The majority of my readers are teachers and parents (and, I'm sure, the occasional NJDOE staffer). And I can imagine what many of you are thinking after you read one of my little rants: "OK, Jazzman, we agree that something has gone wrong with education policy. But what can we actually do about it?"
I think one of the most important responses we need to make is to get more parents and teachers into positions of influence. We need public school parents and teachers on school boards, in Congress, and in the statehouses. The last is especially critical, because that's where the actual policies are being written. This is a war of many fronts, and it needs warriors to fight its many battles.
So I'm asking all of you, no matter where you're reading this, to help out with a critical race here in Jersey: Marie Corfield's run for NJ Assembly.
Maire is a teacher, a mom, and absolutely fearless. When Chris Christie was making his name from yelling at his constituents on YouTube, Marie stood up to him, turning her into a national celebrity. Since then, she has been a passionate force for public education and real democracy.
Marie is running in one of the few truly contested districts left in New Jersey. That's one of the reasons she faces a tough primary challenge; everyone knows a Democrat can actually win back this district. Marie's got the backing of the NJEA, AFSCME, and NJ Senate Majority Leader Weinberg; they know a winner when they see one.
The unfortunate reality, however, is that Marie is a teacher. She doesn't have the personal fortune to write herself a check; she needs our help - and she needs it now. Donations follow donations; she needs to show to the powers that be in the Democratic party that she has a group of a supporters who are fed up with the politics of teacher bashing.
I'm asking all of you to consider donating whatever you can to Marie's campaign. If she wins, it will send a powerful message to Chris Christie and his acolytes: we parents and teachers are not going to stand still while our public schools are destroyed.
Donate to Marie Corfield today. ActBlue makes it really easy.
Go get 'em, Teach!
Hey Jazzman, Check out the story below. I might be out on a limb here but I think this is how the financial industry and their willing servants in congress & states are going to get their greedy hands into public pensions- by changing the bankruptcy laws, one challenge at a time.
ReplyDeleteThe financial industry is adept at challenging arcane legalities in their favor. The Enron case and subsequent bankruptcy "reforms"is the template for this scheme. Remember what happened to all those workers when they sued the bankrupt Enron for just a part of their pensions? They got 0. Every corporate bankruptcy since then, without a union labor force, has stolen their workers pensions after a bankruptcy and the workers have no legal recourse for any recovery in court. The only individuals who recover anything are the investors. This is why we need strong unions.
Is it any coincidence the case is being heard in the Northern Marianas -home of Abramoff & Tom Delay's criminal activities?
In 1959 Jimmy Hoffa was indicted by the Eisenhower Justice Dept for "borrowing" from the Teamsters pension funds. He invested the money in a failed scheme and had planned to pay it back but couldn't. This is exactly what Christine Todd Whitmann did to the NJ pension fund when she was gov. Billionaire tax cuts, capital gains cuts and federal govt austerity assures pension shortfalls. What is common practice by today's business standards will soon become common practice if states and localities declare bankruptcy.
It's amazing how easily congress, their financial owners and the courts have re-defined fraud.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/05/24/153442859/bankrupt-in-paradise
"The case is in front of a judge right now, and a central question in the case has ramifications for states and state employees all across the mainland: Is a pension fund separate from the government or part of it?
Under U.S bankruptcy law, commonwealths and states cannot file for bankruptcy, according to David Skeel, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The pension fund is arguing that it works for the commonwealth of the Northern Mariana islands but it is not part of it.
'They need to show separateness," says Skeel. 'They need to show they are not just a branch of the commonwealth but they really are a separate entity."
JJ Thanks so much for that. Made my day. Oh, Marie
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work.
tc