#MORE2016 - Ma Nishtona - UFT Elections: Why Is This Election Different? Or is it?

Is the 2016 UFT election really different? Well, in some ways it is and in some ways it isn't. Let's explore the similarities and differences.

May 24, 2016

With the UFT election vote count 2 days away, this is a good time to do some speculation. I'm not going to claim flat out that this election is different but there are a few interesting wrinkles out there that might move the needle one way or the other, though I don't expect the needle to move very much either way. Like suddenly MORE/NA numbers double, which would be a significant break. Flying seat of the pants, I don't see those signs.

Expectations in the opposition are always higher than they should be - I can't think of one election where I wasn't disappointed in the numbers. In 2013, not having moved the needle much at all, I felt the results for MORE, given the combination of groups coming together, were below expectations even though all totals were somewhat higher for MORE than they were for TJC/ICE in 2010 while being much lower for Unity and New Action.

But all that told me was that some people had switched votes toward MORE but not of a hell of a lot of people and  not a lot of people who hadn't voted before were voting.

The newer activists in MORE were excited and when I arrived at the 2013 "victory" party where 75 people were celebrating, I was not exuberant. One guy came over and pleaded with me to be "up" and so I used my method acting skills to show enthusiasm. Then had a few beers and happiness was easy to find.

This time I'm going to drink before the party so I don't have to do any acting. Come on down and help me drown my sorrows in my last election hurrah Thursday at the Dark Horse: morecaucusnyc: Celebrate With Us Thursday Night!

I will be celebrating the end of my final election campaign as I edge into retirement.

Here are some speculations on this election and what may be different this time.

The Jia Lee and opt-out factor
The growth of the opt out movement and Jia Lee's connection to it should be a factor. Jia is certainly somewhat better known in some quarters than Julie Cavanagh was in 2013 due to opt out. One Long Island resident who is a chapter leader stopped by at the DA to say that she has no idea who Jia is but she is an opt out supporter and opt out leader Jeannette Deutermann likes Jia and that was good enough for her. People come up to Jia on subways or in the streets, so there has been some imprint.

Question for me is just how many NYC teachers are in favor of opt out or see it as a threat? If votes go up consider the opt out issue as a factor.

The 2014 contract impact
20-25% voted NO with a batch of others voting YES under the gun - with Mulgrew telling them we would bankrupt the city. How many are aware that soon after the city announced a $2 billion surplus and other unions did better?

Do people who don't like the contract and the retro make that connection to this election?

Don't count any chickens because so many people don't make the connections. Should MORE have done a better job of telling people that?

Will high contract vote carry over to this election?
In school voting is very different from ballots coming to the home but I don't favor in school voting as long as there are so many embedded Unity chapter leaders in charge of the ballot in the school.

But since around 94% of the 108,000 DOE UFT members voted in the contract vote, over 20,000 people voted NO, 16000 teachers and 4000 support (functionals). (Retirees and non DOE people did not vote.) An opposition wet dream is having them all vote against Unity but expect only the usual low turnout which given the past would translate about 4-5000 of these votes into the opposition - many of them the same anti-Unity suspects from 2013. 6600 anti-Unity votes this time from classroom teachers (out of 66000 ballots sent out would give the opposition 10% of the working teachers.

Are people unhappy in schools?
That's what everyone is telling me. That morale is low. But do they blame the UFT or the DOE for that? The late Gene Prisco used to always say that the Unity leadership has a missile deflection shield. The opposition up to now has not been able to get deep penetration into enough schools to make the point that the Unity Caucus is complicit. Unless MORE has an active person in the school to tell people this most people don't make the connection because they do not know about the role of Randi and Mulgrew and the UFT in supporting so many aspects of ed deform.

Unity ran a lower key campaign than in 2013
They didn't really go after MORE/New Action in public though behind the scenes the Unity people did a lot of trash talk in their schools. No open attacks on MORE as being a fringe socialist group though I bet that is what Unity people tell people.

I also didn't see as much glossy literature as last time -- and the drop in their votes in 2013 from 2010 was significant so it didn't do any good.  One theory is that Unity in house surveys said that negative campaigning suppresses the vote and so they toned it down.

Will Unity vote totals go up or down?
The needle really moved down for Unity in 2013. But that happened in 2004 and then they rose back up in 2007.

I think the Unity totals will move up this year despite people telling me that everyone is so unhappy and this is the first election since the 2014 contract. One can argue that the 75% who voted for it will carry over for more Unity votes this time. Unity seems to be paying more attention to getting out their vote this time.

The MORE/New Action campaign
A major change was not having a confusing first page of the ballot like the past 6 elections where in addition to Unity there were 2 other groups with the confusion that a vote for New Action was also a vote for Unity. But people who are aware and support Solidarity can open the book and check off their 32 candidates. Not heavy lifting - if MORE/NA supporters wanted to do that they would have to track down 300 candidates.

It was certainly easier to have New Action on board this time. More money and more manpower so more schools may have been covered with leaflets. But I don't believe that stuffing 100,000 leaflets necessarily has much effect.

Social media
What was different was a more effective social media campaign run by Dan Lupkin - but we don't know how much difference that makes and will make for an interesting post election analysis.



Impact of Solidarity
As for Solidarity, which ran a big social media campaign, votes for their individual candidates, while coming from MORE/NA totals are still opposition to Unity and when we tabulate the vote we can say that by combining the MORE/New Action and Solidarity totals we can get a snapshot of how many people feel strongly enough to vote against Unity.

I'll make a stab at 25% total between MORE/NA and Solidarity which would match the contract opposition vote. Anything above 30% would put up a danger sign for Unity. And for those who keep whining that if only all the groups had gotten together they could have won the election, get a dose of reality. Unity won 80% in 2013 and closer to 90% of the retirees' 23,000 votes.

The 7 Ex Bd high school seats
MORE came within 150 votes of Unity in the high schools but the 440 New Action votes went to Unity. We'd win those seats if the numbers stayed the same this time. It is hard to believe the vote totals in high school for Unity can fall below the 1580 they got last time (out of 19,000 ballots). They have so many CLs in so many large high schools. I'm going to guess that their upside this time is 2200 but hope I am wrong. MORE and New Action together in 2013 had around 1900. Can they pump these numbers up this time? If they don't it says something about growth of influence of the opposition in the high schools. Let's say they also increase to around 2200 which makes things neck and neck - except --

But add this time the Solidarity wild card. Since they are not on the first page of the ballot as a caucus people have to vote for individual candidates. Watch the numbers for their high school people since every one is one less for MORE/New Action and if the election is close even a couple of hundred votes for Solidarity can give Unity the high schools and 100% control of the Exec Bd. Even if high school people wanted to vote for Portelos there is hope they realize the possible outcome if they vote for the Solidarity high school people. Chaz seemed to take that approach.

If we don't win the high schools I get my Peter Lugers dinner from Mike Schirtzer. If we win the high schools I will gladly cover his dinner and maybe even take a few other MOREs with us.

Middle Schools - 5 Ex Bd seats
Unity totals were very low last time - around 1150 out of almost 12000 sent out. But MORE and New Action MS votes together were - and have been over the past 4 election cycles a joke. Theoretically if Unity stayed the same and MORE/New Action doubled their vote they win these seats. But Solidarity voters might skim off enough to prevent that. However it is hard to imagine doubling a vote from last time so don't expect that to happen - though it would great to be wrong.

Elem schools
For me this is the bellwether as to whether things are breaking bad for Unity. Only when the opposition can show they have enough outreach to the almost 1000 elementary schools (k-8 school included), will Unity have to worry. Their vote totals dropped heavily in 2013 while MORE ticked up but not enough to get within shouting range. MORE and NA last time were less than 2000.

MORE/NA would have to double their votes here and Unity would have to stay the same before Unity has to worry. Since these are not winnable this year any votes for Solidarity does no harm and if we add the totals we can get a sense of whether opposition to Unity is growing in elem schools.

Functionals
While many people in the non-teaching chapters of the union are not happy, there has been too little outreach or connections to these chapters for MORE/NA to make much of a dent. I am not in touch enough to even dare to make a prediction.

Retirees
We know that these numbers are very high for Unity. I expect an  uptick for MORE/NA due to the anger of recent retirees over the past few years. Given 23,000 retiree votes, 3000 votes would knock Unity down to 85%. 4000 would be wonderful.

The Bernie-Hillary battle, the AFT endorsement and the Randi connection
This a unique situation taking place simultaneously with the UFT elections. There are a lot of people pissed off at Randi and also Hillary for both their stands on education and how they try to cover their ed deform tendencies. But will that translate into votes for MORE? For those who are aware, maybe.


Given the demographics of the primaries to they translate into the UFT elections where younger Bernie supporters vote for MORE? How about race? Do black teachers vote Unity the way they voted for Hillary? I would bet yes -- the heavy  districts with a lot of black teachers like Brooklyn's Dist 13, 16, 17 and Harlem's Dist. 5. There is also the factor that many of the CLs in these districts are black and also in Unity.  And many are older which fits the Hillary demographic. Younger black teachers may be Bernie supporters and might connect to MORE.

Well, that is it for this pre-election analysis. The count is at the AAA headquarters which is surprising as in the past they rented a hotel with lots of space. Leroy Barr is usually there repping Unity - which  is a conflict of interest since AAA reports to him and asks him for directions. Mulgrew won't be there but expect Portelos and Jia Lee -- hey maybe Portelos can finally get that debate.

#MORE2016 Post Election: Jia and Julie on the Case - Two Giants - though they are short

MORE first post-election meeting June 11
I was on a conference call the other night to plan MORE's first post election meeting on June 11 (anyone can attend MORE meetings). And what a pleasure to hear words of wisdom from the only two MORE presidential candidates has had - Julie Cavanagh (2013) and Jia Lee (2016), 2 amazing ladies.

As Ed Notes readers know, Julie Cavanagh has focused on her work in her school and on raising her almost 3-year old son, who was about 3 weeks old when we came a-calling to ask her to run for UFT President in 2013.  So after the 2013 election Julie has been active only in the background. In that time Jia Lee has risen to play a major role in MORE.

So seeing Jia and Julie working together to help MORE figure out the next steps speaks well for the immediate future of MORE. Both have had a big influence on my thinking - and many others too - about a lot of issues. Both are superb leaders in a way that does not intrude on people.

The MORE June 11 meeting will spend the first hour analyzing the election results.

If we should happen to win the high school seats on the UFT Exec Board there will be a discussion on how to make use of those seats to work in the interests of all UFT members. I have mixed feelings about winning these seats since having some of our key people spending time in a sea of Unity slugs every 2 weeks just may not be very productive. If I had the chance I certainly would not have done it.

In fact many of our people just did not want to spend time doing that work and finding the 5 MORE people (New Action has 2) involved some deep discussions. That we came up with such a top-level list of people is what makes winning these seats an interesting proposition.

