Revive NYSUT Supporters School Me
1. You aren't telling the whole story.
That's true. I paint what I see. If there's another side of the story, you're free to tell it. And if you do a good enough job of it, you might persuade me. Thus far, I've seen little or nothing that does that.
2. Former President Iannuzzi had two pensions.
That's true too. But Iannuzzi worked 34 years as a teacher and earned his first pension. Whatever he gets from NYSUT he earned after the fact. He did not earn the pensions concurrently.
3. You're siding with the Koch Brothers when you criticize the union.
That's what you call a strawman fallacy, combined with a guilt by association fallacy. I've never sided with the Koch Brothers. I'm just a little rankled by outright hypocrisy. I traveled all over the state listening to the Revive team complain about perks taken by leadership, and yet when it comes to feathering their own nests, they didn't hesitate for a moment. They specifically stated they opposed Common Core, yet Magee just suggested to AFT the alternative was chaos. In their campaign literature they compared Cuomo to Scott Walker, yet they failed to endorse pro-teacher Zephyr Teachout against him. They did this not once, but twice, and it was particularly egregious that they failed to support her on the Working Families line. Why on earth isn't Working Families supporting a pro-working families candidate, and if they aren't, why do we even need them?
Did any of these positions help them get their sweetheart bill passed? Is it a coincidence it happened concurrently with an evaluation deal? I can't prove it one way or the other. But they can't either, and their actions certainly do little to enhance their credibility.
4. They aren't perks because a lot of people have them.
That's ridiculous. UFT just sent 800 people to Los Angeles at a cost of 2 million dollars. It's not like we didn't know how each and every one of NYC Educator: Revive NYSUT Supporters School Me: