Tea Party Groups Condemn ‘Union Thuggery’
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
A group of Tea Party-affiliated groups is joining the rising chorus of voices on the Right that are condemning a recent alleged incident of harassment by an NEA official.
“Basically, the intimidation has to stop. It is getting out of control,” said Marina Peterson, the founder of the East Bay Patriots, a spin-off group from the Tea Party.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe East Bay Patriots is one of five groups that issued a joint statement early this week declaring that Rhode Island citizens have had enough of “being oppressed by the NEA” and that it is “unacceptable” to continue to allow NEA officials “nearly unfettered access to representatives” that the average citizen does not enjoy.
The other signatories were the newly formed Ocean State Tea Party in Action, Patriots of South County, Cumberland Tea Party, and Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement.
Their statement comes after a public flap over a recent verbal altercation between state Rep Jon Brien, D-Woonsocket, and Lou Rainone, secretary of the NEA. The incident occurred at a courthouse hearing for a second NEA official, John Leidecker, who faces charges for allegedly cyberstalking former state Rep Doug Gablinske last year.
The controversy gained steam last week after the head of a taxpayer group, the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition, claimed that a bomb had been set off at her house earlier this summer. No charges have been filed in the case and no individual or organization has been directly accused of being the perpetrator.
‘Not an appropriate way to represent teachers’
“We think that it’s unfortunate,” said Lisa Blais, one of the founders of Ocean State Tea Party in Action. “This behavior is not an appropriate way to represent the teaching profession. … [Teachers] really need to think about whether that’s the kind of behavior they want to see in their representatives.”
“We also think that it’s high time that our taxpayer dollars are no longer funneled to these private organizations via union dues which teachers must pay as a condition of employment,” Blais added. She said the groups consider it “inappropriate” for school districts to serve as “bookkeepers” for public employee unions.
Renewed calls for ‘right to work’
Blais and the other groups are now calling for an executive order that would repeal the requirement that all members of the NEA in Rhode Island pay agency dues as a condition of employment. “It’s time to provide freedom of choice to our public school teachers and all other public education employees who are forced to be members,” Blais said.
Repeated attempts to reach NEA officials in time for publication were unsuccessful.
The latest condemnation by the Tea Party groups adds to the pressure on the NEA. Last week, RISC issued a similar demand for the NEA to renounce “intimidation tactics” and the state GOP has also come out with a series of news releases blasting union leaders and calling on General Treasurer Gina Raimondo to remove NEA Executive Director Bob Walsh from the Pension Advisory Group.
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