GOP proposes resolution ripping AEA and its 'anti-American' ties
By Chip Drago
Mobile Bay Times
The Alabama Republican Executive Committee is set at its winter meeting in Prattville this weekend to consider a pair of resolutions -- one excoriating the Alabama Education Association and the other praising the state's school teachers.
"... no progress can be made in education in this state, nor can public policy in general be properly, efficiently, effectively and conservatively administered, until the power of the AEA is curbed and education is de-politicized ...," the proposed resolution reads.
It urges Republicans to encourage and promote "healthy alternatives to the AEA" and urges teachers to sever their AEA memberships in favor of one of the alternatives.
Dr. Paul Hubbert, AEA's longtime executive director, said the GOP's current animosity stems from a rift with Gov. Bob Riley in 2002 when the newly-elected governor sought more flexibility with the education trust fund.
When the AEA opposed the governor, the union's attempt to be bi-partisan unraveled, according to Hubbert.
GOP Chairman and State Rep. Mike Hubbard is particularly at odds with the AEA because of its support of his opponent in 2006, said Hubbert.
"This is an age-old fight, using a straw man to keep the troops fired up," Hubbert said. "If it weren't me and AEA, they would pick somebody else."
Amid six "whereas's" and four "be it resolved's," the state GOP flays the AEA and its leadership for their ties to an "anti-religious" and "anti-American" parent body that would destroy the "traditional values" on which the U.S. was founded.
The resolution calls on state legislators to pass a law requiring teachers to declare in writing their approval for part of their AEA dues to be used for political purposes.
The resolution also directs that neither the GOP nor its members will accept any AEA money or "in-kind" assistance and "that officeholders and candidates are hereby strongly admonished not to accept such money and/or support ..."
The AEA has evolved into an organization "whose paramount interest is not the children enrolled in the schools of the state, but the members of the organization themselves, and, moreover, the leadership of the organization and the control it wields ...," according to the resolution.
With education now "strongly politicized" in Alabama, AEA, as the largest labor union in the state, uses "its great political power" to "block urgently needed educational reforms," the resolution charges.
The resolution suggests AEA members at heart do not support the "radically liberal" National Education Association and would prefer that their union dues not be spent in advancing the NEA's "mistaken purposes."
The NEA's causes are "abhorrent to most Alabamians and to many teachers" who are unfamiliar with alternatives to AEA membership, the resolution states. The AEA dupes its members with "propaganda regarding the hazard of exposure to lawsuits," it continues.
True professional organizations, which are not unions and are non-political, exist as alternatives to AEA and devote themselves to "the inculcation of traditional American values, which put the welfare of the students first, provide excellent insurance against lawsuits, spend none of their members' dues on political causes" and are much less costly than the AEA.
A copy of the resolution would be sent to every GOP officeholder in Alabama, it concludes.
"In 2002, AEA made a conscious effort to try to be bipartisan," said Hubbert. "We contributed to a lot of Republicans. We contributed to the Riley campaign. We contributed to Mike Hubbard and used his PACs to contribute to other Republican candidates. We made a major effort to work across the board with everyone interested in improving education in Alabama."
Then the issue of the sanctity of the education trust fund ruptured any budding relationship between the Riley administration and AEA.
"It kind of went from there," said Hubbert. "My view was if the (Republican) party won't work with us, why should I work with them?"
"Hubbard had an opponent and it (AEA's backing) obviously upset him," said Hubbert. "So things evolved from our trying to be bipartisan to their party stiff-arming us and telling their candidates don't take their money. It caused them to go behind their (party's) back and tell us 'I need help. Slip me a little money through another PAC.' Being good supporters of education, we try to support legislators who are also good supporters of education. They forced their legislators to try to hide from taking anything from us. That probably bothers them (GOP leaders), too."
"So a lot of this stems from me and the governor not seeing eye-to-eye," Hubbert said. "Hubbard is very fond of the governor. That's probably why he's chairman of the party. So it all tends to heighten itself when we clash. They seem to want to use us as a whipping boy. They need a fundraising target, so I've become a very convenient one for them, plus the fact that Mr. Hubbard still has hard feelings about his race."
Further exacerbating things is the dispute over "double-dipping" and efforts to bar educators from also serving in the state Legislature.
"They are trying to scare legislators, but the constitution gives everyone the right to do their job," said Hubbert. "Every legislator, as long as it's part time, will be working somewhere else, too. Just because you own a newspaper doesn't exclude you from citizenship. If you do your job to the satisfaction of your employer, as I understand the constitution, you have the right to serve in public office. Everybody knows what they (legislators) do. Their opponent makes certain of that. People and voters in local districts know better than any state party who they want to serve them."
A second companion resolution commending teachers is also proposed and before the state GOP. It lauds their efforts and Riley's commitment to backing competent classroom teachers while condemning the waste of money protecting incompetent teachers and supporting unnecessary school administrators.
"... the young people of this state would be better served if a much higher percentage of school appropriations were made to the classroom, instead of spending billions of Alabama's public school dollars on greedy politicians, unnecessary school administrators, and in other non-productive areas," the proposal reads.
