Cuomo Blames Regents For Problems He Caused

Cuomo's just throwing everybody under the bus these days - this time it's the Board of Regents (following on his former aides, Percoco and Howe, and SUNY Poly head Alain Kaloyeros, all of whom are under federal investigation for corruption):

HIGHLAND - Gov. Andrew Cuomo had harsh words Monday for the Board of Regents as the state science tests wrapped up.

Many parents across the state are continuing to refuse to let their children take the Common Core-based tests.

"The problem is the state Education Department, which is the the Board of Regents," said Cuomo, who was in the mid-Hudson for an event at the Walkway Over the Hudson.

"It did a terrible job in implementing Common Core," Cuomo said. "Now, state Education Department people say, 'Well, that's you, governor, you're the state.' Actually, no. I have no role in selecting the Board of Regents," he added, noting that the Regents are elected by the state Assembly. 

... 

Cuomo said the 17-member Board of Regents must "change their perspective and their level of competence." 

"They lost the faith and trust of the parents of this state, and they're going to have to remedy that," said Cuomo. 

"It's not that the parents are irrational. The parents are rational. The system was implemented poorly and it did a lot of harm," he added.

A big part of the reason parents have lost "faith and trust" in the system is because of the education policies Cuomo has pushed - including the draconian education law that made test scores 50% of a teacher's evaluation.

Cuomo likes to make as if he has no power over education, but he's used his budgetary powers numerous times as governor to impose his own desires on the education system, whether it be tying teachers to 50% of their students' test scores or forcing New York City to pick up the tab for charter school rents.

This is just another example of Cuomo causing problems, then trying to pass the blame off elsewhere.

Are the Board of Regents to blame for some of this mess?

Absolutely - the Merryl Tisch Board of Regents certainly was to blame.

Same goes for the David Steiner and John King NYSED.

But Cuomo's got lots of blame for this mess too - and parents around this state know this.

Just witness his polling on education - it's in the toilet, along with the rest of his administration.

Preet Bharara can't cart this criminal out fast enough.

Come on, Preet - when's Preetmas?

Chris Christie Too Busy To Deal With Impending New Jersey Blizzard

NJ.com this morning:

TRENTON — With most of the Garden State under a blizzard watch, Gov. Chris Christie was asked Thursday afternoon what lessons he'd learned about New Jersey's power grid in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Appearing as a guest on conservative talk host Hugh Hewitt's syndicated talk radio show, Christie gave a foreboding answer.

"What we learned is that it's incredibly vulnerable, and incredibly fragile," the governor and Republican presidential candidate said, adding that "a bad storm, a historic storm like Sandy, put the most densely populated state in the nation without power for 75 percent of the state for three weeks."

Christie said the fragility and vulnerability of New Jersey's power grid after Sandy  means "that we have a lot of work to do," and then took the opportunity to promote his corporate tax plan, which calls for repatriating $2 billion in U.S. corporations' assets at a substantially lower rate.

The governor promised that if elected president, he would "use that money exclusively for rebuilding our infrastructure, and by that I mean, roads, bridges and the grid."

Hewitt noted that his radio show would repeat throughout the weekend on stations in both New Hampshire and South Carolina, and asked the governor for his "closing argument" to voters in those early primary states.

Christie answered that "I don't think there's anybody more tested by crisis" and that when faced with a devastating storm, "I put the people of my state first and foremost."

Here's Christie putting the people of his state first this weekend with the impending blizzard coming north:

LACONIA, N.H. — Gov. Chris Christie continues to monitor the a winter storm from New Hampshire that has most counties in New Jersey under a blizzard watch and the rest of the state under a winter storm watch.

The governor's office issues a statement late Thursday evening that advised Christie continues to "actively monitor the winter storm."

Christie, who's seeking the Republican presidential nomination, is in the middle of a six-day tour of New Hampshire as makes his final pitch to voters here with less than three weeks before voters head to the polls. He said earlier Thursday he had no plans for now to cut short his campaign trip and return for the impending storm, saying the lieutenant governor can handle the situation.

You just can't make this stuff up.

When I think about the politician who is most full of shit in this country, I can never figure out if it's Chris Christie or Andrew Cuomo.

Every time you think one of them wins the award hands down, the other one does something to put himself back into contention.

Deadbeat Dad Andrew Cuomo Declared August "Child Support Awareness Month"

Just as Tax Deadbeat Andrew Cuomo went after other tax deadbeats while barring the tax assessor from assessing improvements made to the home he shares with celebrity chef Sandra Lee, Deadbeat Dad Andrew Cuomo declared August "Child Support Awareness Month" while failing to pay child support to his ex-wife Kerry Kennedy:

Declares Aug. 2012 "Child Support Awareness Month"...then doesn't pay child support. @Fud31 https://t.co/bCLbZdP21m https://t.co/LMPW0vtbzT

— Steve McLaughlin (@SteveMcNY) December 7, 2015

Here was the governor's own press release from August 2012 on the importance of paying child support and going after deadbeats who don't:

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that he has issued a Proclamation declaring August as Child Support Awareness Month in New York State. This was announced in partnership with The State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA).

OTDA, in conjunction with local departments of social services, administers New York's child support enforcement program. In addition, OTDA assists in obtaining financial assistance and health insurance coverage for children by locating non-custodial parents, establishing paternity and support orders, collecting, distributing, and enforcing payments of child support.

"By enforcing child support payments, OTDA is not only securing the financial benefits owed to custodial parents, but protecting the well-being and future of the children of our state," said Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. "Child support is important for the economic stability of these families, and is especially crucial to those in low-income areas. We are dedicated to protecting the rights of vulnerable children in New York State by holding individuals accountable."

"Child support is a vital source of income for single-parent households in New York State, many of them low-income families," said OTDA Executive Deputy Commissioner Elizabeth Berlin. "Our successes in child support are critical to enhancing child well-being and the economic security of New York's families. Studies have shown that when both parents provide financial and emotional support, children are more likely to lead healthy and productive lives, do well in school and succeed later in life."

OTDA should have gone after Andrew Cuomo and forced him to make his child support payments.

Oh well - looks like the Fred Dicker column on Andy being a deadbeat daddy worked just as well.

Cuomo Decides Scalping World Series Tickets For Campaign Donations Not Such A Great Idea After All

From the Buffalo News:

ALBANY – Facing mounting criticism for mixing politics and the World Series, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo canceled plans Wednesday night to hold a $5,500 per person fundraiser during two games this weekend at Citi Field when the New York Mets return to Queens for the start of their home stand.

The governor, who took a private jet on a Long Island-based charter service with the owners of the Mets to the first game of the World Series Tuesday night in Kansas City, said he was canceling the Friday and Saturday night fundraisers because of an “overwhelming demand for tickets” to the games. His campaign on Monday sent email invitations to donors asking for contributions of $5,500 apiece to attend a pregame reception and seats for either Game Three or Four or the World Series when it returns to New York this weekend. 

