformation AEA has delivered to our state’s educational system. I am also proud to be the only Democrat willing to stand side by side with AEA against baseless, politically motivated attacks such as this.
Kay Ivey is the only candidate who unequivocally expressed willingness to accept the challenge not to accept AEA money. Tim James and Roy Moore indicated it was unlikely they would receive AEA money.
Get the full roundup of candidates’ responses over at South Union Street. Left in Alabama takes a look at this also.
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Ivey’s response in the Montgomery paper was the best exposure of the political nature of Byrne’s gauntlet toss.
I have not been a fan of Ivey’s since the debacle of PACT last spring, but over the past weeks she has started to show a few signs of political life – the fight over the grant money and now her quote about charter schools and bureaucracy shows she has some issues to run with – while Byrne moans about Hubbert and his $$$, plus Byrne’s “i’ve seen the light” attitude. Byrne might want to consider some actual policy research.
Also, curiously, Tim James response was rather tempid & amateurish.
I think it’s a bad play for Byrne for a couple of reasons. First, it will hurt him among a decent chunk of general election voters. AEA’s own surveys show that more than 25% of their membership votes GOP in state elections. They might not be so willing to vote for someone who called them the “worst in their profession.” As I have said before many times, I fundamentally question the wisdom of making attacks on teacher pay the center of a your campaign strategy.
Second, it cuts off one potential pathway to victory in the general for Byrne. The leading contender for the Dem nomination is Artur Davis. Davis’ relationship with the AEA is little better than Byrne’s. If Byrne had worked to mend some fences, maybe tensions between him and the AEA could have cooled off. Of course the AEA would never in a million years directly support Byrne over Davis, but they could decide to keep their powder dry in that race and focus on maintaining a majority in the legislature. I personally don’t believe that Artur Davis could win a general election without the full-throated support of the AEA. Now, I think the AEA is a lot more likely to ignore their past differences with Davis in the general and launch an ABB (Anybody but Byrne) campaign.
#1 Kay is still deader than Francisco Franco. This could not resurrect her.
Remember all the public school teachers are forced into paying membership dues. So their are teachers and AEA members who did not like Hubbert.
Any Republican who takes AEA money is absolutely destroying himself or herself.
However, this brings up Byrne past record of accepting AEA money. He is a Johnny come lately to fighting Hubbert.
But who is likely to hurt is Tim James because is raises up questions about his dad’s record with Hubbert.
And that is why Tim was not a lot stronger on his statement.
Here’s where Byrne violates his own pledge . . .is Metrosexual Bradley a hypocrite? http://arc-sos.state.al.us/PEL/SOSELPDF.002/E0014259.PDF
I think the Jolly Jokester is Bill Johnson in disguise. If you actually attended the press conference and listened to everything Byrne said, then you would realize he admitted to taking AEA money once before (back in the mid 90s), but that it wasn’t a large amount (as you can see). Ever since then, his track record is clean regarding AEA funds.
So quit blowing smoke (and calling Byrne a “metrosexual”) and focus on true intent of this pledge, which is to not take any contributions from the AEA.
this is a win win for byrne. no way in hell AEA would support him anyway. Plus, he will not need their money.
#6 I think (since you use the name “Chef”) you got my SouthPark reference in the “Metrosexual Bradley” comment! Great recognition! BTW I think Bradley is also the candidate most likely to believe in Manbearpig . . .
If that’s where this is heading…then we should acknowledge your membership in NAMBLA.
National Association of Marlon Brando Look-Alikes?
That is absolutely false princeliberty, no public school teachers are forced into paying membership dues. Alabama is a “right to work” state. There are many teachers who are not members of the AEA (although the majority are) but even those who are not members still get to enjoy the pay raises and benefits that the AEA has fought for.
#3 The Jolly Jokester
I never said it revived Ivey, I said she is tossing ideas around. I think she is still mortally wounded but not totally dead yet.
The only thing that can save her is a bunch of campaign $$$ – at least 3mil of her own money; the stock market above 12,000 to bring the PACT $$$ back to a fully funded status; and for Bradley Byrne to truly mess-up, i.e. get caught up in an ethics scandal with the current governor or
So let’s review – she has personal money; the markets are approaching 10,000; and the state finance director has been subpeoned by the legislature & Bill Johnson is lobbing bombs at the governor’s family.
We are only in the middle of the first act of the 2010 governor’s race. Bradley ahead now, but how much do we really know?
Going against the AEA is akin to going against the trial bar – it’s good conservative Alabama politics. In the GOP, receiving AEA money’s like accepting the Mark of the Beast. Not good.
For a GOP candidate, there’s absolutely no reason to play nice with the AEA. The AEA is not a conservative organization and it does not represent the ideals and values of the GOP. Plus, if you do play nice, the AEA will inevitably knife you in the back.
