During the “Education Nation” forum today on NBC, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney addressed the issue of teachers unions. He said that he wouldn’t necessarily ban teacher strikes but that he thinks it’s a problem that unions donate to politicians who are responsible for negotiating with them:
Speaking in New York City at Education Nation, a forum sponsored by NBC, Romney told interviewer Brian Williams that he is not necessarily against a right to strike. “I don’t know that I would prevent teachers from being able to strike,” he said, adding later that “allowing teachers to strike on matters such as compensation I think is a right that exists in this country.”
The bigger problem, Romney said, is that “the person sitting across the table from them should not have received the largest campaign contribution from the teachers’ union themselves…. [It’s] an extraordinary conflict of interest and something that should be addressed.”
So Romney thinks that it unfairly tips the scales when a group that a politician is supposed to be negotiating with and regulating donates to that very same politician. That is a fair criticism. But let’s take a look at his top eight donors. They’re all banks:
Romney has made repealing the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform bill one of his key campaign promises. If he fails to succeed in repealing the entire bill, he is expected to leave in the most bank-friendly provisions.
It looks like Romney should apply his criticism about teachers to himself. Why is he taking so much money from banks when he is campainging for the job of overseeing those same institutions?
Teachers and other unionized workers have to donate to politicians to avoid being crushed by the political power of corporations — corporations spend 17 times as much in “soft” outside money as unions.
Ultimately, we need a true overhaul of our campaign finance system that includes full public financing of elections to make sure that no group has an outsized voice simply because of its money. Join PCCC’s Take Back Democracy campaign by clicking here.
BKu says:
Finally something I agree with you about. Now if only we could do something about a biased Media, we might actuall remove speacial interest out of the demacrat vs. Republican process we have become mired in. It seems to me that poth parties are different sides of the same coin. Republicans are painted as uncaring for the poor, and democrats as anti business. Unfortunately in real life, only the parties themselves are this black and white. Most of us, including politicians are somewhere in the middle…….
Pingback: RomneyWorld Education: “I think we have to get the money out of the teachers’ unions going into campaigns. It’s the wrong way for us to go. We’ve got to separate that.” RealWorld To Romney: What About The Millions To Your Campaign From Banks