Government reform groups this week criticized Cuomo for the timing of the events, saying they showed how deep-pocket contributors could gain access to New York government’s chief executive in ways ordinary New Yorkers could not. New York Post editorial writers Wednesday likened Cuomo to a ticket scalper.

As attorney general, Cuomo had gone after people who waited on line for Shakespeare in the Park tickets, then sold them on Craigslist.

But the only thing that stopped him from scalping World Series tickets for campaign dough was a public shaming.

Cuomo Pointedly Does Not Call For A Review Of APPR Along With The Common Core/Testing Review

No surprise here - Cuomo can read polls and the opt out rates as well as the next fellow

Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a statement Thursday in which he said he agrees with those who found the implementation of Common Common Core problematic.

Cuomo said he sympathizes with parents who chose to have their children opt out of standardized tests.

“We must have standards for New York’s students, but those standards will only work if people – especially parents – have faith in them and in their ability to educate our children," Cuomo said. "The current Common Core program does not do that. It must."


Cuomo said Common Core must be fixed and he said the state will do a comprehensive review of the implementation of the Common Core standards.

Cuomo said he will ask a representative group from the State Education Commission, including education experts, teachers, parents, the Commissioner of Education and legislative representatives to review the issues raised above and provide recommendations in time for his State of the State Address in January.

And so we get another jive commission so that Cuomo can say he sympathizes with parents who opted their kids out of the tests, he sympathizes with those who do not have faith in the Common Core, he is one with the students and parents of this state.

But as I pointed out earlier, notice what's not in the statement - anything about APPR.

A Perdido Street School reader noticed that too and explained just what that means:

Before not-so-sophisticated folks have a premature climax here, some things must be made clear. (The none-to-sophisticated folks I am referring to are NYSUT leadership most especially and lots of others)

1) As RBE pointed out, NO MENTION OF APPR OR TEACHER EVALS. That is the biggest thing. Its not what is mentioned that is important...thats just noise. It is what is NOT mentioned that we have to be focused on.

2) This is a continuation and ramping-up of a campaign that was started a few weeks ago to try mightily to pacify parents and take the edge off testing in the face of opt out. It is and will be all about coming down hard on teachers over opt out.

3) We must be hyper-clear now. The reform movement is about privatizing how education is administered within the state (and nationally for sure). The people that administer education are teachers (not administrators in districts, in spite of their claims otherwise). The reform movement seeks, after all the bullshit is stripped away, to privatize the money states pay to teachers....to redirect those funds and more, into corporate coffers. Sure, it wants money to do the tests and run the schools, but the big $$ is in taking the funds states pay to teachers. Lets be real. So, the reform movement's entire goal is to remove current, organized teachers...to "scientifically" prove they are incompetent, deprofessionalize them, and then take over the task of delivering education and the said money. Make no mistake about this. The reform movement's deep-center is about removing teachers.

4) In light of #3 above, Governor Cuomo is a strident political spokesperson for the reform movement. They have paid him. He is invested in them and they in him. There are few bonds he has that are tighter. The reform movement and Cuomo are not particularly interested in testing, common core, etc. These are just tools they have used to pursue their real objective (stated above in #3). They know as well as we do, no doubt, that the tests and common core are bullshit. Sounds strange, but the tests, even common core itself...its all arbitrary. What they are really after is us. Turns out that that is still where the laser-beam focus is. Cuomo and his kind, reformers, etc...all will fart around with the arbitrary stuff....they'll add, take away, throw out, change, manipulate, modify all day long and twice on sunday all of the testing stuff to keep parents calm. Its not what they care about. A commission (wow!!!) will be formed and testing will be modified within the state. (Cuomo and reformers inside their heads are saying "so what?") However, the absolute, laser-like focus on damaging and eventually removing teachers will continue and most likely pick up pace.

This commission means nothing and its results will mean nothing. That is for sure.

Exactly right - Cuomo, perhaps with input from Tisch and Elia, perhaps on his own as damage control, is looking to save his reform agenda from the angry parents.

This is all about trying to pacify the parents and get the opt out rates down for next year so that they can use the tests to rate teachers, schools and districts with impunity again.

I wonder, how does Cuomo defend his APPR rating system that uses tests based upon the Common Core State Standards now that he admits those standards were implemented badly and the tests are problematic?

Will the press ask him about this curious contradiction - APPR swell, CCSS and CCSS tests not so swell?

Chris Christie Says As President He'd Build Hudson Tunnel He Canceled As Governor

The "You Can't Handle The Truth" tour continues from Chris Christie.

Following yesterday's refusal to respond to a NY Times reporter who asked if Christie cares about NJ Transit riders after numerous delays on the transit system this week comes this news:

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who killed a plan to build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River several years ago, said that if elected president, he'd make sure the tunnel is built.

"If I am President of the United States, I call a meeting [with] my secretary of transportation, the governor of New York, and the governor of New Jersey and say, ‘Listen if we are all in this even steven, if we are all going to put in an equal share, then let’s go build these tunnels under the Hudson River,'" he said during a taped interview with host Larry Kudlow that will air on WABC on Saturday.

The existing tunnels, operated by Amtrak, are not only near capacity but were flooded and severely damaged during Hurrican Sandy. Amtrak C.E.O. Joseph Boardman said in 2014 that the tunnels were good for "something less than 20 years." NJ Transit riders faced delays Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday because of problems with the tunnels.

An $8.7 billion project, called Access to the Region's Core, would have doubled the number of cross-Hudson rail tunnels using federal and state funds. Christie's predecessor, Jon Corzine, had broken ground on it in 2009. In 2010, however, Christie made the unilateral decision to shut it down.

Add today to the list of days with delays on NJ Transit this week.

Hey, that's only four out of five days of nightmarish rush hour commuting under Christie.

What's four out of five bad days when we have one good one?

And now Christie promises to push for the tunnel, so long as the funding scheme is to his satisfaction and he's, you know, elected president.

Given that it will take about 20 years to complete a tunnel, that should be swell for New Jersey commuters facing four out of five nightmarish commutes a week.

John Legend Decides Stoning Gay People And Women To Death Isn't So Bad After All

Ed deformer John Legend claims to have a social conscience but it turns out all he cares about his - cha-ching!!! - money:

In February, John Legend backed out of a party that Los Angeles Confidential was hosting to celebrate his magazine cover because of the location: the Beverly Hills Hotel. Since then, Legend seems to have had a change of heart over his stance on the hotel's boycott, which started in early 2014 when the owner, the Sultan of Brunei, passed Sharia law in his country, calling for the stoning of gays and adulterers.

