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The new face of Congress
AFT members among new House majority
Naysayers didn’t stop AFT member from running—and winning
The list of naysayers was long when Loebsack declared his candidacy for the race in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. But the AFT member understood, both professionally and as a longtime Democratic activist, that voters in the southeastern corner of Iowa and across the nation were ready for a new direction. “I knew what I was getting into,” he says. “There is a pragmatic part of me” that said this race was winnable for a candidate with the right message. And Loebsack kept that message front and center throughout the fall: Strong public schools, college affordability, decent wages, a trade policy U.S. workers deserve, a comprehensive national energy strategy, and the need for a plan to end the war in Iraq were central to his campaign. It was the type of agenda that appealed both to independent voters and to a mobilized base that included hundreds of union activists for whom Loebsack has nothing but praise and admiration.
“They were the foot soldiers,” Loebsack says, “and I’m so appreciative of the fact that [AFT state federation president] Roberta Till-Retz was there early in June” to support the campaign. Throughout the race, the Democrat enjoyed staunch backing from members of the Iowa Federation of Teachers, the AFL-CIO and other unions.
Loebsack is delighted with his committee assignment, the House Education and the Workforce Committee, which will field many of the issues so central to his campaign. Voters sent a message about the need for a higher minimum wage, Loebsack says. “You still have two-income families and many working for minimum wage or just above minimum wage [for whom] just to survive is a daily challenge.”
College affordability is also a major area of concern. The nation needs to be “doing more with Pell Grants” as well as expanding loan assistance to families.
A long-term fix also is needed for the skyrocketing cost of healthcare and for the millions of Americans who are uninsured, Loebsack says. And, as a first step to a solid agenda on healthcare, “we can start by making sure all children are covered.”
Member beats the odds in House win; sees role in NCLB reauthorization
So you’re a high school teacher from Mankato, Minn., who shows up for a 2004 campaign rally for President Bush. You’ve got two kids from the high school in tow—good students who already have become politically active—when the staff at the door suddenly pulls you and the boys aside.Seems that local GOP organizers have “flagged” the kids because they’ve been active in local Democratic politics—hence, they’re “a threat to the security of the president.” You start to object as the students are turned away. The security staff tells you to shut up, file in and “behave yourself.”
What’s your next move? If you’re Tim Walz, a member of the AFT’s Minnesota affiliate, the Mankato Teachers Association, you run for Congress two years later—and you win.
The 2004 rally “was something of an epiphany” says Walz, who went to work that fall organizing a successful Veterans for John Kerry campaign in southern Minnesota. “I was becoming frustrated about everything that was happening, from the war in Iraq to the economy, and this forced me to become public about it.”
Walz showed organizing ability in 2004, and the state Democratic Party approached him about making a run for the U.S. Congress. It would be tough to find a candidate with more on-the-ground experience in so many key issue areas: A career public school teacher, Walz also was a command sergeant major in the Army National Guard and served in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. It was just the type of background Minnesotans were looking for—a leader who would shelve the rubber stamp and bring his personal experience and insights to bear on such issues as the war in Iraq and the No Child Left Behind Act.
That’s just what Walz plans to do.
After defeating a six-term incumbent in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, Walz was eager to get to work. He’ll be asking the hard questions about U.S. involvement in Iraq, pressing for a strategy that reflects not only his own military experience but also his concern as a teacher with several former students deployed to Iraq. And he dismisses the U.S. Education Department’s suggestion that Congress should tinker at the margins when it comes to reauthorizing NCLB.
The White House should be prepared to talk fundamentals when it comes to school improvement, Walz says. “Accountability and high expectations are concepts that teachers have always embraced, but the research base must be brought to bear” when implementing these concepts, he explains. “NCLB has a very difficult time measuring growth,” and a lot of the problem stems from a mismatch among states when it comes to standards-based reform. Thousands of schools in Minnesota will soon be deemed “failing” simply by virtue of the state’s early involvement in standards-based reform and setting high expectations for students.” From a teacher’s perspective, the law is “all stick and no carrot—and it’s grossly underfunded.” In an environment when government wants to hold public school teachers accountable, “it’s time for public school teachers to hold Congress accountable as well.”
