New emails detail Kevin Johnson’s fight with national mayors’ group | The Sacramento Bee

New emails detail Kevin Johnson’s fight with national mayors’ group | The Sacramento Bee:

New emails detail Kevin Johnson’s fight with national mayors’ group

The city of Sacramento on Monday fulfilled a judge’s order to release more than 70 email documents relating to Mayor Kevin Johnson’s controversial takeover of an embattled black mayors group in 2013.

The emails between Johnson, his city staff and associates show the lengths to which he sought to oust leaders of the National Conference of Black Mayors that year. More than 6,100 pages of emails released last year captured the vast efforts by Johnson to take over the organization with help from city staff and volunteers, but the new documents provide additional details.

The documents cover a period beginning in late June 2013, shortly after Johnson took control of the black mayors’ group in a contentious move that ultimately led to a prolonged court battle. The documents released Monday largely deal with the fallout of Johnson’s takeover and his subsequent attempt to fire the organization’s executive director, Vanessa Williams.

The emails show Johnson was closely involved in her removal and that he personally conducted at least one exit interview with her staff to collect information detailing claimed financial irregularities. Johnson also personally negotiated with Williams to attempt to settle the ongoing dispute outside of court, according to the documents.

Johnson wrote some of the emails himself. In one dated July 11, 2013, he expresses a need to respond to a media report about the situation.

“We need to refute this asap … we cannot let this stand,” he wrote from his campaign email address. The email continues that “credibility is being chipped away.”

Some of the documents from Johnson’s staff appear on a letterhead that reads “Office of the Mayor.” However, it is not city letterhead and bears the logo – “A city that works for everyone” – from Johnson’s personal campaign website.

Many of the newly released emails come from Johnson’s campaign accounts or from Google mail accounts containing “omkj” in the name, for “Office of Mayor Kevin Johnson.”

In August 2013, Johnson associate Aisha Lowe jokingly suggested that the mayor’s team should ask Williams to resign by sending an email with the subject line, “Why don’t you just leave already?” She followed up with an email clarifying, “That was a joke. Don’t actually use that :)”

Lowe was the head of Stand Up, an education advocacy group that Johnson founded in 2006, for which the mayor raised nearly $4 million in behest contributions. In a July 2013 email, she also described herself as “interim director of African American Affairs” for the mayor’s office.

While Johnson faced criticism for using city staff to take over NCBM, his spokesman last year said Johnson’s NCBM leadership benefited Sacramento by raising the city’s profile in Washington, D.C., and was therefore legitimate city business. Johnson has argued that some of the emails should remain confidential because they were not sent from city email accounts and should not be subject to public disclosure laws.

Johnson’s spokeswoman, Crystal Strait, suggested that he faced scrutiny because it was an African American organization. She said other city officials use city resources to work with outside groups without drawing attention.

“He has been warned by many people that this isn’t worth it,” she said. “There wasn’t anything for him in it but I think ... it really speaks to the fact to how dedicated he is to making sure that African Americans … have a voice.”

Strait added that the mayor opposed releasing the emails because both the original case in Georgia courts and a secondary case involving the group’s bankruptcy are ongoing. He disputed the release based on legal advice, she said.

Johnson and the black mayors’ group sued the city and the Sacramento News & Review last year, arguing that about 160 email documents should be withheld under attorney-client privilege in response to the newspaper’s records request. The News & Review argued that all of the documents should be public record.

After the list was reduced to 113 documents in question, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Christopher Krueger ruled earlier this month that only 38 documents were completely privileged, and that Johnson had to release 75 documents, some with redactions. Four of the 75 released Monday were blank; it was not clear why.

Although The Bee submitted its own request for the documents last year, the newspaper was not listed as a respondent in the mayor’s lawsuit after agreeing to allow the city attorney to independently determine whether correspondence was subject to attorney-client privilege.

