...But Kyle Olson, the nefarious (in the eyes of the MEA) now-two-man gang (he appears to have hired former Muskegon Chronicle writer Steve Gunn as a communications guy) known as the Education Action Group, writes this op-ed (School Boards Under Siege by MEA inspired recall elections) in the Lansing St. Journal yesterday taking note.
Unfortunately, the Michigan Education Association doesn't want you to see it that way. The union wants Michigan voters to cooperate with its plan to recall board members who threaten its greedy financial goals.
The MEA's recall strategy has already plagued the Harrison, St. Clair Shores Lakeview, Reed City, Gladstone, Southfield, Wayne-Westland, Garden City and Redford Union districts, to name a few. And if other school boards dare question the union's financial goals, they could be targeted, too.What crimes have the targeted board members committed?
They considered saving precious dollars by cutting ties with MESSA, the expensive health insurance carrier owned and operated by the MEA; or by privatizing support services like transportation, custodial work or food preparation.
In the St. Clair Shores Lakeview district, for instance, the board dumped MESSA and replaced it with comparable insurance coverage, saving about $500,000 per year. The MEA responded with a recall attempt against four board members, which, fortunately, failed at the polls.
MEAExposed.com has some pretty embarrassing stuff on the MEA. I would say "Ouch!" except that the MSM will likely never report any of this information. Too bad for Michigan school districts.And Olson goes a step further. Just yesterday afternoon on a separate matter, he released e-mails obtained through FOIA from the Wayne-Westland district both proving both the recall connection in that district and a number of other interesting goodies. See here, at MEAExposed.com. There's a bunch of stuff in there - more than just a story about MESSA or MEA recalls. It's part of a Rosetta stone as to how special interests work.