On May 30, Legend performed in the hotel ballroom for the wedding reception of Daniel Landy and Alexandra Lippman, daughter of L.A. commercial realtor Jim Lippman. Instagrams from the affair, which featured a cake from New York and a 12-foot hydrangea wall, confirm that Legend sang his hit "All of Me"; according to a source, Legend sang two songs in total and received about $300,000. His reps didn't return a request for comment and a hotel rep says, "We never comment on private events."

When L.A. Confidential announced plans for the Feb. 5 bash, it was to be the first major entertainment industry party to be held at the hotel amid the widespread boycott. When Legend backed out, his rep told THR that her client didn’t agree with the Sultan’s “horrific” laws.

“These policies, which among other things could permit women and LGBT Bruneians to be stoned to death, are heinous and certainly don't represent John's values or the spirit of the event. John does not, in any way, wish to further enrich the Sultan while he continues to enforce these brutal laws,” the rep said.

If Legend doesn't support these policies, the stoning to death of gay people and women, why have a "change of heart" about performing at the Beverly Hills Hotel that is the target of a widespread boycott because the owner passed Sharia law in his country that calls for it?

Could it be because John Legend, the guy who plays the "loverman with a social conscience" is full of shit about the social conscience part?

Could it be because Legend only cares about the money (and $300K for singing two songs is nice work if you can get it, as the Gershwins once wrote)?

Could it be because John Legend is a hypocrite?

Could it be all three?

Whatever the case, the next time Legend shows up somewhere to preen on about his social conscience, don't forget to point out how full of shit he is by reminding him about his "change of heart" over boycotting the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Cuomo Thinks Ethics Reform Doesn't Pertain To Him

Ken Lovett at the Daily News:

ALBANY — State legislators say they are willing to enact a number of new ethics reforms, but they argue Gov. Cuomo should subject himself to more public disclosure as well.

Republican and Democratic legislative sources say that while Cuomo has attacked lawmakers on the issue of outside income, the governor is making as much as $900,000 from HarperCollins for his recent memoir, which only sold a few thousand copies.

They also say that perhaps there should be a ban on governors giving paid outside speeches. While Cuomo during his first four years has not given such speeches, former Govs. Mario Cuomo and George Pataki did.

...

An official in the New York Legislature argued there should be more public disclosure on what guests, if any, are staying at the governor’s Albany mansion.

And, in perhaps the most contentious suggestion, a number of legislative sources say Cuomo’s longtime live-in celebrity chef girlfriend, Sandra Lee, should be required to publicly disclose her income, investments and other financial information that the spouses of public officials are already mandated to reveal.

“A final negotiated package shouldn’t be just all about the Legislature,” said one high-ranking legislative official. “If you want to do something comprehensive on ethics, it should include the governor as well.”

The response from the legislature to every call for ethics reform from Cuomo ought to be "Fine - but you too."

Just as Moreland was only there to investigate the Legislature, Cuomo thinks ethics reform doesn't include having to reveal all his own donors.

Governor Cuomo Is Responsible For Higher College Costs At SUNY

Man, sometimes even the NY Post gets stuff right.

Take this editorial on college loans and the Cuomo proposal to have NY State pick up some of the loan for a couple of years for college graduates who remain in NY State but are make less than $50K a year:

On one thing President Obama and Gov. Cuomo are agreed: The answer to high tuition and crushing student debt is more money from the government.

Problem is, it’s precisely government dollars that are driving up the price of college tuition at a rate far faster than general inflation.

Right now, colleges have no skin in the loan game: If a kid drops out before earning his degree, or if she earns a degree that is worthless and so can’t get a job that pays enough to let her pay off her loans, that’s terrible for her.

But the school has already been paid.

The solution the Posties propose?

If you want to lower college costs, don’t just throw more money at the schools. Ensure the universities have some skin in the game — e.g., by forcing them to pick up part of the loans for a kid who fails out.

And make ’em work for their customers by demonstrating why their degrees are worth what they’re charging for them.

I don't know exactly how you do that second thing, since so many of the second and third tier private schools charge a LOT of money for a degree of dubious value that could be gotten from a state school for much less.

But I do know that making the schools pick up some of the loan costs of students who drop out might make these schools think twice about a) tuition costs and b) loading students up with loans.

But the best way to hold down college costs and give students a quality education is for NY State to provide MORE state aid to SUNY.

Under Governor Cuomo, the percentage of SUNY costs covered by state aid has dropped and the percentage of SUNY costs covered by tuition has increased.

Cuomo has instituted five years of tuition increases that will result in students paying more than 25% higher tuition and fee costs from before he became governor.

I posted this when Cuomo first released his loan debt relief plan and I want to post it again:

Governor Cuomo is the reason why SUNY costs are so high in NY State for college students.

I think the Post is right that colleges ought to have some skin in the game when it comes to student loans.

But I also think Governor Cuomo and the state Legislature ought to be providing more state aid to SUNY in order to provide opportunities for an affordable, quality education to all.

Cuomo Raised SUNY Tuition By More Than 25% - Now He Cares About Students With Loan Debt?

From the NY Times:

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will propose legislation to ease the debt burden of thousands of college graduates, an administration official said.

Under the governor’s proposal, to be unveiled in his State of the State address on Wednesday, the state would cover two years of loan payments for graduates of New York State colleges who make less than $50,000 a year, continue to live in the state and are enrolled in the federal Pay as You Earn program, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the proposal has not been released.

Roughly 60 percent of students who graduated from public and nonprofit colleges in New York in 2013 took on debt, and the average amount was $26,381, according to a report by the Institute for College Access and Success. The report did not include graduates from for-profit colleges, who generally accumulate more debt.

The governor’s office projects that up to 7,100 people would benefit in the program’s first year, increasing to 24,000 by 2020, as more students hear about the program and enroll in Pay as You Earn to qualify. The state would pay an average of $3,500 toward each participant’s loans.

Students who finish two- or four-year degree programs in 2015 or later would be eligible for the assistance. Students who do not graduate — who statistically are more likely to be from low-income families — would not be helped.

Sounds fabulous, right?

Cuomo's looking to help students burdened with excessive student loan debt and a tough job market, particularly for newly-minted graduates.

Except if he cares so much about students and loan debt, why did he push to raise SUNY tuition by 40% at the the university centers and 25% at the other SUNY campuses back in 2011?

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday proposed increasing tuition by more than 25 percent over five years at most State University of New York campuses and by more than 40 percent at the university centers over the same period — measures he said would help parents with college planning and boost SUNY to top academic levels nationally.

His proposal, in the form of a bill, would add $4,370 over five years to the annual tuition at the university centers in Buffalo, Binghamton, Albany and Stony Brook, and add $2,330 to the tuition at SUNY's other 60 campuses. The governor's bill also would create SUNY's first two-tiered system for tuition.

When students and their families complained about the tax hike plan, Cuomo told them to suck it up and deal with "financial reality."

