IRS Audits Nation's Top Teachers' Union

[Noordam]

AP NEWS

November 24, 2003
IRS Audits Nation's Top Teachers' Union
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 6:19 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The IRS has begun auditing the National Education Association, which has allocated millions of dollars to elect pro-education candidates while reporting on tax forms that it does not spend union dues on politics.

While promising cooperation, the president of the nation's largest teachers' union is also pledging to ``vigorously defend our constitutional right to speak to our members about the role of politics in public education.''

NEA spokeswoman Kathleen Lyons said Monday the audit began last week. ``It will be a complete, thorough audit,'' she said. ``The IRS has not singled out any particular aspect of our activities.''

But Reg Weaver, the union's president, said the ``NEA will not be silenced'' by the audit or complaints from a conservative foundation that it has wrongly engaged in political activities without disclosing them

....more at article.....

[prolesunited]

1. Well, I'm sure

the Christian Coalition and Focus on the Family are next on their list.

[roguevalley]

2. NEA has pace, a political action committee. Its all laid out for

members and always has been. Welcome to Bush Revisits
Nixon.

[JailBush]

3. Bullshit.

The NEA's as sleazy as they come. Frankly, I'd celebrate if the Republicans wiped the NEA off the face of the Earth. Maybe teachers would create a REAL union in its place. If they don't give a damn, then screw them, too.

[JailBush]

4. As a matter of fact...

I can't help but wonder if someone's playing a little game her.

The Washington Education Association - possibly the most corrupt NEA state affiliate - and a Washington State conservative think tank called the Evergreen Freedom Foundation have long been at war. In fact, they've made national headlines in what appears to be one of this state's biggest education stories.

The irony is that neither the WEA nor EFF give a damn about education, teachers or children. But it gets better.

I began noticing some mighty strange thing - like the fact that certain powerful liberal politicans and education leaders were fighting certain conservative agendas with the passion of a miniature Tom Daschle.

Then I discovered that a conservative snake named Don Nielsen - one of the most powerful members of Washington State's "Education Mafia" - bankrolled Terry Bergeon's first election campaign. Who's Terry Bergeson? Why, she's now the State Superintendent of Public Instruction - and is widely described as a liberal.

I discovered another amazing fact: A sleazy Seattle attorney named Judith Lonnquist used to be the WEA's attorney, still represents the WEA in its ongoing battle against the EFF - and served as Terry Bergeson's Campaign Treasurer for three campaigns in a row! Surely, the conservative EFF would pounce on this rather extraordinary revelation.

Reality Check: EFF doesn't give a damn. Go figure.

[leesa]

17. Your are spewing a lot of vitriole but you are not saying anything

What exactly are the evil deeds done by this organization? You sound like Rush Limbaugh.

[cap]

5. dirty politics...

the Bush administration has illegally put in a system to monitor union finances. This system was funded under an omnibus contract by NIH (National Institute of Health) to serve the Department of Labor. It is illegal to move this money around like this. I know. My conservative ex-boss wanted me to recommend bidding on this effort. I refused... pointing out the illegality.

Many local labor unions are staffed by volunteers -- they have no professional accounting office at the local level. Ergo, they can be easily charged with malfeasance. There is only professional accounting at higher levels.

[Yupster]

6. Just looks like business as usual

During the Clinton administration, the following groups or individuals were audited...

*** The Heritage Foundation

*** The Christian Coalition (stripped of its tax-exempt status, but reinstated by federal judge)

*** Western Journalism Center

*** National Rifle Association

*** Citizens Against Government Waste

*** American Spectator

*** National Review

*** Paula Jones

*** Gennifer Flowers

*** Juanita Broaddrick

*** Elizabeth Ward Gracen

*** Billy Dale

Let's not pretend the world began in 2001.

[johnfunk]

7. Business as usual?

It's a shock that so few obviously corrupt and corrupting right wing and Neofascist outfits were audited under the last elected president this country had. What about the Federalist Society? The Club for Growth? Project for a Neonazi American Century? The Sarah Scaife Foundation? The Rutherford Institute? Howard Ahmanson? And how about that Nazi drunk Richard Scaife?

[Yupster]

10. Yeah

Paula Jones was a neofascist.

I always wondered what she was.

[johnfunk]

18. Poor, pathetic, confused Yapster

Did I mention Paula Jones? I didn't think so, Yapster.

My advice: lay off Noelle Bush's stash -- you're starting to hallucinate.

[Timefortruth]

8. Can I have a link?

What were the results, what other instutions were audited. Some context please.

[Yupster]

9. Here's how it's done

according to the AP.

I think couldn't all of us agree that a congressman or senator or political consultant shouldn't be able to send a letter to the IRS and tell them to look into auditing an enemy group or individual? That just seems pretty awful to me.

Four women accuse Clinton of sexual misconduct and all four are audited? And people are going to support that?

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/taxs16.shtml

[MasonJar]

11. Wow!

Some of the responses were quite unexpected in their vitriol. The Bush administration is undoubtedly investigating the NEA because the organization is never going to support Dumbo. The NEA is not really a union. It is a national organization geared toward policies and programs to enhance learning and provide assistance to professional educators. Locally we teachers have organizations similar to unions, which help us negotiate contracts, complain about principals and etc.

[cosmicdot]

14. "The NEA is not really a union" - thank you for that distinction

there's so much anti-NEA, Rush-esque rhetoric out there RE the NEA ... people attack the NEA, and throw around its name, with unfounded bias or knowing what they're talking about

thanks,
former 70s H.S. teacher

[Nevernose]

16. I started to flame MasonJar

And then I read a bit more. While the term "not a real union" is certainly inflammatory, there is some truth to the statement that "it is a national organization geared toward policies and programs to enhance learning and provide assistance to professional educators." Of course, that's pretty much the S.O.P. of all unions at a national level, with complaints about individual principals, etc., being made at the local level.

Not that there's anything particularly WRONG with being "geared toward policies and programs to enhance learning and provide assistance to professional educators."

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. First, they'll go after the teacher.

Think about where this is headed. They want to get rid of teachers who teach students how to think critically by outing them on a webpage. And now they're trying to destroy whatever access to the political process that teacher unions may have.

Why can't we do the same thing to conservative churches?

[dax]

13. Its a get out the vote campaign with a double punch....

This is right out of the Rove playbook to rally the home schoolin troops ready to pound pavement and VOTE> it is easiest to go after a teacher union because all the conservatives will perceive it as more acceptable than going after the other unions. It is like inocculation- you are "vaccinated" rationalizing that the "NEA" isn't a "real" union while the government hones its methods to hamstring any union at any moment and even if the Union is found to be squeaky clean (AS VIRTUALLY NONE OF THE CORPORATIONS recently subjected to even cursory audits)-the audit costs the union a minimum of $50,000 dollars and usually more that has to COME FROM SOMEONE (like us saps too dumb to be born a bush who actually have to work for a living) and if they manage to actually nail a union, somebody will probably go to jail...last I heard KENNY BOY is still basking on the RIviera and wherever he decides to go in his private jets. ALL UNIONS have very SEPARATE political funds that are donated specifically for that purpose and separate from dues. The members are not forced to participate. Unlike CORPORATE pacs which, I don't know about you, but NO COMPANY I do business with has EVER asked me if I want 1, 2, or 10 bucks added to my bill to pay for the POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS they are going to make to buy the kind of CORPORATE FASCISM that will enable them to sell cheap junk for more than I can afford and pay low wages with no benefits to people MY TAXES then will have to subsidize while they POLLUTE so my TAXES have to pay for that and then go bankrupt so my TAXES have to pay for that while Kenny and George sit in the sagebrush sippin mint juleps on the veranda- we are ALL FIELD HANDS NOW get a clue......

[Voltaire99]

15. This will teach 'em!

There's a new shurr-eff in town, NEA, and his name's Bush.

Y'all get busy saluting the flag now and preparin' young heads for standardized tests, like good foot soldiers. Stop thinking about union bidness and leave the country's politics to your betters.