MORE analyzes election outcomes at June 11 meeting
MORE will also do some analysis of the election campaign itself. What seemed to work, what didn't. (Ie - how effective is it to stuff mail boxes with tens of thousands of leaflets?) Dan Lupkin will report on the outcomes of the social media campaign he ran - which I think was fantastic - and it will be interesting to see if that moved the needle. You know my feelings are that it takes face to face to move people -- even yesterday I met a guy at the mailboxes of a middle school who voted Unity because his chapter leader said they were the lesser of 2 evils - I guess MORE is more evil than Unity. We spoke for 10 minutes and I knew I moved his needle enough so that he would have considered MORE if we had met before he voted.

The June 11 meeting will also focus on the way forward for MORE - long-term and immediate. Coming up will be an exciting MORE summer series with some new twists - some book clubs and also some usual things dealing with contract and chapter leader training and also some UFT history.

In other news:
Monitoring the vote count

I and Jia and Ellen Fox and maybe a few others will be spending the day at the AAA on Thursday to monitor the count. I will ask why we can't get access to the same data Unity has in terms of who voted.

ICE meets May 27 to analyze election
ICE - yes we are still around - will be doing a longer and deeper election analysis on the day after the election - Friday May 27 - at 4PM in midtown Manhattan. We expect a small group of people, all of whom bring decades of experience to UFT politics. We will produce a report for the June 11 meeting. (If any ed notes readers are interested in joining us email me.)

Using DOE Email for Campaign Material
One unnamed caucus (not Unity or MORE) used the DOE email system to send out campaign material, a violation of DOE internet policy. Probably nothing will come of it - but if the DOE has people targeted it could be a weapon for DOE Legal to use if it wanted. Unity already has access to most teachers so in this situation MORE is more disadvantaged.


MORE/New Action Election Party  - all invited
And the best news of all is the MORE post-election party on Thursday May 26 starting even before all the results are in. I will hang out at the vote count until the bitter end so save a beer for me. But if it gets to 8PM - and we got pretty close last time -- I am out of there. Actually I expect more votes this time and also more booklets being sent in which means they have to take them apart and scan the entire booklet - which takes hours. I am only interested in the slate votes so I hope they do that last so I can leave.

MORE and New Action are co-hosting an election night party. We are getting together to share some drinks, food, laughs, and find

out who won. This is our time to celebrate! Bring your friends too! 

Please RSVP 

https://www.facebook.com/events/592069184283434/

Thursday 5/26

6:00-9:00pm

Dark Horse Pub

17 Murray St, Downtown NYC near City Hall

Petitioning, get out the vote, organizing, all our hard work-now it is time to have some much needed FUN! 

Please do your very best to come out-the MORE the merrier.

We have rented the bottom floor, it will be a cash bar and order your own food. Dinner and appetizers there are great!

#MORE2016 - Lauren Cohen Did It - You Can too - Get Out Your Organization Sheets and GOTV - 3 days left

Lauren Cohen on FB: Norm Scott you’ll be proud to hear that I’ve been carrying the table of organization everywhere I go and pestering everyone I see---

I am proud of Lauren Cohen in every way. If I had a daughter ----- I may adopt her anyway.

Even in places with activists like Lauren pulling out the vote is a tough job. Even of we get 25% of the people to vote - up from 18% in 2013 - that means 75% or more of the people you work with have not yet voted -- even if they told you they were going to vote -- get them to send you a selfie of the ballot going into the mailbox. It is too late to get replacement ballots and ballots are due on Wed. May 25 by 5PM. So Monday would be the last day to mail them. By a box of Mallomars and offer people a taste of heaven for bringing in their ballot.

Look at that chart --- almost 60% of her school has voted and yet she continues to try to flush out every vote.

The fact is that most MORE votes will come from the schools where our people are trusted and respected. 

I believe that every MORE vote is a message to Mulgrew that the UFT cannot be allowed to continuing functioning as it has. I heard this from a few delegates yesterday at the DA who were upset at the manipulation of debate - something which doesn't seem to bother the Unity slugs who sit there like lemmings. And from CLs at schools with awful and vicious principals and how the UFT does nothing.

People don't care whether MORE is too social justice or not -- they care about people standing up for them and if the MORE person in the school is doing that they will vote blindly for MORE. The problem is that MORE doesn't yet have enough people who are advocates in the schools. They have people who say they are distributing leaflets but it stops at that -- they are far from doing what Lauren is doing and what Arthur did at FLHS:
What I Learned at GOTV at Francis Lewis HS -

Now some people in every school will still vote Unity and in Unity led schools where the Unity person is working for them at the school level even if they are working against their interested by the very nature of their joining and running with Unity -- and we pointed to 220 Unity CLs who are running with them and count another 2-300 or more Unity people in the schools who are not running in the election -- see the lists of 750-800 Unity people running:

• Unity Caucus AFT Convention Candidates L-Z: Note O...
• Unity Caucus Candidates E-K: The 750 AFT Conventio...
• Unity Caucus Candidates A-D: The 750 AFT Conventio...
• A List of 222 School Level Chapter Leaders Running...

Today's schedule:
Dropped in at a high school where I found Eva had already occupied some prime real estate. I had to go up to 5, 7 and 8 floors. One school I ran into the CL who said someone had put them in the boxes - she didn't know who. I did another school and in the 3rd the secretary said the boxes were in the staff room and it was locked and that she would put it in for me so I passed.

I managed to get rid of a whole batch of leaflets at the DA - I had shlepped them around all day in Botanic Garden where I met Angel Gonzalez yesterday. But I still have some in my car and a few on hand - tomorrow will be it for me -- whatever I have will be going into schools. Will it do any good? Not very much - other than some branding of MORE and New Action.

