Thursday, April 15, 2010

RINO Charlie Crist shows his horn, vetoes teachers tenure bill


As if Marco Rubio wasn’t kicking Charlie Crist’s butt bad enough.  Today RINO Governor Charlie Crist vetoed a bill that would have tied teacher’s raises to student’s performance and end tenure for new hires.
St. Petersburg Times: […] Calling it "significantly flawed," Crist decried Senate Bill 6, which would link teacher pay to student test scores and eliminate tenure for all new hires, as both overreaching and too vague.
"We must start over," he said.[…]
Crist's noontime announcement came as little surprise. Although he initially voiced support for the bill, he had distanced himself as protests mounted. He insisted his decision was not influenced by his faltering primary race for the U.S. Senate.[…] 
"This bill has deeply and negatively affected the morale of our teachers, our parents and our students," Crist said. "They are not confident in our system because they do not believe their voices were heard."
Under the bill, half of a teacher's evaluation would depend on their students' learning gains. Good gains would equal positive evaluations and pay raises, which teachers said failed to factor the work that doesn't show up on tests — and ignores other forces that affect kids.
Tenure would have been out of the question for new teachers, which Crist highlighted in his problems with the bill.[…]
Clearly this maneuver will do nothing to help Charlie Crist catch up to Marco Rubio in the Republican primary. I think we should consider this veto as a telling sign that Charlie Crist will try to run as an independent in the general election.
Quinnipiac: Gov. Crist leads Meek 48 - 34 percent in a general election matchup, while Rubio's margin over the Democrat is just 42 - 38 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University survey finds. 
If Crist were to file as an independent for the general election, he would get 32 percent of the vote, compared to Rubio's 30 percent and Meek's 24 percent. 

Another indication that Crist may go the independent route is that there is a rumor that the Florida Education Association might be running attack ad against Rubio for Crist. 
The Shark Tank: There are rumors of a deal in place between the Florida Education Association (FEA) and Charlie Crist for the union to run one million dollars of attack ads against Marco Rubio, Crist’s opponent in the U.S. Senate primary.  This would be in violation of FEC laws, as campaigns cannot coordinate with 501c non-profit organizations.  Call us cynical, but we must inquire- was this whole legislative spectacle orchestrated from the get-go by the Governor and other interested parties to allow Crist to play the role of the hero by intervening at the height of this drama and veto this largely unpopular measure- thus winning him the support of the teacher’s union (at least temporarily), and enabling him to be viewed as an independent maverick who bucks his own party, making himself more appealing to centrists and Democrats?  Inquiring minds want to know. 
Shades of Arlene Sepecter, do anything to get elected.

14 comments:

Janelle said...

The electric fan man, please, no bloody way. What I find really interesting is Senator George LeMieux, who was appointed to fill in for Martinez and he goes his own way.....says he won't run for Congress again,but I certainly don't have a no answer from the man or staff about a run for the Governor.

spc said...

I just know he is going to run as an independent- That sucks!

He is the slimiest of politician types that don't see themselves as civil servants, but as career politicians since he knows that it would put into play a scenario where the Democrat wins by a split of the vote on the conservative side.

I think Rubio has enough momentum to carry through that, but why allow the ideological opposition the chance if you really believed they were taking us in an extreme and wrong direction?

Clifton B said...

Janelle:

Sounds like Mr. LeMieux has gone Rogue.

Clifton B said...

Ozzie:

I think that Crist's veto may have been just the thing to kill off the little Republican support he was carrying. Keep in mind the Quinnipiac poll was before the veto.

Just Me said...

As a Floridian, I can tell you that Crist knows full well he has lost the conservatives' votes. This bonehead move was primarily for kickback money. Crist is known to flip-flop to the highest bidder.

Heather n Bmore said...

As a black, conservative teacher working in an inner city school and living in a "outer" city community, poor performing schools reflect poor performing parents and poor performing communities as much as they reflect teachers. Everyone fails to realize that. I am an excellent dedicated teacher and no matter how hard I work, I am only as effective as that student and their families allow me to be. What I do everyday can not be translated directly into students test scores. What if some don't test well. What if they are abused at home? What if they have not eaten. There are many factors that affect student performance. I for one want vochers. Send some of these students who curse us out daily, admit they don't care about school and have parents who do they same to "better" schools. You'll be sending them right back.

Bastiat Fan said...

No more than 3 weeks ago Crist EXPLICITLY SAID on Chris Wallace's show that he would ONLY run as a Republican. If he switches to Independent, Rubio should run the video of him on Wallace's show 24/7.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoOnuIfmcCA

Janelle said...

Bastiat Fan, I'm sure Rubio's campaign folks have that gem stored away for the right moment.

Clifton B said...

Just Me:

Ah thank you for the inside scoop. I suspect Crist will do whatever he thinks will get him to stay on the public tit.

Clifton B said...

Heather n Bmore:

I agree and disagree on some of your points. I agree that the successful education of a child require parents and teachers on the same page. Mix messages between the two leads to mix results with the students.

Where we disagree is that teachers should not be accountable. No one can reasonably expect a teacher to have 100% of their class pass with flying colors. However, it is expected that the majority do. The whole purpose of a teacher is to impart knowledge to their students, if the students aren't learning what is the point of even having school?

On vouchers, I still don't see a problem. Sweden has completely done away with public education and have a 100% voucher system. The free market created special schools for those difficult students.

Clifton B said...

Bastiat Fan:

I should have remembered that. I even posted the video! Shame on me!

spc said...

The biggest issue with schools is that there is a separation of "church and state", what I really mean is a "legal threat" of separation between parent and school. Now schools are at the point where the parent can not decide that the particular school is just strict enough for his child as someone else has already set a false standard about what should be appropriate for all children.

There have been a lot of posts since this thread was created by Clifton- but let me say this- since it will not get much attention (thankfully, since it is not something I admit to casually), Families play a gigantic role- and so do teachers.

My story is as follows and I really hope this doesn't fall on any side, but a side of pure politics free imaginary zone, since most other aspects of this story can then be related to real childhood of any child.

I grew up in a very poor 1 bedroom apartment with 2 other brothers.

We were illegal immigrants in one home. I was less than 10 yrs old the first thing I remember.

I remember running away to Mexico with my mom, on a bus (either we were running away or being deported, I don't really know and have never asked).

I remember eventually being back here, and I remember being in school- and I remember some desire in me to be competitive (in studies- while in pre-school/kindegarden (I was advanced very early on) I remember challenging my classmates to math contests such as who could finish their homework first, and since the teachers encouraged my development). I remember being a child for the years until I got into grade school- then a lot of things changed for me- I remember mostly "beat-downs" and hiding from my dad. I was light-skinned and maybe he thought I wasn't his own kid, whatever it was, I went from a normal and positive growth to one of hatred and abuse. I remember getting to college, and then my mind changing from wanting to do well, to "I don't give a fuck anymore".

Teachers are accountable for molding a person's interest/desires, but they are not responsible for creating his motivation.

Anonymous said...

Why don't they just replace teachers with robots? Most of the teachers I had in school were pretty mediocre. I've learned much more useful information on my own after finishing school.

Honestly, how much of the stuff they teach do you actually remember? They only teach you what they think you should know. It's a whole different world when you start learning what you want to know.

If Crist runs as an Independent after explicitly saying that he would only run as a Republican, then I cannot believe anything else that comes out of his mouth. He will have lost my personal trust and he will probably burn in the fiery pits of hell.

Ron Rae said...

Charlie Crist has been labeled a RINO for so long that he should wear the acronym as a banner: the Race Is Not Over!

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