Plundering 'for the children' (Michelle Malkin)

Washington Times ^ | 1/12/03 | Michelle Malkin

[Chief]

The silver lining to this story is that the money was not going to the DNC or for anti-conservative political ads.

I think we need more corruption like this (as long as it is exposed) if it shows "rank and file" teachers where their union dues are actually spent.

Perhaps it would make them re-think their Union involvement.

[zygoat]

Democrats involved in corruption? Hey, I thought this site was supposed to present NEWS for us to comment on!

[Helms]

AS BILL O REILLY POINTS OUT- CHILDREN ARE GETTING A RAW DEAL IN THE US.

[Republic of Texas]

This is just ONE large socialist controlled city. I'm sure if anyone LOOKED, they could find this in LA, New York, Houston, Detroit, ect... However, the mainstream media does NOT turn on their own.

[Temple Owl]

Methinks the math is a bit suspect. I would believe $70.00 per month, but $700? Or, perhaps $700 per year.

It seems high, but it could be right. Some public school teachers in the Philadelphia area are now making close to $100,000 for 188 days of work.

[kcvl]

Mayor Anthony A. Williams's chief of staff called an official from the Washington Teachers' Union last year and told her to "take care of" a bill sent to the mayor's office, and she used union money to pay it, the official said yesterday.

Gwendolyn M. Hemphill, the former assistant to the union's president who also served then as co-chairman of the mayor's reelection campaign, said in an interview that she obtained money orders drawn from union funds to pay about $2,000 associated with D.C. voting rights T-shirts and other items that were distributed at the Democratic National Convention in 2000.

The union also sent $5,000 to the mayor's office in 2000 to help pay for Christmas parties sponsored by a nonprofit children's organization, according to a former staffer in the mayor's office, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The D.C. inspector general reported last year that the mayor's office broke city rules by soliciting money from various groups to fund the organization.

The payments mark the first connection between the mayor's office and the questionable use of teachers union funds.

WUSA-TV (Channel 9) first reported Saturday that Robinson had sought Hemphill's assistance in paying the T-shirt bill.

The teachers union and the mayor have enjoyed a close political relationship. In fact, D.C. public school officials said Robinson and another top administration official asked the school system last year to include a provision in the union's contract that provides free or reduced-cost legal services for teachers. The school system said pressure from the administration to include the benefit, which costs more than $1‚million a year, came after the teachers' contract had been negotiated.

[kcvl]

The bill for the D.C. voting rights paraphernalia, which a Williams administration spokesman said may have included items in addition to T-shirts, was supposed to be paid jointly by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Williams, both Democrats.

But Norton's office said Williams failed to pay his portion. When the bill went unpaid for more than a year, Norton's office sent the mayor a letter asking for the money.

Robinson said he concluded that using government money for the bill was inappropriate. He said he forwarded the bill to Hemphill "as I did with all communication of a political nature. . . . I did not tell her what source of funds to use to pay for it. I left it up to the [campaign] committee to determine what to do to pay for it."

The solicitation for the Christmas parties put on by the nonprofit organization For the Kids occurred two years ago, when the mayor's office was turning to many private businesses and others to help fund political events.

The administration solicited funds from the organization, whose purpose was to support city youth. The money was used to throw one party for foster children and another for mayoral supporters.

Hemphill, who declined comment on the donation, gave a check to the mayor's office, according to the former administration official. The inspector general said this type of fundraising – where the mayor's office tapped city businesses and other organizations for money – was a violation of city gift rules because the contributions are not reported.

[kcvl]

Barbara Bullock

Dan Cronin is with the National Right to Work Foundation, a union watchdog group. "It's indicative of what happens when you have compulsory unionism," Cronin says. "Because of compulsory unionism, the people at the top know that they're going to continue to get their workers' money no matter what."

In addition, Cronin says, it produces an "arrogant" attitude in union officers that they can do whatever they want, whenever they feel like it. "As was said back in the 1950s, compulsory union [membership] and corruption go hand in hand," he says.

[kcvl]

In the District of Columbia, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman wanted to raise starting teacher salaries by 11 percent, to $30,000 annually, in order to attract better candidates during a teacher shortage. The union shot it down. "I would love for them to have the $30,000," said Washington Teachers’ Union President Barbara Bullock. "But it’s not fair for the teachers who have been here, paying their dues, working hard, not to get more money also."