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Anita Chabria: 916-321-1049, @chabriaa

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article90434137.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article90434137.html#storylink=cpy

 New emails detail Kevin Johnson’s fight with national mayors’ group | The Sacramento Bee:

Big Education Ape: SN&R prevails in yearlong First Amendment battle with Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson - Sacramento News & Review - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/sn-prevails-in-yearlong-first-amendment.html

Big Education Ape: Judge rules in favor of SN&R in Kevin Johnson lawsuit - Sacramento News & Review -http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/judge-rules-in-favor-of-sn-in-kevin.html

Big Education Ape: The latest on those Kevin Johnson emails - Sacramento News & Review -http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-latest-on-those-kevin-johnson.html

DPS pays $285K to sue two teachers over sickouts

DPS pays $285K to sue two teachers over sickouts:

DPS pays $285K to sue two teachers over sickouts

Detroit — While Detroit Public Schools was pleading its case to lawmakers for a financial rescue package this year, it was racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to sue two teachers it accuses of causing widespread sickouts, according to records obtained by The Detroit News.

From January to May, attorney George Butler and associates of the Dickinson Wright law firm in Detroit billed the district for more than $285,000 — a figure that does not include June or July legal fees, according to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

Asked how the district, which is receiving a $617 million bailout from state lawmakers, can justify the expense on a lawsuit against the teachers, district spokeswoman Chrystal Wilson said: “I can’t provide a comment on pending litigation.”

Butler did not respond to requests for comment.

During a recent hearing on the district’s case, Butler told Judge Cynthia Stephens he is charging the district $475 an hour, a figure confirmed by DPS assistant general counsel Marquita Sylvia. The district has accused ousted Detroit Federation of Teachers president Steve Conn and East English Village Academy High School teacher Nicole Conaway of prompting teacher sickouts that caused widespread school closures this past school year.

“That must be your discount rate,” said Stephens, to which Butler responded: “Yes.”

DPS has in-house lawyers but went outside to hire Dickinson Wright. Sylvia said the district decided to use the law firm because “outside counsel is engaged for specialized matters which require certain expertise and or to augment the efforts of in-house counsel.”

Attorney Shanta Driver, defending both teachers, said she is working for free.

Stephens is expected to rule by Sunday.

DPS Emergency Manager Steven Rhodes had warned in April that the sickouts could cost the district $2 million in state funding if it failed to meet minimum instruction hours for the school year. Rhodes said the state “can make a claim against the district for overpayment.”

As of Monday, Wilson said the district had not received notice from the state Department of Education of any penalties.

It is not clear how much DPS incurred in costs for such expenses as meals that weren’t served and wages for nonteaching staff during the sickouts. The district could not immediately provide a breakdown Monday.

Conn, who teaches at Western International High School, is defiant.

“(Gov. Rick) Snyder and Rhodes are desperately trying to suppress opposition to their Detroit policies because they know how full well their policies are opposed in Detroit,” Conn said.

The hefty legal fees come as the impoverished district, which became known as Detroit Public Schools Community District as of July 1, was forced to dismiss summer school classes early twice this month because it could not afford central air conditioning in the buildings.

There are no plans to equip those buildings with air conditioning, Wilson said.

“In instances where students could be temporarily placed in air-conditioned buildings, those measures were implemented,” Wilson said. “However, early dismissals were implemented for school buildings without air conditioning. There are approximately 50 buildings in the district without air conditioning.”

Wilson did say more than $300,000 in redirected funds have been spent on “corrective action,” including repairing a steam heat line earlier this year under Spain Elementary-Middle School that had prevented students from using the playground.

Disputed school board president LaMar Lemmons called the legal bills “preposterous.”

“The district could hire at least five teachers with benefits and reduce class size,” he said. “I don’t like to see students out of the classroom, but some teachers may have coordinated their sick days in an effort to bring attention to deplorable conditions, and that is in keeping with historical civil nonviolent disobedience.”

Retired Detroit Federation of Teachers president Keith Johnson said during his seven-year tenure as president, and 21 years of union leadership, he never heard of the district going after two teachers in a lawsuit of this magnitude. He said six teachers could be hired for that amount.

