No Irony in Mr. Pallotta's Neighborhood

NYSUT President and UFT Unity loyalty oath signer Andrew Pallotta (pictured at left with illustrious NYSUT Secretary-Treasurer Martin Messner)  just sent me an email. It says, "New York's political insiders are throwing a party and we aren't invited." That's an interesting assessment of the NY State Constitutional Convention, which many politicians currently oppose. For the record, I oppose it too, and I ran a COPE drive in my school to help enable opposition.

This is my eighth year as chapter leader and I never did a COPE drive before. That's because UFT supports some questionable causes and candidates. Pallotta, along with UFT leadership, ousted former NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi for objecting to donating thousands of member dollars to Cuomo. While Cuomo has backed off some of his more reprehensible comments and positions on education, I don't believe that has any fundamental effect on his overall lack of principles and integrity. It certainly doesn't save me from being rated on how six beginning ESL students perform on the Common Core English Regents exam this year. Who knows how many others are rated in an equally absurd fashion?

There was a pretty big party going on at the New York Hilton last week and I wasn't invited, not by Pallotta, not by UFT leadership, and not by anyone. Most UFT members probably don't even know it happened, but our dues sent 750 loyalty oath signers to midtown at a cost I'd guess to exceed half a million dollars. There they elected Pallotta and his gang to run the state union. I went anyway, as the guest of the Port Jefferson Station Teacher Association. Oddly, they wanted me there even though my own union didn't. I was pretty surprised to get a really dirty look from a Unity Caucus member I'd previously deemed myself on good terms with. But make no mistake, this was their party and it was completely private.

How private? Well, though we all know that Pallotta won a majority of the delegate votes of the 48% of eligible unions who could afford the trip to the Hilton, we don't know the percentage, and we don't know who voted for him. In a fair election, in fact, we shouldn't know who voted for him but NYSUT actually keeps records. That way UFT would know if some loyalty oath signer violated the terms of his agreement and needed to face expulsion. Expulsion for failing to two the line is a long and hallowed Unity tradition, dating back to the days that Al Shanker tossed people for failing to support the Vietnam War.

Some Unity people I respect swear up and down that they've never signed a loyalty oath, but you can read the Unity application right here and come to your own conclusions.Who voted to support mayoral control under Bloomberg? Who voted to continue it under Bloomberg when it was well-established to be an unmitigated disaster for working teachers and the schools they served? Why would anyone in a union support that if they weren't compelled to do so? Why did UFT Unity demand a few changes, fail to get them, and then support it anyway?

Yes, there's a party going on. Almost none of UFT rank and file were invited, and 100% of those who were voted precisely as they were told. Although a majority of my high school brothers and sister voted for me to be one, all UFT delegates are "at large." That's precisely because the high school teachers tend to vote their consciences and leadership is having none of it. So we have absolutely zero representation in NYSUT, though we enjoy the great honor of paying them dues. That goes for AFT as well.

Oh, and by the way, we will never be privy to the actual voting results. They are available only to delegates, and from what I hear they haven't even got them yet. Not a delegate? Screw you. Not only do you not get to see how your delegates voted, but you also don't get to know how much Pallotta won by. Just shut up and pay your dues, thank you very much.

Me, I don't want a party. I want fundamental democracy. So with all due respect, Mr. Pallotta, until 52% of NYSUT locals and 20,000 NYC high school teachers get a voice and a vote in NYSUT, you have some gall telling me about whose party we're excluded from.

A Clean Campaign and an Honorable Election

 That's what NYSUT Unity is promising this year. This begs the question, why would anyone expect anything otherwise? If they weren't, there'd be no call to say any such thing.

The wording is curious too. The campaign will be clean, they say, but they don't promise it will be honorable. The election with be honorable, but there's no indication it will be clean. I'm curious why they didn't assign both adjectives to one, or better yet both of these things. If I needed to assert that, I certainly would have clarified. I'd also offer examples rather than just my word. But that's me.

Here's the promise:

A promise for a clean campaign & honorable election - https://t.co/EwaxXUUFSe #unionpride @nysutra2017 @AndyPallotta #RepresentationCounts pic.twitter.com/0Bu6JHYS9r

— NYSUT Unity Caucus (@Unity_Today) February 28, 2017

Yet my sources tell me that NYSUT has yet to agree to debate Stronger Together. Is that honorable? I hear that the implication, for reasons they haven't bothered to enumerate, is that ST Caucus is not honorable. I have my own issues with Stronger Together, but they mostly amount to an honest disagreement. I have very vivid recollections, though, of traveling all over the state to forums with Unity/ Revive, and I recall very well how they were arranged.

