Citizen’s United Leads to Bumper Crop of Lobbying by Corporations and Unions

Washington Lobbyist (Image from Flickr, by DonkeyHotey)

Over the past year, corporations and unions spent a record $286.6 million to influence politics in California, according to the L.A. Times—a 6.8% increase over the previous year. (You can see the Top 10 spenders on state lobbying here).

The Times, like other media and pundits, has tried to equate union lobbying with that of corporations, suggesting, for example, that campaign contributions won California teachers an important victory with a bill restricting the issuance of pink slips. Yet the California Teachers Association (CTA), which spent $6.5 million, has so far failed to win (or even ask for) anything that would increases revenues sufficiently so that schools could afford to retain teachers and hire enough to lower class sizes, (e.g., end high stakes exams and Common Core Standards, increase taxes on the wealthy and corporations, end the 3 Strikes law, increase taxes on oil and marijuana).

California has slashed over $20 billion from K-12 education over the past three years. Under such conditions, it is inevitable that jobs will be lost, services and programs cut, class sizes increased, and pay and benefits reduced. CTA is supporting the Governor’s tax increase initiative on the November ballot, but this will be a bandage at best. It will not repay the $20 billion that has already been slashed, nor increase revenue to a level necessary to bring California up from the bottom five states in per pupil spending. Furthermore, it will provide almost nothing to higher education or services to the poor and disabled, while unfairly taxing the poor through a regressive sales tax increase.

While the CTA’s spending was paltry compared with what the corporations spent, it was monstrous compared with what it spent on organizing and mobilizing its members to take job actions, such as strikes, that would more effectively achieve its goals. Instead, it spent its members’ dues retaining a team of seven lobbyists and wining and dining politicians and their staffs.

It is true, as the Times points out, that they also paid the travel expenses for its members to visit Sacramento during the State of Emergency (SOE) protests last year. However, they actively discouraged members from engaging in civil disobedience, occupations or other confrontational tactics, instead encouraging them to meet with legislators and discuss their scripted talking points.

Predictably, the SOE protests and “citizen” lobbying yielded nothing meaningful for teachers or their students.

CTA Leadership Approves Sell-Out

Earlier this week I predicted that CTA would sell out its members, children and the rest of the public sector in order to claim victory in its week-long State of Emergency protest over impending multi-billion dollar cuts to K-12 education. While it is still too early to tell exactly how things will play out, CTA’s new president, Dean Vogel, said this week that he likes the Governor’s revised budget proposal, a plan that includes slashing 5,500 state jobs, eliminating the Departments of Mental Health and Alcohol and Drug Programs, and stripping Healthy Families health insurance from nearly 1 million kids. The plan also depends on the support of four more Republicans who will no doubt demand union concessions in exchange for their votes. And if they do approve the plan, it will force low income Californians to pay for the brunt of the bailout through regressive tax extensions.

Vogel likes the plan because it allows him to claim that the millions of dollars CTA spent on the State of Emergency actions (and on Brown’s campaign for governor) were justified and effective. It also makes the CTA look like a powerful champion of children, which is ironic considering the plan will be a disaster for low income kids. Vogel was quoted by John Fensterwald saying: “We believe that this is the best possible budget for us right now.”

The quote shows how bankrupt the CTA leadership really is. A decent budget would make the rich bail out the state and it would provide ample funding for education and social services, rather than maintaining education funding at third world levels. When Vogel says “Best for us” he essentially means best for the union leadership, who will continue to bring in their six-figure salaries and who will win points with their members for preserving their jobs and class sizes. Secondarily “Us” refers to teachers, who, despite this deal, will continue to suffer from the effects of the $20 billion that has been cut over the last three years, and a status quo that puts California near the bottom of the nation in per pupil spending and class sizes. But at least jobs will be saved and furloughs averted.

Vogel’s “Us” certainly does not include children and families, especially low income families, who will be hurt more than helped by this budget. And by “Best possible” he must be referring to politicians, who can say they voted for a pro-education budget without alienating their wealthy donors with tax increases on their businesses or incomes.

