Time for Teachers to Demand Better Leaders

Time for Teachers to Demand Better Leaders

It has been nearly a year since the rocky primary campaign race, and brief write-in campaign of former Bristol Representative Doug Gablinske came to an end with the election of the union-backed candidate, Representative Richard Morrison.

But it would be short-sighted to call what happened to Doug Gablinske, an outspoken union critic, an outright defeat. In fact, almost one year later, Gablinske is having his say, and then some.

His race, and all that it signified, has set off a series of courthouse incidents this summer that are shining an unflattering and disturbing light on the type of tactics some officials in the statewide teachers’ union are capable of employing. Even though NEARI official John Liedecker is the one on trial for cyber harassment of Gablinske during the campaign, it’s been the antics occurring outside the courtroom that have received the greatest attention in recent days. NEARI’s designated Secretary, Louis Rainone, was caught instigating profane, in-your-face confrontations with Gablinske; a second legislator, Representative Jon Brien; and a prominent editorial columnist who was monitoring the court proceedings.

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It’s vital to note the policies behind the politics to really understand what’s at work here. Gablinske was a prominent education reform supporter, and an unwavering Commissioner Gist backer when in office. Brien this year headed up the House Commission on Municipal Fiscal Integrity which looked for pay and pension savings for communities, and he authored the new law that will begin to take away lifetime private health insurance from local city and town employees and force them to shift onto Medicare at age 65. Though the provision is already in effect for statewide employees, and in certain cities, some local union officials view it as an infringement on their contracts, and they don’t like that.

Also in recent days, the head of the state’s largest taxpayers’ organization, RISC Executive Director Harriet Lloyd, publicly disclosed a disturbing incident of intimidation which occurred outside her home last spring. Though Lloyd emphasized the true identity of the perpetrator of a homemade explosive which was set off on her property will probably never be known, she rightly felt personally and deliberately targeted as the widely known name and face, along with her father, Harry Staley, of the state’s chief taxpayer advocacy organization which is often at odds with the union agenda.

The cumulative impact of all this is that the largest statewide teachers union not only has public opposition to many of its policies, but now it has growing public concern over its practices.

NEARI Executive Director Bob Walsh, who is playing a prominent role on the statewide pension advisory panel and is generally viewed as an intelligent and articulate voice for the NEA, needs to recognize he has a very big and noisy public relations problem at this point.

At a time when that very panel is supposed to be influencing an unprecedented overhaul of the state’s troubled pension system, Walsh’s credibility is on the line. He needs to communicate to opinion leaders, the teaching corps, and the general public that he does not condone the type of tactics that have been on display this summer.

Furthermore, the NEA-affiliated teachers from around the state need to start taking a stand of their own. Teachers within local NEA unions should communicate to their own leadership that thug-like behavior has no place among those purporting to represent them.

They are going to have to ask themselves in coming days if the kind of representation personified by Louis Rainone is really worth the price of their membership dues involuntarily extracted from their paychecks each month.

The majority of teachers in this state, who tend to be female, will tell you they joined the profession to be an educator to children, not to be the political (twisted) arm of a hardball-styled, aggressive (male-dominated) organization which employs increasingly hostile tactics to achieve its goals.

One of the lasting themes which came out of Gablinske’s campaign ordeal last year was the charge that the union conducted inappropriate overt political campaign activity for the opponent during the official teacher workday orientation session. Gablinske lodged complaints to the Bristol-Warren school district, and although no action was ever taken, the wider implications of the unions’ conduct must not be forgotten, especially now. In that context, when political campaigning was allowed to be mixed in with an official orientation day, the union leadership is connecting a teacher’s vote—to their job. They are connecting a teacher’s level of political enthusiasm, for one given candidate over another—to their job. It may be technically legal in Rhode Island. But it’s time the teachers realize that represents the worst kind of intimidation there is.

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Donna Perry is a Communications Consultant to RISC, RI Statewide Coalition www.statewidecoalition.com