Posted on 05/23/2002 10:05:07 AM PDT by jimkress
Washington, DC—Imagine a world in which people no longer debate public policy issues for fear of being sued by their opponents. That is the goal of a lawsuit filed by the Michigan Education Association (MEA) and its president alleging that the Michigan-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy “misappropriated” his “likeness” by quoting him in a letter. And while the lawsuit itself is clearly frivolous, the MEA’s willingness to run roughshod over the First Amendment to silence its opponents signals an alarming escalation in the union’s battle against meaningful education reform in Michigan. Today, the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Justice announced its plans to defend the Mackinac Center’s right to free speech.
On September 27, 2001, the president of the Michigan Education Association, Luigi Battaglieri, announced at a press conference the opening of a new organization called the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice. As became clear during his remarks, a major objective of the MEA-funded and MEA-governed group will be to defend the status quo by criticizing Mackinac Center research and recommendations. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a 14-year-old nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research institute that studies state and local policy questions on topics including education, labor law, fiscal policy, economic development and the environment. In laying out his vision for the Great Lakes Center, Battaglieri candidly acknowledged the Mackinac Center’s prominent role in providing education research to the public:
I know what’s in your minds - I think I’ve worked with the media enough that I expect the headline is going to be that the MEA takes on the Mackinac Center. . . . I guess I expect their reaction to be one where they will welcome us as new kids on the block to enter into the field that they’ve been into for a number of years now, and I assume they’re going to scrutinize our research just as much as we’ve scrutinized theirs. And so, quite frankly, I admire what they have done over the last couple of years entering into the field as they have and being pretty much the sole provider of research to the community, to the public, to our members, to legislators, and so on. . . . [T]hose of us in the educational community, for being in the business of educating, we’ve done a poor job in my opinion in the past of educating the public about all the good things that are going on in public education. (emphasis added)
Pleasantly surprised by these words of praise from a leading opponent, Mackinac Center President Lawrence Reed quoted Battaglieri in a year-end letter describing the Center’s accomplishments and seeking support for the coming year:
By all measures the Mackinac Center has had an outstanding year and the people of Michigan are the beneficiaries. But you don’t need to take my word for it.
This fall Luigi Battaglieri, president of the Michigan Education Association, stated, “Frankly, I admire what the Mackinac Center has done.” Mr. Battaglieri, whose union is generally at odds with the Mackinac Center, said this with respect to how Mackinac Center research has shaped education reform in Michigan and around the nation.
Shortly thereafter, the Mackinac Center received a threatening letter from the MEA’s lawyer, who accused the Center of “distorting” Battaglieri’s views and demanded that the Center turn over a list of anyone who had ever received any solicitation from the Mackinac Center in which Battaglieri’s or the Michigan Education Association’s names were used. Explaining that it had done nothing wrong, the Mackinac Center correctly noted that the use of Battaglieri’s remarks “in a non-profit fundraising letter dealing with political issues” was fully protected by the First Amendment. Battaglieri and the MEA filed suit anyway, claiming that the Mackinac Center, supported entirely by voluntary contributions, had “misappropriated” their likenesses for its own commercial benefit. Taking a page from the bullying tactics of anti-reformers against the civil rights movement in the 1950s, the MEA again demanded the Mackinac Center’s mailing list. In addition, the union seeks for itself all of the donations sent by Mackinac Center supporters in response to the disputed letter, and the MEA has also asked the court to slap a permanent gag order on the Center forbidding it from using its or its officials’ names or identities in future solicitations. For anyone committed to the principle of free expression and the marketplace of ideas, it would be deeply troubling if this lawsuit had a legal leg to stand on.
Fortunately, it does not.
“The idea that a public policy organization has to get permission from its opponents to quote them is ludicrous,” said Clark Neily, an Institute for Justice senior attorney. “The First Amendment case law on this point is so clear that it makes you wonder what’s really going on here. If the MEA and its leaders think they can silence speech they don’t like with frivolous lawsuits like this one, they are sadly mistaken.”
“The truth speaks for itself,” said Joseph Overton, the Mackinac Center’s senior vice president. “Lu Battaglieri said, ‘I admire what they have done over the last couple years,’ referring to the Mackinac Center. We merely accurately repeated the union president’s statement.”
“The MEA’s tactics are reminiscent of the anti-civil rights movement of the 1950s,” said Chip Mellor, president of the Institute for Justice. “The MEA will use any means of intimidation it can think of—from demanding Mackinac’s mailing lists to abusing the judicial system—to quash any voice for reform. The MEA’s goal is to intimidate supporters of the Mackinac Center. But just like in the 1950s, the bullies will lose this fight.”