The budget actually may not even be all that great for teachers in the long term. By accepting this budget, CTA accepts the firing of thousands of other public sector workers and the slashing of $1.4 billion from higher education, concessions that could drive a serious wedge between K-12 teachers and their historical allies in higher education and other public sector professions. This could be devastating when the next round of attacks comes and teachers need support and solidarity from other workers.

According to Fensterwald, CTA wants the legislature to approve the tax extensions outright, without placing them on the ballot for voter approval, indicating the union’s mistrust of their own constituents and their fear that residents will refuse to tax themselves while the rich continue to get a free ride. This fear is not all that unreasonable, considering that a recent CFT poll showed a majority of Californians blame the rich for the current budget crisis.

Revolutionary Milquetoast or General Strike?

Teachers and Students Occupying the Rotunda, CA State Capital

68 people were arrested at the California state capital last night protesting for tax extensions to bail out the state and avoid further cuts to K-12 education. 20 of those arrested were UC Santa Cruz students who came in solidarity with the California Teachers Association. “We came with our A game,” said one student who was clearly frustrated and disillusioned by the CTA’s lack of commitment and weak message. Many of the students felt betrayed, having made a personal sacrifice to help the cause, while the majority of teachers seemed to care less about their action. Thus, the UC students decided to head home after only two days of the CTA’s State of Emergency week of actions.

I spoke to one regional representative to the CTA this morning who said that the CTA wasn’t supporting those who were arrested last night because they broke the law and violated CTA’s own code of conduct which directed members to “obey the directives of law enforcement personnel.”This CTA representative seemed to feel that CTA would face federal conspiracy charges for offering legal support for teachers arrested for refusing to leave the capital when asked. In fact, he seemed quite irate that I would even question whether teachers would get any legal representation from their union. He was also antagonist to the tactic of trying to occupy the capital, even though this was the game plan originally advertised by the CTA. “What do you think happens if you punch ‘em in the face on day one? Where you gonna go next?” This was obviously a bombastic and paranoid metaphor. No one punched anyone in the face and an actual occupation would require people to refuse to leave when asked, especially starting on day one. When else would you start an occupation—at 6 pm Friday, when everyone is going home for the weekend?

A successful occupation, however, would also require hundreds of participants, perhaps locking themselves together or doing something to inhibit the police from simply picking them off one by one and carting them away, as happened last night, not to mention many more outside providing logistical support and encouragement. Indeed, police promptly started arresting protesters soon after 6:00 pm, when the capital closed for the night. Protesters didn’t even get the chance to get their message out that they opposed the regressive tax extensions being promoted by the CTA and instead wanted the rich to bail out the state. Media coverage implied that the protesters were getting arrested for promoting the CTA’s message of tax extensions for the poor and working class.

I did speak to other CTA representatives later who said that CTA would in fact provide legal defense for those arrested. I should point out that many protesters were held overnight in jail. Most of the teachers arrested were from United Educators of San Francisco and Oakland Education Association. The CTA literature handed out to teachers at the orientation also tried to discourage teachers from participating in any civil disobedience by suggesting that their credentials could be revoked if they got arrested.

Overall, the CTA has no interest in challenging the status quo in any sort of meaningful or effective way. They are unwilling to take any risks, promote any sort of confrontational tactics or put any real pressure on the decision-makers. This does not bode well for workers hoping to stem the effects of the escalating class war. Ultimately, workers will have to take a stand against the attacks on their working conditions and living standards, or face increasing immiseration.  The best chance they have is the general strike, which was made illegal by the National Labor Relations Act. If unions are unwilling to risk doing anything illegal, they certainly won’t promote or organize for a general strike, as was clearly demonstrated in Wisconsin.

Nevertheless, there are members of CTA, including regional representatives, who do support a general strike:

Obedience For Justice

I arrived at the CA state capital today to find around 5-6 teachers in the rotunda with as many journalists and twice as many cops. The cops wouldn't let any more teachers join them and no one tried. The funny thing is that the rotunda is a meaningless piece of real estate. It was as if the cops were told to make a stand at the rotunda and they did.