Ultimately the governor and the legislature settled on this for the hike:

The State University of New York Board of Trustees today approved a policy that will increase tuition $300 a year for the next five years, along with SUNY’s 2011-12 financial plan. Lawmakers gave final passage last Friday to legislation that authorizes SUNY to make the hikes, removing the topic of tuition from the annual state budget process for the next several years. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who agreed on legislation with the Senate and Assembly, has not signed the bill yet.

The increase will take effect this fall. Tuition for in-state undergraduate students at SUNY’s 29 state-operated campuses will increase from $4,970 to $5,270 this fall. Tuition for out-of-state undergraduate students will increase 10 percent a year over the five years.

The tuition hike total came to more than 25% over five years.  In addition, Cuomo refused to increase the percentage of state aid that covers costs at SUNY, so "SUNY students are paying an ever-increasing share of SUNY's costs, shifting the burden of public higher education to them and away from taxpayers."

Cuomo's refusal to do the state's part in covering SUNY costs sets up a need for future tuition and fee increases even after the five year, 25%+ hike is finished.

Now Cuomo releases this plan to help students with student loan burdens even as he has added to that burden by raising SUNY tuition more than 25% over five years and refused to raise the percentage of state aid to SUNY, thus setting up a need for future tuition and fee hikes.

Cuomo thinks people will have forgotten that he raised tuition 25%+ over five years and refused to do the state's share in covering SUNY costs, thus sowing the seeds of future hikes, and hail him as an advocate for students.

He may be right about that, I dunno.

But I'll do my best to remind some of them in my little corner of the blogosphere that while Cuomo's loan plan here is all well and fine, it would have been better if coupled with him coughing up more state aid for SUNY along with limiting the tuition hikes that have been instituted over the past five years.

Making State Tests 40% Of A Teacher's Evaluation Does NOT Reduce Testing Stress

Jessica Bakeman in Capital NY:

ALBANY—A coalition of Common Core supporters that includes the Business Council of New York and advocacy group StudentsFirstNY wrote to state education leaders on Thursday in support of a proposal to reduce local testing in schools by increasing reliance on state assessments aligned to the more rigorous standards.

The letter, from High Achievement New York, a group that last year advertised in support of the controversial English and math curriculum guidelines, “endorse[d] the goals” of a recent 20-page letter from Board of Regents chancellor Merryl Tisch to a Cuomo administration top aide advocating for extensive changes to education law.

The coalition focused on Tisch’s proposal to amend the state-mandated teacher evaluation law by eliminating a component that relies on students’ scores on locally designed tests. Instead, Tisch recommended in the letter that performance evaluations should rely more heavily on state testing, removing the need for some local tests that districts have been administering solely for the purpose of rating teachers.

The jive we're getting out of the Regents, SED and the education reformer PR is that getting rid of the local assessments that are used for 20% of a teacher's evaluation will reduce the number of tests in the system and thus reduce the stress around testring.

This is NOT the case.

Making state tests count for 40% of a teacher's overall evaluation - and then saying if a teacher comes up "ineffective" on that 40% they MUST be declared "ineffective" overall - will NOT reduce the time, energy and resources spent on testing and test prep in schools.

If anything, it will INCREASE the time, energy and resources spent on test prep and testing in schools.

If Tisch and her merry reformer advocates want to increase the test component of the evaluation to 40%, then force an "ineffective" rating overall if a teacher comes up "ineffective" on that 40%, they should be honest about what the consequences of that policy will be (especially since they also want to make two "ineffective" ratings in a row cause to pull a teacher from the classroom.)

The changes proposed by Tisch, SED and the reformers will turn New York State schools into the Hunger Games, with then state tests and the VAM SED attaches to them as the weapons for battle.

It will be all testing all the time as th e40% test component of the APPR teacher evaluation systmem becomes, in effect, 100%.

When It Comes To Andrew Cuomo, There's A Lot To Protest

NYSUT is holding a protest demonstration outside the governor's mansion in Albany today:

The demonstration is ostensibly a protest against Cuomo's veto of the teacher evaluation "safety net" bill Cuomo himself had pushed prior to the election to shield teachers from Common Core test scores in their APPR evaluation ratings.

Cuomo made a deal with NYSUT over the "safety net" late in the spring, but never signed the bill into law.

Like many "deals" Cuomo has made lately (like the one he made with Working Families Party to push for a Democratic-controlled State Senate in return for the WFP ballot line), Cuomo had no intention of keeping his end of the bargain - that's why he never signed the "safety net" bill into law.

Cuomo waited until the end of the legislative session to veto the bill, using the mysteriously delayed release of the statewide APPR teacher evaluation ratings by NYSED as the excuse for the veto - he said so few teachers had been found "ineffective" by the APPR system that the "safety net" bill was not needed.

This veto came two days after Cuomo vetoed a Port Authority reform bill that had passed four houses in two different state legislatures, 612-0, that would have brought historic and much needed change to the way the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey operates.

The PA has a budget larger than 26 states, but no accountability or transparency to the citizens of either state - it is entirely controlled by the NY and NJ governors.

Cuomo and his pal in crime and corruption, Governor Chris Christie, met last Tuesday to hatch a plan to veto the Port Authority reform bill and push their own "faux" reform that some astute observers believe has no chance to ever be enacted into law.

Cuomo, knowing that he would take a political hit for vetoing the PA reform bill, tried to hide the veto by issuing it on Saturday night during Christmas weekend, a time when few would be paying attention to politics.

Even more damning, when Cuomo released a press statement on Saturday night about the "faux reforms" he and Christie were pushing for the Port Authority, he hid the news of his PA reform bill veto in the last paragraph of the press release - so deep down in the statement that NY 1 staff couldn't figure out if he had actually vetoed the legislation or not.

How's that for a profile in political courage from Andrew Cuomo?

While Cuomo and Christie were hatching this plan to maintain the PA as their personal fiefdom and piggy bank, Cuomo was also planning to veto a bill that would extend tax credits to remediate toxic waste sites.

This tax credit extension veto, like the "safety net" bill veto, was a reversal of course, since Cuomo had said six months before that he would approve the extension while pushing for "reforms" to the program in the next legislative session.

It's an amazing amount of damage that Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has done to the State of New York (and New Jersey, for that matter) in the course of just a few days time.

He has broken promises twice - once to teachers over the "safety net" bill, once to citizens of New York over the environmental clean-up tax credit extension - and has destroyed reform legislation for the Port Authority that was passed 612-0 by legislators in two states and pushed his own "faux" reform plan that has little chance to pass.

He has tried to hide his dirty deeds by pulling them at the end of the year, between Christmas and New Years, when many people are engaged with family and not paying attention to the political landscape, but teachers were paying attention and they intend to let Cuomo know it today at the Executive Mansion when Cuomo holds his annual New Years Eve Open House.

This is the right strategy - to take Cuomo on directly.

