Re “Bias? Teachers Union Treated Chardiet Differently from Goldberg” and “C’mon, Money, Not the Teachers Union, Decided the Election”
I want to make a brief response to two recent posts, one from Brianne Burton and one from Hilary Corning, both questioning the Teachers Union's support of Nancy Goldberg and Laura Chardiet in the most recent School Board election. Each writer suggested that while we endorsed both candidates, we only gave financial support to Nancy Goldberg.
Both writers are dead wrong. What
may be confusing these writers is that the California Teachers Assn. made a financial contribution to the Goldberg campaign. That support reflects the endorsement of Culver City's support staff union, the Assn. of Classified Employees, ACE. It represents CCUSD's classified employees and is affiliated with the California Teachers Assn. Since ACE endorsed just the one candidate, CTA contributed only to that campaign.
The Teachers Union, the Culver City Federation of Teachers, is not affiliated with CTA. Our state organization is the California Federation of Teachers. That organization paid for two direct mail pieces that urged voters to vote for both our candidates, Laura Chardiet and Nancy Goldberg.
Our local union took out ads in the local press and sent out a direct mail piece asking voters to support both candidates. We did not make any direct financial contribution to any campaign. Our policy is that we spend money on behalf of our our endorsed candidates, but that we do not make direct contributions. It'
s easy to see how people can become confused with the alphabet soup of unions. What's not so easy to understand is why people with questions don't just email me or call me for clarification.
It seems that some members of our community can't wait to write that “David Mielke has a short memory and has a lot of explaining to do.”
Actually, my memory is just fine, thank you. If anyone wants explanations about anything having to do with our union or our schools, shoot me an email. I'll get right back to you.
Mr. Mielke, President, Culver City Federation of Teachers, may be contacted at davidmielke@ccusd.org