The first one was in Long Island, and was pretty much open. We had no idea what the questions would be and each side got a few minutes to answer. I'm pretty sure that anyone in attendance would tell you we kicked their butts all over the place. Alas, of those that followed, all but one was much more tightly controlled. Some entailed everyone reading statements with no interaction. One like that was somewhere in Westchester and run by a Revive supporter.

There was another, in fact, in Saratoga Springs, where they spoke, we responded, and then they got to speak again. Two to one. That's clean and honorable, isn't it? I remember that pretty vividly because I slept in some crappy hotel that night, woke up at maybe 4 AM, and then drove like hell to make it to work the next day. There was one in Newburgh, NY where they said they couldn't show because of work commitments. I felt very little sympathy because I went, drove home in a blinding rainstorm, and made it into work the following day.

March 16th in Mount Kisco there will be a forum, and NYSUT Unity has not yet committed to it, Why? Likely as not because it will follow the same format as the one in Long Island did. I got to observe Andy Pallotta pretty closely over those forums, and I can tell you this--unexpected questions were not his forte. This notwithstanding, fielding questions from your constituents, whatever they may ask, is fundamental.

What Pallotta is good at is reading statements. He's a very good reader. When he has a script he can sound commanding and persuasive. On the other hand, Martin Messner, who happily peddles MetLife/ NYSUT insurance that costs twice as much as Allstate, had trouble with that. This guy, who works with NYSUT finances, did not appear to understand what he was reading. Maybe that's why he can endorse an insurance plan that makes us pay double. Who knows?

Let's talk honorable. Is it clean and honorable to dump the sitting President for acting like a President? Once Richard Iannuzzi took action against Andy Pallotta for supporting a Cuomo gala, his fate was sealed. Iannuzzi curtailed Pallotta's money supply, which was a big no-no. NYSUT finances are a mess, in fact, according to my friend Harris Lirtzman, among others. I'm not sure why that merits re-election. I'm not even sure why the deteriorating pension tiers or the APPR that's brought morale to a low I've never seen in three decades teaching merits it either. In fact, as far as I can tell, the only legislative victory Unity/ Revive achieved was to get double pensions for the officers, so they wouldn't have to go through what they put Lee Cutler through.

How about Karen Magee? I'd heard almost two years ago that she wouldn't be getting a second term, because she somehow labored under the misconception that being elected President meant she was President. A friend of hers told me Magee herself didn't hear about that until January 2017. Anyway, it appears they're now doing away with the fiction that Pallotta doesn't run NYSUT and he's running for President, so we'll grant at least one point for their honesty.

As for clean and honorable argument, the person in charge of the NYSUT Unity campaign feed is purposeful but less than admirable in that he traffics largely in logical fallacy. As far as I can determine, he would not know a proactive argument if one were beating him over the head. His prime argument against Iannuzzi was that he lived like a king because he held meetings in some club they'd joined in Albany. The Unity/ Revive folk said they'd prefer to hold meetings in Starbucks. Hey, Governor Cuomo, meet us at a Starbucks so we can negotiate an APPR that doesn't rely on junk science. How do you suppose that would work out? How many times do you suppose they did that?

The last time I read the NYSUT PR guy he'd posted a personal attack piece against me. Among other things, he called me a part time teacher and a part time unionist. I discovered this piece because AFT President Randi Weingarten tweeted it and commented how good it was. I pointed out, on Twitter, that this managed to libel not only me, but also every working chapter leader in New York City, and Randi took it down. The rest of the post was strawman/ ad hominem nonsense. Several of my friends wrote me that they left comments, but this particular clean and honorable NYSUT Unity guy doesn't post them. That's one way to avoid argument, I guess.

Another, of course, is to refuse to show up to a forum. What about it Andy? Are you willing to debate Michael Lillis? How about you Martin? Ready to debate finance? Are you guys willing to put your money where your mouths are and participate cleanly and honorably? Are you willing to stand alongside your opponents and let the public see how able you are next to them?

