Virginia Education Association flunks again
By Brian Kirwin | Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 | PolicyWaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
More drama about the most important thing to the Virginia Education Association: MONEY!
Ya know, if people got into the teaching profession for the money, I think they’re too stupid to be teachers in the first place.
With apologies to Smokey Robinson, listen to the Tears of a Clown:
“It’s ironic. You’re saying, ‘Let’s fund private schools as we defund public schools,’ ” Virginia Education Association lobbyist Robley Jones said of McDonnell’s scholarship tax credit plan, noting the governor’s budget amendments amount to about $50 million less for public education in the current spending plan.
Jones said the tax credit measure would put public schools in competition with private schools for corporate donations. He also argued that scholarships awarded under that program probably wouldn’t cover all the tuition costs for needy students (Virginian-Pilot)
Hey, Mr. Jones, pardon me for explaining the obvious to a lobbyist, but what the heck did you expect when you TRIED TO DEFEAT Bob McDonnell in the first place?
VEA President Kitty Boitnott, speaking for the VEA fund, said of Deeds: “Creigh Deeds has an 18-year record in the General Assembly of support for public education. He’s been a voice for Virginia’s students and educators and has worked tirelessly to maintain and strengthen the commonwealth’s public schools. We’re excited to back him, and look forward to his continued support and encouragement from him as governor.”
Boy, did you back the wrong horse!
Guess what, Mr. Lobbyist. When your organization actively works against the candidate who wins, sit down, have a Coke, watch public broadcasting while you can and reflect on what a dumb mistake you made.
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About the author
The right wants to jeer him. The left wants to censor him. Moderates usually want both. Brian Kirwin is a political consultant and public relations strategist in Virginia Beach with a lightning-rod flair. Brian also serves on the VB Arts & Humanities Commission and frequently appears on Hampton Roads theatrical stages, if only to prove that all actors aren’t liberals. Kirwin’s columns stir up debate and hit the political scene with no punches pulled.
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17 Responses to "Virginia Education Association flunks again"
The educators need a PR expert better than the Governor’s in order to compete with his message. Maybe they should hire BK to spin their message.
The tip off is anytime the Governor announces an initiative without the details of how he will pay for it, get ready fast. Every major initiative he has proposed, whether in education, public safety, or transportation, must be paid for by cutting something else because he and his majority in the House are committed to cutting taxes at any cost.
To dampen public reaction to these cuts, he always precedes this with grand announcements about new initiatives, which are essentially fairytales, but that does not stop the press and business associations from fawning all over him before they have a clue how he will pay for them. Masterful deceit.
Of course, most Superintendents worth their salt know when they are being patronized. They take their responsibilities seriously and want to educate our children as best they can. They have seen politicians try to put lipstick on the pig, but they know cuts when they see them.
My kids received a first class education in the VB school system; I hope residents can say that in the post McDonnell future.
Kirwin: You failed… I undrestand it was also the public school superintendants that opposed Gov. McD’s 50 million dollar cuts to Virginia’s public education system.
FYI: The Superintendants are not in the VEA…
You might want to go back to school and learn to get all the facts, the complete & correct information “before” you post a half truth and look foolish.
It’s too late for this one, but that is what is nice about the educational system; you get to try again when you fail to make the grade! LOL
Nice to see you Unions sticking together. Maybe they’ll help you explain what “undrestand” is.
Just what union Virginia Supers part of? Oh that’s right… None.
Sorry about big fingering “undrestand” but I could have gone to school in Philidelphia and you know how bad those school are…
The private ones are great!
Yes William, the country club republicans like Cantor and Kirwin just want to cut taxes because the rich can always protect themselves. Their private schools, their health care, their private clubs, their marinas, their exclusive memberships, their special tax deductions, their reduced tax rates, all contribute to a sense of entitlement. Who can be bothered with such a small and insignificant matter as the near 15% cut in funding for K-12 public schools in the last few years. Who really cares about the legions of unemployed placed in that capacity by the reckless abandon of Wall Street?