As for GOP-voting members of the AEA, those votes will still be there. Beating up the AEA won’t change that. Teachers know their union is corrupt and does not represent progress in education. If it did, for the amount of money we’ve increased in education over the past several decades, our schools would be much better. Teachers know the AEA’s purpose is to protect teachers, not to necessarily strive for better student education. The AEA is singularly interested in more teacher pay and nothing more.
As for whether the AEA was going to stay out of a Byrne-Davis contest, the likelihood of that happening was nil to begin with. The AEA was always going to come out gun blazing against Byrne if he is the GOP nominee. Recall, Byrne was the point person who completely dismantled the AEA’s deal where it slotted legislators in to do-nothing 2 year college system jobs. Byrne knew the knives would be out, so he struck first.
As for the other GOP candidates, their refusal to take up Byrne’s proposal has the possibility to do real damage to their prospects, if they had any prospects to start with. Teaming up with the AEA is like a GOP candidate refusing to take a no-new taxes pledge. This isn’t good if you’re James, Moore, Bentley or the other guy. Ivey knows it; that’s why she jumped on board.
As for Sparks, he will doing anything to try to garner some name recognition. Yesterday, it was a lottery. Today, it’s pimping the AEA. Tomorrow, he’ll favor a Bingo hall on every corner. Next week, he’ll go after the pothead vote and push for legalized reefers. It’s kind of sad.
I did think, however, his quote “Today, I’m proud to stand in support of the transformation AEA has delivered to our state’s educational system” was hilarious. Ron, how long’s the AEA been around, and where is that “transformation [...] to our state’s educational system” you say AEA supposedly delivered? Where are our state schools ranked now? I’m glad the AEA delivered, because if it wasn’t around, our schools wouldn’t be ahead of Mississippi and Arkansas.
Ron, keep trying.
Hey, 2010! It’s good to see you on posts that don’t involve your boy Bob’s Administration and their shady dealings.
Also, when will Alabama’s tottering political class serve the dear people of Alabama instead of using whatever “Councils” and “Small Business Owners” to get elected and then serve the interest of the Big Mules? You know, if the Republicans calculations on what people believe are correct, then Senator Lowell Barron is a small business owner and he should vote Republican – I doubt he ever gets a GOP mail-piece or robo-call.
At least Democrats don’t bend over and take it like the ALGOP does for ALFA, BCA and others. Hell, they let Pudner run their campaign operations and he gets to pull a check down from ALFA the rest of the year. That shows the state GOP knows little to nothing of you know, voter contact, and thus constituent services.
All Dr. Hubbert wants is more Members for AEA – which means more teachers, which means little Jack, Jill, J’alethia, Jerrell, Juanita, and Jose Alabamian public school student will have a smaller class size and get more personalized attention on their studies and you as they prepare for university, a community college, a trade school, or becoming a member of the state’s work-force with a high school degree. Why is that so bad? A more intelligent, more-educated Alabama – wow, there’s a thought.
Brian,
Why if education spending has increased each year (prorated years withstanding) has our average class size not diminished?
Here’s something for AEA to put in its pipe and smoke… low cost Liability insurance for any teacher willing to apply to join the CEAI
http://www.ceai.org/
Last time I checked it was a modest sum $180/year for 1,000,000 liability coverage. Ask many teachers why they are members of AEA and the most prominent reasons are insurance and job protection. Guess what Brian… members also recieve job action protection which assists with legal fees should a teacher need to appeal a demotion or firing.
The best part, the membership dues aren’t used to bankroll someone’s political agenda.
Danny, I apologize if this seems like advertising. I am just amazed that so few teachers realize there is limited to no benefit to being a member of AEA in a “right to work” state. My wife is a member of ACEI and not a member of AEA.
Christian Educators Association International.
A Professional Association for
Christians in Public and Private Schools. Can Hindu teachers apply? What about Muslims (you know Turks are really good at German and French considering about 15 percent of those nations is Turkish)? I guess this one doesn’t cover foreign language teachers either – since we’re ENGLISH ONLY!!! No Damn Immigration!!! Where’s the Union for these people?
So what if a member utters the word “evolution” while teaching? And are teachers allowed to teach the Crusades from a military stance or do they have to say the Christian crusaders were saving Israel and that’s why Obama is bad?
“Things just ain’t Jesus like they used to be.”
yeah brian, paul hubbert and the AEA are great for this state, great for our kids and great for education. they only have the little children’s best interests at heart. give me a freakin’ break. put your boots on folks, it’s deep in here now.
Oh 2010,
Brian Johnson wrote,
“All Dr. Hubbert wants is more Members for AEA – which means more teachers”
I never said Dr. Hubbert cared about the kids – I said the more teachers we have the higher the probability is that we’ll actually get somewhere instead of having classes of 30 kids – we could have classes of 15 or 20.
