Why Teacher Unions Hated Hillary Clinton When She Was Arkansas First Lady - WaPo

[WillyT]

Why teacher unions hated Hillary Clinton when she was Arkansas First Lady
James Hohmann - WaPo
November 20 at 7:31 AM


Hillary and Bill Clinton arrive to vote on Nov. 4, 1980. Bill lost his bid for reelection as governor of Arkansas that day, but we know that’s not how the story ends. (Courtesy of Clinton House Museum in Fayetteville, Arkansas)

<snip>

The Clintons have had an on-and-off-again relationship with organized labor over their more than 40 years in public life.

— Hillary Clinton has been rounding up big union endorsements in her primary fight with Bernie Sanders. With the SEIU’s backing this week, the Democratic frontrunner now has the support of labor groups that represent more than 10 million workers.

— Unions were Bill Clinton’s biggest booster when he first ran for Congress in 1974. A 20-something who had recently graduated from Yale Law School, Bill rode the wave of Watergate backlash to nearly topple a well-liked Republican incumbent in northwest Arkansas. My colleague Tom Hamburger, who was a reporter in Arkansas during those years, has been back in the state going through archives and discovered documents that show Bill received more national labor PAC money through much of the campaign than any other congressional challenger in the nation. That does not even include in-kind contributions provided by steelworkers who flooded the district, or the Arkansas Education Association, which sent educators door-to-door for him.

— But, after Bill got elected governor four years later, many of his early boosters from labor felt betrayed. Specifically, the teachers unions were infuriated over the couple’s advocacy of an education reform proposal that mandated teacher testing. The National Education Association and its Arkansas affiliate worked against the Clintons after they backed the measure in 1983.

— Hillary’s first significant public role was heading an education commission for Bill, a precursor to her role as health care czar in his first term. The efforts she supported were heartily endorsed by the business community, including a dark-money nonprofit group funded by WalMart founder Sam Walton. (Tom and Matea Gold explored this in part one of their story on the Clinton money machine yesterday, which you can read here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/clinton-money/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-low_clintondonors_promo8am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory )

— Hillary was booed by teachers when she showed up at education forums as Arkansas First Lady to pitch her proposal. “I believe the governor’s teacher testing bill has done inestimable damage to the Arkansas teaching profession and to the image of this state,” Peggy Nabors, the president of the Arkansas Education Assn, wrote in a 1983 letter to her members. She called it “a radical departure from what educators or the makers of standardized test themselves believe is appropriate or fair.” She added that the proposal “represents the final indignity” and closed by urging teachers to “make a contribution to political candidates who will support a more progressive education program.”

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More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/11/20/the-daily-202-why-teacher-unions-hated-hillary-clinton-when-she-was-arkansas-first-lady/

[ibegurpard]

1. And yet teacher's union endorsed her

Another example of the union leadership selling out their members. Union members need to clean house just like we do with the Democratic Party.

[Armstead]

2. Kinda typical of the Clintons. A lot of proimise and potential...but once in office....

big disappointment for those who supported them based on their promises to be liberal and progressive.

[NorthCarolina]

4. The thing is, you don't get rich advocating for the people.

Bernie Sanders is a prime example. In Government service for over 25 years and yet still basically middle class when it comes to total worth.

[Rose Siding]

3. The system improved and "Just as Hillary Clinton predicted, the teachers’ unions came around."

The hotly contested measure passed, and the initiative, which included more money for public schools, eventually yielded improvements in Arkansas’ educational system.

Just as Hillary Clinton predicted, the teachers’ unions came around.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/clinton-money/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-low_clintondonors_promo8am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

Guess HRC was right. Details.

[Fawke Em]

5. She's to the right, all right. eom

Even her arrow tells you so.

[sufrommich]

6. Arkansas had one of the most dismal school systems in the country

at the time. The reforms were badly needed and welcomed by parents of school aged children.

[WillyT]

7. Evening Kick...

[appalachiablue]

8. What a history.