“If they really want to address this situation prudently, there’s a provision in our collective bargaining agreement that deals with strike prohibition,” he said.

Detroit Federation of Teachers interim president Ivy Bailey, originally among more than 20 being sued before some defendants were dropped from the suit, did not respond to a request for comment.

Experts said the district’s decision to pursue the case raises some questions about its DPS pays $285K to sue two teachers over sickouts:

Clinton rallies teachers union convention in Minneapolis | #AFT100 #AFT16

Clinton rallies teachers union convention in Minneapolis | KARE11.com:

Clinton rallies with teachers convention in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS -- Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton headlined the American Federation of Teachers national convention and gave a nod to the family of Philando Castile, a Twin Cities man who died in an officer-involved shooting July 6.

The former Secretary of State knew she was in friendly territory, because the AFT was the first national union to endorse her current run for the presidency. Clinton was joined on stage by US Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, and gave a nod to the Minnesota political icon in the audience, former Vice President Walter Mondale.

Then she turned to another matter that has put the state in the world spotlight recently.

"Philando Castile died in a police incident outside St. Paul," Clinton said. "And I just had the great honor and the great privilege of meeting with his mother and two of his uncles and his sister."

At that point in the speech a small band of protesters started chanting, "Hands up! Don't shoot!" and marched through the convention floor carrying a large fabric sign that read, "Don't vote! Revolt!"

The protesters were drowned out by a chorus of "Hillary! Hillary!" and then gently shown the door.

The candidate never stopped speaking.

"I share the urgency and the commitment to actually address these issues," Clinton declared. "We cannot let this madness continue! A lot of people are still in pain right here, including his courageous family!"

The Democratic standard bearer also condemned the ambush attacks that claimed the lives of five police officers in Dallas and three lawmen in Baton Rouge.

"This hate, this violence, cannot stand. Killing police officers is a crime against us all, there can be no justification, no looking the other way," she said. "This must end!"

She said American must acknowledge that they need law enforcement, at the same time they recognize the need to improve police relationships with communities of color.

Clinton went on to defend the ever broadening roles of public school teachers, and to pledge more resources to help them do their jobs.

"We ask you to help right wrongs, from poverty and homelessness, to the legacy of racial inequities stretching back centuries," she asserted. "We ask so much of you and we don’t give you enough in return."

She talked about the need to support students who need extra help, from special education to mental health services, which is one of the responsibilities of the much maligned US Dept. of Education.

"So many kids have the weight of the world on their little shoulders, and we have to tackle all the problems holding our kids back. We need to do it together."

The reiterated her support tuition-free college education for students from families that earn less than $125,000 per year.  She also voiced support for a student debt forgiveness program for those who stay in the teach profession at least 10 years.

The union members, which include public school teachers, nurses, paraprofessionals, bus drivers and college instructors, said they feel their professions are under attack by those looking to shift tax dollars to private school options.

"We are going to continue to oppose vouchers that drain resources from public schools and undermine their ability to undermine the education our children deserve!" Clinton told the crowd of educators and union officers.

"And I will defend your right to organize and bargain collectively, and we will not stand for attempts to privatize public services!"

Clinton used part of her time to criticize her opponent, Republican Donald Trump.  She said his choice of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as a running mate made it clear Trump doesn't won't support educators.

"Neither Mike Pence nor Donald Trump should be anywhere near our children’s education." 

(© 2016 KARE)Clinton rallies teachers union convention in Minneapolis | KARE11.com:

Turkey's education ministry reportedly fires 15,200 for ties to failed coup | Fox News

Turkey's education ministry reportedly fires 15,200 for ties to failed coup | Fox News:

Turkey's education ministry reportedly fires 15,200 for ties to failed coup

DEVELOPING: Turkey's ministry of education announced Tuesday it sacked 15,200 personnel, including 1,577 university deans, for alleged involvement with a group the government claims plotted Friday's deadly failed coup, in the latest mass crackdown against government workers there.