Mr. Barrett:
I don’t necessarily notice any meaningful reductions by the Governor, but I do notice a propensity to leverage and defer accountability to the out years. I am extremely disappointed in this administration’s la-la land approaches that will result in pointed fingers and a continued do-nothing result.
If the Commonwealth is banking on future support by the federal government, one must remember that that ability is incumbent on the federal treasury to float bonds on the international market. China shrank its holdings of US Treasury debt by $11.2 billion to $895.6 billion in November after increasing the portfolio for four straight months; it may increase holdings of treasury debt in Europe. China has promised to purchase Spanish treasury debt and expressed interest in buying Portuguese and Greek debt.
The long-term ability of federal support is about as assured as the one-roll bets on a Las Vegas craps table.
Yes Mike,
the limousine democrats like Pelosi and Kerry etc just want to raise taxes because their cronies find looting the Treasury easier than starting a business. Their private schools, their health care, their private clubs, their marinas, their exclusive memberships, their special tax deductions or tax cheating, their special tax rates, all contribute to a sense of entitlement. Who can be bothered with such a small and insignificant matter as trying to ensure that their union buddies actually do the job teaching students that they are paid to do? Who cares that US students can’t rank higher than 15th after the highest per student expenditures? The Dems know the media will say that it is the Republicans who are running education. The NEA has nothing to do with it. (Actually that’s right.) Who really cares about the legions of unemployed placed in that capacity by the reckless abandon of the Dems and their Wall Street cronies? Not Pelosi or Obama thats for sure.
Mike Barrett and Valentinus,
You are both right. Privilege has no particular political persuasion any more than corruption does. The only difference between the Republican elites and the Democratic elites is their hollow rhetoric. Republicans like to talk about “the small business man” in heroic tones while Democrats extol the virtues of “the working man.” In truth, all they really care about is power and their own incumbency.
As to the financial collapse, that was truly a bi-partisan accomplishment that neither party could have pulled off alone. We had the Republican Bush Administration neutering the SEC and otherwise de-regulating Wall Street. Meanwhile, in the Democratic-controlled Congress, we had Chris Dodd and Barney Frank running the Banking committees and beating up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with the major commercial lenders, to loosen mortgage guidelines and get more working class people into home ownership that they couldn’t afford. The result was a real estate price bubble fueled by unregulated securities.
A pox on both your houses.
Well HisRoc, you can say it was bipartisan, but the facts do not justify your accusation. Fact is, to fight two wars off the budget, to amend MediCare to give seniors trillions of dollars in added benefits without paying for them, to reduce taxes, and to ignore pay go rules instituted in the Clinton administration that eliminated the deficit and started to pay down on the national debt, it is clear who created the near depression from which we are still recovering. The fact that we, the citizens, put these clowns back in power is a tragic error and proves we don’t learn from our past mistakes.
Mike Barrett,
I am not here to defend the Bush Administration. However, as long as you Democrats continue to play the “blame Bush” game, you will never convince Independent voters that you have learned anything from your mistakes. So you would have us believe that millions of new home mortgages based on inflated appraisals and “liar loan” applications that were backed by credit default swaps which rewarded investors only if the mortgages went south had nothing to do with the financial crisis? The fact that housing prices dropped 33% in less than three years didn’t contribute to 9.8% unemployment? And that $787B in government hand-outs didn’t slow the economic decline because we didn’t give enough money away? Blame Bush; he caused all the problems.
You and I can agree on one thing: Democrats definitely don’t learn from their past mistakes. My point on this thread is that the Republicans seem to be attempting to prove the same thing. BTW, anyone whose Congressional leaders are Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi is hardly in a position to call the other party “clowns.” Speaking of which, exactly when did the majority of the Democrats in Congress vote to block Bush’s wars or to cut off funding for them?
@ HisROC
If you had asked I would have agreed – unlike Mike – that elitism and cronyism is a bipartisan disease. I just show how easy it is to transpose leftist “arguments” and “facts” against them. Doesn’t that argue for Constitutional limited government as opposed to autocratic dictatorial government? The money available for cronies is going to be much less in the former situation than the latter.
