FOX NEWS: The Queen's Institutional Corruption

A Quo for Every Quid

The Seattle Times today has a lengthy story on how the left-wing organizations that forked over $3.5 million for the manual recount that won Queen Christine the 2004 gubernatorial election have all been handsomely rewarded under her administration.

I have pointed out before that the Queen is definitely no ingrate. As a WEA official puts it, "Absolutely it was money well spent." We have the best Governor that special interests can buy.

"What Is Going Wrong In Washington?"

To be competitive in a modern economy, Washington needs 21st century transportation and education systems. We have neither.

Why? Simple.

The one-party Democratic dictatorship in Olympia is completely beholden to environmentalists and the Washington Education Association to remain in power.

Look at some of the transportation solutions proposed by our "leaders:" Hundreds of millions of dollars pissed away on a Disneyland ride in Seattle (i.e. a monorail) and a proposal to tear down a bridge that carries tens of thousands of commuters every day and replace it with..........nothing.

Just recently, Washington turned down a $13.2 million education grant from the federal government. The WEA nixed the deal because *GASP* it included merit pay for teachers. God knows we don't want our teachers showing any merit or getting paid to do so.

Don Brunell, president of the Association of Washington Business is perplexed by this decision, as well he should be. Washington's businesses depend on a well-educated workforce to compete and surive, not the self-lubricating palms of a greedy and corrupt teachers union.

In his latest column, Brunell wrote:

In the wake of an earlier column about our state rejecting a $13.2 million education grant, people are asking, “What is going wrong in Washington?” Why was Washington the only state of seven to reject funding to improve math and science learning for public school students in advanced placement programs?

Our state’s teachers union, the Washington Education Association (WEA), killed the grant because it included merit pay for teachers. But other heavily unionized states accepted the grant. What went wrong in Washington?

The students who would have benefited from this money are those who will fill the engineering, technology and advanced science jobs in the United States to help us compete with the rest of the world. It is so important that Bill and Melinda Gates and Michael and Susan Dell each donated $15 million to the program, and Exxon-Mobil contributed a whopping $100 million.

But our state missed a golden opportunity by rejecting the money. Our elected officials want to grow the aerospace, software, biotech and technology industries in Washington, but companies like Boeing, Microsoft, Amgen and Schweitzer Engineering Labs can’t find skilled people to fill positions.

It also was a big setback for emerging technology leaders like Scott Keeney, CEO of Vancouver’s nLight Photonics, when the National Math & Science Initiative (NMSI), announced that it ended Washington's grant because the WEA refused to budge on the issue of merit pay for teachers. The NMSI program pays teachers directly, but the WEA insisted that all the money be collectively bargained. Keeney spearheaded the Clark County MAP (Mentoring Advanced Placement) program and the NMSI grant would have been a logical extension for high tech professionals who volunteer to tutor students in advanced math and science.

Heavily unionized states like Massachusetts and Connecticut embraced the six-year grants. But Washington’s teachers union wouldn’t budge. How did Connecticut get the teachers union to go along with the NMSI grant?

First, a strong coalition of business, teachers, government and education leaders pulled together to secure and implement the grant under a program called Project Opening Doors.

Second, they hired Dr. J. A. Camille Vautour, a long-time school superintendent, to ramrod the project. Vautour approached ten school districts in Connecticut and got nine of them to embrace the program.

Vautour bypassed state teachers union officials and put it to local teachers and school districts this way: “We have an opportunity to help our students, and the NMSI grant is non-negotiable. They set the terms, not us, and if we are going to improve our math and science programs, we need to embrace the grant.”

The savvy superintendent took the issue of merit pay off the table. He pointed out that only 22 percent of the money would go to teachers in pay for performance while the other 78 percent went to teacher training and tutoring.

Finally, he sold them on the idea that if students were successful on advanced placement tests in math and science, it would attract additional money from NMSI and the state.

The rest is history, and on Sept. 6, 2007, Governor M. Jodi Rell (R) accepted a $13.2 million NMSI grant.

So, why all the fuss over a $13.2 million grant? Isn’t that pocket change when it comes to education spending in our state?