The National Education Ministry said Tuesday that the staffers were in both urban and rural establishments, and that an investigation was launched against them, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

The government accused U.S.-based cleric Fetullah Gulen of plotting the coup and demanded the U.S. extradite him. Turkey sent dossiers containing details of Gulen's activities to the U.S., deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus said.

Earlier, Secretary of State John Kerry said that while he recognized the need to apprehend the coup plotters, "We caution against a reach that goes beyond that."

Sweeping purges in the aftermath of the coup have seen the dismissal of thousands from the judiciary, police force, military, administrative and religious affairs departments.

Also Tuesday, Anadolu reported that Turkey's media regulatory agency canceled all broadcast rights and licenses for any media outlets linked to or supporting the group behind the failed coup.

The agency said the Supreme Board of Radio and Television voted unanimously to revoke permissions for "any radio or television outlet connected with or supportive of" the group linked to Gulen.

The vague directive doesn't identify specific media outlets, leaving it open for interpretation. Officials at the Turkish Journalist Association said they were discussing the new directive and had no immediate comment.

Domestic and international groups have condemned the crackdown against media outlets in the aftermath of the attempted coup.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Turkey's education ministry reportedly fires 15,200 for ties to failed coup | Fox News:

Of Idaho legislators, an attempted coup and charter schools

Of Idaho legislators, an attempted coup and charter schools:

OF IDAHO LEGISLATORS, AN ATTEMPTED COUP AND CHARTER SCHOOLS

Over the course of 2011, 13 Idaho legislators toured Turkey.

The lawmakers had to pay their own way halfway across the globe, but once they got to Turkey, their hotels, meals and travels were bankrolled by the Pacifica Institute, a group of Turkish-Americans. The group said its mission was “to develop social capital — the creation and extension of positive connections within and between disparate social networks.”

Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg

During the trip, the lawmakers toured Turkish schools and universities. Senate President Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, said the tour provided lawmakers a chance to meet with political, education and business leaders.

Why are those trips of interest, five years after the fact? The Pacifica Institute is aligned with Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen. And Gulen figures prominently in the fallout from Friday’s failed military coup in Turkey — although Gulen’s role in the coup is open to debate. Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan has blamed Gulen with orchestrating the attempted coup. Gulen has denied any involvement, and has accused Erdogan of staging the coup, NBC News reported Monday.

Also of note, in any discussion of Gulen and K-12 policy, is his role in the charter schools movement. As the Washington Post reported Saturday, Gulen has ties to 160 charter schools across the nation — which would constitute one of the nation’s largest charter school networks.

I wrote about the legislators’ trips to Turkey at the time, in my former life as an Idaho Statesman editorial writer and columnist. I hadn’t given those columns much thought until the weekend, when a fellow reporter reminded me of the Idaho-Gulen connection.

So, which legislators took the Pacifica Institute up on its invite?

The list includes five current legislators, in addition to Hill: outgoing Sen. Curt Of Idaho legislators, an attempted coup and charter schools:

Big Education Ape: Turkey widens post-coup purge, demands Washington hand over cleric | Reuters -http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/turkey-widens-post-coup-purge-demands.html

Big Education Ape: Fethullah Gulen Should Not Be Operating American Charter Schools. | deutsch29 -http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/fethullah-gulen-should-not-be-operating.html

Big Education Ape: Reclusive Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania, blamed for failed coup in Turkey - LA Times -http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/reclusive-muslim-cleric-fethullah-gulen.html

Big Education Ape: US would consider extradition request for exiled cleric -http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/us-would-consider-extradition-request.html


 Big Education Ape: Fethullah Gulen: The Islamic scholar Turkey blames for the failed coup - The Washington Post - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/fethullah-gulen-islamic-scholar-turkey.html

Big Education Ape: Jersey Jazzman: What We Don't Know About Gulen-Linked Charter Schools, And Why That's a Problem - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/jersey-jazzman-what-we-dont-know-about.html

Big Education Ape: Coup in Turkey: Is Fetullah Gulen Behind It? | Diane Ravitch's blog - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/coup-in-turkey-is-fetullah-gulen-behind.html

