Right then: To head things off: I am not Clinton Bashing, this is the second one of her union endorsements that has had this issue where members start planning protests in response to what the leaders are doing. This time it's the NEA.
This link is from Common Dreams but it has links backing the article.
A rumored presidential endorsement by the nation's largest union is exposing a rift between rank-and-file members who are "feeling the Bern" and leadership who appear more willing to err on the Clinton side of caution.
Various news reports have indicated that an announcement by the 3-million strong National Education Association is expected sometime this week.
According to an email obtained by Politico, the NEA PAC, the union’s political arm, is planning to hold an upcoming vote "recommending Hillary Clinton for the presidential primary" on the grounds that the former Secretary of State "is the best positioned candidate to win both the Democratic primary and general election," citing her "unmatched organizational strength, ground game, and fundraising ability to defeat the candidate of the Koch brothers."
NEA members supporting Sanders "are already planning a grassroots campaign in opposition to the what they expect will be a Clinton nod," Politico reports:
In a letter to members, five educators from Wisconsin, Vermont, Massachusetts and Montana write: "More than 30,000 NEA members have shown support for Sen. Bernie Sanders to be our next president through his campaign website or various social media sites," and cite Sanders’ opposition to charter schools, support for collective bargaining rights and free tuition at public higher education institutions.
"An early endorsement for Clinton would be based only on advocacy by national and state leaders without membership input," the letter states. “Like it or not, this is our time to mobilize against an endorsement next week not to moan about it." Members are being encouraged to write to their state association protesting the early endorsement.
From
Politico
“There was recently a phone interview that was arranged for Secretary Clinton with their board of directors,” said a Sanders campaign official. “That was never offered to us.” An NEA spokesman did not respond to a request for comment about the phone interview.
But the spokesman said that Clinton, Sanders and O’Malley have all met in person with NEA’s president. And on July 2, the NEA reached out to the three campaigns to invite them to participate in a tele-town hall with members. They said Sanders never responded. “After multiple attempts, the campaign failed to respond to our efforts to schedule a time and date for this tele-town hall during the back to school period. Sec. Clinton was the only campaign to respond,” the spokesman said. Sanders’ campaign refuted that claim.
"Our national field director, Phil Fiermonte, had conversations with the NEA's political director, Carrie Pugh, on more than one occasion and discussed possible dates for a tele-town hall with the senator," Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said. "To say the Sanders' campaign 'failed to respond' is simply not true. In fact, a request by the Sanders campaign to allow the senator the same opportunity as Mrs. Clinton to speak with the NEA's board of directors was denied."
NEA members supporting Sanders, however, are already planning a grassroots campaign in opposition to the what they expect will be a Clinton nod.
As a refresher, the
AFT Endorsement faced similar issues.
There are also articles about the Teamsters voting today to withhold it's endorsement from Clinton, and theSEIU and AFSCME unions are all choosing to wait on endorsing as well.
We will see how this plays out in the coming weeks but I don't remember unions having so much dissent before in early endorsements. That could just be me though. Just wanted to share.