#MORE2016 - The school secretary leaned over and whispered the words I was eager to hear - I voted for you guys

As I stop by schools putting leaflets in mail boxes - trying to get a few more votes out of the 80% who still haven't voted -  I have some interesting reaction with people. Make sure to read the recent Eterno posts at the ICE blog on GOTV: ICEUFT Blog

MEMBERS REALLY DO PROVE TO ME THEY VOTED

How I spend my Days: Monday May 16

A chapter leader helps me stuff boxes
I was in a building that had a high school and  an elementary school. I usually have no problems but they wouldn't let me in - they rolled their eyes at the tight control the school administrations exhibit - they indicated some level of paranoia - so they called the chapter leader of the high school and he said he would come down. I expected trouble from a Unity slug - that is my nature - to expect a Unity slug. But he came over and shook my hand and said he would help me stuff the boxes. "I supported ICE and TJC," he said. He told me how less than useless his district rep was.

He had voted already but didn't expect most of his colleagues to vote - but even though I suggested it he did not seem committed running a big GOTV campaign other than to make a point at the upcoming union meeting. It's about a 100 staff member high school and even if he got 30 people to vote for us it would help.

A secretary says "YES"
Next I headed over to the elementary school - the guards warned me I would have an even tougher time there. The secretary came over to ask me what I had and the minute she saw she said she knew about it - she seemed to recognize Jia - and told me to go ahead - and then she leaned over and whispered - I voted for you.

Then it was off to meet up with Julie Woodward - we found ourselves at the Roosevelt Island tram and both of us took it for the first time and hung out at Roosevelt Island for a few hours.

Tuesday, May 17
I have to find a hardware story for some minor plumbing so I headed into Queens and figured I would get rid of a few more leaflets.

A principal's glee
I hit a few k-8 schoosl in Queens. At the first I had no problem but at the 2nd the secretary wouldn't let me do it without checking with the principal first - uh oh -- this is a notoriously Unity district with many chapter leaders being in Unity. The principal came over and I told her what I was there for - that we are running against Mulgrew. "Good" she said - it's a shame what he has done to the teachers. I was a teacher myself." She not only let me do it but she seemed to get a big kick out of it -- telling the secretary "she- meaning the CL who is probably a Mulgrew fan.

Then the principal says - if you have extras would you like to put them in the staff room? Sure- where is it - let me take you there, she says and escorts me there. Does she hate Mulgrew, the CL or both?

Another Secretary
Finally I head over to a small elementary school where I get into a chat with the secretaries. One of them voted already - she said if she didn't send in the ballot right away she would not have voted. She had no idea who we were so I assume she voted Unity - she is a year short of retirement. The CL stopped by and seemed a bit nervous - took down my name -- I don't seem many - if any - votes coming from that school but maybe the leaflet will spur a few people to dig up their ballot.

CPE1 Rally at Tweed

I was done for the day and got home at 3PM and saw an email from the parent leader of Central Park East 1 asking me to come to the 4:30 rally at Tweed because they had not arranged for taping. It was drizzling and I was tired and had my writing group meeting at 7 in Park Slope and wasn't going to go. But I had some coffee, grabbed the camera and was out of the house by 3:40 and at the rally before 5 - just in time to hear Jia Lee address the over 300 people on the steps of Tweed.

I was invigorated by the amazing CPE people and their supporters. Hey Hey Hey Ho - Principal Monika Garg has got to go.

Jia and I headed back to Brooklyn on the R train and I got to my writers group - now almost a decade old - by 7 where we talked about the novels I and a former school colleague are working on.
Home by 9:30 and started processing the video and then watched the end of the Mets game.

Today I am off to meet up with old pal Angel Gonzalez (Holy Batman - Lew Friedman and Angel Gonzalez, Two...) at Botanic Garden before stopping by the DA to support some MORE colleagues and then meeting my wife who is going to the Frank Langella matinee which addresses Alzheimers - no thank you - for dinner - if I can remember where I have to be.

#MORE2016 Memes

Our man Dan Lupkin - on the case.
Reminder - 80% of your colleagues did not and will not vote - unless they see GOTV. So do your thang.

The Wave: UFT Elections: Why Vote for MORE/New Action? and How to Get a Good Cookie

Here is my column from last Friday. That was the day after I went to Francis Lewis HS for the "Ballot for a Cookie" event (What I Learned at GOTV at Francis Lewis HS - 90% of UFT Members Probably Have not yet voted). 

And low and behold, the guy who baked the cookies for Arthur, John Pagano who is the school librarian, was featured in the same edition of The Wave - John is Rockaway based -- see the story below my column.

And as I head out to put my final batch of leaflets into school mail boxes, I want to remind you that most likely 80-85% of UFT members have not yet voted.

I was just called by a former ATR guidance counselor who told me an 8 year story of misery and horror -- we were on the phone for over an hour. When I asked her if she had her ballot she said yes but wasn't voting because she didn't know any of the names. This after a long discussion where the lack of union support for her was instrumental in her story. She just didn't make the connection between a vote against Unity and how the higher the vote totals the more the chance to force the union to act in our interests. I urged her to not worry about the names but just check MORE if just as an anti-Unity protest (she did not even know that Unity was the union leadership.)

Well, I'm off to meet the wizard - and also to meet up with Julie Woodward, my former partner in crime in the old war zone against Unity.

