Hillary Clinton makes a promise to union leaders: I’ll listen to teachers

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Washington Post

By Lyndsey Layton

Hillary Rodham Clinton told the president of the National Education Association that she would listen to teachers if elected president, a simple promise Monday that impressed the president of the nation’s largest labor union.

“She used the most important word that I was personally looking for, the word ‘listen’,” said Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the NEA, which represents mostly K-12 teachers and paraprofessionals and has 3 million members.

Garcia met privately with Clinton, a Democrat who is running for president, at NEA headquarters as part of the union’s endorsement process for the 2016 campaign. The NEA has invited both Democratic and Republican candidates to complete a 34-question survey, sit for a videotaped interview with Garcia and attend the union’s annual meeting at the end of the month.

The union released excerpts from the Clinton interview but did not release the videotape. It also did not provide Clinton’s answers to the questionnaire, which sought her opinion on a range of topics, including whether she would curtail the use of competitive grant programs such as Race to the Top, which the Obama administration has used to push states to adopt its favored education policies.

FULL story at link.



Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton smiles as she speaks at Rancho High School on May 5, 2015 in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/hillary-clinton-makes-a-promise-to-union-leaders-ill-listen-to-teachers/2015/06/08/f699ac86-0e10-11e5-adec-e82f8395c032_story.html

[jeff47]

1. Hillary Clinton makes promise to Republicans: I'll abandon all my campaign promises for you.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6802170

[Scootaloo]

6. "Purple sauce!" Remember the last time that was on the market?

No?

because it fucking bombed.

[Report1212]

2. Both Clintons and Obama have used similar rhetoric in elections

But when they govern, they simply do not actually do this. Read Al From's book he credits both clintons with introducing high stakes testing and school choice into the Democratic Party

[Scuba]

20. +1,000

[roguevalley]

3. she'll listen. How about she will act? I think there's a master

list somewhere that she's checking off. Its awful to watch the laundry list of things she's going to listen to. What about COMMITTING RIGHT NOW TO DOING. Then I might care.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

8. Exactly! How bout a lil less listenin Hillary & a LOT more advocating for union workers (instead of Wall Street bankers) like Bernie...

Now, thats what I wanna see, not hear.

[RobinA]

24. Me Too

I'm a union member who isn't a teacher. Teachers have made some decent gains in the last 10 to 20 years. How 'bout the rest of us who have not.

[McKim]

4. You Mean No More Obama Basketball Buddy for Sect'y of Education?

Really? After the Seymour Hersh article on the killing of Bin Laden in the London Review of Books, can we believe anything these people say? I would love to believe this but I really can't. Obama just burned me out when he said a lot and didn't follow through. I am afraid our Democratic "leaders" have a credibility problem. So I am sticking with Bernie.

[840high]

9. ...^ that

[olddots]

5. I feel like I'm in a one sided love affair

I love Democracy but the Democratic politicans don't even know I'm alive .

[rhett o rick]

7. This is rhetoric. "I will listen". Then what? Give Goldman-Sachs more tax breaks? nm

[kenfrequed]

28. This is why I prefer Sanders

He sticks to policy over rhetoric.

[joshcryer]

10. That the video and questionnaire is not being released is interesting.

[delrem]

11. So Hillary stops by on her official "listening tour"

and tells the president of the NEA that she'll "listen",
and the president of the NEA says
"She used the most important word that I was personally looking for, the word ‘listen’"

How about that.

Hopefully the president of the NEA, and teachers in general, show more depth than that going forward.

Oh yes, nice campaign pic.

[Art_from_Ark]

17. Roll up! Roll up for the Listening Tour!

The Magical Listening Tour is coming to hear what you say
Dying to hear what you say
Just not today

[Starry Messenger]

12. At least she never said Katrina was the best thing to happen

to public education in NO.

[delrem]

13. Gotta wait 'till Jan '17 for it all to hit the fan.

[pangaia]

26. That's a pretty low bar, isn't it.

[freshwest]

14. Most people I know that support her in my area are teachers and public union employees. IDK about

what LEO's think of her, as I'm not associated with them. All the people I know that support her are union members. So she has some connections there.

[progree]

15. "I promise to listen" ... what a crock. Wish she'd get specific about something nm

[Cha]

16. Hey Aloha Steve.. Mahalo for the link!

[Demeter]

18. That kind of pandering won't cut the cake these days

People are tired of being "listened" to. NOW they are going to be HEARD!

[Android3.14]

19. More non-statements

I'll bet she loves babies, supports our veterans and wants good paying jobs, too. These are platitudes any paper cutout candidate would say, regardless of actual intent.

For a famous policy wonk, she sure says little about actual policy.

[LiberalLovinLug]

31. Don't forget her favorite book of all time

is the Bible. I'm sure she reads it everyday.

[ibewlu606]

21. B.S.!

Last edited Tue Jun 9, 2015, 08:27 AM - Edit history (1)

I remember all too clearly Bushama promising to "put on a comfortable pair of shoes, and walking a picket line". I want to see actions not hear words.

[Hoppy]

22. Awwww, I guess she remembers her third grade teacher who taught her to read.

[Sunlei]

23. Time for all the other presidential contenders to do their Teachers Union interviews.

Especially all the contenders who have several years of cutting state education and totally ignoring teachers.

[pangaia]

25. "...she would listen to teachers if elected president,...

she would listen to teachers if elected president, a simple promise Monday that impressed the president of the nation’s largest labor union. "


Well, I mean... why wouldn't she listen to teachers? Only an idiot wouldn't listen to teachers.

What's the big deal?

[Nihil]

27. Politician makes a campaign "promise"? This is news??

Those things are about as long-lived as a mayfly once the ballots have been counted ...

[L0oniX]

29. Bwahahahahahah

[no_hypocrisy]

30. I'm interested in HRC's response to the NJ Supreme Court that essentially

has allowed Gov. Chris Christie to steal their pensions.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/06/nj_supreme_court_spares_christie_in_billion_dollar.html#incart_most-commented_essex_articlehttp://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/06/nj_supreme_court_spares_christie_in_billion_dollar.html#incart_most-commented_essex_article

Christie negotiated a deal with the unions, asking the memberships pay MORE from their paychecks for health benefits and retirement/pensions and the state would begin to contribute funds again to their pensions. Except Christie suddenly announced there wasn't enough money and he wouldn't pay, thereby nullifying his promise to the unions and retirees.

The figure is in the billions.

I'd like to know her position on this issue.

[Beauregard]

32. Dick Nixon's political advice:

Run as far to the right as you can in the primaries, and then run back to the center as fast as you can in the general election.

Hillary is doing the Democratic version of this. (The obverse.)

[MisterP]

33. and I presume the NEA is 101% sure she'll follow through, especially on an economic issue?

51st time's the charm ...