Super-sized glossy campaign fliers are landing in the mailboxes of school employees, courtesy of the Florida Education Association.
Declaring "As Education Staff Professionals, we don't care about Democrats or Republicans," the 10-by-15-inch mailers proceed to list an all-Democratic slate of endorsements for governor, chief financial officer, attorney general and commissioner of agriculture.
The clip-and-carry ballot guide also features a dual endorsement of Democrat Kendrick Meek and independent Charlie Crist for U.S. Senate, apparently a payback for Crist's veto of Senate Bill 6, the teacher tenure and compensation measure opposed by the FEA.
In addition to the statewide races, the colorful ballot guide is geographically customized for local legislative races, where state House and Senate endorsements are listed.
Sunshine State News, in an effort to assess the partisan breakdown of those endorsements, asked the FEA to identify any Republicans who won the association's backing.
FEA spokesman Mark Pudlow declined, saying, "We have informed our members about our recommendations. The candidates are free to tout our recommendation or not."
While not divulging the name of a single Republican, Pudlow averred, "FEA does support Republicans who have shown their support for public schools."
In at least one instance, a Republican nominee for statewide office didn't even have the opportunity to compete for the FEA endorsement.
After reviewing our records, it appears the FEA neither sent us a questionnaire nor invited me to speak to their members in an effort to earn their support," said Adam Putnam, a retiring congressman who is running for state agriculture commissioner.
"It is a disservice to their hard-working, dues-paying members that they were denied a fair review of the candidates," Putnam said.
Pam Bondi, Republican candidate for attorney general, said through spokeswoman Kim Kirtley, "While we did not have any direct conversations with the FEA, their endorsement of our opponent, a career politician and longtime liberal Democrat, is not surprising.
"Dan Gelber has been in lockstep with the labor unions in this state, supporting union leaders in their effort to eliminate private ballots for their working members and opposing giving parents and students more choices in their education."
Kirtley said, "Bondi puts protecting the rights of workers, consumers, students and parents ahead of expanding power for union bosses."
Dan Conston, spokesman for the Republican Party of Florida, said, "The FEA has no greater partner in the self-preservation goals of higher spending and more debt than the Democratic Party of Florida.
Indeed, the connection between the Florida Democratic Party and the Florida Education Association is a tight one, just as it is with the national Democratic Party and the National Education Association.
From Feb. 25, 2009 to Aug. 4, 2010, the FEA and its Advocacy Fund donated $490,492 to the FDP, according to state records. Local FEA affiliates contributed tens of thousands more, with the Broward FEA alone giving $75,000.
These figures do not include FEA funds that have gone straight to Democratic candidates or to finance the union's direct mailers.
Pudlow says such Dem-centric outlays are only natural when Republicans vote against union interests.
To illustrate his point, Pudlow recited a quotation from former GOP Gov. Jeb Bush, who said in 2003: "I think people that are contributors to political causes ought to really be focused on their enlightened self-interest. They should be supporting candidates and parties that share their views."
Yet, in opposing education-reform legislation, the FEA appears to be falling out of step with the Obama administration, which is pushing for more charter schools and stronger performance-based initiatives.
Taking a retrograde line, Jeff Wright, FEA's director of public policy advocacy, was crystal clear about where his union's allegiances lay when he spoke to a group of educators last week.
Calling 2010 "the most important election of our lifetime," Wright assailed incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, and incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, saying, "neither ... cares about public schools."
Raising the specter of spending cuts under a Republican governorship of Rick Scott, Wright predicted, "If we are no longer strong due to reduction in the number of people served by public schools, then [Republicans] can do what they want with the education budgets of today."
Declaring "our only hope is to elect Alex Sink governor," Wright directed his listeners to "hitch up your britches ... and deliver the vote of our 140,000 members."
Pudlow summed up the FEA position by saying, "We recommend candidates who seek our support, and many Republicans have not sought our recommendation. The increasing ideological purity required by the Republican leadership may be a reason."?
Speaking of ideological purity, the FEA's refusal to disclose the names of any Republican endorsees begs the question: Has the union become a wholly owned subsidiary of the state Democratic Party? Or vice versa?
Rick Wilson, a Republican campaign consultant, said, "The FEA is looking at the electoral Apocalypse rushing toward them. You can almost smell the reek of their fear in their statement about 'ideological purity.'
"Republicans remember the thug tactics and shakedown politics, emotional blackmail and political threats by the unions during the SB 6 battle, and I doubt they'll be fooled by any deathbed conversions by a group dedicated to their complete destruction," Wilson said.
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or (772) 801-5341.