UFT Elections: Why Vote for MORE/New Action?

http://www.rockawave.com/news/2016-05-13/School_News

By Norm Scott

Norman Scott  

By now if you are a currently working or retired UFT member you have received one of the 189,469 ballots sent out, almost 63,000 to the retirees. In the 2013 election 52 percent of those who voted at all were retirees while only around 17 percent of the working teachers and other support personnel voted.
Full disclosure: I am one of the founders of the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE) which has allied with New Acton in opposing UFT President Michael Mulgrew’s Unity Caucus, which has run the UFT with total domination and control over the past 55 years. Unity Caucus uses a number of undemocratic processes to maintain this control in mostly winner take all (Vladimir Putin studies their tactics and still can’t manage the level of dominance in Russia Unity Caucus has here in the largest union local in the United States.
I have been working for decades to establish a beachhead for democratic unionism that would empower the membership. MORE is the latest incarnation of groups inside the UFT that I have worked with and for a 14-year retiree it has been gratifying to see so many early and mid-career teachers waking up to the assault on educators and public education over the past 15 years that began with the advent of mayoral control that took away any semblance of influence from the local communities in this city. Admittedly some of those local communities did not always function in the interests of the schools they controlled but that system could have been fixed instead of throwing out the baby with the bath water. By handing power over to one person – whether Bloomberg or de Blasio, we have allowed the balkanization and privatization of swaths of the school system to take place. Even as I write now, you can see scandal after scandal emerging from both the Bloomberg and de Blasio administrations of the schools.
The UFT/Unity Caucus leadership has supported mayoral control since its inception and continues to do so. The instrument used to impose a major shift in school culture both locally and nationally has been high stakes testing under the supposed “accountability” movement which has forced fed a testing and test prep culture that has so distorted education in almost every classroom in the nation except for the elite private schools the perpetrators of this outrage send their own children to, schools totally devoid of the testing culture. The corollary to high stakes testing has been the move to tie teacher competency to the outcomes of the tests, a concept actually supported by Mulgrew and UFT leadership as being superior to the old system. The other day a Long Island teacher whose lifetime ratings had been superior but had had a low rating based on test scores for her students won a major lawsuit over the use of these tests to rate teachers using the formulas in the Value Added Measures (VAM).
Parents throughout NY State have revolted against this system by opting their children out of the tests. Mulgrew does not support opt out while MORE with its presidential candidate Jia Lee opting her own child out of tests and even refusing to give certain tests to her own classes that she sees as abusing education does support opt out.
On the issue of principals who abuse their power, the UFT leadership due to its partnership with the DOE and the principal’s union, the CSA, has refused to stand up for teachers facing such abuse. Just think of the Marcella Sills case at PS 106 and the lack of union action. It took the NY Post to expose her and other abusive principals while the UFT sat on its hands. Recently I spoke at an elementary school in Queens which had been under the reign or well-connected to the UFT principal who did insane things and killed some teacher careers due to personal pique. Whenever the UFT Bigs came in – the district and the borough reps – the staff found them hugging and schmoozing with the principal as if she were an old pal (I believe her mom was connected to the UFT). These people I met with were still outraged three years after she resigned after pressure not from the UFT but from the parents and some politicians. When they asked me what MORE would do differently I said, “We won’t be going around hugging these people.”
Norm blogs at ednotesonline.org.

http://www.rockawave.com/news/2016-05-13/Community/The_Fat_Cardinal.html

The Fat Cardinal

By Mark C. Healey

 
Thomas Quinn, John Pagano, and Jim Otton are the gentlemen making the cookies at The Fat Cardinal Bakery. During our tour of the Taste of Rockaway, The Wave came across a trio of bakers nestled in the corner of Uncle Louie G’s on Rockaway Beach Boulevard. Thomas Quinn, John Pagano and Jim Otton make cookies.
Correction, they make ridiculously good cookies. So we know how The Fat Cardinal got that way.

Enlarge Map

“We at The Fat Cardinal Bakery, here in Arverne, pride ourselves on our unique takes on classic cookies,” the bakers told The Wave. “We pay close attention and take special care to detail when perfecting our recipes.” The bakers were excited to take part in this year’s Taste, as Rockaway is a vital part of who they are. Jim has been a Rockaway resident his entire life; John, a transplant, has lived here for 11 years; and Thomas, a Scholars’ Academy alum, couldn’t imagine starting their business in any other place but here.
This beautiful display was replenished for a time, but was soon empty, as the Cardinal – and everyone else – got a little bit fatter. For the time being, you may see them selling at Uncle Louie G’s, but they are still flying around looking for a permanent perch.
You can check out their selection of cookies at Fat- CardinalBakery.com.

What I Learned at GOTV at Francis Lewis HS - 90% of UFT Members Probably Have not yet voted

Arthur Goldstein: cookie for Ballot

When MORE got only 1200 elementary school votes in the 2013 election Julie Cavanagh was incredulous. "Everyone voted in my school," she said. My response today would be - did you actually see their ballots? Did they send you a selfie of them putting the ballot in the mailbox? I would bet that at this point - halfway through the election that 90% of UFT members have not yet voted and only a small portion of these people will end up voting at all - except in schools where people go through a major GOTV effort. I would also bet that thousands of people did not get a ballot but because UFT election are so low on their radar they do not even know it -- unless there is someone to remind them. Or maybe, seeing URGENT which appears on so much junk mail, they just tossed it.

James Eterno writes about such an effort at ICE - where he goes door to door with an organization sheet checking off names and found loads of people without a ballot - our suggestion is to have the AAA number in your phone and call right there and have them ask for a ballot to be sent. Read about his effort: GETTING OUT THE VOTE IN THE UFT ELECTION.

As far as I know James is the only one who does this which he calls Pol Sci 101. GOTV is a face to face process. In big schools getting allies to carve up the school makes this feasible. I bet almost everyone in James' school will vote MORE because he has their admiration and respect. Same with former Jamaica HS UFTers who are now scattered all over the place. 

