I’ve reported previously that We Are Ohio, the group lying its pants off to kill Senate Bill 5, is funded chiefly by D.C. unions. Yesterday, Hot Air noted that the National Education Association (NEA) plans to spend as much as $5 million more to block the reforms passed by Ohio’s elected leaders.
If NEA is genuinely concerned about Ohio teachers, they are saints compared to their Ohio affiliate, the Ohio Education Association (OEA). Don’t believe me? Consider OEA pay, the words of OEA staff, the treatment of OEA retirees, and smears against non-union teachers, for starters.
Maybe NEA is different…
Why is NEA desperate to keep Ohioans from voting Yes on Issue 2? In addition to instituting merit pay, putting a stop to last-in-first-out firing policies, and requiring government workers to pay for a small portion of their benefits, Senate Bill 5 ends mandatory “fair share” dues taken from non-members.
Take a look at NEA pay and tell me it’s not about the money:
| Dennis Van Roekel, President | $397,721 |
| John Wilson, Executive Director | $384,129 |
| Becky Pringle, Secretary Treasurer | $340,845 |
| Lily Eskelsen, Vice President | $326,563 |
| Carmen Quesada, Director | $308,773 |
| John Stocks, Deputy Executive Director | $277,613 |
| Dorothy Harrell, Director | $270,529 |
| Cynthia Swann, Sr Policy AdvDir | $258,751 |
| Michael McPherson, Chief Financial Officer | $249,499 |
| HT Nguyen, State Affiliate Exec Dir | $246,403 |
| Len Paolillo, Executive Committee | $241,556 |
| John Yrchik, State Affiliate Exec Dir | $228,786 |
| Kimberly Anderson, Org Specialist | $228,356 |
| Julie McGinnis Garcia, CLO | $224,117 |
| Barry Melamed, Assoc. Director | $222,951 |
| Tamara Hamilton, Dir CareerDev ExelEd | $222,220 |
| Sheila Simmons, Director | $221,934 |
| Andrew Linebaugh, Director | $221,733 |
| Armand Tiberio, RegionalDir | $220,416 |
| Segun Eubanks, Director | $214,015 |
| David DuVall, RegionalDir | $212,649 |
| Dennis Friel, RegionalDir | $212,160 |
| Janet Dade, Director | $210,970 |
| Kathleen Lyons, RegionalDir | $208,009 |
| Leona Hiraoka, Director | $206,885 |
| Roxanne Dove, Director | $206,816 |
| Bouy Te, Director | $206,751 |
| Ronald Henderson, Director | $206,161 |
| Willard Raabe, Director | $204,717 |
| Daniel Hand, Director | $204,343 |
| Philip McLaurin, Director | $203,845 |
| Michael Edwards, Sr Policy AdvDir | $203,778 |
| Donna Healy-Dean, Director | $202,462 |
| Harry Lawson, RegionalDir | $201,658 |
| Jacob Sweeney, Org Specialist | $201,191 |
| Maurice Joseph, Deputy General Counsel | $200,682 |
View complete spreadsheet, pulled directly from the union’s 2010 report to the U.S. Department of Labor.
36 NEA employees & officers were paid more than $200,000 last year. 97 NEA employees were paid more than $175,000. 183 were paid more than $150,000. 441 were paid more than $100,000!
Let me make sure I’ve got this right:
- Teachers are grievously underpaid.
- Corporations – who make “products” and “services” and sell them in a “marketplace” where people have “choices” – are to blame.
- Teachers in Ohio and across the country pay NEA hundreds of dollars every year so NEA can elect big-government politicians, cheer on deficit spending, agitate for higher taxes, and become millionaires in the process.
Does NEA even allow math teachers to join?
Like all government unions, NEA is in the business of self-preservation at taxpayer expense. Opposing Senate Bill 5 won’t help get Ohio back on track… but that’s of no consequence to D.C. union bosses. Vote Yes on Issue 2!
Follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart
Cross-posted at that hero and RedState.