Big Education Ape: KILLING ED: 120 American Charter Schools and One Secretive Turkish Cleric -http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/01/killing-ed-120-american-charter-schools.html

 Big Education Ape: Update: Gulen Harmony charter school network accused of bias and self-dealing Dallas Morning News - http://go.shr.lc/1qV85Hm

Big Education Ape: Turkey Links Texas Charter Schools to Dissident - WSJ - http://go.shr.lc/1OW1ZfV

Big Education Ape: Magnolia Science Academy - A Gulen Charter School: Gulen Magnolia Science Academy links discussed at LAUSD board meeting -http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/06/magnolia-science-academy-gulen-charter.html

Penceland - Voucher Capital of America: Are vouchers costing or saving taxpayer dollars?

Are vouchers costing or saving taxpayer dollars?:

Are vouchers costing or saving taxpayer dollars?

A new report by the Democratic-controlled Indiana Department of Education shows the state’s private school voucher program ran a $53 million deficit this year, but school choice advocates dispute that figure and argue that the program is actually saving taxpayer dollars.

Just about everything regarding the cost of the state's voucher program is disputed by one side or the other. But what is not in dispute is its increased popularity. Nearly 33,000 students received a voucher during the 2015-16 school year, making it one of the nation’s largest programs.

However, as those students have increased — thanks, in great part, to lawmakers loosening the eligibility rules — so, too, have the costs. Getting to the bottom of how much, though, depends entirely on who you ask.

The state says the cost for the 2015-16 school year is up from the $40 million deficit the previous year. The deficits reflect a reversal from the program’s first years when fewer students were eligible and the state recouped around $4 million to $5 million in annual savings.

Overall, the state spent $131 million in taxpayer dollars to support sending children to private schools during the most recent school year. An overwhelming majority of those schools are religiously affiliated. The $53 million "deficit" represents the cost to educate students with no record of attending an Indiana public school, according to Samantha Hart, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education.

But that's tricky. The deficit assumes that any voucher student who never attended public school would have otherwise paid to attend private school — and, thus, created no cost to taxpayers. And almost certainly some would have. But no one knows for sure how many others would have simply attended public schools — at taxpayer cost — if no voucher was available.

Robert Enlow, CEO of the Friedman Foundation, which supports vouchers, said the calculation amounts to the department trying to score political points.

“The idea that somehow this program is costing the state money is frankly insane,” Enlow said.

In fact, the voucher program technically came in under budget. For the fiscal year ending in June, lawmakers budgeted $156 million for the program but actually spent $131 million.

School choice advocates have long argued the Department of Education’s "savings/deficit" calculation is deeply flawed, though the Republican-controlled Indiana General Assembly created the formula and initially required the calculation. Beginning in 2015, lawmakers removed the requirement, but Ritz’s agency continues to use the calculation and release its results “to support government transparency,” Hart said.

Supporters of the voucher program have argued the program would ultimately save the state money because vouchers only provide at most 90 percent of the funding a traditional public school would receive on behalf of a student.

“There’s no question that it’s not costing the state what it would cost them if they were in public school,” said Rep. Robert Behning, the Indiana House’s education policy leader. “There is no question about that.”

But the voucher supporters' cost-savings claim also makes a faulty assumption — that all voucher students would otherwise be attending public school. Again, some would attend private school on their own dime at no cost to taxpayers.

The main purpose behind the formula is to calculate the program’s savings. In turn, those savings are supposed to be pumped back in to public schools.

“Since 2013-14, this calculation showed that the program did not result in a savings but instead resulted in a deficit, therefore making a distribution to public schools impossible,” Hart said in an emailed statement.

State Rep. Terri Austin, an Anderson Democrat, said she's struggled with finding a balance of giving parents a choice and the state's decision to spend taxpayer dollars to support private education.

"I do think we're going to have to have some hard conversations about the fiscal cost to the state," Austin said.

