Vermont-NEA News

Despite NEA's Nod for Hillary, Vermont-NEA Still Supports Bernie

Dear Fellow Members,

As you may have heard, the NEA Board of Directors voted to recommend Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Primary. The vote means that the leaders of our national union will be supporting Hillary throughout the primaries, and will be asking all members to support their decision.

As president of Vermont-NEA, I disagree with the national board’s decision. I and your NEA Board Director, Donald Tinney of St. Albans, lobbied heavily to urge the board to withhold making any recommendation until the process plays itself out longer. I spoke to my counterparts for months after I and your Vermont-NEA Board of Directors unanimously voted to recommend Bernie Sanders in the primary. And Vermont was not alone in asking the national union to hold off making a recommendation at this time: the affiliates in California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maine, Nebraska and others agreed with us.

At the time Vermont-NEA made its recommendation of Bernie, I said, “We want to let the whole country in on what we in Vermont have long known. Bernie’s core values are in line with ours: he is pro-family, pro-worker, pro-education and pro-labor and we believe the time has come for his vision to become a national reality.”

What I want you to know is that while Saturday’s vote means your national union will actively work to elect Hillary Clinton, it does not change Vermont-NEA’s decision to back Sanders. We know what Bernie’s 40-year record on labor, education, and working people is, and we know he doesn’t waver from his commitment to you. And our commitment to ensuring his election is not dimmed.

Please also know that none of the money you have donated to the Vermont-NEA Fund for Children and Public Education goes to federal candidates, ever. Your voluntary donations to this PAC go only to Vermont candidates seeking Vermont offices. And, as always, your dues dollars do NOT go to any candidate.

Make no mistake: I am deeply disappointed in the national board’s decision. And so is Don. As he said to his fellow board members:

Here’s one more thing that I know: regardless of how this board decides to proceed today, thousands of our fellow members will continue to march for, donate to, and support Bernie. Because, in our minds, he is punching through an establishment here in Washington that refuses to get outside of its bubble and actually see what it is like in the rest of America – an America where people want to pursue their dreams, fall in love, raise their families, save a little money, engage in their very own pursuit of happiness, and send their children to a great public school.

It’s cynical to base our support on the metrics of “electability” or, more repugnantly, on some sort of desire to have access or a seat at the table. Since when do we as unionists – who proclaim we now embrace an organizing model – stay content with a seat at the table? We’ve had our seats at the table, and that has brought us the likes of Arne Duncan.

I say we act like the nation’s largest union. I say we harness the power of our membership, regardless of how scary it may seem. I say we let this process play out longer, that we listen to our fellow members more closely (a poll showing that more than half of our members don’t support Hillary should be a reason to pause), and that we learn from the debates.

I believe that over time, Bernie’s message will resonate far beyond Vermont, Iowa or New Hampshire, because economic justice that puts working families first knows no bounds. I am proud to support Bernie, and, together with tens of thousands of already committed NEA members here and across the country, I believe we’ve only seen the beginning of the political revolution that will once again put the needs of working Americans first.

In solidarity,

Martha

PS: If you want to get involved in Bernie’s campaign, please shoot a note to our political organizer, Colin Robinson. 

Darren Allen Oct 06 2015
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