Teachers tried several times and eventually occupied the third floor of the rotunda and sang We Shall Overcome until the CTA kicked them out. There were plenty of teachers and UC students present who were willing to take a stand and risk arrest (at least they admitted as much to me in private interviews). However, when CTA said they'd lose their permit, everyone filed dutifully out, with some threatening to return at 5, when the CTA permit runs out for the day.

This should not be at all surprising. First, CTA didn't intend for a real occupation, having rented hotel rooms for everyone. They also gave members a Code of Conduct which directs members to obey the cops, which essentially means no civil disobedience. Second, they organized teachers into small groups each with a list of lawmakers to lobby, which, if followed, would preclude both civil disobedience and any deviation from CTA's pathetic message. The day even began desperately with a "prayer for legislative courage." But where's the courage in begging a bunch of wealthy politicians to levy taxes on the poor and working class?

CTA’s State of Emergency Misses the Mark, But Come Anyway, The Occupation Will Be Fun

Even after California shaved $13 billion off its deficit by slashing Community College, CSU and UC budgets, as well as services for the poor, elderly and disabled, the state is still $12 billion in the hole and is now threatening to cut K-12 education by $4 billion and fire up to 20,000 more teachers. In response, the California Teachers Association’s (CTA) State Council has declared a “State of Emergency” for the week of May 9-13, approving a series of actions including a limited one-week sit-in at the state Capitol, in Sacramento, and local rallies in various cities. Their short-term goal is to pressure lawmakers to approve tax extensions to protect schools, colleges, and essential public services from further cuts, while their long-term goal is to implement a “fair” tax structure that ensures “stable” education funding.

While some delegates proposed increasing taxes on the rich and corporations during the planning stages, neither the rich nor corporations are mentioned in the union’s literature for the May actions. Furthermore, their nebulous long-term goal of tax “fairness” is not even being promoted as a goal of the May actions. Even if it was, a week of sit-ins and rallies would not be sufficient to force legislators to increase taxes on anyone, especially not the rich (and themselves). On the other hand, while the short-term objective stands a better chance of succeeding, it is a terrible goal, as the tax extensions are regressive and will force poor and working class people to bail out the state, while letting the rich off the hook. Ironically, around the same time that the CTA came out with their State of Emergency plan, the CFT released a poll showing that 52% of California voters blamed the rich and corporations for the budget crisis (while only 32% blamed public employee compensation), suggesting the time is right for going after the wealthy.

Making those who have so little pay even more in taxes is cruel and stupid, especially considering that poverty is the number one cause of poor academic achievement (see here, here and here), and especially considering that millionaires and billionaires can afford to pay a little more without suffering a decline in their living standards. Furthermore, even if the tax extensions pass it will merely be a bandage over a gushing wound. They will not recoup the $18 billion that has been slashed from K-12 education over the past three years, nor will they prevent continuing huge budget deficits in the future.

If the CTA really wants to protect teachers’ interests and help improve academic achievement, they need to demand increased progressive taxes, with the wealthy paying most or all of the increase. Furthermore, anything short of a state-wide work stoppage is unlikely to make lawmakers feel any need to change their stance. A rich guy who spends his life insulated from (and exacerbating) poverty will not be swayed by signs and chanting.

Despite these criticisms, these baby steps by the union could be seen as a hopeful sign. The fact that they have even started talking about the greed of the wealthy is a positive change for an organization that has spent most of its existence bending over backward to comply with the demands of the ruling elite. On a more practical level, the May actions are an opportunity for students, teachers and public sector workers to take the lead and, instead of accepting the CTA’s weak demand to impose regressive tax increases on themselves, reset the agenda and demand the rich bail themselves out. At the very least, it is an opportunity to change the terms of the debate and radicalize participants.

Therefore, following in the tradition of the Wobblies or IWW, it is time to call on all labor radicals, students, activists, wages slaves, and hobos to “ride the rails” to sunny California and join the class struggle.