The only way to deal with a criminal and a bully like Andrew Cuomo is to take him on, right to his face, and keep on taking him on.

Cuomo does not understand compromise (he views it as weakness), his promises are worthless (as we have seen demonstrated twice in the last week alone) and he will never do the right thing for the citizens of the State of New York unless he is forced to do it by political pressure.

Cuomo himself indicated this when he said it was the constant badgering and haranguing by anti-fracking protesters that helped bring about the anti-fracking ban in New York State.

There's a terrific lesson in how the anti-fracking movement pushed Cuomo on the issue and made him do the right thing.

Cuomo feared the anti-fracking protesters and in the end, after years of being followed all around the state by anti-frackers with placards and signs, ceded ground on that issue.

If parents and teachers mount protests against Andrew Cuomo again and again, wherever he appears, hitting him on his hypocrisy over Common Core, over the Endless Testing regime he is pursuing in this state, over the evaluation system that causes so much of the overtesting to begin with, over his deliberately underfunding many school districts while the state imposes more and more mandates on them, and over his taking millions from charter school advocates and operators and pushing to greatly expand charter schools around the state, you will see an Andrew Cuomo in fear, an Andrew Cuomo on his heels, and Andrew Cuomo shrinking from the fight - just as you did in the fracking battle.

Andrew Cuomo is a bully and the only way to handle a bully is to stand up to him directly in a fight.

Today's anti-Cuomo protest at the Executive Mansion in Albany is ostensibly about Cuomo's veto of the "safety net" bill, but it's really about so much else too - his attacks on the public education system, his disdain for parents and teachers, his promotion of the Common Core and testing (even as he claims to be on the side of parents on this issue), his advocating for charter schools as he sucks up millions in charter school supporters campaign donations, his criminality and corruption.

When it comes to Andrew Cuomo, there's a lot to protest - so have at it, folks.

It's #CallOutCuomo time.

Still Can't Get Past The Chutzpah Of Cuomo Pushing "Comprehensive Reforms" For Teacher Evaluations Two Days After Rejecting The Same For The Port Authority

Two separate piece in LoHud point to the hypocrisy of Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The first, from Jon Campbell:

In June, Gov. Andrew Cuomo negotiated and proposed a bill that claimed to "protect New York's standing as a national leader in teacher evaluation."

Six months later, Cuomo vetoed the very same bill, saying it doesn't "fix the foundational issues with the teacher evaluation system."

...

In his veto message, Cuomo promised to propose "comprehensive reforms" to the teacher evaluation system next year.

The second, from the LoHud editorial board:

Over the weekend between Christmas and New Year's, when little government work gets done, Govs. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Chris Christie of New Jersey pulled the plug on much-needed reforms at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. In the same breath, they touted their quest for "accountability" at the lapdog agency.

On Saturday night, the governors announced vetoes of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Transparency and Accountability Act of 2014, dual bills passed unanimously in both states' legislatures. The legislation promised more transparency and less political maneuvering at the Port Authority. The huge agency's responsibilities include international airports; the largest port in North America; key bridge, tunnel and rail crossings; and the World Trade Center site.

Don't worry, the governors pledged in a joint press release announcing the vetoes, they have a plan. The governors would enact a series of reforms (also needed) suggested by their own panel.

Apparently, the embarrassment of Bridgegate – in which Christie's buddies at the Port shut down local lanes on the George Washington Bridge for a mysterious "traffic study" in what quacked like political payback – wasn't enough. It seems the Port Authority's power – and money – are hard to give up.

...

The governors' promised reforms include streamlining the Port's leadership structure and taking certain appointments directly out of the hands of the governors.

Such measures would be a complement, not a competition, to the legislative proposals. There was no valid excuse to reject the bi-state bills that had garnered overwhelming support. But, it appears, the authority's deep pockets and current opacity are hard to resist.

To sum up:

Faux reformer Cuomo put the shiv into Port Authority reform on Saturday night (reform passed 612-0 in the NY and NJ legislatures, btw) and pushed his own PA reform (which Tom Moran of the Star Ledger says has little chance of being enacted), then put the shiv into his own teacher evaluation shield bill on Monday night and said he will push "comprehensive reforms" of the state teacher evaluation system in the next year.

You just can't make this stuff up.

Regents Chancellor Tisch Looks To Turn Page On The "Dr" Ted Morris Mess By Smacking De Blasio Over Charter Renewals

As we know from past experience with the "Dr" Ted Morris mess, literally anybody can get a charter school here in New York State.

So it's interesting when we see Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch and the rest of her merry men and women on the Board of Regents publicly smack Bill de Blasio and Carmen Farina over charter school renewals:

The Board of Regents refused Monday to issue renewals to six under-performing New York City charter schools and asked Chancellor Carmen Fariña to Albany to explain why the city bothered to send up their applications.

The city had asked the Regents to extend two charters through June 2017 and four others through June 2018, instead of the typical five-year period.

But the Regents questioned whether the schools, which fell below the average on state tests last year, could ever make the grade.

“I wouldn’t vote to keep most of these school open,” said Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, according to a Chalkbeat report.

Fariña was invited to the next Regents meeting in January to explain why the city backed the schools.

Make no mistake, Tisch and the Regents want to look "tough" on charters as Cuomo and the Regents prepare their "aggressive" charter expansion agenda for the next legislative session, so it's not hard to get cynical over Tisch's public smack down of Farina and De Blasio over these six charter renewals.

I dunno why De Blasio decided to renew the charters, although NY reporter Lindsey Crist raised a good point:

@NYDNBenChapman @perdidostschool @GDeckernews @joshgreenman I'm serious! They said they wouldn't close schools for low performance right now
— Lindsey Christ (@LindseyChrist) December 15, 2014

@NYDNBenChapman @perdidostschool @GDeckernews @joshgreenman Or is this just what "a moratorium on school closures" looks like?
— Lindsey Christ (@LindseyChrist) December 15, 2014

I had a little more cynical take:

@LindseyChrist @NYDNBenChapman @GDeckernews @joshgreenman How much of this is fallout from de Blasio's loss to Eva?
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) December 15, 2014

@LindseyChrist @NYDNBenChapman @GDeckernews @joshgreenman I bet they remember $5 mil in anti-BdB ads, plummeting polls
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) December 15, 2014

@LindseyChrist @NYDNBenChapman @GDeckernews @joshgreenman Are they overcompensating the other way now?
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) December 15, 2014

In any case, I think you cannot underestimate the cynicism of Merryl Tisch here.

It's not a mistake that she publicly admonishes Farina and de Blasio over these renewals in the weeks after NYSED and the Regents handed a con man a charter school in Rochester.

Nothing like getting "tough" in the latest battle to make the memory of a former one go away. 