Just saying, Dr. Hubbert’s interests have the consequence of lowering the student-teacher ratio.
Brian,
That is the most outrageous thing I’ve ever heard. Your theory is quite flawed. There is NOT a good student to teacher ratio in this state, and it’s only getting worse. I think it’s hilarious that you seem to think Hubbert’s “interests” have ANYTHING positive to do with the school children in this state. He has a track record that proves quite the opposite.
Byrne just threw down the gauntlet, and it’s go time.
Brian, do I detect a hint of fear? Imagine the loss of AEA bankroll when teachers are afforded full disclosure regarding their wonderful teacher’s union. Better yet, I encourage AEA to include alternatives to joining the union in the captive speech they give to graduating education students in the state.
You can deny that if you like, but I’ve not only heard the reports, I’ve attended the meetings. Teachers are led to believe they are required to be members. I’ve even heard from State legislators that they themselves believe teachers are required to be members. The devil himself could not have woven so bold a lie.
Keep drinking the Kool-Aid Brian.
Math problem time – we’ll use the distributive property of logic.
Dr. Hubbert needs more members.
He lobbies legislators to put more in the budget for new teachers.
Money is in the budget to hire a teacher.
A teacher is hired.
Dr. Hubbert’s recruiters woo her to become a member.
She becomes a member.
Dr. Hubbert benefits.
The students have a new teacher.
The class next to hers is smaller because new teacher was hired.
This isn’t even a disjunctive syllogism – just a one thing leads to another.
Dr. Hubbert serves his interests and an uninteneded consequence is more teachers, which lowers the student-teacher ratio.
Now, if the new teacher is hired in population-depleted Black Belt schools – that’s a Joe Reed problem, but he’s too worried about the Acadome having his name on it to actually make the black half of AEA worth anything when they teach.
When you remove the majority-black schools in the 7th Congressional District – Alabama jumps to the top-15 in statewide education performance.
But, guess what, those majority black schools are still Alabamians – no matter how few times they vote fore Republicans, they don’t deserve to be punished with bad roads and fewer grocery stores in the whole District than the Summit Shopping Center (6) or East Chase (3) or Bridge Street (5) or Prattville East/Bass Pro Shops (2) the Riviera Centre Outlets (1). Hmmm…interesting.
I guess Alabama is content leaving the 4th and 7th to die. Which could both benefit from not only more teachers but nicer roads – but no, too many blacks and poor people there.
Except in Cullman County, where the Guy Hunt, Jim Folsom Jr., Tom Drake trifecta had every cow trail paved perfectly and scheduled for regular maintenance for the next 100 years.
Brian,
I am a Cullmanite but I can’t really take offense at your last statement. It actually started with Big Jim Folsom. Supposedly Cullman has more miles of paved road than any other county in the state. It has actually proven to be a huge political problem for every county commissioner since as it is literally impossible to keep all the roads in every section of the county continuously maintained. We’ve got a lot of roads. And yet they have done a pretty terrible job keeping US 278 up to standard until the last couple of years.
You make a good point about the AEA, but they have also been pretty adamant about increasing the number and quality of classroom resources for teachers.
CEIA is a “professional association” that discriminates against teachers who don’t share their view of Christianity and has no ability to engage in collective bargaining. Sounds like a real good deal. Of course, they don’t need to be able to collectively bargain when they can freeload off the work that the AEA has already done. They also provide wonderful links to “online master’s programs” at Hope “School” of International Graduate Studies. I’m sure their Liability Insurance and Job Action Protection (none of which provides full coverage) are great too. On that front, I guess the more important question is this: if you were falsely accused of misconduct, would you rather have a teachers’ union that had been handling such issues for nearly a century or a bunch of guys who got their law degree at 700 Club University?
By that logic Barbour County should rule the roost as well: Wallace, Mac Lee, Jimmy Clarke, Jere Beasley: all Barbour Countians.
and Barbour County might as well be 1909.
Alabama is right to work state in the private sector.
But public schools – no way. If you are public school teacher you pay AEA dues.
And heard of tenure for teachers as well.
Private school are right to work but not Public.
prince – i’ll give you a dollar if you can produce real numbers of public school teachers who are AEA members, and those who are not!
I took special note of Robert Bentley’s comments that pretty much lacked any anti-AEA points. I’ve been trying to research which candidates would support really advancing the issue of school choice with charter schools and hopefully education vouchers. In a write-up in the Dothan Eagle about the Dothan Chamber’s GOP forum in September, it said that Bentley supports vouchers as part of his education plan. Soo naturally I was surprised to not see Bentley come out strongly against AEA if he truly is a pro-real school choice reformer.
any word on who the campaign manager for Tim James is now that they threw pelham over board?