True, but it is the signal it sends. Consider a couple of key facts:

• About a third of high school math students and two-thirds of those enrolled in physical science have teachers who did not major in the subject in college or are not certified to teach it.
• Only 29 percent of American 4th grade students, a third of 8th grade students, and barely 18 percent of 12th grade students perform at or above the proficient level in science.
• In China, virtually all high school students study calculus; in the United States, 13 percent study calculus.

So, when you look at the facts, you really have to wonder: What is going wrong in Washington?

"Many WSU grad students want union cards rescinded"

Union surrogate Mary Jo Klinker has obviously learned well from her WSU American Studies program chair, TV Reed. When you are trying to organize a left-wing cause:

1. Be as vague as possible. Never present any facts, just rhetoric.
2. Be deceptive when gathering petition signatures.
3. If opposed, marginalize the opposition as "small" and led by far-right extremists.
4. Always claim you're in the majority, but never provide any data to back that up.

And that is why, in my opinion, the attempts to unionize graduate students at WSU are as DOA as PARD's efforts to stop Wal-Mart in Pullman.

Congrats to Devin Rokyta for following up on this story. From today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

About 200 Washington State University graduate student employees have signed letters that will be sent to the Washington Public Employment Relations Commission requesting to have their union cards rescinded.

Steven Davis, a member of At What Cost, said many student employees were misled when they signed the cards. Unknown to many of them, signing the card meant they were pledging their support to the union that represents more than 25,000 academic student workers nationwide - the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America. Many thought signing the card indicated they wanted to explore the issue further.

"There's plenty of students that want their card back," Davis said.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire recently signed a law allowing student employees at WSU the right to be represented by the union. The law goes into effect in June, and WSU students will vote whether to ratify their contract with the university in June if they elect to unionize.

At least 70 percent of graduate student employees must approve joining the union for it to be ratified. The union must then submit a petition for certification to the Washington Public Employment Relations Committee before contract negotiations can begin.

Davis said he is not anti-union, but he is concerned with the lack of facts being provided by the union and its organizers.

"The biggest issue I have is the way it has been approached," Davis said. "There's so little information; the only thing we get is, 'Collective bargaining is good.'

"At least give us the ability to see the information and really know what we are getting into."

Union organizers say the union will represent the students on issues of workload, grievance procedures, health insurance, vacation and sick leave. The union will charge its members 1.5 percent of their gross income in addition to a $10 initiation fee.

Graduate and Professional Student Association President Manpreet Chahal said his organization hasn't taken a union stance, but it also would like to see more information provided to the students.

"I think there are a lot of students upset over the process," Chahal said. "It could have been done in a better way. I feel like students were kept in the dark and misled on what they were signing and getting into.

"We are not telling our students not to join the union, our goal has been to get information from both sides," he added. "My worry is come summer when everything is a done deal and they are told to pay union dues they will be wondering what is going on."

Scott Goates, an economics graduate student, said he did not feel misled when he was asked to sign a union card, but others in his department have taken issue with recruiting methods.

Goates is upset with the union's lack of response. If several complaints are brought against a recruiter who had collected 100 signed union cards, the union only investigates those individual complaints rather than question all 100 people who signed the cards.

"For me the big problem is the union doesn't seem to want to investigate," Goates said.

Union solicitor Mary Jo Klinker said she would like to hear from anyone who has questions about what they signed. In many cases people think they signed their union card when they actually didn't.

She said the union is investigating claims on a case-by-case basis.

"We have been asking people to come to us so we can address those concerns," Klinker said.

Klinker said much of the concerns are being driven by a small group of people.

"Obviously, we are aware of the fact that people have been encouraged to rescind their union card by a group of anti-union people," she said.

Klinker said the union has support from a supermajority of WSU's more than 1,500 graduate student workers, although she does not have exact figures.

"We have a strong majority who are pro-collective bargaining at WSU," she said.

Davis said the students can get that same representation through the GPSA. The organization already represents students working as teaching assistants, research assistants, graders, and tutors for free.

"I believe all of these issues can be taken care of through channels we already have and that's the GPSA," Davis said. "That to me sounds like a more viable option and one that doesn't cost us any fees."

Klinker said students who are confused about what they signed can contact the union at (509) 334-5220.

Students who signed the card can write to the Public Employment Relations Commission to have it revoked. More information is available at http://wsu-at-what-cost.pbwiki.com/.