The Farewell Speech NYSED Commissioner John King Should Have Given

Here is the "emotional" farewell speech NYSED Commissioner John King gave yesterday according the Capital NY morning education email:

“Last night … I was thinking about those moments in fourth, fifth and sixth grade, when my father was so sick and my mom had passed, and I didn’t have hope,” he said. “But hope came in school. Hope came in Shakespeare. Hope came in The New York Times. Hope came in the capitals that we memorized in every country in the world. Hope came in knowing that tomorrow I would go to class, and I would learn something, and it would be engaging and challenging and interesting. You bring your students hope. This community brings me hope. It has been a tremendous honor to work alongside our team at [the State Education Department] and … the Board of Regents and every person in this room. I’m very grateful. I look forward to our work together, and I look forward to closing that gap between what is and what ought to be together.” [PRO] http://bit.ly/1wFi6uc

Given how destructive King has been to the public school system and the children and the teachers in that system, how arrogant he has treated parents and teachers, how much creativity and joy he has sucked out of education, this is the speech he should have given:

I was thinking about all the hope and joy I was given in school when I was a child, all the hope and joy that my children are given in the Montessori school I send them to, and all the hope and joy I took out of the public schools in New York by pushing the rote learning of Common Core, the test-based teacher evaluations of APPR, the soul-sapping redundancy in the EngageNY learning modules.  To be frank, my job as NYSED Commissioner was to prove that public schools are failures so that charter schools could flourish.  I was hired for that job, that was the job I worked very hard to carry out.  I wasn't quite successful at destroying the public schools or the children and teachers in those schools, but I came close.  It is my hope that my successor can finish that job so that New York State will be a land of innovation and choice, just like they have in the New Orleans school system.

I went into education because a teacher helped me greatly when I was at one of the lowest points in my life.  I had some very grave family issues and, like many children, I was bringing the emotions I had around those issues to school.  A teacher at my school noticed this and talked to me about the problems I was facing. He gave me hope, he showed me some one cared.

In the school system I have helped to create here in New York State, I wanted to make sure that no teacher can have that opportunity to help a student in emotional need because there is no time for that kind of help.  There is only time for test-based learning, endless professional development, useless focus groups, and all the other mind-numbing, soul-killing corporate drivel we at NYSED have pushed on schools and school staff.

If I were a child today and needed the help that I needed from my teacher, I might not get that help because the teacher would say "I'm sorry, John, I'd like to talk but I have to run off to my daily focus group to talk about my target students. Then I have to keep going on the EngageNY curriculum because every teacher in this school needs to be on the same lesson every day or they risk getting an 'ineffective' on their next Danielson drive-by observation.  Good luck, John..."

So much of what King talked about getting from his own teachers - hope, optimism, honor - is the opposite of what King himself brought to the New York State public school system.

Like many reformers, King is a hypocrite, of course.

He makes sure his own kids are given the nurturing they need by sending them to a Montessori school - this way, they don't have to experience the Reign of Error King and his merry men and women in reform have thrust on public school children.

I wasn't expecting him to acknowledge any of this publicly in his "farewell" remarks.

That's why I did it for him.

Is Bill Cosby Still On The StudentsFirst Board? (UPDATED - 10:40 AM)

StudentsFirst seems to have scrubbed their website a bit.

When I put in a Google search for Bill Cosby + Board of Directors + StudentsFirst, here's what comes up:

StudentsFirst Board of Directors | StudentsFirst.org

https://www.studentsfirst.org/board-directors

StudentsFirst

One of America's most beloved comedians of all time, Bill Cosby has captivated generations of fans with his comedy routines, iconic albums and best-selling ...

And yet, when you click on that link, you don't find the page with the Board of Directors listed or the page with Cosby listed as sitting on the board.

Instead, you just get the StudentsFirst.Org page.

I looked around the StudentsFirst website, including under the "Who We Are" tab.

The Board of Directors page seems to have disappeared from the site.

Now I see plenty of stories about Cosby joining StudentsFirst back in September 2012.

I even see a video of him talking about StudentsFirst and education reform.

But I don't see any stories about him stepping down.

Strange that StudentsFirst.org has lots of information about "Meeting Their Team" - including Michelle Rhee - and learning about their "Mission," but alas, no information about their board.

You'd think they want to publicize information about their board, especially since there are some real luminaries sitting on it, including Roland Martin, Joel Klein, Connie Chung and Bill Cosby.

It's as if something happened recently that made them decide to scrub their Board of Directors page, but rather than own up to it, they did it in the dark and hoped nobody noticed.

Now it's possible I've gotten this all wrong here and I'm just missing the information about the Board of Directors at StudentsFirst and all the wonderful members on it.

It's possible that I'm just missing the information about Cosby and his commitment to education reform and children on the Studentsfirst website.

Or it's possible that Cosby stepped down and I'm missing the notice for that on the World Wide Web.

Though I don't think this is the case - Valerie Strauss has a Washington Post piece dated August 13, 2014 about Michelle Rhee stepping down from StudentsFirst and joining Miracle Gro and Cosby is said to still be a member of the StudentsFirst board as of that date.

So it seems likely Cosby was still a member of the StudentsFirst Board of Directors when the sexual assault allegations against Cosby that have long been in the public domain went viral the past few weeks.

It seems that StudentsFirst wanted to distance themselves from the sexual assault (including statutory rape) allegations against Cosby as quickly and as quietly as they could.

If they did want to distance themselves from Cosby and the growing scandal around him, it's a shame they didn't go public and explain EXACTLY why they wanted to do that.

Berklee College of Music did just that with a scholarship Cosby sponsored at the school.

Alas, it seems the "students first" people at StudentsFirst haven't take that same route.

That's a shame - this could have been a teachable moment for us all, as the "Blame Teachers First" crowd turned on one of their own who looks to be a serial sexual assaulter.

You can bet if this was a teacher alleged to have committed these egregious acts, the StudentsFirst crowd wouldn't have gone quietly.

But they seem to have taken the coward's route out instead and scrubbed him away in the middle of the night.

If I've gotten any of this wrong, I will publicly apologize to StudentsFirst and Michelle Rhee herself  for vilifying them for secretly scrubbing their ties away to a man alleged to have committed at least 18 acts of sexual assault and more coming out every day.

Just let me know, StudentsFirst folks.

Is Bill Cosby still a member of your board or not?

UPDATED - 10:40 AM: Patrick Sullivan left the following comment on the post:

 Looks like they took their board page down. Google has a cached copy as of 10/31 that includes Cosby. This link should bring it up:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:mWnrmFEAN-QJ:https://www.studentsfirst.org/board-directors

It seems Michelle Rhee and StudentsFirst did not have the guts to go public with their cutting Cosby loose.

Too bad, but not unexpected.

After all, Rhee helped sexual misconduct allegations against her husband, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, go away.

It seems Ms. Rhee and her fellow ed deformers are only looking for accountability against people who are accused of sexual misconduct when they're teachers.