Hey, it doesn't matter to me. I'm a New York City high school teacher, and like my 20,000 colleagues, I'm not represented no matter who wins. But since we have the honor of paying your salary and at least one of your pensions regardless, it would be nice to know that your campaign consists of something more than telling us how honorable you are. I have never known anyone, honorable or otherwise, to advertise not to be honorable. Saying how honorable you are, to me, means less than nothing. But hey, any time you want to show me you're honorable, I'm here every day, ready to accept your PR guy's apology.

Alas, if you have any honor, you're also gonna have to stand in public and defend your record, repeatedly, and all over the state. So what's it gonna be, NYSUT Unity? Are you gonna answer unscreened questions? Or are you fraidy-scared?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Zero Tolerance for Paladino, But Let's Pretend Trump Doesn't Exist

Today I received an email from NYSUT Executive Vice President Andy Pallotta. It demanded the removal of the vile racist Carl Paladino from the Buffalo School Board. I am personally not a fan of vile racism, and I'd be happy to see Carl gone yesterday. This notwithstanding, it's no surprise that Paladino spews toxic bigotry, and the fact is we've known about it for years.

There's a petition to remove Paladino, and the email asks you to sign it. I'd already done so, and if you haven't, you may do so right here. We are public servants, and as such it behooves us to have zero tolerance for racism and bigotry of any kind. How can we serve New York's children unless we fight those who'd discriminate against them based on their skin color, nationality, sex, or religion?

We are advocates for children, and as such we fight the good fight.

Unless, of course, we're UFT leadership. Then it's a different story. UFT leadership is determined not to even mention the name of racist President-elect Donald J. Trump. Instead, we are to attribute his hatred and bias to the Presidential Election.

I could draw a lot of conclusions about people who are afraid to say what we all know. In their defense, they'd say they are concerned about alienating the Trump voters. Evidently they are less concerned about alienating those of us who find racism, sexism and bigotry unconscionable. They are less concerned about alienating UFT high school teachers, who chose candidates who believe in speaking forthrightly and naming names. They are less concerned about alienating 11,000 UFT voters who oppose the counterproductive "seat at the table" politics that brought us President Donald J. Trump.

Before one of the first Executive Board meetings I attended, I was approached by a teacher who asked about leaving the union. I told him there was some paperwork involved, but he could easily do it. He then told me he didn't want to pay dues. I told him to vote for Donald Trump and he said he would. That's who UFT leadership is concerned about appeasing.

You and me, not so much.

Meanwhile, as we contemplate the coming new year, here's a poem:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

COPE Is Like Medical Insurance

 I go to a lot of meetings. I go to them in my school all the time. I'm on committees. If anyone in my school is in trouble, so am I. And of course I go to regular school meetings. I am a real meeting guy, I guess, for better or worse, and I go to a lot of meetings outside my building too.

So anyway, last night  I was at a meeting.  The topic was COPE  (the optional fund through which members can voluntarily contribute to UFT and NYSUT political action).  A woman got up and started comparing COPE to medical insurance. Now I'm gonna let you in on a secret. I often hear things I've heard before, and I don't always pay close attention at meetings unless I'm taking notes. But my ears really perked up at that. She follows up by saying if you don’t pay into COPE you might not have medical insurance. I’m only slowly processing this line of thought when the woman opens her mouth again.

Now she says she knows how hard it is to get people to give money. She says boy, if I knew how to get money out of people I could've made a lot more than I did back when I was a teacher. Now she's got my full attention. I'm thinking gee, it's great that you no longer have to get by on some crappy teacher salary, like all the tens of thousands of teachers (among others) who pay to have you do whatever it is we pay you to do. Doubless it can really pay off to sign a loyalty oath and become a UFT employee. Gee, I wonder why you aren't good at getting people to give you money.

Then she goes on, talking about the people who only give 25 cents per paycheck. 25 cents was a lot back in 1980, she says, although I question whether she was even alive in 1980. (I was, and it doesn't sound like that much to me.) Now I'm wondering where she was in 2014, when she was certainly alive, and all of us lowly teachers were being told to wait until 2020 for money we earned in 2010. I thought that money had really decreased in value, particularly since I was not able to use the $40,000 NYC owed me to buy the car I got in 2014. But enough of my troubles. After all, I live on that measly teacher salary that the young woman had so handily surpassed.

