Thursday, April 2, 2015

Wall Street Journal: Mulgrew's "Victory" Claim Made Cuomo Come Down Harder On Teachers

From Mike Vilensky in the Wall Street Journal:

Although Mr. Cuomo and legislative leaders on Sunday said they had reached a deal, interviews with lawmakers, aides and other Albany players revealed that it unraveled almost immediately, damaged by a war of words between the governor and the teachers union that affected the language of the education bill.

...

In a statement announcing the budget deal late Sunday, Mr. Cuomo said it represented “a complete overhaul of the entrenched education bureaucracy.” Mr. Mulgrew issued a competing statement, saying that legislators had stomped Mr. Cuomo’s “corporate” initiatives.

Mr. Mulgrew’s comments rankled the governor, said people familiar with the matter, and “there were changes made in response,” Mr. Benedetto said. From Sunday to Tuesday, “there was a reaction to it, which delayed the process terribly, and modified the final education wording,” he said.

Details of the bill that emerged after Sunday caught Democratic Assembly members off-guard and upset them, several of them said.

A Cuomo spokesman denied that any changes were made in response to Mr. Mulgrew’s comments. Cuomo administration officials said negotiations continued after Sunday, but the substance of the bills remained the same.

Isn't it time we send UFT President Mulgrew packing?

Now you see why the conflict between NYSUT and the UFT emerged in public, with NYSUT urging legislators to vote no on the education bill and the UFT telling legislators it would not be held against them.

They were pissed off at Mulgrew's bufoonery that seemingly made things worse in the end.

I'm skeptical that much changed from Sunday to Tuesday in the bill, but it's possible some of the more odious (and unexpected) stuff that's in the bill got there during the time frame.

It's just as likely that legislators are trying to pin the blame for having to take a tough vote on the budget bill on Mulgrew than anything else.

Still, it's an interesting story, that we have Mulgrew to blame for an even worse budget bill.

Perhaps we have Mike Mulgrew to thank for the loss of permanent certification and the inclusion of the "Moral Character Review" provision.

12 comments:

  1. Democratic Assembly members are upset? Does anyone have a moral compass? What are the consequences of a late budget? What are the consequences of the demise of public education and democracy?

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    1. It's true - they act like they're the ones who got screwed in the budget. Hell, nothing happened to them except a little extra disclosure with enough loopholes that nothing will actually get disclosed.

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  2. Yes, 9:25am, this is a turning point. See William Calla for support and understanding. Forward to William Calla.
    It's time to walk:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWlSEDENTQ0

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  3. You have the WSJ saying one thing and the DN saying Mulgrew told State Dems to vote YES. I think this story is a way of defecting from the DN story which is the one I believe and is the reason Unity must go. My feeling is that Mulgrew and Cuomo set this while thing up otherwise Teachout would be our governor.

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  4. It is pretty clear to me that Unity has to go and I am a Long Island teacher. I will go one better: Andy Pallotta has to go and Magee and the rest of her crew should at least offer to resign. NYSUT got whipped, no doubt about it. It should not endorse a single one of the legislators that betrayed us. Period. If they do, it is an insult to every teacher in the state.

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  5. The legislators are obviously not worried about losing teacher and parents votes

    God knows what the hedge funders are promising them

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    Replies
    1. Money trumps votes because they know they can sway votes by spending the cash on PR. They're not worried about being held accountable for the betrayal.

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  6. This may sound like a redundant question, but how can we finally get rid of Mulgrew? What steps can we take to finally send this guy packing? And if it at all possible, it would even be better if he can be removed in handcuffs. That would definitely prevent him from punching anyone in the face if they threaten to take his Common Core away...Give us the tools, and we will do the job!

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    1. I am sorry but I agree with 1 31 in that Mulgrew really needs to go. I mean look at other union leaders and you see strong willed people who are not afraid to go in front of media cameras and venues to voice the real truth and not this daily news ny post crap. Mulgrew has been silenced ever since bloomberg days. Further, any real leader of a union would never allow the atr fiaso to continue as long as it has. A strong, competent leader would have first off been screaming to the press and public that teachers in the pool are great teachers and not what the daily news and the post preach. Second, a strong leader would have gone to the Doe and said hey, lets get rid of this insane system forced into our faces from bloomberg and klein. But no. Mulgrew's strategy is to fight from behind the bunkers. aka. - Mulgrew's strategy was for all of us UFT members to shout as loud as we could on twitter?? A real leader gets the read story out there but Mulgrew has allowed others to constantly pound our profession without ever challenging the propaganda. I am sorry but Mulgrew really needs to go.

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    2. It becomes clearer and clearer that he's working for the other side. Seriously. Nobody could be as dumb as this dude. Dunno what he's being paid to set us up, but you can bet he is. Too many screw-ups from him (and his boss, Randi) for it to be anything else.

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  7. I don't buy the Wall Street angle on this story at all. First, the WSJ is no friend of any worker anywhere. That is always their angle.

    Second, I can't believe that the clashing of two big egos in final negotiations could make such drastic changes in the education system based on hubris. This has been in the works for months.

    Third, Mulgrew and Weingarten ARE responsible for this because in the war for public education, they have left our side leaderless. The Democrats and Republicans launched this assault on teachers because Mulgrew and Weingarten signaled they will stand down.

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    1. I agree, I'm skeptical much was changed as a result of the Mulgrew "victory" declaration. The sellout was in the works for awhile - Mulgrew was reported to be negotiating behind the scenes w/ Cuomo's people by himself.

      I do think Cuomo didn't like the self-serving spin from Mulgrew and he might have added one or two more odious things to the budget. But most of that stuff was there to begin with.

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