13 Rape Allegations (Including One Statutory) Against Bill Cosby, But Whoopi Goldberg Still Defends Him

From the Daily News:

A shrill, backstage brawl at “The View” Wednesday left co-host Rosie Perez in tears while panelists Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O’Donnell battled over how to cover the latest allegations against Bill Cosby and the racially charged upheaval in Ferguson, Mo., sources said.

O’Donnell believed the show — now overseen by ABC News — needed to delve deeper into both controversial subjects, while Goldberg wanted to steer clear of the topics altogether.

Ultimately, both news stories were discussed at length on the air by the panel.

“There’s terrible frustration and there are problems,” a source close to the show told the Daily News. “Whoopi didn’t want to talk about Cosby and Ferguson, Rosie (O’Donnell) did — how could you not? These are topics that are uncomfortable for everyone, but it’s ‘The View’ and it’s their job to talk about topics that might make some people tense.”

Whoopi was happy to bash "bad teachers" not once but twice over the summer, claiming teacher tenure protects them.

Yet she defends her pal Cosby - now with 13 public rape allegations against him including one with an underage girl of 15 - by trying to ensure "The View" steers clear of the topic.

This comes after she defended him earlier in the week and attacked one of his accusers, saying she had "lots of questions" for her.

Apparently Whoopi doesn't want to address any of those questions publicly on "The View" anymore.

Another teacher-basher exposed as a hypocrite and a phony.

Hey, Whoopi - if you have such concern for the kids, why not let "The View" cover the Cosby story, including the allegation that your friend Bill Cosby repeatedly had sex with an underage girl?

Good God - the show is supposed to cover the news.

The public implosion of the iconic Bill Cosby into sexual predator and statutory rapist certainly is news.

And like I said in an earlier post - you can bet if this was a teacher accused of these crimes, you'd be one of the first throwing stones.

Who's Cuomo Kidding?

Cuomo complains Astorino won't release five years of tax returns:

“I have never, I can’t recall a serious gubernatorial candidate or attorney general candidate who didn’t release at least five years of taxes. George Pataki did. Any serious candidate did on both sides of the aisle, and it’s a way of saying this is who I am, basically,” Mr. Cuomo aid. “Now for Astorino, he was county executive during those years, so this should have been very simple because he was working of the public, and he was under the public ethics law. If he’s not releasing his taxes then the question is: why not, and what does he have to hide. and what was he doing while he was a public servant?”

You want to know how transparent Cuomo is about his taxes?

This transparent:

Seems New York’s governor doesn’t know his assessor from his elbow.

Andrew Cuomo found himself in an embarrassing position after his girlfriend, celebrity cook Sandra Lee, barred the county tax assessor from entering the six-bedroom New Castle home she shares with him.

She had good reason. Lee knew that if she let the assessor in to see the work done, the assessment would go up — and with it their property taxes. But she made one mistake.

Let’s put it this way: If you want to keep your renovations secret, it’s probably not a good idea to let magazines in to report on them. Turns out tax assessors can read People and New York and Elle Decor too.

When the Journal News looked into the Lee-Cuomo digs on the aptly named Bittersweet Lane, it found Lee had failed to get building permits.

If she had, of course, it would have tipped off tax assessors. When asked if the tax assessor had been refused entry to his home, the governor pleaded ignorance, triggering charges of tax evasion. 

The hypocrisy of Andrew Cuomo know no bounds.

When A FOX 5 Reporter Was Arrested For Child Molestation And Remained On The Murdoch Payroll

There's been a lot of outrage in the news tabloids this week that the Brooklyn Tech teacher accused of sexually abusing students hasn't been fired already from his teaching job.

The Brooklyn Tech teacher currently resides in Rikers Island, so it's not like he's teaching his classes at this moment, but the usual teacher trolls want him fired immediately because taking time to investigate any allegations made against a teacher takes too long and any teacher accused of doing anything needs to be fired from their teaching job immediately, truth of the accusations or allegations be damned.

Ironically, back in 2010 FOX 5 reporter Charles Leaf was arrested for allegedly molesting a little girl and was NOT immediately fired by the NY Post's parent company, News Corp (which also owned FOX 5.)

Now if Leaf had been a teacher, the NY Post would have tried him in the court of public opinion immediately, declared him guilty before his criminal trial and called for his firing within hours of his arrest.

But that's not what News Corporation officials did at the time.

Nope - instead they suspended him, pending further investigation into the matter.

Here's my blog post at the time noting that if Leaf had been a teacher, he wouldn't have gotten the same treatment from News Corp:

Saturday, October 9, 2010

But If He Were A Teacher, They'd Say Fire Him

An employee of Rupert Murdoch's Fox 5 TV station has been arrested on child molestation charges:

Acclaimed Fox 5 reporter Charles Leaf was suspended Friday after he was accused of molesting a 4-year-girl inside his New Jersey home.

The 40-year-old Leaf was arrested Thursday at his Wyckoff home on charges of aggravated sexual assault on a minor and endangering the welfare of children, authorities said.

"Fox 5 management is aware of the matter and that Charles Leaf has been suspended pending further investigation," said a station spokeswoman.

Notice how Fox 5 management has NOT fired the employee, but is rather suspending him first and conducting an investigation next to make sure the charges are true BEFORE they fire him.

That's a kind of due process and it makes reasonable sense to, you know, look into charges before you fire somebody.

And Fox is treating Leaf like this even though when he called in sick to work on Thursday, the day he was arrested, he never mentioned the arrest.

He simply asked "for a day off to deal with family issues."

Now if Charles Leaf were a teacher, the very same Murdoch media machine would be clamoring for his immediate dismissal sans investigation.

Allegations would be reason enough to fire him.

An actual arrest would be "proof" that he needed to be fired.

Even though every once in a while, the police arrest somebody on molestation charges who is actually, uh, innocent - even in the school system that the New York tabloids like to disparage so much.

Take this man:

After days of falsely being portrayed as a child rapist, a Brooklyn school custodian broke down in tears yesterday as the charges against him were dismissed.

"Just kill me," a distraught Francis Evelyn, 58, muttered to family members who tried to soothe him as he left Brooklyn Criminal Court.

Evelyn had been led out of Public School 91 in Wingate in handcuffs on Monday and spent two days in jail at Rikers Island after an 8-year-old girl said he had repeatedly molested her in a basement bathroom between Feb. 1 and March 9.

But the Trinidad native knew he was innocent.

"I went through hell," Evelyn later told Channel 7 news.

He said he would never forget being in jail - his first time ever behind bars, the station reported.

"They were threatening me, and tell me they're going to take me out, they're gonna cut my throat," he said. "It's their sister, their niece. It was hell."

His niece Hazel Smith told the Daily News her uncle was devastated.