It's ironic, because I'd been actually thinking about collecting for COPE. My friends tell me I shouldn't, you know, because Andy Pallotta uses it to buy tables at Cuomo fund raisers, because when Dick Iannuzzi curtailed such usage both UFT and NYSUT Unity rose up to toss him and his loyal friends out of office. Because COPE supported Serphin Maltese, who had a hand in breaking not one but two Catholic school unions. Because we supported Governor Pataki, who thanked us by vetoing improvements to the Taylor Law. Because we gave money to Flanagan, who sponsored a bill to remove LIFO from NYC teachers only. You know, stuff like that.

I give to COPE. I started when the UFT seemed to be holding tough on APPR. In fact, I invited someone from UFT to my school to speak to a meeting. He showed up an hour late and managed to sign up only me and one of our delegates. But he told us that Michael Mulgrew was very smart, and that we would get our raise and contract. Why? Because otherwise Bloomberg couldn't have his APPR.

When we got the APPR without the contract or the raise, many members approached me and asked me to bring the guy back. They wanted to shout him down. They wanted to beat him up. They made suggestions unfit for a family blog. Anyway, from that day on, I've given five bucks from each paycheck to COPE. Sometimes I question what it's used for, but I figure as a chapter leader, and as a blogger with the odd disparaging word here and there, I need to keep up my street cred. (Or something.)

Now, though, I'm thinking about the 2017 NY State Constitutional Convention, you know, the one where they can rewrite all the rules and stop paying our pensions and make us all eat cat food and stuff. I'm thinking maybe COPE may be a good way to fight that. I had been thinking about having a drive and asking for support from my members. Then this woman comes along and makes a quite unintentional statement about union values.

Anyway, the woman finishes her speech, and there we are. Five dollar COPE cards for everyone, someone declares, and they are passed out near and far. I go back to text a friend about what I've just seen. I am reprimanded for not filling out the card. I already give, I protest, but evidently it's some kind of activity to create enthusiasm and everyone is supposed to fill out the card whether they give or not. Screw that, I decide, and go back to texting.

The next topic on the agenda is repetitive paperwork. The people who just demanded I fill in a card for no reason whatsoever are lecturing me on how principals make people do redundant paperwork, and how it's totally and utterly unacceptable.

In fairness, there was also a very good speaker on special education who spoke and answered questions very well. You know where I would rather have been for the rest of the meeting? Home playing with my dog.

Revive NYSUT and Dinosaurs

I'm always astonished when people in authority act without thinking. Perhaps I'm naive. What with Donald Trump blabbering all over about everything, it's pretty much par for the course in America these days.

I shouldn't be surprised, really, because I've seen these things over and over. The other day I blogged about a topic that NYSUT leadership found sensitive. I know this because they tweeted a response that was baseless and absurd. I can only suppose you don't go the baseless and absurd route if you've got a better one.


Ridicule can be effective sometimes. For that, though, it needs to be based on what the subject did. Sometimes it just seems to come out of nowhere, and then itself becomes a worthy target. For example we've all seen UFT President Michael Mulgrew musing about flying saucers and martians, in an effort to ridicule Common Core opponents. Years ago, we saw former UFT President Sandra Feldman declare anyone who thought we could improve on her 25-year longevity must be "smoking something." (Yet I was pretty glad to hit maximum at 22 years after we'd defeated her agreement.)

So making absurd statements is not an original notion from NYSUT's version of Unity.When Mulgrew said, in front of God and everybody, that he was gonna punch faces and push them in the dirt to defend Common Core, well, it almost cried out for ridicule. It was a sensational story, and was widely covered. In any case, Revive NYSUT, or NYSUT Unity, or whatever they're calling themselves this week, deemed the following an apt response to my blog:

@TeacherArthurG One of your most biased and fact free posts ever. Congrats!In other news aliens have landed and they are in fact dinosaurs

— NYSUT Unity Caucus (@Unity_Today) August 20, 2016

Let's take a look at that. First, there's the accusation of bias. Bias is generally associated with prejudice. The blog they criticize was not created out of whole cloth. I'm certainly opinionated, this blog reflects my opinions, but my opinions are formed by years of experience, reading and observation. Bias is when you look at something you don't like, fail to consider it, and then condemn it for a predetermined reason, which is likely tantamount to no reason at all. Someone's biased here, but it isn't me. Let's take, for example, the assertion that the blog was "fact free."

I count four sources for that blog. There was the Times Union article suggesting that NYSUT leadership wanted to cut benefits for its employees, who specifically referenced pensions. There was a Politico piece specifically referencing a law that allows NYSUT leaders to accrue double pensions. There were quotes from PJSTA President Beth Dimino suggesting NYSUT tried to bypass local presidents to solicit VOTE COPE contributions, and there was a quote from former NY Deputy State Comptroller Harris Lirtzman, who'd done some homework analyzing the NYSUT pension system.