Teachers’ unions are using these bullying tactics now in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s school choice decision. If the Court sides for choice, the unions know the battle for education reform and accountability will return to the state level, and they are launching a preemptive strike to silence any voice for choice.
“Independent Mackinac Center research threatens the MEA’s bottom line; that is why the union is going after us,” said Joseph Lehman, Mackinac Center executive vice president. “Mackinac Center research has shown some of the harmful effects of compulsory unionism and has proposed that unions should receive money only from people who genuinely and voluntarily support the union. But the union would rather use force than reason.”
Hillsdale College Update
Spring 2002
Vol. II No. 2, page 3
Island City Academy and Sarah Parker Coons: Following the "Model for America"
Island City Academy has been making waves in the educational world in recent months. Teachers at the Eaton Rapids charter school, opened in 1996 and modeled largely after Hillsdale Academy, voted to decertify the Michigan Education Association (MEA) as their collective bargaining agent last October. Hillsdale College alumna Sarah Parker Coons, '01, a first-and second-grade teacher at the school, spearheaded the daunting yet successful effort to remove the giant MEA...
The teachers union in Washington also believes that they can silence speech:
WEA orders teachers and their representatives to be quiet, or else
See? THIS *frivolous* lawsuite crap used to REALLY get hammered by the courts.
Before the bench became mainly staffed by politically appointed, agenda-driven, Liberal-Socialst activists.
This is the result; &, the core-Socialists behind the MEA & all other Liberal-Socialist movements are using this fact to their advantage!!
Makinac should, of course, sue the MEA to the MOON to recoup all expenses they incure litigating this *frivolous* action.
So OK Lawyers?
Here's a splendid chance to run that bill up; &, make us feel GOOD while doing so -- for a change.
"Today, the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Justice announced its plans to defend the Mackinac Center’s right to free speech."
Yessssss!!
...conservatives everywhere must close-ranks, in this fashion; & push the buggers back into the sea.
Doing my little part!
Yep...and "Loser Pays" Tort Reform would make this recouping of all expenses automatic.
FReegards...MUD
"Repent NEA, or you will surely perish."
Since the NEA will never repent, let's help them perish. A wealthy NEA can buy whatever political clout they need to get their agendas passed. Help defund the NEA by informing teachers that they are entitled to a refund of the portion of their dues that the NEA and their state affiliates used for political activities. This refund can amount to several hundred dollars. See:
Reply # 14 in the thread Let's Help Nail the Teachers Unions -- It is National FReep Time
LANDMARK REPORTS NEA FLAUNTING FEDERAL LABOR REPORTING LAW
Here's some interesting information from the The Education Intelligence Agency (EIA) COMMUNIQUÉ (On the Web at http://www.eiaonline.com) -- May 13, 2002 issue:
"1) Are the Fat Years Over for NEA and AFT?
It used to be relatively easy for EIA to obtain accurate, up-to-date membership numbers for NEA and its state affiliates, but recently it has become a lot more difficult. Perhaps it is coincidental that the numbers are becoming harder and harder to find just as the news becomes less and less cheerful.
The tremors are small: lots of talk about needing inroads with Generation X teachers... financial problems here... possible layoffs there. In the past, membership problems were localized in the chronic, hard-to-organize states that had competing organizations. Today, the sounds are more widespread. NEA has grown every year since the mid-1980s, but for the first time the end of the boom may be in sight. The union experienced an increase of some 37,000 members this year -- about half of what it achieved in 2000-2001. More alarming if you're an NEA official is the fact that 20 state affiliates had a decrease in membership last year -- even as the number of potential members nationwide continues to grow at a fairly steady 2 percent annual clip.
EIA cannot yet identify which state affiliates are growing and which are not, though it seems safe to assume that the large states -- California, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, et al. -- continue to enjoy solid growth, while perennial weak sisters are now having serious problems. Activities to reverse the trend are already underway. The NEA Board of Directors granted $175,000 to the Mississippi Association of Educators for additional organizing. The North Carolina Association of Educators is laying the groundwork for an effort in support of collective bargaining in the state. North Carolina law currently bans collective bargaining by teachers.
Accurate AFT numbers are even harder to amass, because more of its members are not K-12 teachers. Nevertheless, the same tremors are coming from AFT. The AFT Executive Council's organizing committee met to discuss ways to get younger members more involved and active in the union. EIA estimates that about 70 percent of teachers are NEA and/or AFT members. Public school teaching may be the most highly unionized sector of the American workforce (the private sector is only 9 percent unionized). Is something about to give?"