The state saw savings with the program in 2011 and 2012 — back when one of the main ways a student could qualify for a voucher required them to spend at least two semesters in a public school. But for the 2013-14 school year, lawmakers increased the number of pathways that allow students to directly enter private schools, including granting eligibility for siblings and students who would have attended an F-rated school.

The assumption has been that many public school students would move to private schools, saving the state money. But much of the increased participation came from students who have never attended a public school. According to state data, more than half of voucher recipients in the 2015-16 school year had no record of attending an Indiana public school.

Call IndyStar reporter Chelsea Schneider at (317) 444-6077. Follow her on Twitter: @IndyStarChelsea. 

INDIANAPOLIS STAR

New report shows Indiana remains national leader on school vouchers

 Are vouchers costing or saving taxpayer dollars?:

Ed Notes Online: #AFT100, #AFT16: Waiting for Hillary, Waiting, Waiting, Waiting... and finally she's here

Ed Notes Online: #AFT100, #AFT16: Waiting for Hillary, Waiting, Waiting, Waiting... and finally she's here:

Waiting for Hillary, Waiting, Waiting, Waiting... and finally she's here

I've been in the convention hall since just after 2 PM - with Arthur Goldstein and Jonathan Halabi - check their blogs on my blogroll, 

twitter, and facebook accounts as they are doing a much more serious job than I am - I'm just trying to stay awake. We all have press passes and wanted to set ourselves up in the press section - of which there are 2 and both areas suck. We are behind a platform where camera people are set up blocking our view of the stage - we can watch Hillary on TVs - or we can lean over into the aisle and watch her live.

Ok, here's my day in a nutshell - up at 3:50, AM wife gets up about 5 hours earlier than usual to drive me to airport for 7AM flight. Hit massive traffic jam at entrance to JFK - but have TSA precheck godsend - connect with Jia Lee, Arthur and Gloria for coffee - flight goes well get in at 9 AM central time, get surface transit to hotel, dump stuff in room, go to convention center - run into CTU/CORE's Jackson Potter on way to lunch with CTU crew - Arthur and I join them - then joined by Boston teacher - they ask loads of questions about MORE, UFT elections - WHAT? - retirees vote and almost 50% of total?

Fred Klonsky talks AFT democracy here: Random thoughts. AFT democracy.


Back to convention hall - run into Unity fave - retired Michael Mendel - nice to see him again, get visitor passes - need a delegate - which of course we are not - to vouch for us - grab old pal who is in Unity to do so - wander around waiting to get press passes - tight security so we wait till after 2PM to get checked by secret service at press entrance - we are thrilled to get frisked by secret service - 

Halabi, Goldstein and moi - photo by Gloria Brandman

we are only 3 in the giant hall by 2:30 - it is now 5:40  and Randi is talking followed by a bunch of speakers until Hillary gets here.

Press people just told us we can run up and take some photos of Randi and Hillary when they come out together and after the speech Randi will come back to the press area to talk to us and answer questions - I'm sure she will be happy to see us - but frankly I have nothing I want to ask her -
See George Schmidt on his scooter --


They keep showing archive footage - nice piece on anti-teacher conservative Regan Nation At Risk report that began ed deform - leave out that Shanker and AFT supported many of conclusions of reports - the winners get to rewrite history.

Speakers include Helen Gym from Philly who along with Leonie Haimson founded Parents Across America, Steve Zimmer who beat back millionaire ed deformers in election for LA school board. Rouses crowd with passionate speech calling for Hillary election.

Rod Sherman from NYSUT - retired Pres of Plattsburg union -- says usual stuff.

Meanwhile Arthur and Jonathan are tweeting away with Ed Notes Online: #AFT100, #AFT16: Waiting for Hillary, Waiting, Waiting, Waiting... and finally she's here:

AFT President delivers a forceful case for Hillary Clinton in convention speech | LGBT Weekly

AFT President delivers a forceful case for Hillary Clinton in convention speech | LGBT Weekly:

AFT President delivers a forceful case for Hillary Clinton in convention speech

MINNEAPOLIS—Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, today delivered a forceful case for Hillary Clinton, while hailing the 100-year-old union as a vehicle empowering its more than 1.6 million workers at the bargaining table and the ballot box. Speaking at the AFT’s biennial convention in the Minneapolis Convention Center, Weingarten commemorated the AFT’s enduring values and its century of collective action to make the country a more fair and just place, and described the union as a bulwark against public figures such as Donald Trump, Scott Walker and others who exploit Americans’ anxieties “and turn scapegoating into an art form.”