So that's what I based my opinions on. What did NYSUT Unity base their opinions on? Absolutely nothing but their own prejudices, as far as I can tell. Now the upstanding individual who likely writes this stuff did a hit piece on me a while back, calling me a part-time teacher. (I'm not linking to it because it doesn't permit comments and no one reads the blog anyway.) I don't remember exactly what I wrote to cause him to do this, but he wrote a long piece about what he decided I thought. That's easier than actually confronting what I may have said or done, and that's what you call a strawman fallacy. It doesn't get into the difficult business of addressing whatever the argument was I'd made. Rather, it invents an easy target, something that it claims I think or believe and simply attacks that easier target.

These are the sorts of things you do and say when you have no argument.

And as Revive NYSUT broke promise after promise, I know I've done the right thing by exposing and opposing them. They were against Common Core, they said in the pamphlet above, but President Karen Magee, at an AFT Convention, suggested the alternative to it was a "free-for-all." They said they were against APPR but haven't moved a millimeter toward its repeal. They said they were against Cuomo but failed to oppose him in two primaries and a general election. They say they're for NYSUT transparency, but when you mention their verifiable actions they accuse you of being a lunatic.

All of this is troubling. What's most troubling, though, is these are the people who are negotiating for us at a state level. It's no wonder Cuomo walks all over us, and at the very nadir of his popularity is able to make APPR even more draconian, with the aid of his Heavy Hearts Assembly. Can you imagine people who think the genius who wrote that tweet should be representing us? Can you imagine people with that brand of judgment negotiating for us on a state level?

I can. And sadly, it explains a lot.

NYSUT Visits "Clueless" Cuomo and Fabulous Sandra Lee

I understand NYSUT EVP Andrew Pallotta, who bought a whole table at a Cuomo fundraiser and then claimed to oppose him, is sending a bunch of lucky NYSUT folks to a wing-ding over at the Governor's mansion on December 31st. I don't know whether or not Andy is going himself. But someone has to eat Sandra Lee's Spam Kebobs a la mode, and preserve our valuable seat at the table.

I suppose if all the guests have enough of Sandra's drinks, the ones that match the tablecloths, there will be ample time to discuss politics. Hey, Andy P. wants to know why Andy C. just screwed us again. Why did he do that? Why can't Andys just get along? Didn't we buy all those $5000 seats at your fundraiser? Aren't we best buds? Can't we be Andy's Gang again?

Andy Pallotta didn't really mean it when he called you clueless. After all, we're here, aren't we? Didn't we each eat a Spam Kebob? No of course that wasn't us tossing them out the window. No, we didn't feed them to the dogs. Look at all those kebobs on the floor that the dogs refuse to eat. They couldn't all come from us.

But here's the thing--if Revive NYSUT leadership really thinks Cuomo is clueless, and if they really find him remotely as self-serving, self-important, and reformy as we do, why on earth are they going over there at all? What does Andrew Cuomo need to do, beyond taking money, changing laws and initiating rallies,  before we realize that he's just another front for Eva Moskowitz? What the hell does he need to say before we realize we haven't got enough loose cash to buy him over to our side?

It's time to be consistent. Our friends are our friends, and we haven't got nearly enough of them. But those who wish to set arbitrary benchmarks to fail our children and fire us are not our friends. And when people hate you and everything you stand for, it sends an odd message when you go to their parties.

Here's the message I get. I get the message that we are crawling on our hands and knees begging the guy who just broke a promise, reneged on a deal, stabbed us in the back, to please be nice to us and let us keep our seat at the table. It doesn't matter if you smash it over our heads. We'll gladly paste it back together and sit in it again because no matter how many times you screw us we never learn anything at all.

What's sad about that is learning is perhaps the most important aspect of our job. If we refuse to do it, how can we teach anyone else to do it? Fortunately, the leaders of NYSUT aren't teachers anymore. So what if we're fired because of the invalid use of an invalid test? They're still up there in Albany making over triple a teacher's salary for buying seats at fundraisers and hanging at Cuomo's wing-dings.

