On my way home from Chambers Bay, after a walk with my favorite K-9, I drove past the corner of Whitman and Motor Ave, here in Lakewood. Some election signs caught my attention and made me question who some of the Clover Park School District Board Members are truly representing?
The storefront, on the corner, was proudly displaying multiple signs for two current board members, as seen as part of this article. The sign on the store front, which can also be seen in one of the pictures read Soundview UniServ Council which is a regional office for Washington Education Association (WEA) aka the teachers union.
I understand that Unions support certain candidates but it begs the question of where allegiances lie? Supporters always expect you to serve them and when candidates are backed by big money unions, like WEA, there are certain “repayment” expectations.
An example of “repayment” is seen in one of the other pictures included. The Union was a supporter of the recently Board passed Equity Policy. Why did Marty Schafer and Alyssa Anderson Perason vote to pass the Equity Policy? Maybe because they were told to by their union backer.
So my question is, do you want local politicians accountable to you as a voter or the WEA, as evidenced by recent recorded votes? It is overdue to vote in new school board members here in Clover Park and November is the time to do it!
The CPEA union meeting minutes from May, 2021 state……
“There is a lot of concern about who is voted in because these are the people who will be negotiated with for our next contract”.
That was their ONLY concern.
This leads me to believe it’s not really about the children, but about their paycheck.
Then go down the rabbit hole of how their last contract was voted in.
KM, you are correct. We need NEW board members who represent the children, the families, and the community.
They don’t want to have to actually negotiate the contract. They want people to just have back door approval before they actually print a contract. “You have to pass it to read it” -Nancy Pelosi.
K.M. Hills,
You raise an interesting and thought provoking question. When voters figure out the answer, I hope they vote accordingly.
Joseph Boyle – Former Resident City of Lakewood for Half a Century
Mr. Boyle,
I used to look forward to your articles when you were a regular contributor to The Suburban Times. If memory serves me, you were a police officer here in Pierce County. Did you belong to a union? Did the police union have favored candidates? Were there “repayment expectations” required of candidates in order to receive police union backing? I apologize for picking on you personally, but my point is that not every advocacy has a hidden agenda. Good people, good union members can support any candidate they wish without some “repayment expectations”.
Was this letter written to express an opinion concerning the upcoming election or was it written to display your apparent dislike of unions? Most Americans have benefitted from labor unions even if they have not been members. You reference the candidates “repayment expectations” as if it were fact while providing no real evidence. Your (and I presume your favored candidates) opposition to the district’s equity policy is offensive to me. I believe our children can benefit from an education that does not hide inequities. I urge all voters to consider their vote carefully.
Your “offense” is your problem not anyone else’s. Claiming “offense” is a typical response by those without a valid argument in an effort to shut up any opposing views. How you feel is less important that what you think. Learn to control your emotions and then we can have a reasoned conversation.
Perhaps you missed it but teachers (and other occupations) have been allowed to “opt out” of union dues because the unions have become political powers unto themselves and corrupted the political process. Some states have instituted “right to work” laws that give the choice of union membership to the individual instead of union bosses. You claim “Most Americans have benefitted (sic) from labor unions even if they have not been members”? Yet only about 10.8% of the private workforce is unionized. If unions were so wonderful then why the low membership numbers?
It is revealing that public sector workers union participation is 34.8%. These public sector unions have direct access to public officials as we’ve seen in Clover Park School District and wield political power all out of proportion to their size. Not only do they endorse candidates, they control candidates with campaign contributions that come from union dues. This is especially important in non-partisan races such as for school boards.
You claim unions “control” candidates. The letter writer claims “repayment expectations”. According to this unsubstantiated logic any candidate receiving a union endorsement must be under union control. Not everyone has a secret agenda. Good union members have rights equal to your own. We all pick our candidates and we may even contribute to their campaign. This exercise in democracy does not require the candidate to repay our advocacy once elected. Do you oppose all unions, only public sector unions, or just teacher’s unions?
When a Board passes a union contract on just the say so of a District employee, you have demonstrated the “repayment expectation” mentioned. You wouldn’t give that kind of trust to a remodeling contractor working on your house. You’d negotiate a contract, ask for the final contract, read it, and then approve it as a binding document. Public sector unions have direct influence on elections far beyond that of typical trades unions. Trade unions can’t elect corporate CEO’s or Board of Directors directly but that is exactly what teachers’ unions do every election through union endorsements and campaign contributions.
Have you really researched what the
CRT/“Equity” policy really entails? Yes, I said CRT because I can prove it is just that by FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests that have been done.
If you have researched it, shame on you for supporting labeling, grouping, and segregation based on an individual’s race.
EVERY child should walk through the door feeling loved, accepted, and taught they are capable of achieving anything they work towards.
Our district has focused on political nonsense and put academics on the back burner long enough. Look at our academic scores for core classes such as math, science and english. We are close to the bottom 1/3 overall.
Bottom line, our district has FAILED our children long enough, and a ch overdue change is needed.
I hope you never use the “follow the money” argument for anything.
The NEA, the mother organization for the CPEA, is one of the biggest unions and they almost solely focus on activism for social issues. Teacher unions donate 94% of all political contributions to democrats. In fact, 2020 contributions were at 98% democrats and that accounted for $59,525,159 “soft” money. Why would they do that? Why are blue states pushing the rhetoric the NEA supports? Because these teacher unions line their back pockets when running. Linked below is the teacher union donations for all candidates in 2020. All of my above stats are also from this site.
https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?ind=l1300&recipdetail=A&sortorder=U&mem=Y&cycle=2020
Indeed “follow the money”! The entry below is from Allysa Pearson’s Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) contribution page. Do I see a pattern here?
WASHINGTON EDUCATION ASSOCIATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE Federal Way WA Cash 1,000.00
By the way, $6000.00 of what she has raised for her campaign came from contributions from each of her parents and her and husband’s personal loans. Schafer declared “mini-reporting” with under $5000.00 in contributions so we won’t know what’s inside his campaign finances until his books are opened for inspection. David Anderson has over 30 contributors and Jeff Brown over 17 with nary a cent from any union, special interest group or political organization. You can tell a lot about where a candidate’s loyalties lie from the PDC contributions page.
So, do you believe all campaign contributions corrupt the recipients? Is it only contributions from unions? Is it only contributions from people with whom you disagree? I believe that there are still people with integrity who serve us, I hope you do too.
Unions, yes. Private citizens, no.
Particular unions, see public sector unions are problems. They no longer focus on the collective issues of their members, instead are focusing on whole society and public policy. We will take the NEA, the president is openly against homeschooling, should I be disallowed from having an explicit say in my child’s education? They advocate for abortions, should the member fees paid go to that? I don’t think so. When I worked under the SEIU, I was paying for open borders and free health care for illegal immigrants while paying for my own healthcare that wasn’t offered though my employer? They weren’t advocating for me but for society.
Believe what you will but when powerful interests, like the Washington Education Association, pump money into a Board candidate you know that there is a payback expected. The major difference between Pearson’s campaign and that of Anderson and Brown is the difference between self/special interests as compared to grass roots interest.
Exactly.
We need to stop back-door passing of unprinted contracts with poor academic outcomes.
We need the union to stop using our kids as political pawns.