Cherilyn Eagar: Wake Up Utah! "Republican" State Legislator Resigns to Join UEA: Ethics Reform Petition is Trojan Horse

From her facebook page:

Wake Up Utah! "Republican" State Legislator Resigns to Join UEA:
Ethics Reform Petition is Trojan Horse
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Wed at 11:17am
It should be another wake up call to Utahns, especially in the
Taylorsville area, to note that their state representative Kory
Holdaway has just resigned to join the state's most liberal and vocal
union in Utah - the Utah Education Association.

Now a special election will be held among Republican delegates in Salt
Lake County to nominate and elect a replacement. The problem is: Salt
Lake County has been infested and infiltrated with an over-abundance
of Kory Holdaways: union members who have no affinity with the
principles of the Republican Party.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a former teacher. I think education is a good
idea. It's just that I don't endorse the social justice and
politically correct curriculum that has infested our schools. As a
teacher, I received the highest ratings at a top charter school in
Southern California and also at Brigham Young University. I've studied
education for many years and have researched and written legislation
at the state level. Senator Hatch has used my research on the Senate
floor to argue against politically correct national standards.

It's also that education is simply not an enumerated Federal power. I
would like someone reading this note to show me where education is a
Congressional responsibility. I agree with Ronald Reagan that the
Department of Education should never have been established in the
first place and that it is long overdue to be dismantled. It is one of
the many reasons why our Federal government is now bankrupt.

THE LEFTIST/BIG GOVERNMENT GOALS OF THE NEA
The NEA posts its liberal legislative goals on its website. You can
also Google the goals by state to get a clear perspective.

At the national level, which is also reflected locally in the various
states (including Utah) here is just a snippet of the agenda:
This union's top priority is nationalized health care. (Oh good. But
of course, it will give schools more $$$ when the comprehensive
school-based clinics are set up in every school to undermine the
private market.)

The NEA lobbies for more federal funding. (Nothing new there.)

It is now demanding mandatory full-day kindergarten and "optional"
universal pre-K. (Remember when full-day K was introduced as
"optional." Beware. Children belong with their families for as many
hours of the day as possible during their formative years.)

The NEA opposes private contracts in favor of more public employees,
and of course it opposes any competition of any form - whether in the
form of tuition tax credits (my preference) and vouchers. (No surprise
here.)

THE TROJAN HORSE OF THE CHARTER SCHOOL
It may come as a surprise to my fellow conservatives that both
President Obama and the NEA wholeheartedly endorse the increasingly
popular charter school movement. Now, why might that be?

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to note that any business receiving
a government subsidy is going to compete unfairly with the private
sector that does not receive the same subsidy.

Tax reformers and limited government proponents are opposed to
interfering with the free market, so why would they interfere with the
free market here?

An example of how this plays out is what has happened in Arizona.
Because of the strong charter school movement there, private schools
that wish to remain private and free from government subsidy are all
but disappearing. Those who call themselves "conservative" ought be
alarmed about that unintended outcome. A free market approach will not
intefere with the private sector and put it under unfair market
competition burdens, which the charter school does.

Another example: I taught in a charter school in California - one of
the top eight arts schools in the country. No doubt it was a superior
school to others in the community. But that was "the problem,"
according to the California Assembly. The state took one look at the
"inequity" of the audition-only admission policy, and demanded that
the school admit a student body that reflected the demographics of the
community, or lose its charter. So students were admitted that neither
had an interest in the arts nor were they skilled in the arts. Leave
it to government to be so "common sense."

Another truism: Always follw the money, and the government's Golden
Rule: He who has the gold, rules.

Reagan said it best: The nine most terrifying words in the English
language are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

Private schools that understand this Golden Rule and that wish to
remain independent of government assistance are now under added stress
to survive. So I just need to ask my conservative colleagues: Is
giving a public school charter an advantage with a subsidy a free
market solution? I don't see it that way. If you disagree with me and
can show me otherwise, I'm listening, I'm listening.

UTAH-UEA AND THE PTA
In Utah, the largest teachers union is the UEA. The largest
cheerleader for the UEA is, unfortunately, the Utah PTA, an
organization that once provided a favulous venue for parents and
teachers to network in the classroom and to organize school events and
fundraisers.

However, the legislative agenda has taken over and has introduced a
liberal-government entitlement agenda to which most parents and
teachers object to when they become aware of it. It is now the vehicle
which the Union uses to "spin" the issues and to lobby. Did you know
that your school is the hot-bed for lobbying? Parents, Grassroots,
wake up and unite! This is where the greatest "community organizing"
takes place.

For example, Ronda Rose, a Utah PTA leader, has just endorsed a
petition called "Ethics Reform." It sounds great, but after reading
the details, I'm astonished that the Lt. Governor and his legal
advisors did not render this petition absolutely unconstitutional on
the spot before it could be distributed.

No one denies that government is in need of an ethics overhaul. It is
why I'm running for U.S. Senate in Utah. Transparency is a start, but
those problems are best solved with the Independence Caucus approach.
Go there to read about it. www.ICaucus.org

THE RADICAL AGENDA BEHIND UTAH'S PTA
I attended the Utah PTA convention in 2008 and its plenary session
where a resolution in support of "initiative and referendum" was
presented and which passed unanimously. This was a resolution
supporting direct democracy. It sounded benign. Really, now, aren't we
a Democracy?

Actually, no, we're not. But if you attended public school, you
probably didn't get that lesson. If we read history, however, you will
discover that we are a constitutional representative republic and that
our Founders despised direct democracy.

Yes, we do have a popular election where every adult citizen is
allowed one vote. That is the "democracy" side of our election
process. But our form of government and the system itself is not a
direct democracy.

Direct democracy has found its home in initiative and referendum, and
I oppose it, except in rare instances of Constitutional Amendment. The
reason this radical resolution passed the Utah PTA was because the UEA
cannot get its oppressive centralized government proposals past our
"limited government" majority in the state legislature. So, in effect,
it is the PTA's goal (along with their cohorts at the UEA) to
over-ride our elected, representative government by running petitions
and initiative and referendum.

This year's UEA and PTA goal is to pass so-called "ethics reform." If
you'd like to read the text of the proposal, I will post it soon.

GRASSROOTS CALL TO ACTION
The UEA has been infiltrating the Utah Republican Party in conventions
and in statewide elections. The grassroots needs to wake up now. Cory
Holdaway was no "Republican," and by resigning and becoming the UEA
lobbyist, he has now come out of the closet as the liberal, Big
Government lobbyist that he really is.

912ers, TeaPartiers - are you listening? Let me know what you think
and let your state legislators and Congress know what you think too -
at the caucuses on March 23, 2010.