Nice work if you can get it, I suppose. But I'd feel much better about paying those salaries if they were doing something just a little more serious. I mean, if my employer demands that we be effective, why can't we demand the same of those who are supposed to work for us? And make no mistake, that's what the union leaders are supposed to do, despite frequent behavior that tends to indicate otherwise.

Update: This is did not not happen exactly as my source reported it, as NYSUT protested, and claimed to have organized the protest before the governor's veto. But Andy Pallotta did indeed attend the soiree.

Who's Clueless Now?

It's remarkable to watch UFT and NYSUT finally appear to come to the same conclusions about Cuomo we bloggers arrived at years ago.

Perdido Street School: The Arrogance Of Cuomo's Power Play Over Education... http://t.co/rCey0YDxDT
— UFT (@UFT) December 19, 2014

It's fabulous to see the UFT citing Reality Based Educator as a source. Last spring UFT President Mike Mulgrew, fervently pushing yet another sub-standard contract, stood in front of an audience largely composed of his 800 loyalty-oath signing sycophants, He then declared he didn't read the blogs, but that we were purveyors of myth. He then said he was being nice, having evidently determined we were too stupid to realize he was calling us liars. I suppose when you're accustomed to addressing bought-and-paid-for loyalty oath signers you don't expect much in the way of even marginal critical thought from your audiences.

But RBE is right, of course, as usual, and has been all those years as Mulgrew and NYSUT kept their respective heads placed firmly in the sand. He was right when Eva trounced mayoral control last spring while Mulgrew did nothing. And he's been right to call out Cuomo consistently. NYSUT has now rolled out its big gun, which entails calling Cuomo "clueless." They've apparently put their heads together and determined this remakably clever tactic is the straw that will break the Cuomo's back.

In fact, it's possible they've finally determined that sitting in the cone of silence is not the optimal strategy after all. Six months ago, in a Suffolk forum, I sat a few seats away from NYSUT EVP Andy Palotta as he hemmed and hawed and failed to answer a question--"Will you support Andrew Cuomo for governor in November. My answer,  "No," was very well received. The moderator had to ask me to expound on it, which I did, but the overall gist of it was in that single word.

In a later campaign leaflet, Pallotta and his Revive pals claimed to oppose Cuomo. This notwithstanding, they missed a golden opportunity to do so when their overlords, the UFT, scuttled Zephyr Teachout's bid for the Working Families nod. That was more significant than their failure to support her Democratic bid. Teachout would have been a huge threat to Cuomo in the general. It was quite clear that she inspired people as much as Cuomo left them cold. Could you imagine having the choice of brilliant Zephyr Teachout as Governor of New York? UFT and NYSUT found that prospect unacceptable, and made certain we didn't get it.

Cuomo has now reneged on his promise to spare teachers being judged on Common Core junk science. This is what reformy folk do. They give you the "seat at the table," so valued by our leaders, and then stab us in the back. It's happened time after time. If we just give Bloomberg mayoral control, everything will be fine. If we just make a few people ATRs, everything will be fine. If we just allow him to close a few schools, everything will be fine. If we just allow a few charter schools, everything will be fine. If we just get a few changes to mayoral control, everything will be fine. If we fail to get those changes but support its renewal anyway, everything will be fine. If we just show how open-minded we are by making Gates keynote, everything will be fine.

It's fine that NYSUT and UFT finally appear to have woken up and realize Cuomo, like other reformies, is not our friend after all. But history suggests he's had a consistent agenda to follow the mandates of his huge campaign contributors, and that betraying us is just one more step in enacting it.

It's certainly correct that someone is clueless. But it does not appear, by any stretch of the imagination, that it's Andrew Cuomo. Worse, it's by no means clear that the folks who claimed to be "against Cuomo" when running for election, and call him clueless now won't be in love with him, inviting him to keynote the next convention, or enjoying a "seat at the table" with him next year, next month, next week, or one minute from now.

For Most Improved Union Leader--Richard Iannuzzi

I've been reading and hearing a lot about the "Iannuzzi APPR." To me, that's remarkable. Here in NYC, Michael Mulgrew couldn't wait to claim it. It was the best thing since NYC got rid of the last coal-burning furnace a few days earlier. I didn't believe it at all. Diane Ravitch has consistently said VAM is junk science, and to me, the optimal measure of junk science in my evaluation ought to be zero.

Though both Iannuzzi and Mulgrew said this was a great thing because there was so much to be negotiated, I wondered about that. After all, having watched years pass without a contract, not to mention the one in 2005 that crippled seniority rights, I had a lot of reason for skepticism. For the last few weeks I've been traveling all over the state, and I've met union leaders who've managed to negotiate decent deals under this law.