Brian,
The problem with “more teachers = smaller class size” is the crappy quality of the teachers. The colleges only produce so many good teachers. If you’re just into increasing the total number of teachers with no regard to quality, you get what we have – too many crappy teachers whose jobs are protected. Would you rather your kid be in a 20-student classroom with a good teacher or a 15-person classroom with a fat, lazy, stupid, tenure-protected teacher?
Also, why does law protect teachers’ jobs so? Alabama is an at-will state. If my boss doesn’t like the color of my shirt tomorrow, he can fire me and I have no legal recourse. But you can’t fire a bad teacher if they’ve been in their job for 3 years.
No real surprises in these responses…Sparks and Byrne have obviously made the calculation that they need to play to their base. Davis is running a general election strategy aimed at running from the middle, and Moore and James were kind of out of luck here. They couldn’t top Byrne but can’t cop a pro AEA stance in a Republican primary.
The really interesting question is when AEA wrote the 35 grand to Sparks. I have heard from an AEA source that the check was written right after Cobb pulled out and that Hubbert has since made peace with Davis. Don’t these candiates have to file a quarterly report next week, or is that just federal?
Doesn’t matter if a teacher does not join the AEA if they teach in a public school they still pay dues.
So I would almost all public school teachers go ahead and join since they pay anyway.
princeliberty wrote:
Doesn’t matter if a teacher does not join the AEA if they teach in a public school they still pay dues.
How do they still pay dues if they don’t join AEA? Thanks.
Just federal. Alabama only requires, End of Year, 45 day out, and 10-5 day out reports
Bradley Byrne on the Dale Jackson show this morning (start at the 16:00 mark or so) further explains his stance against the AEA: http://thedalejacksonshow.podomatic.com/entry/2009-10-09T06_12_38-07_00
Danny, princeliberty is incorrect. What he means is they still receive benefits negotiated by the AEA even if they don’t pay dues, which is a pretty sweet deal if you ask me.
SamfordDem,
What about the $500,000 to losing political candidates for state school board last year? Pretty sweet to be a teacher when you see PAC money thrown around like that.
I think Mr. Christopher had a good shot until those pesky campaign finance reports came out and the dots were connected.
Back on topic, I agree with both you and prince. Teachers do receive benefits regardless of membership status. The sticking point is the cost of that membership (approximately $375/yr-unconfirmed).
When I suggested an alternative to joining AEA it was immediately written off as not having a proven track record or being selective in its representation. You are correct, one wouldn’t expect a christian organization to pay legal fees for a teacher terminated for teaching under the influence of alcohol. AEA however fought for that teacher to continue recieving her benefits. One shouldn’t discredit an organization simply for having ethical standards and moral convictions.
One wouldn’t expect Tom the Beer Man to be too worried about ethical standards and moral convictions, especially when it comes to alcohol.
Obviously, drinking on the job is wrong anywhere and especially bad for a teacher. That said, we do not know the specifics of the situation and that teacher still deserves quality legal representation, which he or she paid for through their AEA dues. That doesn’t mean the AEA endorses their behavior any more than a doctor saving a pedophile’s life after a car crash is endorsing that person’s behavior. It is a responsibility. The doctor is obligated to do his best to save a man’s life no matter how terrible; the AEA is obligated to provide legal representation and make sure a deserving person is terminated in a legal way.
My problem with the CEIA is not that they have ethical standards and moral convictions: it’s that they segregate teachers by religion and offer a very poor imitation of union benefits (you have to pay extra to get full liability coverage and as you said, even then they can decide to drop you if your case does not fit their ideological agenda). I am a Christian, but I have no interest in segregating myself from non-Christians in every aspect from my life. After all, we are supposed to be in the world even though we are not of it. I don’t think God wants us to hide in our suburban Mcmansions or American Christian Eagle Academies or Christians-only fake teachers’ unions but that’s just my take.
Back on topic – Attention Republican primary voters: Tim James, Roy Moore, Bill Johnson, and Robert Bentley will be taking money from the union that is ruining our state.
That’s all I need to know.
The crux of the matter lies in the Fair Dismissal act, which non can argue that AEA vehemently will defend. This is where moral and ethical standards come to bear. If a teacher were to commit a felony, or as the previous case may be, blow above the legal limit while in a classroom setting, than that teacher should not recieve pay while appealing his or her termination. They are more than entitled to back pay, should they be found innoncent. If because of a “bleeding heart” mentality you feel a teacher should be paid so as to limit damage to ones finances during the appeals process then would a fitting solution not be that a teacher must repay all wages earned during that time period?
SamfordDem, as often is the case you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, or a phantom poster by his “assumed” namesake. Tom was a dear friend of mine in college that taught me the value of hard work.