"He's been stripped. You don't strip a good man. It's like my uncle, he was raped also," she said. "He has neighbors, he has kids. He's good inside his heart."

But she said the family held no malice for the accuser.

"She has something going on with her life and my uncle had to pay the price for it," Smith said. "I hope the child gets the help she needs."

Questions about the case quickly surfaced after sources said the second-grader had been abused in the past and had recently accused another student.

Tuesday night, prosecutors rushed to court to request that Evelyn be released on his own recognizance after initially asking for $150,000 bail.

"People are dismissing the charges due to insufficient evidence," prosecutor Roger McCreedy told Judge William Garnett yesterday as Evelyn clasped his hands and bowed his head.

"Dismissed and sealed," Garnett responded.

School officials reinstated Evelyn to his job a few hours later.

PS 91's widely respected principal, Solomon Long, has been yanked from the post he held for 16 years for allegedly failing to report an abuse charge the child previously made against another person.

Long remains exiled at a district office, pending an investigation. The principals union is calling for him to be returned to his post.

For his part, Evelyn has one wish for his future.

"I want my name to be cleared," Evelyn told Channel 7. "I want to walk the street with my head up."

In the Murdoch world, Evelyn's name would never be cleared.

It seems only if you're a Murdoch employee, like Charles Leaf (or Bill O'Reilly, for that matter), are you given the benefit of an investigation before they tarnish your reputation for life and call for your immediate firing.

The Leaf case has another parallel to the Brooklyn Tech case - like the Brooklyn Tech teacher who had been accused of beating a boy a few years before he was hired as a teacher by the DOE (though he was not convicted of any crime in the alleged incident), FOX 5 reporter Charles Leaf had a allegations of violence in his past:

POSTSCRIPT: Leaf sounds like a typical Murdoch creep. According to the DailyNews, this isn't the first time he has found trouble:

Known for his aggressive style, Leaf, an ex-Marine, began working for Fox 5 in 2006 and has won two Emmy awards, according to his profile on myfoxny.com.

Leaf previously worked as a TV reporter in several cities, including Denver, Detroit and Mobile, Ala.

It's not the first time Leaf's conduct has become the subject of unsavory headlines.

In November 1999, Leaf, then a reporter in Mobile, Ala., was sued by a local councilwoman who alleged that the newsman attacked her while trying to interview her for a story.

Frela Wojciechowski said in the suit that Leaf pursued her to her car after a meeting and slammed the door on her arms and legs when she refused to talk.

Leaf abruptly left the station, WPMI. The suit was later settled, and no criminal charges were filed.

I wanted to write this post about Charles Leaf (who has since been convicted of molestation and been sentenced to prison) and the Brooklyn Tech teacher to point out the hypocrisy of the tabloids in the Tech case, particularly the hypocrisy of the people at the NY Post.

When it's a teacher accused of sex crimes, they go after him with both barrels.

When it's an employee in a subsidiary news outlet of the NY Post's parent company News Corporation, they're completely silent - even as the accused was not immediately fired or dropped from the payroll.

Randi Weingarten Robocalls For Andrew Cuomo's Pro-Gun, Anti-Immigrants' Rights Running Mate

From Daily Politcs:

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, has done a last-minute robocall for former Buffalo-area Rep. Kathleen Hochul, Gov. Cuomo's preferred lieutenant governor candidate.

Weingarten's call comes a day before the primary between Hochul and insurgent liberal Democratic candidate Tim Wu, a Columbia law professor. Political insiders say Wu has a shot at pulling an upset.
Weingarten is a well-known name in New York as she used to head the powerful city teachers union.

She said she was calling as a "fellow Democrat" and in her role as a National Democratic Committee delegate.

Her support for Hochul comes even as the state and city teacher unions have not endorsed in the race for governor and lieutenant governor.

First off, let's dispense with this jive that the AFT, NYSUT and UFT aren't helping Cuomo out in his re-election bid.

It's true that they never endorsed Cuomo officially, but the work the leaderships of the AFT and UFT did behind the scenes last spring to ensure that Cuomo got the Working Families Party ballot line was a big help to him.

It's one thing for Cuomo to have to worry about his Democratic Party Primary opponent Zephyr Teachout take 20% of the vote in tomorrow's primary.

It's another thing for him to have to worry about her taking 20% of the vote in the general election in November, as might have happened had she gotten the WFP ballot line.

Add the 20% Teachout could've garnered in the general election to the 38% GOP candidate Rob Astorino can be expected to get and suddenly Cuomo's winning re-election with a lot less than 50% of the vote.

But the AFT/UFT/NYSUT leaders made sure that wouldn't happen when they joined a contingent of union leaders who threatened the WFP with dissolution if they endorsed Teachout.

Now here's AFT President Weingarten robocalling for Cuomo's running mate, the very conservative pro-gun, anti-immigrants' rights Kathy Hochul.

Hochul, btw, was a one term member of Congress who's been working lately as a bank lobbyist.

She's got a stellar report card from the NRA for her pro-gun rights stances and an abysmal record on immigrants' rights issues.

Here are Hochul's own statements about her record and issue positions:

I've heard from a lot of Republicans ... they think I'm a different kind of Democrat, and I'll take that as a compliment.

I don't think that many people know that I've always had the Conservative Party endorsement every time I've run for office.

I did not support Obamacare 100 percent, of course. I voted many times to repeal it, so you just need to look at my record.

I led the fight against giving illegal immigrant drivers' licenses.

I voted with Speaker Boehner against the President's policy on Libya .... I'm one of 20 Democrats in the entire country who supported the energy bill.

I support the Keystone Pipeline, unlike the President and his administration.

I'm one of the few Democrats to receive the NRA endorsement.

I've become very conservative in my voting record.

I've talked to hundreds of people—many, many conservatives and Republicans, and they are with me on the issues.

Hochul now claims to support the DREAM Act, but given her past stances on immigrants' rights issues, you can certainly be skeptical of her conversion to pro-DREAM Act.

That Weingarten, who claims to care about gun control and the DREAM Act, is robocalling for Hochul shows you just how much work the teachers union leaders are doing to help Andrew Cuomo in this election cycle.

It also exposes Weingarten's hypocrisy that she can robocall for a candidate as abhorent to Weingarten's own views on gun control and immigrants' rights issues.

But that's par for the course with the teachers unions leaders in general and Randi Weingarten in particular - saying one thing publicly while doing behind the scenes work to bring about an opposite outcome.

Remember Weingarten's robocalls for the bank lobbyist with the A+ NRA report card and the abysmal immigrants' rights record the next time Randi jives in public about guns or the DREAM Act.

And know that whatever it is Weingarten is saying about the gun or immigrants' rights issues she doesn't really mean it.

Know that all she cares about is power and access - even if that means robocalling for a right-wing pro-gun, anti-immigrants' rights bank lobbyist that Andrew Cuomo wants as lieutenant governor.