Unfortunately few MORE supporters do much more than vote themselves and maybe tell a few others to vote - and they never find out how many people in their schools did not get a ballot or if they did did not toss it as junk mail.

I got an education as to why vote totals in the UFT elections are so low. And especially why the opposition has done more poorly than they expected based on what people were telling them. After my visit to Francis Lewis HS on Thursday at the request of FLHS Chapter Leader Arthur Goldstein who blogs as NYC Educator I am more concerned than ever that not enough people in their schools are doing what Arthur did at Francis Lewis High School, where even with an extraordinary effort more than half the staff brought in their ballots with another 10% saying they already had mailed them or were going to. Arthur will not let up and will keep urging people to vote. By the end of the day I imagine that 80% of FLHS people will end up voting, hopefully most of them for MORE.

If you support MORE get an organization sheet and ask every UFT member if they voted.

I do want to point out that most ballots returned to us were already sealed, many of them with the entire booklet enclosed. Since most people vote slate and not for individuals I was curious why they didn't tear off the top sheet. The response was they voted slate but didn't realize they could tear off the sheet so they sent in the entire booklet.

Arthur put in an extraordinary effort to make this happen writing letters to the staff like this: Staff Letter 3. He put out instructions on voting and most of them will vote for MORE not because of the platform or because they love Jia Lee but because they love and trust Arthur - just spend some time with him and see how he interacts with people. He has enormous respect as a teacher, a chapter leader and as a person of integrity. MORE could put out blank pages and people will vote MORE because of Arthur.

Arthur sat there with his cell and had several people call the number. There were those who had crumpled their envelopes and had to go and retrieve them. There were two who had inadvertently tossed them and several who had never received them. These few represent many citywide. 

And that is a lesson. We could stuff mail boxes numerous times and it will barely make a dent -- what is needed are people on site who can advocate - now if a person is viewed as a lousy or lazy teacher or someone who is dishonest, people will not vote for MORE. The same with Unity - someone I know from the theater had no idea what MORE was but said she would not vote for any party her Unity CL was connected with. I informed her.

Given the low turnouts of 17% in UFT elections it is quite an achievement to get 60 or more % to vote but I am a perfectionist and hoped for even more, especially since this school has 250 UFT members, of which about 200 are teachers whose votes may be the deciding ones in winning the high school seats. Below I'll review some of the problems we found for those still doing GOTV campaigns - which I urge people to do right up to the last few days of the election - ballots must be in by May 25 (count is the next day).

• people didn't get ballots - we called AAA right there and gave them a cookie anyway.
• people threw away the outer envelope thinking all they had to do was drop the Secret ballot inner envelope in a ballot box.
• people were confused as to how to vote by the large booklet - not understanding the concept of checking the box to vote for an entire slate.
• many checked a box on the front but didn't tear off the front sheet, thus the entire booklet goes in -- not that consequential but doing so delays the counts as each booklet has to be torn apart and scanned.

We hung out in the teacher lunchroom from 9:30-12:30 to collect the ballots in exchange for a giant cookie baked by a teacher on the staff who has a bakery business based in Rockaway - which I didn't find out until reading about him in The Wave. When people told us

they had voted or would on their own we told them we wanted a selfie showing them putting the ballot in the mail box. But we gave them a cookie anyway.

I put the over 100 ballots in a bag and took them to the post office in Rockaway on my way home.

Having never participated in such a GOTV campaign I learned a lot about what doesn't work in the UFT election balloting process.

Arthur had worked diligently on this event - sending emails, putting instructions in mail boxes, etc. What became clear was that most people don't have the time or patience to read in depth, which made the "give me your sealed ballot and we'll mail it for you and you get a delicious cookie big enough for a meal."

The entire concept of a booklet and individual voting for up to 800 people for each slate is confusing to people and suppresses the vote. I don't have easy answers - here's one -- just vote for officers and Ex Bd and not for individuals for AFT/NYSUT and apportion to each caucus the percentage their caucus got. After the election they choose who their delegates will be. But that would actually make the election fair by breaking the Unity Caucus block and that is the last thing they will do - unless forced to by enough outrage coming from the rank and file.

Even though we know we can only win a few crumbs, the larger the vote for MORE/New Action the more pressure we can put on the UFT leadership.

So get out those organization sheets and go to work this week. I bet you will be surprised at how many people you work with did not get ballots or tossed them. And have that AAA number handy. 1-800-529-5218.

#MORE2016 HOW TO VOTE in 6 EASY STEPS Plus Election Events in Brooklyn, Upper Manhattan

People tell me that their school is voting MORE/NA but I don't believe it since this happens every time and our vote totals in the past would have been way larger if this were actually  true. What must happen is hand holding - an in school event to encourage people to vote because this is not just a priority for most people. when the votes are counted 2 weeks from today people will be shocked at how low they will be and that will lead them to question the legitimacy of the process but as I pointed out yesterday (UFT Elections, #MORE2016: How to Vote and Can Unity Steal the Vote?) I see no real way for them to cheat once the ballot is sent in to AAA. I hear all sorts of ideas to increase the vote count, including in school voting which to me is an open invitation to steal the election. And just watch - if we ever get close Unity will call for in school elections to "get the vote count up" - yes, their vote count. But until MORE gets closer there is no reason for Unity to cheat.

One of the reasons the vote for the opposition is not higher is that not enough of our people on the ground do an in school get out the vote event. They just assume that putting leaflets in the mail boxes is enough. What is needed it to take an organization sheet and go to every UFT member in your building and take a poll.