We also need to inform teachers and education majors that there are alternative professional education associations that teachers can join for much less than what they are paying to the NEA:
Association of American Educators
25201 Paseo de Alicia, Suite 104
Laguna Hills, CA 92653
Phone: 949-595-7979 or 1-800-704-7799
Fax: 949-595-7970
Email: info@aaeteachers.org
Website: www.aaeteachers.org
Please note that the AAE is not a union. It is a professional association. Annual dues are $125 per year for teachers (includes $2 Million liability insurance - one of the reasons teachers join the NEA or AFT is for liability insurance). Student, retired educator, and associate/support memberships are $25 per year.
Call the AAE and ask them to send you some of their brochures. Stuff them with Teacher317's "UNION DUES REFUND NOTICE" and hand them out to teachers and education majors. Take them to PTA/PTO meetings. Leave copies at school supply stores.
Here are some links that will be of interest to teachers (and parents):
"Grading the NEA - What Every Teacher Needs to Know About The National Education Association: A Special Report" by Perry L. Glanzer, Ph.D. & Travis R. Pardo (http://www.family.org/gradingthenea/news/a0012243.html)
"Teacher Unions and Parent Involvement" (http://www.educationpolicy.org/EPIseries/parent-bklt.htm)
17 posted on 5/21/02 7:21 AM Pacific by EdReform
Please pass this information on.
That's right Slim, it would alright.
But from my POV?
The Right had better damned-well NOT bring the SUBJECT of Tort Reform up in the elections in any way, shape OR form.
For that matter?
The subject should NOT even be discussed in public by those of our side.
-Period-
No ifs, ands, or buts about it, either.
Not until a good many things have been strategically & firmly implemented & put into place first this time around.
Of course; by, "things" I am talking about...*people*.
Why?
One name my good & dear friend will easily explain it all.
...Newt Gingrich.
Without being construed as disagreeable?
I'd suggest the best way to "make the public afraid" is by getting outa the way of the Liberal-Socialist monsters & their NEA.
That's right; just get the hell outa the way of these reprobates & let 'em keep doing what they've been doing.
Who could screw these maniacs & their utopian pipedream better then they themselves, huh?
If [we] were to TELL people the stuff these asshole are doing to all children?
We'd be booed, hissed, cursed, & demonized beyond descrition; and, maybe worse.
The NEA might actually grow stronger as a result of our action(s) satisfy the Hebrew saying, "Let no good deed go unpunished."
I don't understand why this happens, completely; except to say it's a phenomena best associated & observed beginning in the decade of the 90s.
Personally speaking?
I believe the phenomenon (reaction) is a sociological form of Newton's Third Law of Motion, in Physics.
That is to say: by exerting one's will upon the ignorant -- no matter how just the cause -- the ignorant will respond by moving in an opposite direction of the will exerting the force.
Now...to nuetralize this?
Permit these people's children to come home, fully & shamelessly indoctinated bearing the fruits of insanity as fed 'em by the Liberal-Socialists.
The parent(s) themselves, one by one, will arrive at their own conclusion(s).
Just as you, I, & the others here, have.
By ourselves, in our own time & in our own way(s).
Those parents will surely trickle through to us; and, when they do?
We're to be ready for 'em; expectant & prepared.
Ready to recieve, comfort, reinforce, educate & enlighten these parents to not only what it is they are first now seeing & realizing.
But also, to what has been going on for years; &, the impact on us now -- as well as the implications for ALL of our futures.
The NEA et al themselves will make an "avenging army" of conservatives for us, Larry.
...& they'll do so from a ragged, unorganized mob of formerly ignorant Liberals.
That is to say: by exerting one's will upon the ignorant -- no matter how just the cause -- the ignorant will respond by moving in an opposite direction of the will exerting the force.
A truly great analogy--that has been the sum of my experience trying to communicate with the uninformed. Socrates did not push his opinion on his students--he asked questions, and made the students articulate their positions. Thereby letting them find out for themselves that they were dumb @$$es.
Of course, poor ole Socrates wound up with a Hemlock cocktail.
A very interesting hypothesis!
Newt never made this a Cause Celebre', IMHO, and Tort Reform certainly wasn't the cause of his demonization. I understand the fear of attempting to disempower Lawyers when such a huge majority of our legislators went to law school, but the Sheeple can be made to understand the benefits of leveling the playing field in the courts by implementing common-sense reforms. I realize that many in the Inner Cities believe their only two routes to wealth are the Lottery and a big win suing in the Courts, but these scumbag losers ain't gonna be voting for conservatives anytime anyway. Timing is crucial, I reckon, but Tort Reform is an Idea whose time has come!!
FReegards...MUD
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