Facts for my Teacher Friends, From Wisconsin

For everyone who sent the original email to me, read this and weep...

A baker’s dozen lies in the “Walker was right” viral email

If you have any wingnut relatives, friends or co-workers, you’ve probably received an email containing the Washington Examiner post below.  The post asserts that Wisconsin’s Gov.Scott Walker’s attack on teacher’s unions have been proven correct by the wonderful results.

I sense you’re thinking “bull excrement.”  Such a thought is spot on.

The post is not long, so the lies are densely packed.  I’ll unpack them for you. 

First, here’s the manure pile:

Remember the violent and disgusting demonstrations over Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker doing away with the collective bargaining for teacher’s unions? The results are in. Some school districts went from a $400,000 deficit to a $1,500,000 surplus as a result. Why? It seems that the insurance company that provided all the “so-called” benefits to the teachers, was an insurance company owned and operated by the teacher’s union. Since they were guaranteed to get the insurance business from the teachers and the State had to pay for it, and not the teachers, they were increasing the annual costs every single year to become the most expensive insurance company in the state.  Then the insurance company was donating millions and millions of dollars to their favorite democrat politicians, who when they got elected, guaranteed to keep funding the unions outrageous costs. In other words, the insurance company was a “pass through” for Wisconsin taxpayer money directly to the democrat politicians. Nice racket, and this is the racket that is going on in every single State that allows collective bargaining. No wonder the States are taking it away. Now that the State of Wisconsin is free to put the insurance contract out for bid, and lo and behold, they have saved so much money it has turned deficits into surplus amounts. As a result, none of the teachers had  to be laid off, everyone got a raise, etc., etc., and the taxpayers of Wisconsin don’t have to pay more taxes to fund the union’s political ambitions. If you weren’t aware of the reasons why Gov. Walker was fighting to take away collective bargaining, it gives you an idea of the problem the Republican Party has. Outside of one or two, none of them know how to speak up and explain properly what the problem was. We could sure use a Ronald Reagan now, someone who could explain things for people to understand, since we know that people don’t like to read anymore.

My my, where shall we begin?

Let’s start with the lie that is the heart of the matter: that schools are saving millions thanks to Walker’s union busting.

First, busting the unions — that is, killing collective bargaining — was unnecessary if what Walker wanted to do was change the way some teachers bought health insurance.

Second, I said “some teachers” because at the start of this year, WEA Trust, the 40-year-old not-for-profit organization that’s made out to be the villain here, insured only 35% of Wisconsin’s teachers. Gee whiz, you’d think they’d need a much larger market share than that to be a monopolistic monster destroying the state budget.

Third, it was not the union busting or the change of an insurance plan that saved money for the Kaukauna school district, the one the Examiner used as its example to “prove” Walker correct, but a host of other cuts.

Kaukauna, like all school districts in the state, will recognize cost savings as a result of the budget bill’s requirement of employees to pay an increased portion of their insurance coverage and pensions (something to which the unions had readily and repeatedly agreed), but according to Kaukauna’s 2011-2012 operating budget, the greatest portion of its deep cuts has little to do with the provisions in the budget bill and, sadly, will have a direct and negative effect in the classroom. (Update: Here’s the district’s own document spelling out the cuts. They start about page 14.)

Kaukauna’s greatest cost “saving” — $1.5 million — is from taking away the jobs of 61 employees. Another chunk — almost $307,000 — came from a drastic modification of  the kindergarten program for 4-year-olds.  Other cuts: $275,445 from buildings and grounds maintenance; $248,064 from IT; $180,000 from student transportation; $127,500 from “other district operations”;  and $95,121 from reconfiguring the administrative assistance.  That’s more than $2.7 million in cuts for the district with nary a word about the employee benefit package provided by the WEA Trust.  Note that the $2.7 million in cuts is considerably more than the $1.9 million turn around celebrated — and falsely attributed to insurance cuts for teachers — by the Examiner.

Fourth, when the Examiner says the insurance company, WEA Trust, is “owned and operated by the teachers’ union,” WEAC, the Examiner is lying.  They are separate legal entities.  The WEA Trust is a not-for-profit insurance company regulated by the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance. I verified this with Wisconsin’s Office of the Commissioner of Insurance; I wonder why the writer in the Examiner did not.  No, I don’t wonder — I know:  The writer wanted to give you false information to fool you into buying his political lies.

Fifth, when the Examiner writes the WEA Trust was “guaranteed to get the insurance business from the teachers,” the Examiner lies.  As noted earlier, WEA Trust covered only 35% of the state’s teachers, not the 100% it would have were it “guaranteed to get the insurance business from the teachers.”  With collective bargaining intact, school districts bargained their benefits with the union at the local level.  The insurance carrier  had to be agreed upon by both the district and the union at the bargaining table.  WEA wins and loses business all the time, as do its competitors.