Some perspective and relative balance is required here. Of course the mortgage mess contributed to the great recession, but it was the unleashing of the securitization of mortgages by the big “banks” who needed product for their international investors that was the biggest part of the debacle. The failure to maintain pay go, the fabrication of the events to justify the Iraq war, the tax cuts, the unpaid expansion of Medicare drug benefits, these were the basis of the Great Recession. And the far right’s fingerprints are all over these decisions.
“And the far right’s fingerprints are all over these decisions.”
As are the far left’s fingerprints as well. How many Democrats voted against the Medicare Part D? Hint: the vote was unanimous in the Senate and it almost failed in the House because of Republican, not Democratic, opposition. And did Countrywide give Chris Dodd a sweetheart rate because he was cracking down on the big lenders? Hardly.
C’mon, Mike. We are never going to solve the problems facing this country as long as we defend one party no matter what they do and try to blame everything on “those other guys.”
Mike Barrett – you had me in your corner … until “Clinton eliminated the deficit”. Unfortunately, the facts are:
- Clinton served from Jan’93 to Jan’01/ his first fiscal year was ’94.
- Internet boom years /IT bubble: 1995 – 2000
- IT Bubble burst: March 2000
_______________
In his first year, Clinton did push through a tax increase (mainly on upper income brackets), along with spending restraints.
Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of revenue that fueled budget Clinton-era surpluses came from:
#1 – A booming economy, which produced huge gains in the stock market, fueled in great part by the dot-come bubble, which brought in hundreds of millions in UNANTICIPATED tax revenue from taxes on capital gains and rising salaries.
#2 – Social Security Taxes on payrolls, which brought in revenues far over the cost of benefits paid out .
Clinton was President during a time of historical growth and wealth AND in 6 years (of his 8-year term), President Clinton had a CONSERVATIVE Republican Congress who kept him accountable. During the Clinton years we saw a dot com “industry” built upon the premise you could start, run, and then sell at a profit, without ever earning a profit and without ever INTENDING to earn a profit. By the time Bush took office it was becoming painfully clear the country was headed for a recession, with the actual figures having been hidden for almost a (election) year and the day traders were getting ready to take one big collective arse-kicking.
Then 3000 people were murdered for the serious crime of going to work on 9/11.
You’ll get no disagreement from me re: our republican congress spent like drunken idiots and Bush did us no favors by keeping the VETO pen in his pocket. However, giving Clinton sole credit for eliminating the deficit is about as close to the truth crediting Al Gore for inventing the internet.
Jay D,
Al Gore never claimed that he “invented” the Internet. He merely “took the initiative to create the Internet,” much as God created the universe. You see, he had the inspiration for the Internet. He left the technical details to his archangels at DARPA, who in an incredible display of prescience began working on it about 16 years before Gore was first elected to Congress.
Play the tape:
#1 – Capital always follows opportunity and seeks the most optimal risk/reward ratio.
#2 – Banking is the ONLY sector of America’s economy that saw significant regulatory reform in the last quarter century.
The ‘perfect storm’ essentially begins w/ the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (1974), the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (1975) and Jimmy Carter’s 1977 Community Reinvestment Act. (BTW, CRA passage credit goes to NPA [National Peoples Action], the activist group we can thank for later Fannie Mae ‘improvements’ and which now pushes “a fair market over a free market” and “community over individualism”.)
Every single administration and congress since is culpable, along with special interest groups (lobbyists for the rich AND the poor), and every American that bought a first (or second) home as ‘an investment’ or used their home as a credit card. Just because the government allows you to do it, doesn’t make it a smart thing to do.
If you actually want to understand what happened in the last 5 years – go back 35. Study the who, what, when, and why of each bank regulation/law, what interest group(s) lobbied for the change, and how banks responded to the change. It’s a study in lack of oversight, foresight, & public interest and a complete disregard by lawmakers to calculate potential unintended consequences of ‘doing good’.
Other than possibly offering some form of historical perspective, this blame game conversation is beyond useless. I agree with HisRoc; let’s ALL take a mea culpa bow, learn whatever lessons can (and should!) be learned, and move forward towards solutions.
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