Speaking before more than 3,000 delegates to the AFT convention, Weingarten described this year’s election as “a moment of reckoning for our country,” calling the choice that faces voters this fall “a battle for [America’s] soul and for our children’s future.”

Weingarten, in her remarks, tied the achievements of the AFT in its first 100 years to the challenges currently facing her members and other working Americans. Drawing a parallel between today’s economic climate and that of AFT’s founding years, she mentioned that “in 1916, wealth [in the United States] was the most concentrated on record … until now.”

Clinton ‘the Best Candidate for President’
“Hillary understands the most urgent issues confronting our country,” Weingarten said. “Her bold economic plan puts unions front and center. She will level the playing field for the middle class, raising incomes for hardworking families, creating debt-free college for students, and lifting children out of poverty.”

Weingarten pointed to Clinton’s lifetime of achievements and advocacy—for early childhood education, public education, universal healthcare, human rights and economic opportunity.

“She’s proved time and time again that she is a dreamer, and a doer,” Weingarten continued. “And while I don’t think anyone should vote for her just because she’s a woman, I know from experience that to achieve what she has is harder because she is a woman. How many of us in this audience have been told you sound shrill, don’t yell? You’re not smiling enough? That listening is a sign of weakness?”

Trump ‘Perilously Close to Fascism’
Contrasting Clinton with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, Weingarten said to the audience that “in my lifetime, we’ve never faced anything like what we’re facing this year.”

“What do you call it,” she asked, “when a candidate for president debases an entire religion, mocks a disabled reporter, refers to women as pigs and calls Mexicans rapists? I call it a threat to civil society, to decency and to the values that underpin our country. Frankly, it is perilously close to fascism.”

Weingarten leveled a broad critique against Trump’s economic ideas, calling them “snake oil” that “will make economic inequality worse.” She blasted Trump for saying “he’s against trade deals that would send jobs overseas” but manufacturing his products at “sweatshops in Bangladesh, China and Mexico,” and noted that “he bankrupted his businesses four times, and while he boasts he was unscathed, his employees, contractors, and vendors were devastated.”

AFT Empowers at the Bargaining Table and at the Ballot Box
“Our founders couldn’t have imagined that their vision would grow from eight locals to 3,500 locals, a union of more than 1.6 million members,” Weingarten remarked. She announced the addition of more than 36,000 members to the AFT’s ranks since 2014—growth that puts the union at a record-high membership of 1,637,412 workers.

“When unions are strong, we set a standard that helps all workers,” Weingarten said. “Union members earn higher wages and are more likely to have pensions and employer-provided health benefits. One of the strongest predictors of how well your children will do economically,” she continued, “is the percentage of union members in your community.”

Weingarten said it is “not surprising that our right to bargain is in the right-wing’s crosshairs. Just remember Friedrichs”—referencing a recent Supreme Court case dealing with union membership—“and how the right tried to use the Supreme Court to decimate us. But bargaining holds the potential to transform and innovate,” she said, detailing numerous examples of such innovative contracts.

Union a Vehicle for Civil and Human Rights
Weingarten paid tribute in her remarks to Philando Castile, the staff member at J.J. Hill Montessori School in nearby St. Paul who lost his life earlier this July. She decried “the disproportionate use of deadly force against black people,” and said that “our justice system needs to be more just.” Weingarten spotlighted recent work by the AFT to bring attention to racial isolation and inequality—offering as an example a 2015 report that “confronts institutional racism and offers concrete steps to create excellent public schools for all students, with a focus on boys and men of color.”

