Campaign 2012: California Union Upset Over Obama Hire

You may recall from Stephanie Simon's Reuters story last week that the Obama campaign's hiring of former Parent Revolution press person Linda Serrato was a bit upsetting to some union folks in California.  Serrato left in April and things haven't been the same since, according to California Federation of Teachers Secretary Treasurer Jeff Freitas:

"We have endorsed President Obama for reelection, but it will be very hard to generate enthusiasm and the campaign would be clearly insensitive to the concerns of teachers/ educators if they send her out....  Therefore, if Linda or other anti-union advocates are here in California, we may not be able to participate in the same fight."

Righteous anger, or thinly veiled threat?  You be the judge.  The full text of the email is below, courtesy of Simon (who got it from Freitas).  Meantime, KPCC's Tami Abdollah reports that only one of the several teacher dismissal bills introduced in the California state legislature this year remains alive.  So it's not like the CFT has lost all its clout. PS:  Simon has joined Twitter: @SSimonReuters.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Jeff Freitas <jfreitas@cft.org>
Date: Thu, May 3, 2012 at 5:39 PM
Subject: Re: Anti Education Activist is Obama "Spokesperson" in in CA?

 Shawnda,

 Parent Revolution and the legislation of Parent Trigger is focused on privatizing public education.  Their goal is to either close schools down or turn them into charter schools ran by business with corporate models.  This model for education is detrimental to what we must be doing and is a direct attack on rights of the employees of the districts.  By eliminating rights of employees you do not strengthen the rights of students and community, it is just the opposite.

 Time after time, the Parent Trigger advocates pit educational organizations, unions, against the students, and that is exactly the opposite of what we stand for.  The California Federation of Teachers and its members are focused on a quality and equal education for all students.  We have taken pay cuts, increased our share of healthcare costs to help school districts keep the doors open.  Yet, we are blamed for the "crisis in education" and let's ignore the severe cut to educational funding.  Let's ignore the skyrocketing tuition for higher education which is becoming unreachable for low and middle class families.  Let's ignore the hours and effort we put in to help the students of California everyday and only focus on the drivel they put out about unions.

If the OFA believes that we will help with reelection efforts when they are using spokespeople that attack us day in and day out, then they are seriously wrong.  We have endorsed President Obama for reelection, but it will be very hard to generate enthusiasm and the campaign would be clearly insensitive to the concerns of teachers/educators if they send her out.

 Therefore, if Linda or other anti-union advocates are here in California, we may not be able to participate in the same fight.

 Sincerely,

Jeff

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jeffery M Freitas
California Federation of Teachers
Secretary Treasurer

Comments

[Bruce]

Humorous illustration: touche. It's a not very thinly veiled threat accompanied by (self-) righteous anger, although I don't think that anger justified. The first paragraph of Mr. Freitas's letter is typical of what mars so much of our political discourse today: it attempts, completely without evidence, to convey the motives of the writer's opponents, and ends up a complete distortion and misrepresentation, thereby harming readers' interests.

[CarolineSF]

Huh? Why is it a terrible awful horrible thing to "threaten" to withhold support if a campaign does something that works against one's interests? That's perfectly normal in politics -- why is it suddenly shocking if a teachers' union does it?

It's been made very clear that among some big donors, support for what's currently known as "education reform" is a litmus test -- a candidate who challenges any of the standard reform line is threatened with loss of support. So why would it be so terrible awful horrible for the teachers' union to do the same thing? Are you genuinely unclear on the concept, Alexander and Bruce, or trying to fool the unwary? Either way, I call you out. If you didn't know before that you're BSing, I'm now enlightening you.

I campaigned against a local candidate for school board here in San Francisco because Whitney Tilson was throwing fundraisers in NY for her, and there was nothing wrong, sinister, threatening or otherwise wrong in my doing so. Are we not allowed to decided whom to support based on our assessment of the candidates, including their associates?

All that said, as sharp a critic as I am of the bogus Parent Trigger, I've said all along that the spokespeople for Parent Revolution, including Serrato, are not actual advocates but rather hired guns play-acting as advocates. It's unclear on the concept to behave as if they actually believe what they say. So I'm not sure it's justified to assume that they take the beliefs they professed in their previous positions with them to the next career step.

[Bruce]

I don't believe I'm unclear on the concept of threatening to withdraw support from candidates no longer aligned with a constituency's interests, Caroline, which should be clear from the fact that you (in your second paragraph) and I (in my second sentence) answer Alexander's question in the same way: it's a threat. I also don't claim there's anything illegitimate about that tactic; I just think it's bad politics in this case. I don't know what your "calling [us] out" means, but based on my previous experience with your penchant for libel, I'd rather not find out, and so try to ignore your criticisms unless I'm addressed personally. If your "enlightenment" would just stick to legitimate discussion of the issues at hand (like your defence of a political tactic, in this case), I would appreciate it.

[Sarah]

Either way, the opinions they hold now look good to their employees/benefactors/etc. and that’s ultimately what matters for now. I don’t know how I feel about the union not backing him, but they’re entitled to their opinion of his policies.