There are exceptions, of course, and we're likely the largest.

Our leadership, for reasons that elude me utterly, thought John King, the reformiest man in the state, was a suitable arbiter between us and the fanatical ideologues that inhabited Michael Bloomberg's Department of Education. That's precisely the sort of judgment that keeps me from signing a loyalty oath to UFT-Unity. In other large cities, terrible deals went through as well, resulting in large numbers of bad ratings.

At some point, Iannuzzi angered the powers that be at the AFT. I have it on very good authority this is all about the endorsement of Andrew Cuomo at the AFL-CIO. While NYSUT's neutrality last time was not a problem, a NO vote from NYSUT would cost Cuomo the AFL-CIO endorsement. To be clear, Cuomo ran on a platform of going after unions, and there is no way on God's green earth he merits their endorsement or our silence. In any case, Lee Cutler, Maria Neira, and Kathleen Donahue declined to go along to get along. They, along with Iannuzzi, literally placed their careers on the line.

To me, that speaks of character. It's a whole lot different from supporting mayoral control, Common Core, and VAM just because you've signed a loyalty oath to support any damn thing you're told. That's what we have in NYC. And if you don't believe it, ask Andrew Pallotta, the member of the board who spent the last year running a coup rather than working in our interests. He signed the loyalty oath, or he wouldn't be where he is today.

I don't recall Pallotta saying one word against the APPR agreement when Mulgrew and Iannuzzi introduced it. For one thing, that would have been in abject violation of the Unity loyalty oath, and Pallotta is a former UFT-Unity District Representative. Pallotta's job in 2005 had to entail running around cheerleading for the disastrous 2005 contract, the one that reduced veteran teachers into wandering members of the Absent Teacher Reserve, a handy dumping place for teachers whose schools have been closed by Bloomberg. UFT failed to anticipate that Bloomberg's DOE would keep hiring teachers even as thousands of our members sat in the ATR. I love to teach. I would be miserable as a traveling ATR.

The legislative branch of NYSUT is run by Executive Vice President Andrew Pallotta. Thought they're vocal on APPR, I don't hear a whole lot from his side about the Gap Elimination Adjustment that starves our schools, the tax cap that keeps localities from compensating for it, ever-rising tuition at state schools, or the complete sellout to monied interests in the Moskowitz Budget. They don't talk much about Pallotta sending NYSUT staffers to campaign for UFT fave Bill Thompson. Maybe Pallotta didn't realize NYC Mayor was not actually a state race.

Maybe throwing a million bucks at Bill Thompson was not a great idea for the UFT. Moskowitz and her merry pals managed to buy Andy Cuomo for only 800K, so perhaps we could've outbid her. Who knows?

Here's what I know, though. An Executive VP who jumps when Mike Mulgrew or Randi Weingarten whistles is going to keep doing so for the next three years, and is sure to pick running mates who'll do the same. Sure, it's fantastic to go over five years without a raise and have the worst APPR in the state. If that's the sort of model you favor, you ought to vote for Revive NYSUT.

In fact, the only reason Iannuzzi and Stronger Together are being opposed is they've taken a principled stand against the "seat at the table" politics that have failed again and again in both city and state. And every one of the UFT-Unity chapter leaders who've signed the oath will have to vote for same old same old or face the traditional pariah status of those who've been shunned by leadership.

I'm an acolyte of Diane Ravitch. I'm always amazed that my politics, favored by just about every informed UFT teacher, preclude my participation in union activities. I'm even more amazed that leadership can hawk crap programs like VAM, Common Core, and mayoral control and stay in. Of course, that may have to do with the fact that over 80% of working UFT members don't deem it worth their time or effort to fill out an X on a form. That's the UFT-Unity model, and that's the model that will be replicated statewide if Revive NYSUT wins.

I'm not afraid of union leadership, and I'm not afraid to tell them when they're wrong. I only wish they weren't wrong with such alarming and predictable frequency. I certainly hope the delegates at NYSUT understand what they're voting for. If they want voices that will speak up for what's right, they'll vote for Stronger Together, Beth Dimino, me, and the MORE slate, which features my favorite chapter leader, James Eterno. (It was James who first called Richard Iannuzzi most improved union leader.)

After getting to know him just a little bit, I couldn't agree more.