NC Legislators end union shakedown of teachers; Democrats & media throw major fit
On the N&O’s front page, there was a full color photo of some large, angry Hillary Clinton lookalikes from the NC Association of Educators (NCAE) holding signs that said “We will not be silenced.”
(I pity their poor husbands.)
The N&O posted a video on its YouTube page under the headline: “N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis explains secret midnight session.”
Secret? Really? It was in your paper that the legislators were coming back into session. Your video shows that a ton of reporters and cameras were on-scene. Most ALL of the 170 legislators were on the scene. Was it really all that secret?
The media and their Democrat friends are angry that legislative leaders rammed through a veto override of legislation banning mandatory payroll deduction of union dues from teacher paychecks. Boss Bev called the legislature back into session to deal with her veto of the repeal of the Racial Justice Act. But those tricky, tricky Republicans overrode a totally different Boss Bev veto.
Bev’s team and the media have the GALL to protest the ethics and legality of Thom Tillis and Phil Berger’s maneuvering. Do I HONESTLY have to jump in the way-back time machine to take you back to the days of Liston Ramsey, Jim Black, Richard Morgan, Dan Blue, Tony Rand, and Mark Basnight?
(Psssttt. Hey, guys. Elections Have Consequences. )
David Bass, with Carolina Journal, has a great piece debunking legal /ethical complaints by Bev and her media hench-persons.
Mandatory payroll deductions from teacher paychecks to fund their membership dues in the NC Association of Educators. That money basically got laundered back into the campaign coffers of state Democrats. It has been an incredible cash cow for The North Carolina Democrat Party. It didn’t matter if a teacher happened to be a Republican. A deduction from his or her paycheck was being forcibly extracted and handed over to the Democrats.
It’s kind of like the bully who takes your kid’s lunch money each day at school.
Teachers need to be allowed to choose whether they want to join the NCAE or fund any of its projects.
The media and Democrats can scream all they want to about how this is an attack on teachers and public education. It’s not about any of that.
It’s about pulling the plug on a long-time, lucrative shakedown — er, um, fundraising — effort by the state Democrat Party.
http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/on_the_record_nc_house_speaker_defends_midnight_session_as_transparent
“We just want to give them a little taste of what’s about to come,” Tillis told his fellow House Republicans at the time (when he didn’t realize the mic was still on).
“The government just doesn’t have the right, under the constitution, to go teach a citizen a lesson, whatever that means,” state Rep. Rick Glazier, D-Cumberland, said Thursday.
Although lawmakers didn’t follow the proper procedure for calling the session and didn’t give the public any advance notice, Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, defended the hastily called session early Thursday.
“Everybody knows that every veto override that is on the calendar is unfinished business,” he said. “I’ve made it very clear from the beginning that unfinished business will be taken up when we have the opportunity to override the vetoes, and that still stands for every other veto.”
Republicans promised more transparency in governing when they took control of the General Assembly last year, but GOP spokesman Rob Lockwood says that voters want efficiency more than anything from the legislature.
“The people really don’t care about how it was done,” Lockwood said. “The bottom line is, we did something we believe in, and the Democrats disagree. The bottom line is the issue and the result at the end of the day, and that’s what the people care about.”
[Really? GOPers don’t care how it’s done, aka, ends justify means / might makes right? Does that sound familiar?]
http://www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/blogpost/10570871/#commentform
No notice needed?
By Laura Leslie
Posted: 3:03 p.m. yesterday
Updated: 3:07 p.m. yesterday
The post-midnight veto override session held early Thursday may have violated the spirit of the state’s open meetings law. But it may not have violated the letter.
Under North Carolina General Statute 143-318.12, all public bodies are required to give at least 48 hours’ public notice for a meeting that isn’t regularly scheduled.
But the General Assembly is required to give only “reasonable public notice” — and “reasonable” isn’t defined.
“The General Assembly has essentially exempted itself from the strict meeting notice provisions of the Open Meetings Law,” said NC Press Association executive director Beth Grace. “That’s how committee chairs can convene session and committee meetings at the drop of a hat – under the Rules adopted by each chamber, which can be and have been ‘suspended’ when convenient by both Democratic and Republican leadership.”
“The General Assembly is also broadly subject to the Public Records Act, a status riddled with exceptions and a ‘legislative privilege’ that allows all manner of conversations among caucus members and staff potentially to be conducted secretly. We all wish it weren’t the case,” said Grace.
So, in other words, the legislature can legally hold a session in the middle of the night with only 90 minutes public notice.
NCPA’s attorney John Bussian says it’s “broadly allowed by each set of ‘Rules’ for the House and Senate. Even where the Rules talk about noticing session, the Rules have been ‘suspended’ to bring lawmakers back for votes and other actions, like committee meetings around a lawmaker’s desk on the floor.”
Bussian helped write the Open Meetings Law. “I’ve always been amazed at how quickly transparency proponents convene and adjourn to suit needs. But it has happened with some frequency over the years,” he added.
The “reasonable public notice” standard was passed in 1991 as House Bill 14. It had a Republican sponsor, then-state Rep. Art Pope, but was approved by a Democratic-controlled House and Senate after substantial changes were made to the original legislation. Since then, both parties have made use of its benefits.
Teachers need to be allowed to choose whether they want to join the NCAE or fund any of its projects.
Even if the teachers wanna join the organization, that organization cannot strong arm the state government to collect dues. You and I may choose to join the local model train club, but I can’t force the North Carolina government to withhold dues from your paycheck.
If teachers wanna join the union, they can [i guess], but the union should have to chase down the dues on their own.