Sixth, when the Examiner writes “the insurance company was donating millions and millions of dollars to their favorite democrat politicians,” the Examiner both lies and shows it doesn’t know basic grammar, something you’d expect from news outlet.

“Democrat” is a noun and cannot be used to modify the word “politician” (or any other word).  The adjective the writer should have used is “Democratic.”  But the Right has been using this juvenile attempt to slight the party to the Left for years, and the Examiner is merely marching along in lock step.

More importantly, the insurance company has never donated a single thin dime to any politician or any political party.  I verified this through the online database at the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, an organization that tracks who gives money to which politician and in what amount.

By the way, the teachers’ union, WEAC — not the insurance company, WEA Trust — has given tens of thousands of dollars in contributions to dozens of Republican candidates.  Something the Examiner wishes you not to know.

Seventh, when the Examiner writes  ”the insurance company was a ‘pass through’ for Wisconsin taxpayer money directly to the democrat politicians,” it repeats the error of grammar and creates another lie.  WEA Trust does not funnel — “pass through” — money into WEAC to be used for political contributions, because that would violate state and federal laws and would easily be detected by the regular audits to which it is subjected via the regulations of the Wisconsin office of Insurance Commissioner.

Eighth, when the Examiner writes “Now that the State of Wisconsin is free to put the insurance contract out for bid…” it is lying by implication. As noted earlier, WEA Trust covered only 35% or our teachers — meaning about two thirds (that’s most) teachers got their insurance elsewhere.  How would that happen if there was no competition for  these contracts?

Ninth, when the Examiner writes “the State had to pay for it (the benefits package), and not the teachers,” it is lying.  The benefits package is part of the teacher’s compensation package — that is, part of their pay for the vital work they perform.  The money could go directly into their  individual pockets, or they could pool their resources to be smart buyers (which is what they did through their union), but either way, it’s the teachers’ money.

Tenth, this — “none of the teachers had  to be laid off (and) everyone got a raise” — is a lie.  Nearly 500 teachers were laid off at once, and that was just in Milwaukee. There have been extensive layoffs in districts all around the state, in addition to a flood of retirements and positions that are not being filled.  Every teacher in the state has also taken a pay cut as a result of the mandated increase insurance and pension contributions — in addition to salary freezes in most districts.

Eleventh, this — “As a result…. the taxpayers of Wisconsin don’t have to pay more taxes to fund the union’s political ambitions.” — is a lie by implication.  It implies that prior to Walker’s union busting, tax payer money was funding teacher union political contributions, which we already know is completely false.

Twelfth, the implication that the teacher’s union (not the insurance company) is giving “millions and millions” in contributions to “favorite” political candidates is false.  A lie.  The database at the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign shows that over the past decade the teacher’s union — WEAC, not the insurance WEA Trust — has given just $698,748 to candidates. That’s a bit over $69,000 a year.  That’s not a lot in political spending terms, especially spread over 10 yaers.  What’s more, they made 589 contributions, which means a hell of a lot more than a few “favorites” received contributions.  It also means the average contribution was under $1,200. In political terms, that’s peanuts.

Finally, when the Examiner writes that Wisconsin protests were “ violent and disgusting,” it lies in the extreme. The fact is that the protesters produced no arrests and the local police actually publicly thanked the crowd for its civility.   Over the past five months — a time when there have been tens of thousands of protesters (sometimes more than 100,000) at the Capitol — there have been only two violent incidents reported.

Both occurred during the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice-sponsored Solidarity Sing Along, and both were perpetrated by Capitol insiders: one by a former Republican state senator and one by a middle manager in the Walker Administration.

Walker’s guy appears to have bloodied himself while stabbing a protester’s balloon and then roughing her up (when we outlaw balloons, only outlaws will have balloons?). We also had Gov. Walker fantasizing about violent acts against Democrats and considering instigating violence against the protesters.

Perhaps the Examiner is merely following the example of Fox News when it lied — repeatedly — to cast the protesters as violent, rude “thugs.”  So desperate was Fox that it comically tried to a pass off as being from Wisconsin in March a video of a scuffle that had  palm trees in the background!

Whatever the reason behind the Examiner‘s impressive pile of bull, there is no justification for it, no truth in it, and everyone involved in producing it has earned our disdain.

_____________________________________________

Hi All;

This article is posted in reply to an email I received. A very bad email, FULL OF LIES.
It is posted to set the record straight.

I have too many friends in the Teaching Profession to let that bull~crap email go viral. (Not from MY computer).

Thank you!

XOXO
Me

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO PASS THIS ON.

rebuttal from here.