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By Dan Njegomir | Colorado Watchdog
The Colorado Education Association—Colorado’s largest teachers union and a formidable force in state politics amid the 2012 presidential race—is being touted in a recently disclosed union document as an example to other state unions for its success in mobilizing members during elections.
Yet, the pat on the back evidently comes as news to the CEA itself, whose spokesman hadn’t heard about the praise and says the Colorado union’s officials are unaware of what particular efforts its parent organization, the National Education Association, is referring to. A spokeswoman for the national union in Washington, D.C., meanwhile, downplayed the distinction this week, insisting, “There is really nothing much deeper…than we liked their energy, their enthusiasm, and the fact that they really are focused on making their members
Colorado teacher’s union receives praise
aware of the issues that affect the future of Colorado students.”
The hat tip turned up in a document analyzing the results of an internal survey of NEA members that was commissioned by the union last year but first made public earlier this month by the blog Education Intelligence Agency. Washington, D.C., pollster GBA Strategies cites the CEA’s efforts on a page of tactics intended to “…energize and mobilize our members” in helping re-elect President Obama.
After urging state NEA affiliates to “borrow from” the Ohio Education Association’s Friends, Family & Neighbors campaign, the document suggests that the state organizations, “…study Colorado’s success in building a member-to-member campaign over the last few elections.” The national HQ must hold the CEA in fairly high regard, or it wouldn’t have agreed to send it $50,000 out of its national media fund to help with issue advertising this fall, as also reported by the Education Intelligence Agency.
Contact Dan Njegomir at dannjegomir@gmail.com
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