Also read:

Eterno at ICEL GETTING OUT THE VOTE IN THE UFT ELECTION

 and

Staff Letter 3

FROM ARTHUR GOLDSTEIN, UFT CHAPTER LEADER
VOTE MORE/ NEW ACTION 2016

Well, this election crap can't end soon enough for me. Two more weeks and I am free from my sense of obligation. Never again. I have gardening to do and I want to take drawing and painting classes and get to the gym and yoga more often.

Requests keep coming in from chapter leaders who we don't know asking for MORE lit so their members can see both sides. MORE doesn't have full-time employees who work for the UFT to deliver these leaflets so I get to do it. I should send the union a bill for a partial dues refund to cover my gas since they are delivering leaflets and lobbying on my dime.

This morning I'm heading over to a high school in Queens to assist the chapter leader with a Get Out the Vote Campaign where people will bring in a ballot to show they are voting and get some strudel or other goodie to eat - the real reason I am going. We hope they will vote for MORE but will not lobby for that unless someone asks our opinion. This is a big school and the votes there can be a deciding factor in the high school vote.

Then this afternoon I'm heading to a Bay Ridge for an election GOTV happy hour sponsored by MORE/New Action teachers at a nearby large high school. The Kettle Black is the bar at 8622 3rd Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11209 in case you want to drop by from 4PM on.

I'll have all the trimmings

The votes at these 2 few remaining large high schools where MORE has a presence are probably the key to winning the high schools, especially since Unity has control of many of the other large high schools in Brooklyn and Queens and certainly Staten Island. We hit them with leaflets but don't have a strong counter in the buildings to the Unity line. My guess is Unity is working overtime to pull out their votes in their large high schools, which is why I am not sure about winning the high schools - but if we don't I get compensated with that Luger steak Schirtzer has to treat me to.

There is also an uptown Manhattan event:

Join MORE-UFT for Happy Hour at Harlem Tavern on Friday

Thanks so much for all you’ve already done to help MORE/NEW ACTION win this election! You’ve been spreading the word, ballots are out, and it’s time for us to get together for some collaboration and celebration!

We’ll come together at Harlem Tavern this Friday, May 13th, from 4-7 pm. It will be a great chance to meet other educators, enjoy Friday, and share ideas for last minute getting out the vote & movement-building. As always, we're happy to talk shop and strategize around issues in your school too. 

RSVP on facebook, or by responding to this e-mail, and spread the word by inviting your co-workers there and with this flier.

In the meantime, be sure your co-workers know how to vote- just by checking of the first page! You can share this video to help.

Thank You,
Megan, Peter, and your fellow uptown MORE-UFT activists

UFT Elections, #MORE2016: How to Vote and Can Unity Steal the Vote?

The breaking news yesterday included the Sheri Lederman decision, the Success Academy cheating scandal, the interesting article on Chalkbeat about the UFT elections and a lot of other stuff  (I'm too backed up to even include the links but check my blogroll) but I was busy leafleting my old district with David Dobosz and we did a sort of walking tour through Williamsburg till us old guys - both in our 70s got tuckered out.

Apparently some people, as reported by Peter Zucker at South Bronx School, believe that the AAA is not to be trusted in the vote count. I've been an observer in the past 4 elections and since ballots are sent to homes and returned directly to AAA and are opened in front of us I have not seen how this vote can be manipulated. Don't get me wrong. AAA is hired by the UFT which makes the basic decisions on the process and even during the vote count they to the Unity Caucus people to ask for directions. We often have a group of observers and are able to be there when some of these things are discussed and even ask for certain data. I did find that last time when I had to leave at around 7PM and didn't have some info they promised to get it to me but never did so this time I will not leave until I have all the info.

One point about the charges that AAA may have also manipulated the 2014 contract vote. While the same process was followed then the major difference was that people voted in the schools and the chapter leader had to seal the package and mail it to the AAA. As you may have seen I published a list of at least 220 chapter leaders running with Unity and there are many other Unity CLs who are not running this time. Was it possible they could have tampered with the ballots before sending them to AAA? Hell yes that some rabid Unity people just might have - but enough to end up with a 75-25 split? I observed the count then too and the AAA followed the same process as in UFT elections so on their end I believe they are clean. But at the May 26 count we will be vigilant. (And if you are interested in coming by to check it out for yourself come on down and head over to the MORE party afterwards).

Meanwhile - James Eterno called me last night and talked about how even people he knows seem confused about the voting and we need to pay more attention to the process. People don't get the slate thing very clearly and are confused by the non-slate part of the ballot listing over a thousand candidates.

Relatively few people don't check off one of the slates. Those that don't forces the AAA to tear apart the booklets and run them through special machines and that delays the outcome by hours. And the total numbers have zero impact on the outcome - to the point where when we publish results we discount these votes altogether. But if going through the motions floats your boat have fun.

There is a reason for the idea of a slate -- MORE vets people for top level positions and also attracts people of like mind. So even if one doesn't "know" people the idea is to think "slate" because in the UFT one individual doesn't mean much -- and can't even have a prayer of getting elected without an organization behind them. It is a matter of trust. Splitting the ballot - which I used to do - is practically a meaningless act and is in essence throwing away your vote - if you know people and trust them and they are running for top positions in MORE to me it makes sense to trust their judgement in running with MORE in the first place.

But the process still confuses people.

From MORE:

We are receiving questions about the elections and lost ballots.

This flier attached is extremely useful and could be handed out at any election parties you may have or put in mailboxes.

The MORE Blog has some excellent "how to vote" instructions and links to great videos that are shared on our social media featuring many of our candidates.

