I am going to have to tread delicately on this one. I would like to begin with a couple disclaimers:- I am a member of the California Teachers' Association. Have been for almost 13 years. In fact, I've been an officer in my local union and am currently part of my school district's salary negotiation team.
- My political inclinations definitely lean to the left and I have been accused of having a bleeding heart once or twice.
- I am 100% opposed to Proposition 8, which would amend the California constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. I believe that if two people want to marry they should be allowed to, no matter what their genders. Gays and lesbians have been treated as second-class citizens for long enough.
That said, I was more than a little annoyed to read that the CTA donated $1 million this week to the campaign to defeat Proposition 8. It has always bothered me that the CTA is a financial supporter of so many candidates and causes that are only marginally related to education, but Prop 8 is not directly tied to teaching at all. I can sort of, kind of understand when CTA publicly endorses and donates to campaigns for various positions from city council all the way up to president of the free world. These nominees (almost always Democrats) usually pledge to allocate more funding toward schools when they take office. But it seems to me that individuals should be able to decide when to donate to political campaigns and causes as they see fit, and I'm guessing there are a couple of CTA members out there who are ideologically in favor of Prop 8. Paying your teachers' union dues should not, in my humble opinion, equal supporting a liberal slate of candidates and causes. I may be a lib, but the one thing I love most about our country is that everyone is entitled to his or her own beliefs.
What's most distressing to me is that, in these financially trying times, $1 million dollars could go a long way toward helping students by refurbishing classrooms, purchasing books, funding preschool programs . . . the list goes on and on. Please comment - play devil's advocate. Is there something I haven't thought of? Some facet of this I'm not seeing? I'd be curious to know what others are feeling about this piece of news . . .
4 comments:
I'm lost, Jen. Do mean to tell us that a labor union -- in this case, one comprised of teachers -- would use its association dues to back a non-educational, left-leaning political campaign without the expressed consent of its members? And I thought those pesky conservatives were just blowin' smoke...lol.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich slammed CTA leadership , accusing the agency of being dishonest to the public, and "scaring" the General Assembly into passing sales tax hikes.
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oliviaharis
consumer generated media
Olivia, I think this is a different CTA. Governor Blagojevich is referring to the Chicago Transit Authority in the state he leads. My blog entry is about the California Teachers Association. Darn overused acronyms!!
California Teachers Association?! What the hell am I doing here, this ain't internet porn?!
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