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August 27, 2010
Extreme Screening: Only One Gov Candidate Gets a Questionnaire or Invite from the NEA RI
... before the endorsement (of that same candidate).
The gubernatorial campaigns of John Robitaille (R), Ken Block (M) and Frank Caprio (D) have all confirmed the absence of an NEA RI candidate questionnaire in the inbox and the non-ringing of the phone for the invitation to be interviewed that never got made.
In fact, following upon the AFT endorsement in late July, the Block campaign specifically asked the NEA RI for an audience. The silence from that organization continued uniformly deafening. And John Robitaille clarified that while he is seeking no union endorsements, he has agreed to meet with any labor union which extends an invitation to him and, on that basis, has met with the executive boards of the SEIU and Carpenters Local 94.
When a company or government agency has an RFP for which they have a certain vendor in mind, they might tailor the RFP as much as possible towards that vendor. Most of the time, though, they at least go through the motions of offering the RFP publicly or to all qualified vendors.
In this case, however, the "agency" or "company" is comprised of rank-and-file union members. Did the NEA RI leadership individually poll every single member to determine that support for Senator Chafee was 100%? Or did they make the top-down decision to formally "vet" only one candidate for consideration?
If the latter, wasn't that a little disrespectful of their membership?
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One would think that the NEA's endorsement has little to no real value, given how they conducted their due diligence.
More broadly - it is intersesting how little regard the NEA's leadership appears to have for their membership. A serious assessment and communication of each candidate's positions would seem to be the appropriate method for educating members about the positions of ALL of the candidates.
One would have hoped that the organizations that represent the educators of our children would have shown far more open-mindedness and rigor in their endorsement process. Imagine if our educators conducted themselves in the classroom in the same manner as their union honchos operate in their corporate offices.
Posted by: Wondering at August 27, 2010 9:36 AMMonique et al,
Can we just quit it with the 'union leadership is disrespectful of their members' crap? It's nonsense. The members know exactly what the leaders are doing and why. And the union leaders have the trust of their members, because they do it well.
Bottom line: this state has two castes of people. Those who work for, and are thus protected by the government. And the slaves in the private sector, who respond to market forces while supporting the government benefits that they themselves don't have.
Vote for Chafee if you wish to continue that process.
Posted by: Rasputin at August 27, 2010 1:37 PMthe teachers unions and state workers are terrified that caprio might win..did you see there press release endorsing Chaffee it state caprio pushed pension reform.. this blog should be cheering that we finnally have a consevative DEM running and that the myrth YOurks of the world seem to have lost there total control of the dem party...its ok to vote for a dem when he supports ur issues.. how many times have we made fun of the blind dems who vote for anyone and never look at the good R candidntes we should listen to our own comments
Posted by: rineocon at August 27, 2010 6:02 PMThey better bring down the king or their "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" pensions are going to be gone come January.
Posted by: Tommy Cranston at August 27, 2010 7:22 PM"Can we just quit it with the 'union leadership is disrespectful of their members' crap? It's nonsense. The members know exactly what the leaders are doing and why. And the union leaders have the trust of their members, because they do it well."
Really? For the 1st time in 12 years I actually signed up to make contributions to the RIAFT's PAC this past June. What a mistake, we have had ZERO input into their endorsement process!!
David Segal? C***st, he's to the left of Mao!
First day back I am telling them to stop my contributions!
Posted by: Aldo at August 27, 2010 9:32 PMIt's pretty darn arrogant of Rasputin to claim that he knows the opinions of all the members of the teachers' unions. But such arrogance is typical of the Left.
Posted by: BobN at August 30, 2010 12:23 PMThere is really no one, experienced, skilled or otherwise qualified to fix Rhode Island who's running for Governor. Every one of them leaves me with a strong, passionate, burning desire to remain on the sidelines.
So, if you're one of those people who just can't stay out of politics, no matter what. Please, please do all you can to make sure Chafee loses.
Posted by: George at August 30, 2010 2:08 PM