 Please visit https://morecaucusnyc.org/

How to Vote MORE-New Action Relay
From Eterno at the ICE blog:

Halabi got it from Lauren Cohen and Eterno got it from Halabi. Now I am tripling up by simply copying James' post on ICE.

LAUREN COHEN'S HOW TO VOTE MORE-NEW ACTION GUIDE MAKES GROUND GAME A LITTLE EASIER

This is the time when UFT members have their ballots at home and will either place them on a bottom of a pile of mail, throw them out or fill them out to vote in the UFT election.

Lots of votes are out there now that could possibly be won over. Please talk to everyone in school and get out the vote for MORE-NEW ACTION. In politics they call this the ground game.

I recommend using a staff list and having a personal conversation with every UFT member in your school and then tell your friends in other schools. If someone does not understand the voting process, MORE-NEW ACTION Elementary School Vice Presidential candidate Lauren Cohen put out this how to vote guide that Jonathan Halabi pilfered and now we are double pilfering.

Please spread the word in your schools in whatever way you are able to.

 

Unity Caucus Candidates E-K: The 750 AFT Convention Goers Who Vote as ONE

Continuing our series of Unity people who are getting a free ride on our dues at a cost of $2 million to Minneapolis this summer to rubber stamp whatever Randi wants - and Randi is actually running as one of OUR delegates. Go figure.

Now say MORE/NA gets 20% of the vote - those 20% are being taxed (dues) without representation at AFT/NYSUT conventions. Is there a law suit somewhere calling for a refund of dues paid to these parent organizations for those voting against Unity?

That is why pumping up the vote for MORE makes a better case for democratizing the UFT and bringing voices free of loyalty oaths to the table. One thing I can say about the MORE candidates who are running - if any of them win they will not be under a MORE loyalty oath and free to push their ideas into the UFT. Imagine if there were even a 100 MORE supporters going to these conventions? We would see a new ball game in the national and state unions.

Previous lists posted on ed notes:

• Unity Caucus Candidates A-D: The 750 AFT Conventio...
• A List of 222 School Level Chapter Leaders Running...

Camille	Eaddy
Evelyn	Edwards
Paul	Egan
Roberta	Eisenberg
Frederick	Eisman
Rosamund	Elbourne
Salvatore	Emanuele
Jacqueline	Endelson
Myra	Entenberg
Claude	Ertel
Marcus	Escobar	DR
Elizabeth	Espert
Giovanni	Espinoza
Alan	Ettman	PTRet
Kerri	Evangelista
Sarah	Evans
Timothy	Evans
Dana	Falciglia	FT
June	Feder
Daniel	Federico
Eileen	Feliciano
Robert	Fernandez
Michele	Ferraro
Eileen	Fields
Tracie	Fields
Patricia	Filomena	PTRet
Katherine	Finkelstein
Sheila	Fishbane
Sandra	Flecha
Melissa	Fleming
Meredith	Fogelman Birmingham
Judy	Forbes
Catalina	Fortino	x
Maria	Francisco
Tanisha	Franks
Rona	Freiser
Ilyana	Frias
Charles	Friedman	Ret
Antonietta	Fuccio
Jay	Futterman
Vincent	Gaglione	Ret
Ellen	Gallin-Procida
Diane	Ganz
Stephen	Gappelberg
Gloria	Garvey
John	Garvey
Yvette	Geary
Ava	Geddis
Analia	Gerard
Judith	Gerowitz	DR 21
Renee	Gestone-Setteducato
Nicole	Giannone Astarita
Ladesha	Gill Bey
Sonya	Gimondo
Mary	Ginese
Mildred	Glaberman
Charles	Goasdoue
Heather	Goldberg
Jason	Goldberg
Steven	Goldberg	DR
Anne	Goldman	Off
Alfred	Gonzales
Mona	Gonzalez
Peter	Goodman
Vivian	Goodman
Shayshana	Gourdine
Diane	Grant
Maggie	Grant
Monique	Green
Gloria	Greenhut
Michelle	Griffin
Steven	Grossman
Iliana	Guzman
Elvera	Hall
Hyacinth	Hall
Greer	Hansen-Velazquez
Anthony	Harmon
John	Harrington
Pearline	Harris
Carol	Harrison	DR
Esta	Heitner
Nichol	Hendricks
Christina	Hepburn
Carolyn	Herbst
Geraldine	Herkowitz
Alexandra	Hernandez
Michael	Herron
Mayra	Hiciano-Cruz
Virginia	Hill
Christine	Hilliard
Janella	Hinds	Off
Leopold	Hoenig
Catherine	Holleran
Deborah	Holt
Tamara	Horowitz
Leah	Hosten
Ricardo	Hoyen
Judith	Huggins
Quentin	Huie
Jasmin	Hunt
Brenda	Hutto
Shauna	Innis
Theresa	Janousek
Mona	Jelks
Raymond	Jenkins
Ann	Johneris
Helena	Johnson
Eula	Jones
Taneeka	Jones
Regina	Joseph-Solomon
Angela	Kahn
William	Kalogeras
Dorothy	Kamps
John	Kamps
Stuart	Kaplan
Mindy	Karten Bornemann
Bonnie	Katz
Herbert	Katz
David	Kazansky	FT
Mary	Keegan
Khiera	Kersey Heggs
Joseph	Kessler	DR
Haseeb	Khawaja
Lynne Ann	Kilroy
Linda	King
Rick	King
Mitch	Klages Bombich
Anthony	Klug	FT
Lillian	Kohler
Michael	Kullman
Iris	Kupferstein
Paul	Kutcher
George	Kuzar Jr