Lamenting the gun violence that claims 33,000 lives in America per year—violence that took the lives of three police officers in Baton Rouge the day before her address—Weingarten said “we must never accept that mass murders or indiscriminate killings are the new normal.” Describing America as “awash in guns,” she argued that “working to make the criminal justice system more just and supporting police are not mutually exclusive. This is a matter of ensuring that everyone feels safe—those who swear an oath to protect us and those they are sworn to protect.”

In closing her remarks, Weingarten referenced the words of Martin Luther King Jr., saying, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” The AFT, she said to the crowd, “is our vehicle in this journey for justice. It was that vehicle in 1916, it is today, and, because of you, it will be in the century ahead.”

Click here to view the full text of AFT President Weingarten’s speech.

AFT President delivers a forceful case for Hillary Clinton in convention speech | LGBT Weekly:

Short URL: http://lgbtweekly.com/?p=72252

Mayor KJ Who Sued His Own City Over A Public Records Request Ordered To Turn Over Official Emails Stashed In A Private Account | Techdirt

Mayor Who Sued His Own City Over A Public Records Request Ordered To Turn Over Official Emails Stashed In A Private Account | Techdirt:

Mayor Who Sued His Own City Over A Public Records Request Ordered To Turn Over Official Emails Stashed In A Private Account

 Nearly one year to the date from Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson's filing of a lawsuit against his own city and a local journalist to block the release of emails from his personal Gmail account, a judge has ordered him to turn over most of the emails he's been fighting to withhold.

[T]his past Friday, Krueger ruled that Johnson and the city must make public 79 of the remaining 113 emails and records. Ballard Spahr, the firm that represents the mayor pro bono, needs to turn them over by July 18.

Johnson had long argued that emails from his personal account weren't subject to public records laws -- even those in which government business was discussed. And, indeed, the city has no policy in place preventing officials from using personal email accounts to conduct official business. However, that's not the same thing as saying these emails can't be obtained with public records requests.

When that argument failed to keep the emails from being released, Johnson's lawyer raised the good old "attorney-client privilege" as a shield against public disclosure. Judge Krueger shot that down as well.

During the hearing, Humphreys was steadfast in his lobbying to keep some of the records secret. He contested that, since Ballard Spahr had reviewed firsthand many of the emails and attachments in question, they were clearly protected from disclosure because of “attorney-client privilege”—a phrase he repeated ad nauseam.

Eventually, Krueger schooled him on the law. “Every document that an attorney has seen does not fall under attorney-client privilege,” the judge explained—adding that this was legal fact no matter how many times Humphreys made a “talismanic recitation of those words.”

In the end, it's a win for the Sacramento News & Review, which was one the parties named in Mayor Johnson's email-blocking lawsuit. Given the nature of the disputed emails, it's easy to see why Johnson wanted to keep them out of the public's hands. Many of the communications cover Johnson's takeover of the National Conference of Black Mayors -- a leadership position he held tenuously, briefly, and under a considerable amount of criticism.

Johnson's 2015 attempt to obtain an injunction against his own city followed his admission that he had destroyed several public records (in this case, text messages) responsive to requests pertaining to the city's $500 million sports arena.

Even though this legal battle has pried loose a few hundred emails over the past year, it's still only a small percentage of Mayor Johnson's "official business" communications safely stashed away in his personal account.

“We’ve been fighting in court for a year over a small batch of records that ended up in the hands of the City Attorney,” Garvin wrote. “The much bigger problem is the thousands and thousands of emails that Johnson has refused to turn over, which were generated by his OMKJ email accounts.”

Politicians are particularly adept at keeping their communications away from the public. Kevin Johnson is the rule, rather than the exception. Fortunately, the lack of internal policies forbidding this activity isn't preventing courts from finding responsive communications have been improperly withheld. But these findings come at a great expense for public records requesters -- many of which will abandon their requests rather than spend thousands of dollars in legal fees to obtain documents that rightfully belong to the public.Mayor Who Sued His Own City Over A Public Records Request Ordered To Turn Over Official Emails Stashed In A Private Account | Techdirt:

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